immersed

in the summer of my fifteenth birthday, i got home one day to find a long white dress hanging in the living room. my siblings were already dressed and my baby sister was going on and on about becoming children of god.

"today you will be baptized.", is all my mother said when she saw me gazing at the dress.

on the drive over to church, my father sped through the roads and speed bumps as he and my mother argued. i imagine this is something joyous and planned, for most families; all i managed to do was cry silently.