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There was a time when Katie was younger and she had dreamed of having a life outside of Sweet, Montana. It wasn’t unusual. Most kids who came into the bank to cash their after school paychecks had similar dreams. Not much had changed over the years. The boys she’d known in high school seemed too simple when she’d been younger. Like all teenage girls, Katie had wanted a life that was exciting, full of adventure, and full of travel. It was supposed to be waiting for her just outside of Montana.
She’d found none of it. Instead, she’d fallen into the same trap so many of the girls in her graduating class had. She’d met someone from the next town who’d swept her away with big dreams of his own. Dreams they’d achieve together. Mr. Right was her ticket to excitement.
But somehow, Katie still ended up back in Sweet with not much more than she had when she’d left. And the Prince Charming she’d married turned out to be a frog who’d drained her bank account on his way out the door when he’d left her.
She drove down the long and winding road that led out of town, slowing down when she reached a big field so she could see the building she was looking for. It was dark, but she knew it sat just on the edge of the big pasture where at one time horses grazed before the property had been abandoned. She carefully pulled into the unplowed parking lot, but only enough so her car wouldn’t be stuck in the snow.
What was she doing here?
Katie got out of the car and walked carefully through the parking lot of the old church. It was tiny by church standards these days. She wasn’t sure if more than a few dozen people could fit inside. But she’d driven by this abandoned and dilapidated church so many times since she’d returned to Sweet that her mind wandered to what it could be.
The thin heel of her boot got stuck momentarily in a crevice beneath the snow in the decrepit asphalt that was neglected with age and crumbling in to many places to be repaired. It was just as well. Someone would eventually come into town, if they hadn’t already, and scoop up all this property for a song. They’d rip up all the crumbling pieces and reuse it for something else, leaving nothing but the rich soil beneath to be made into a beautiful pasture that would be lush and green during the summer.
It had been years since Katie had traipsed through the old chapel. The idea of some outsider snatching it up and tearing this old chapel down to build condominiums made her sick. But it would happen. That’s what progress did to small towns. Things changed.
Ten years ago the chapel roof was still intact. From the small light of the moon, Katie could see the roof had decayed and was probably leaking into the chapel, damaging the beautiful hardwood floors and the rich wood of the pews.
As she reached the side door, her foot kicked a can and made a caustic noise that echoed loudly through the night. The nearest neighbor was too far away. She shivered from cold, but also from the sudden fear that someone else might be here. She knew kids would come down to the chapel and party inside. She had done it a few times herself when she’d been a teenager. There was no reason to think that the Saturday night ritual many of her classmates partook in would end. She could only imagine the garbage and the damage done to the inside that had happened over the years since she’d been here last.
As a teenage girl, she hadn’t given it another thought. The woman she was now felt sad for not seeing the potential the chapel had in being restored and beautified to something quaint and homey.
She sighed as she reached the side door. The actual door was long gone, ripped off most likely by kids who’d tried to get inside after the chapel had been abandoned. Unlike when she was in high school, the empty doorway had been boarded up, most likely by one of the local cops trying to keep teenagers out. But it didn’t work. Someone had been here, breached the barrier, and gotten in. All she had to do was tug a bit and the board moved enough so she could slip inside.
Moonlight filtered in from the hole in the ceiling and one of the stained glass windows that wasn’t boarded up, giving her just enough light to see the inside. She pulled her cell phone out of her jacket pocket and pressed the app for the flashlight. It wasn’t much, but it still gave her enough light to see where she was stepping.
Why was she here? She knew why. It had all began here. Bruce had talked her into leaving with him when he’d left for school. It had started here and had continued until they’d sat in the driveway of her parents’ home and he’d won her over.
“Ack,” she said into the cold air. “When did you become such a pushover, Katie?”
She laughed humorlessly as she sat in one of the pews in the back of the chapel and thought about how her life had gone off the rails. She rubbed her fingers together as she laid them on her lap and tried to ward off the bitter Montana cold. Somehow being in the dark was easier, but the bitter cold went straight to her bones.
A gust of wind swept into the building, making another chill race through her body. She didn’t bother to look up in the dark. It was probably just the flimsy plywood door she’d pulled away from the wall catching the gust of wind.
But then a beam of light swept through the chapel, illuminating features she couldn’t see in the dark
