Gone by Francine Pascal

works for them, it works for me.
    And besides, my father
has
forsaken me, right? There has to be some reason for that-some cosmic purpose. Otherwise what is the point of all of this?
    I just came back from a meeting with my disciples. I handed each one of them a little orange glimpse of the promised land, and then I told them that if they followed my commandments for this evening, there would be much, much more where that came from. I offered them great rewards in exchange for one simple deed. It is most definitely an “evil deed,” but that didn’t seem to make much difference to them-theywere quite happy to do it all the same. In fact, they seemed positively inspired to do it. Like I said, the “good” and “evil” part doesn’t seem to make all that much difference to people. Just as long they’re inspired.
    It’s funny, actually. Our little meeting got me to thinking about this country’s rich history of religious cults and serial killers. So many of them have explained away their murders with the same old excuse:
    God told me to do it. I was just obeying the word of God.
    It seems like such a cop-out, doesn’t it? It sounds like a lie. I mean, really, what are the odds that those psycho-killers got any real face time with the man upstairs? But in this one rare case, it will actually be the truth. They can blame the murder on God.
    Because I
did
tell them to do it.

Rodke Hynosis
    GAIA AND SKYLER HAD JUST FINISHED watching
On the Waterfront,
the last installment of their Brando film festival. She had, of course, paid no attention to the film whatsoever. She’d only sat there cuddled up with Skyler for two reasons:
To soften him up that much further with a host of gentle caresses and flirtatious tickles. And…
To place a nice long break between her calculated moves. Too much manipulation in one sitting would be too obvious.
    Now she realized just how deeply insulting this whole movie-watching MO of Skyler’s was. It was nothing more than a classic babysitting maneuver. Put the baby in front of the idiot box and the baby will stay silent, still, and subdued for hours. No tantrums, no questions, no “trouble.” It was just another form of Rodke hypnosis.
    Watch the moving pictures on the big box, baby Gaia. Aren’t they pretty? Don’t they make you want to sit here and think about nothing for hours and hours? Good. Because we don’t want you to think. The last thing we want you to do is think.
    But this time all she had done was think. Thinkand think about her next move. She needed proof. She needed cold hard evidence of their plans. She had already found that small batch of research files in Skyler’s “roommate’s” desk. But there was nothing literal enough in those files to convict anyone of anything. There was no specific mention of Gaia’s name or of what they were actually planning. And Gaia could think of only one other potential source of hard evidence in this prison of an apartment. But to get to it, there would have to be some more sucking up and some more lying. And the time was now.
    Skyler flipped off the TV and took a long, luxurious stretch on the couch. Gaia took this opportunity to lie down in his lap. If that didn’t scream “sexual tension,” she didn’t know what did. He looked down at her and smiled, placing his hand on her forehead and running his fingers through her hair.
    â€œWasn’t that awesome?” he said. “Is Brando not the man?”
    Gaia didn’t answer. She was waiting for him to notice the angry expression she had now placed on her face. Which he did.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?”
    â€œI’m sorry.” She sighed. “Yes, the movie was awesome, but I’m still just so pissed at
Jake.
I mean, I was nice enough to call him back, and I tried to be politeabout the whole prom thing, and he was
still
such a jerk about it.”
    â€œI know,”