The Closet

By Marcellus Arterberry

The first day of school brings continued animosity and intolerance between four fifth-grade students. Jezebel the class bully, Deb the knowledgeable, Soph the wise, and Mari the deceptive are assigned to work together as a team on a class project for the whole day. A sudden act of terror in the school forces the four to seek safety, and in so doing, they face the underlying truths that have defined their lives. As each girl slowly processes that truth, illumination and healing occur, allowing the four to reconcile in growing acceptance and understanding. A masterful blend of fiction and reality makes this a must-read for any age.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 30, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524513238

Marcellus Arterberry

Marcellus Arterberry of Houston, Texas, was influenced to steal and survive as a young child while drugs controlled his single mother. Marcellus was held deep in the streets that raised him, spending most of his teenage years selling crack cocaine and drugs and gang banging while in and out of juvenile detention and the Texas Youth Commission. Marcellus is currently serving a forty-six-year prison sentence for bank robbery. Marcellus has endured most of his time fighting, gambling, assaulting, and stealing from other prisoners. While serving five years in solitary confinement in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the voice of Christ touched Marcellus. At the age of forty-one, Marcellus wrote the first of many books, which fulfills his passion for writing. His books focus on real-life topics in a fictional setting that allow readers to easily see the power of God.

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Copyright © 2016 by Marcellus Arterberry.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 06/29/2016

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CONTENTS

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

About The Book

About The Author

JEZEBEL

Jezebel looked at herself in the mirror, thinking, Oh, how beautiful I am. Those girls in my class are ugly, poor, and stupid compared to me. I will be the most popular in class again this year. Ten-year-old Jezebel Stille was entering the fifth grade. Today was her first day. She was getting ready to take 2015 by storm, she thought. She would be the most popular girl at Bakers Elementary. She figured her plans of bullying and backstabbing friends would be a lot easier since she was older now.

Jezebel was the only child. She was spoiled by her father and mother. Since she came from a wealthy background, Jezebel felt that she had a right to treat others as she wanted. Her long red hair and very pale smooth skin made her feel as if she looked like a princess. Reading a lot of fairy-tale books, Jezebel thought the characters were her at times.

Jezebel was also taller than most of the girls at her school. Once there was a little boy who talked about her being tall and chubby. The boy was short in height and small in size. Jezebel caught him going to the restroom and pushed him to the floor and broke his nose. She stood over him and said, If you tell anybody, I’ll have my dad do the same thing to you. You got it?

Word was passed on that Jezebel punched the kid and broke his nose. Since second grade, nobody would dare say any ugly words about Jezebel. She took the broken nose story and ran with it.

Daddy, I am ready to go. I can’t be late for school, she yelled to her dad as she headed out the door.

SOPH

Mom, I don’t want to go back to Bakers. I don’t fit in, and they make fun of me because I learn fast, Soph explained to her mother at the breakfast table. Soph Sigh was eight years old and was heading to fifth grade. Her parents moved from Egypt to the United States while her mom was pregnant with her. Therefore, she was a US citizen because she was born on this soil. Soph could do algebra at the age of four. She loved to read, and learning was first nature to her. Kids at Bakers Elementary liked the fact that she was smart, but some did not like her because of her culture. Given a very hard time at school, Soph stayed to herself most of the time. Coming home from school, Soph would lock herself in her room after being teased all day because her culture was not like most at Bakers Elementary. She would study and read as much as her mind would allow her to escape the reality of her pain from not fitting in at school.

Soph was very short with long black hair, heavy black eyebrows, and a lot of hair on her arms and legs. Her skin was dark brown, and her parents were Muslims. Therefore, she also