Chapter 228 Beyond Control:>>15

• Jennifer Elizabeth Griffiths sat awkwardly in the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, wishing she was somewhere else for the fifth time in as many minutes.
• It was years since Jen had entered a place of worship, and she had thought she never would again: but Tracey had begged her to be there for the christening, and she loved both her friend and the baby. And so she had come this morning, her heels clicking crisply on a stone floor as cold as her heart, and she perched on the end of a pew and waited for the service to begin.
• There were about thirty other people there - Tracey's family, mostly, and her friends. She recognised one or two of them and smiled a greeting, but there was no connection and she looked around. The church was small, without Transepts or a Chancel, and it was plainly decorated. The Sanctuary, which separated the Nave from the Altar, was only a dozen paces wide and there was a stained glass window beyond. She saw the morning sun refracted through its leaded panels had bathed the alter in crimson, like fresh blood spilled on the crisp white linen, and her stomach churned. I shouldn't be here.