“It’s cold as fuck out,” I say, which makes him chuckle.
“Welcome to the past few shitty weeks of my life. Now let’s get to it. I’ll let you know when you need to turn out your light.”
“You aren’t gonna give me any clues about where we’re going?”
He shakes his head. “You need to see this for yourself. I wish there was another way, but I can’t get an audio or visual recording of any of it, and even if I could, I doubt that would be enough to persuade you.”
What a weird thing to say. What would he need to get a recording of, and what would prevent him from getting it?
He guides me through the woods, and after a few minutes, we reach a trail. He directs me to turn off my light. Just enough moonlight illuminates the woods, so it’s not too difficult to navigate en route to wherever Alexei is taking us.
We walk in silence, but something’s been weighing on my mind since our conversation, so keeping my voice low, I say, “Earlier, when you said I don’t know what it’s like not knowing, I understood it more than you might realize.”
In my periphery, I see him turn toward me.
“I didn’t lose anyone, at least not like you did your brother. But…I was adopted as a baby. When I got older and asked about my biological parents, Mom and Dad told me they had to sign an NDA preventing them from ever telling me. Fucked with my head. I had to know. I had to understand why they gave me up. I knew—hoped, maybe—it must have been hard on them, but it didn’t have to do with them. I needed an answer.”
“Did you ever find out?”
The memory comes to me, seeing my biological mother for the first time, the horror in her eyes as she looked at me.“His face…you have his face.”
I shake it off. “Yeah. And the truth wasn’t pretty.” That’s as much as I can bring myself to say. “Sorry. I just wanted you to know I understand why you need to do this. And given how close you were to your brother, it sounds a hell of a lot worse than what I went through.” Which is why I’m tempted to kick the asses of the frat guys putting Alexei through this.
He’s quiet for a few moments before saying, “I’m sorry for…whatever it is you found out about your biological parents.”
Pain shoots through me. No, I refuse to get emotional. I shut it down, the way I always do, and we keep on, Alexei guiding me off the trail, deeper into the woods. We come to a clearing where the cemetery for the old Methodist church is. I’ve been here during the daytime before, just to check it out with friends.
Alexei checks his phone, then slides it back in his pocket as we navigate through the trees to the old church on the other side.
“Keep quiet when we get close to the church,” he says. “You’ll see why.” He stops and takes my arm, spinning me back to him. “What you’re about to see stays between the two of us, okay?” When I hesitate, he adds, “Matteo, I’m trusting you’ll be discreet. I don’t want you to share this with anyone, especially not the people you’re about to see.”
“ThatI can agree to.”
I would never turn him in to the guys doing this to him, but if he needs help, I’m not sure I can agree not to share this with cult counselors or other mental-health professionals.
He releases my arm, and we continue through the cemetery.
I assume someone’s in the church now—maybe this is where the Alpha Alpha Mus meet for their little sex cult.
When we near the back of the building, he approaches the wall in a spot where there’s a narrow, boarded-up window at the base. He urges me to get onto my knees with him, and after I do, I notice a sliver of light breaking through the board near his knee. He points to another crack of light on the other side of the board before getting on his stomach and peering through. I follow his lead, doing the same on the other side.
The boards on the outside of the window don’t cover it fully, and there’s another board on the inside, but it has a few chips and cracks that expose what I’m guessing is the cellar, where an orange glow illuminates familiar faces.
But it’s not the Alpha Alpha Mu guys.
Surrounded by blackboards and old desks, our roommates, Brad and Luke, are seated on the cement floor. Brad’s arms are wrapped around Luke from behind as he tugs him close. They’re sitting in the middle of a symbol—takes me a second to realize it’s a pentagram. Seth and Cody stand beside them, chatting.
Are these guys a part of this sex cult Alexei’s in? No, not Brad and Luke!
But now it makes more sense why Alexei didn’t want me talking to Brad about what we were doing.
As the guys speak to each other, I can’t make out the words, only muffled sounds.
It’s weird that they chose the cellar of the old church to hang out.
They keep chatting before Seth and Cody sit on the floor, on the opposite side of the pentagram from Brad and Luke. They cross their legs and rest their hands on their knees, like they’re about to meditate. Luke and Brad stay in their seated positions, but Brad tightens his hold on Luke. It’s strange, for sure.
I turn my attention to Alexei. With a nod, he encourages me to continue watching.
