Divine Right

[Raven]

"When I get together my congregation, I hope to have a gated community of our own," Kenny said. "I lived in LA when I was young."

[Gifted]

"LA? Wow, fancy." Abigail sounded impressed. "Like Hollywood area?"

[Raven]

"Yeah, that area. My father was very rich," Kenny said, softly. "Even that wasn't the best area, and I had to go to school in the city."

[Gifted]

"Wow. That sounds incredible." She admitted. She would give anything to grow up somewhere safe like that, and to give that to her sisters and brothers and future children.

[Raven]

"Not as much as you think. You didn't have to worry about being robbed or mugged in a place like that, but there are other things. When I was seven, my father locked me in the closet for the first time. Well, I say closet. It was a disconnected walk-in freezer. Everything is bigger in those places, even the food storage. Since we didn't use it, it wasn't cold, but it was still airtight. Dark. It smelled terrible, and there was no way to get out until he let you. A few times I'd passed out by the time he unlocked the door." Kenny's hand tightened on the steering wheel. "Anywhere can be a godless place, if the wrong people stay there."

[Gifted]

"Oh my god..." She couldn't imagine. Abigails parents - well, her mother, anyway - were at least ok. Her mother tried her absolute hardest with the meager income they had to give Abigail and her siblings a normal life, but it just wasn't possible where they lived. Her brother had ended up leaving to join a gang and her seven year old little sister didn't even remember him. Her father was in prison.

[Raven]

Kenny glanced at her. "Without challenges, we cannot strengthen our faith. I have faced the Devil and beaten him, and it has allowed God to use me as a vessel. I'm not sorry for what I've been through."

[Gifted]

Abigail nodded. "You're very brave." She whispered.

[Raven]

He pulled into the driveway then. "So are you. It takes a lot of courage to leave everything you've known behind, even for something much better," Kenny said, looking at her. "This is it."

[Gifted]

She got out of the car and her eyes widened at the huge, clean home that wasn't falling apart. She'd seen plenty of them on he road on the way to the university, but this would be the first time she got to go inside. "I love it!" She declared. "Your house is amazing."

[Raven]

Kenny grinned. "I'm glad you like it," he said, coming to let her inside. "There will be others like these some day, and a protected neighborhood, so kids can play outside safely." He got a look on his face that clearly expressed the same thing his tone of voice did: that was his dream, and the thing he was working towards hardest.

[Gifted]

Abigail smiled. "I'd love to see that. That sounds like a wonderful goal."

[Raven]

"I would love for you to be part of it some day," Kenny said, leading her inside to his sitting room. It was well furnished, with paintings and a mirror on the wall, a fire place on one end, and couches and armchairs placed around a stone coffee table. There were a couple plants in the room as well, but no photographs. The paintings were of an impersonal nature, as far as one could tell, as they featured no people, but places and designs solely for the purpose of art. A fountain in the corner gave the room the relaxing sound of running water.

[Gifted]

"Any way I can help, just tell me. You said you were going to teah me?" Abigail questioned, sitting down in the very pretty room.

[Raven]

"Yes," Kenny agreed, sitting down across from her. "First, do you have any questions about anything?" It would give him a place to start.