Sacrifices of the Soul, Chapter 30
 

" Kill me? Kill me?", Chad said, bewildered.

" Yes, Chad. My assignment was to kill you. You were never supposed to live. You couldn’t be allowed to live."

Eve is staring at Orville, with a shocked look on her face. " You were supposed to kill my baby? You were my friend."

The church was quiet. Still. Eerily so. All eyes were focused on the Altar, and no one wanted to miss a word.

" I did like you, Eve. But, you were my job. I was supposed to look after you. I was supposed to keep an eye on you."

" Keep an eye on her? What the hell are you talking about? Why would she need to be spied on?"

" Because, certain people needed to know her movements. Know what she was up to."

" Certain people? Who is THAT?"

" Your father’s family. They wanted to see if the relationship with your mother was ‘getting out of control’, which it was. Once she turned up pregnant, there was no turning back."

" NO!", Eve exclaimed. " You’re just a crazy old man. You’re confused. You have no idea what you’re talking about. My baby died, and that’s the end of it. The rest of this is your ramblings."

" I’m sorry, Eve. I never meant to cause you more pain. I already know the kind of pain that I put upon you. It’s the reason I never spent any of the money that you sent me. I had no right to."

" My wife sent you money?", TC asks with a look of disgust and confusion on his face.

" She thought she was buying my silence, not knowing that I owed her more than she could ever owe me. But, I could never explain that to her. "

Eve shook her head in defiance. " I don’t believe you, Orville. I don’t. You are lying."

Orville shook his head, and sighed deeply. " Ok, Eve. The baby that I switched, YOUR BABY, had two distinct birthmarks."

" One is on the cheek of his buttocks.", Whitney replied.

" That’s right, Whitney. " Orville took a pen and paper out of his coat, and wrote something on it, and handed it to Father Lonigan. " On that paper, I have where the second birthmark is, and what it looks like. YOU would know where the second birthmark is, Eve. You would know, even if you only got that one time with your son. I challenge you to find it on Chad. It will be there."

Eve looked from Orville to Chad, and back again.  She slowly went over to Chad, and looked him in the face.

" Take off your shirt."

Chad, slowly unbuttoned the tuxedo, and giving the jacket, vest and shirt to Ethan, stood there, shirtless before Eve. Eve’s hands were trembling as they approached Chad’s body. She went over to his right arm, and lifted it up. In between, where the arm meets the armpit, there it was, a birthmark, in the shape of a banana, the same birthmark that Eve has on her body. Eve ran her trembling fingers over it, and then acted as if she had been struck by fire.

" Oh My God!", she said, as she clutched her stomach, and collapsed to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. " It’s true."

Father Lonigan then opened up the paper and read outloud: " Right armpit. The shape of a banana."

Whitney was staring at Chad right now, as he came over to her.

" NO!" , she told him, shaking her head. " Keep away from me." Whitney went into Simone’s sobbing arms, and let her sister hold her, not able to look at Chad.

Chad looked around the church, watching everyone stare at him. He couldn’t take it anymore. He felt out of control. He felt lost. He felt like had nothing, and wanted to know why.

" I’m sick of this shit!", Chad said, walking over to Eve, who was still crumpled up on the floor. Chad grabbed her arms, and forced her to rise to her feet, though it was clear that they were wobbly. " I want some answers, and I want them now. I take it from our little anatomy  lesson, that you’re convinced that I’m your son. Fine! I accept it now. I accept that you’re my mother. What I want from you is the name of the Sonuvabitch who is my father. I want to find the piece of scum whose family thought I should be marked for extermination. I wanna tell him that they failed. So, what’s his name?"

Eve looked up at Chad, through her tears, which were still falling, even if her sobs were not. She just looked at him with a blank face.

" I SAID, I want to know who my father is! You OWE ME that much! Who is the fucker that you laid down with that would want me exterminated. WHO IS IT? Dammit, TELL ME!!"

Eve still stared at Chad in silence. She went from being there, to her eyes going absolutely blank. She really wasn’t hearing what Chad was saying.

" Fine. You want to be a lying bitch, and protect that mutherfucker, FINE! I’ll find out on my own."  Chad shoved Eve to the ground, with a little force. Her sobs came back.
Chad went over to Orville.

" You seem to be the man with the answers. I want the answer to this one. Who hired you? Who wanted me killed? Who is my father. "

Orville wouldn’t answer Chad either. Chad took Orville by the lapels. " You better tell me Old Man. I’ll shake it out of you. I am OUT of patience. You either tell me who my father is, or I promise you, I’ll kick your ass right here, right now!"

Orville kept quiet, and Chad raised back his fist, to begin his pummeling of Orville. He was about to hit Orville when a voice came out from the church audience:

" I am your father. "

Chad, Orville and the rest of the church, turned to see Julian Crane standing up.