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They’re dressed in bright, modern clothes, and both have long blond hair tied back from their faces. I’m almost certain I recognize them from school—they’re a few years above me. One of them runs track, and the other one is a mathematics whiz. If our school was big enough to have a cheerleading team, they’d probably be cheerleaders.
    “Jackie,” one of them shouts, running toward us. “Jackie, are you here?”
    “Oh Christ, Lisa,” the other says, covering her face with her arm so she doesn’t have to breathe in the smell. “This is crazy. This is disgusting.”
    “Jackie? Where are you?” The first girl, Lisa, pulls at her hair in frustration. “Stop complaining, Jessica, and help me look. We’ve got to find her.”
    Jessica shakes her head, clearly wary of getting too close to the assembled faith full. Lisa swears and goes back to her search. The faith full watch her in silence. They’ve stopped praying. I wipe vomit from my face and watch, too.
    “Jackie! You’re here!”
    Lisa has found her friend. She’s on her knees now, shaking the dust-covered girl by her shoulders. Jackie’s head wobbles back and forth loosely, as if she’s half-asleep, and she lets out a quiet, sobbing sound. Muddy streaks on her face show the paths of her tears.
    “Jackie, it’s me, Lisa. What have they done to you?”
    “This is so… so wrong,” Jessica says. “It’s a cult. My mom said it was a cult. When Jackie was talking about it? Man, we should have known. Christ, this is so screwed up.” She says the word Christ like a prayer, rather than a curse.
    “Jackie, you’ve got to come with us. We’ve brought a car. Please.”
    Jackie is like a rag doll, only moving when Lisa shakes her. I can’t tell if she’s in shock or if she’s sick or if this is her way of resisting Lisa’s pleas.
    Jessica shouts, “Lisa, she isn’t coming. We’ve got to get out of here. It’s weird. It’s really… it’s all wrong. Let’s go.”
    “I’m not going without her! We drove miles to get here. We aren’t leaving until we get her away from all this. Look at her! She’s filthy! Look what they did….”
    Lisa trails off. Mrs. Piedmont has appeared at the door of the house. Unlike the other faith full, she is immaculately dressed in a simple black smock, and her dark hair is coiled high above her head. Both Lisa and Jessica seem to shrink in her presence. Suddenly there’s no sound outside, neither wind nor mumbled prayers.
    “Why are you here?” Mrs. Piedmont says.
    Lisa swallows. “W-we came for Jackie. She doesn’t belong here.”
    Mrs. Piedmont doesn’t respond. Her eyes are fixed on Lisa, who shivers. It’s difficult for me to look at her, not in the least because she looks so very like the twins. But if she’s worried about the welfare of her missing sons, she doesn’t show any sign of it.
    “You got to let us take her,” Lisa says. “She’s… she’s, like, seventeen. This is really messed up. Okay? She doesn’t belong here. You guys keep your cult. We just want our friend back? Please?”
    “Please, ma’am,” Jessica mumbles. “She’s our best friend. She doesn’t want to be here….”
    Mrs. Piedmont says, “Take her, then.”
    She turns on her heel and vanishes into the ranch.
    Lisa lets out a whoop, and Jessica exhales. The two begin to chat to each other, relieved and happy.
    “Oh my, oh my God, I can’t believe it!”
    “Unbelievable. Jackie, it’s over. We can go!”
    “Thank God. Oh man, that was easy.”
    “Jackie, let’s get out of here. We can go home.”
    “You can stay at our place, Jackie… Jackie….”
    At some point they realize that Jackie isn’t making any move to come with them. No matter how Lisa pulls at Jackie, Jackie isn’t getting up. After a few attempts, Lisa starts to pull harder, yanking roughly at Jackie’s shoulders.
    “Jessie, help me. I don’t know what’s wrong.”
    Jessica runs over to help pull. Together the two of them drag Jackie to her