Chapter 1

Copyright © Saved Girl

               Creakkkk. 12 year old Crystal Penning cracked open her door and crouched by it. It was late at night and she was doing her best to stay awake. She was looking at the door down the hall where her mother was in the process of giving birth to her third child.

               Crystal could hear her mother's agonized cries but those did not worry her. Mrs. Penning had sounded the same way when 6 years ago when she gave birth to Crystal's sister, Mary. What worried her was the way that her father and the midwife were acting. She yawned and rubbed her eyes and stretched in an effort to remain awake, all in vain. She was soon fast asleep.

                Crystal was awakened by her door bumping into her. She looked up into the face of her father and grinned sheepishly. "Uh, hi Daddy. How's Mama?"

                 He went over to her bed and sat down. "Come here, sweetheart," he said.

                 She sat on the bed saying, " Is something the matter?"

                   He swallowed hard. "The baby didn't make it and the doctor is afraid th-that your mama is  g-going to ----- die."

                     Crystal stared at him in shocked silence.

                     "She wants to talk to you. Come."

                     Crystal followed him to her mama's room. The news was starting to sink in. "No! It can't be true. What will we do without her." she thought. When she entered the room she was shocked by the pale, hollow look of her mother's face.

                      "Come to me, dear," she said in a wan voice.

                      As Crystal drew closer to the bedside her attention was drawn to a small, red, velvet jewelry box in her mama's hand. Crystal knelt bed the bed, took her mother's hand and looked at her with tear filled eyes.

                    "My dear I want to talk to you about something very important. There is no one but you to whom I could give over the reins of the house with more trust. Now that I am leaving there will be no one to home school you so you must go to public school. They teach bad things there such as evolution and tolerance. Promise me that you will not let yourself be tainted by these things. Remain pure in body and mind."

                   "I-I promise Mama," Crystal said in a choked voice.

                  "As a remembrance of that promise I am going to give you this promise ring. It was mine, and my mother's, and her mother's before her. We had intended to give this to you on your thirteenth birthday next week but now that I am leaving to go to be with Jesus I am going to give it to you now."

                   She opened the jewelry box and drew out a silver ring. On it were carved two lilies with their stems intertwined. "These lilies represent purity and the intertwined stems represent the promise you have made to me. Your name, Crystal, means pure. Live up to your name." She slipped the ring onto her finger and kissed Crystal's forehead.

                    Her father entered the room carrying Mary, Crystal's sister. He set her on the bed and Mrs. Penning talked quietly to the sobbing girl.

                    An hour later they were all gathered around her bedside when she cried out, "I can see the gates of heaven. I going to see Jesus!" and passed out of this world into the next. Crystal collapsed onto the bed and sobbed.

[ Click here for Chapter 2. ]