The Church of the Illuminated Part One

By Jennie May

Join me as I discover the world of The Illuminated, a little known religious group tucked away in a private area in the middle of nowhere. The Illuminated are kind and devout people, but their ways are sometimes strange. They have a strong belief in domestic discipline, and they believe that the man is the head of the house. Contains intense sexuality and spanking of adult women.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jennie May
• Release date: Jan 2, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452302010

Book preview

The Church of The Illuminated

By Jennie May

Copyright 2008 by Jennie May

Published by Smashwords

Chapter One

No one knew much about The Illuminated.

Sure there were plenty of stories going around. I had heard that they lived underground, that they sacrificed humans and even that they had flippers so that they could easily swim through the lake. Crazy rumors were everywhere, but good information was scarce.

The Illuminated lived in a village about an hour’s drive from where I grew up. We talked about them sometimes in my small high school. Someone would claim to have a cousin who knew one of them or had done business with one of their companies. But I never met anyone who really was in contact with one of The Illuminated. I asked, and I kept my ears open. I was interested, but I never heard a thing.

My mother told me that The Illuminated had been living in their area as long as anyone could remember. She told me that they kept to themselves, and that was the way they wanted it.

When I went to college, I majored in sociology. I was interested in learning about the world’s religions, and I was especially fascinated by the psychology of cults. When I got the assignment to write a paper on a non-mainstream religious group, I knew exactly what my subject was going to be.

I plotted for weeks how I was going to infiltrate the small village so that I could find out how The Illuminated really lived. I thought of posing as someone who was interested in joining them, but that didn’t seem to make much sense. Also it would take too long, and I wasn’t even sure that they welcomed converts. I considered spying on them, hanging around outside their buildings and peeking in windows. That didn’t seem like such a good idea either, and my sociology professor told me that it wasn’t exactly an ethical way to collect data.

It turned out that none of that was necessary anyway. One afternoon, I had an epiphany. I simply looked up The Illuminated in the county phone book. There weren’t many listings, but there was a phone number for their church office. I called it.

Office of The Illuminated, a woman’s voice answered.

I almost laughed. I hadn’t expected them to so readily identify themselves. Um.. hello. I’m a student. I want to write a paper about your group. Is there any way I could get permission to do some research?

Hold please, said the pleasant voice.

I just knew she was going to disconnect me.

Soon a man came onto the line. Reverend Gray here.

Hello? I said. I’m a student at State College. I want to write a paper about your… your church.

About us? said the man. That’s wonderful. How can we help you?

I thought perhaps he hadn’t understood what I wanted. I had fully expected to have to fight in order to get to speak to anyone important. I’d thought I would be forced to call back again and again just so that someone would talk to me. I cleared my throat. Well… it’s a paper for school. Like I said, I go to State. And I’d like to learn something about you. Um… do you have any books or publications?

I nearly slapped myself in the head after I’d said that. I told myself to get it together and at least try to sound like I knew what I was doing.

The Reverend chuckled. Why don’t you come out here for a visit? Can you come tomorrow?

I nearly fell out of my chair. Tomorrow? Yes. Yes, I can. Um… can I bring a tape recorder? And maybe a video camera?

You can bring anything you want, he replied. We are very open about our beliefs and practices.

Thanks, I said enthusiastically. That’s terrific.

And what was your name dear?

Oh… I’m Jennie, I stammered.

Come to the church office, Jennie, and ask for me, said the Reverend. I’ll see you then?

Yes, thank you, I said. And then he hung up.

I walked around my dorm room with my mouth hanging open. I couldn’t believe I’d just been invited into the world of The Illuminated. It hadn’t been hard at all. I was starting to think that maybe it was a trick. Maybe they were nice to people on the phone just to chase them away when they approached. Maybe the community was surrounded by a huge gate, guarded by men with guns and dogs. Maybe the Reverend wouldn’t even consider letting me through.

That night, I dug out my video camera. I got the rest of my supplies together and arranged them in a professional looking bag. I had to borrow the bag from my father. All of my other bags featured girly cartoon characters.

The next morning I got started early. It would take me two hours to get from my school to the community of The Illuminated.