An Anecdote from Velvet...

My home church is not exactly what one would call pretty. People have asked me whether or not it was a warehouse actually, and I have had a hard time convincing them that it is a church. This never bothered me however, because the numerous nooks and crannies that could be found throughout the three floors of it were always full of potential adventures.

The top floor was especially compelling, maybe because I wasn’t really supposed to be up there. That floor however is still my favorite hang out spot for shenanigans, mainly because of this story:

After a particularly boring service one day, my absolute best friend Alepine (a mixture of wool and silk), a Russian girl we had just met, Natasha, and I all took the undependable elevator up to that mysterious third floor. There we discovered a hallway so dark that the luminescent lights above us could not penetrate down to the end of it, something we all excitedly commented on.

Already I’m being a little disingenuous. Quite possibly Natasha and I might have ran ahead of Alepine, jumped in the elevator, and then closed the doors before she could reach us. It was a childish joke, but then again, we were children. We figured she would take the stairs and join us in a few minutes.

It was in those fateful moments of Alepine being absent from our adventure that we decided to sprint to the end of the hallway, touch the end of it that we currently could not see, and come back to light having conquered our fear.

We made it, running, to the very end, but as we began the stretch back to the light, something came at us. A huge thing that was growling blocked the light ahead of us and invoked a terror like no other in our hearts as it pursued us.

I didn’t even scream as terror gripped me. I dropped Natasha’s hand, and sprinted faster than I ever had in my entire life. My new friend didn’t matter, only survival did.

Obviously it was just Alepine with a blanket billowing behind her as she made bear noises. And obviously Natasha dropped us as companions just as quickly as I had dropped her hand. I found this all to be incredibly amusing once it was all said and done, whereas Natasha was a little shaken up.

Life is exciting when you don’t know where you’re running. But even if you can see the light, good friends can always find a way to keep you on your toes.