Great. He found me.

“So uh are you still comin over?”

“I guess.” Sandy sounded disappointed.

When the two got to Chris’s house Sandy was shocked to see how his family acted toward each other.

“Hey Chris!” His mom said giving him a hug. “How was school today?”

“It was fine. Nothing new. ’Cept mom, this is Sandy. She’s new at school.”

“So wonderful to meet you, Sandy! I’m Mrs. Thomas, Chris’s mom.”

Sandy pretended to be happy. “It wonderful to meet you ma’am.”

“Anyways, we’re just going upstairs to do homework.” Chris said right before they heard the door shut.

Mrs. Thomas pulled a man into the room. “Before you go upstairs…Sandy, this is my husband, Gerald. Gerald, this is Chris’s new friend, Sandy.”

The man held out his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sandy.”

“The pleasure’s all mine sir.” Sandy said shaking his hand.

“Well, like I was saying we have to cram for a Chemistry test tomorrow.”

“Oh of course!” His mom said. “But its Wednesday. Did you invite Sandy to come to youth group with you?”

“I forgot that it was Wednesday!” Chris exclaimed.

“Um…what’s youth group?” Sandy asked.

“Its when a bunch of highschoolers get together at church to play games and learn about God.”

Sandy had to take that all in for a moment. She now knew why she was getting a weird vibe from him. He was a Jesus Freak! She hated people like him! All they ever did was tell people about how Jesus is so perfect and he can save you and blah blah blah. If Jesus is so perfect how come there is so much pain and suffering in the world? They didn’t get it! But, she had nothing better to do that night.

“Uh, I guess I could go.” She told him.

“Great! You kids be down here in a couple of hours and I’ll take you!”

“Thanks dad!” Chris yelled as he and Sandy went upstairs.

They talked as they worked. “So, your family seems really happy. Do you have any siblings?”

Chris sat their for a minute looking like he was gonna cry. “Not anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Sandy asked him.

“I had an older brother and a younger sister. But they both passed away.”

“God, Chris, I’m so sorry. I hope you don’t mind me asking how. I mean if you don’t wanna tell me that’s cool I’ll understand but uh I was just-”

“No, its fine. My brother died in a car accident a couple months ago. He and his friends got drunk and went out driving anyway. My sister died three years ago when she was six. We don’t know why or how but her throat closed up and we couldn’t get it to open back up and she died.”

“Is that them on the wall?”

“Yep.”

Sandy stood up and went to go look at the picture. Everyone looked so happy! His little sister was smiling and had curly blonde hair. His older brother just kinda stood their. No expression whatsoever on his face. Chris stood in between his siblings with his arms around both of them and his parents stood behind him. She was in awe of the picture. But she shook the feeling off and sat back down.

“So,” she began to start a different conversation. “you’re a Christian?”

“Yeah.” Chris answered.

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?”

“Why do you believe in all that Jesus nonsense? I mean even after what happened to your siblings. How can you love God if he took them away from you?”

“He didn’t take them away from me. My brother chose not to believe and he got himself into trouble just because he decided to rebel against my parents. As for my sister, I don’t know why that happened but she’s with Jesus now and everything happens for a reason.”

“No offence but six year old girls don’t just die.”

“Anything’s possible. Why don’t you believe in Jesus?”

Sandy took a deep breath. “Because everything I’ve been through helped me realized that if God really cared he would’ve made the pain all go away.”

“But He can make it go all away. All you have to do is ask.”

“No, He cant make it go away. I can make myself think He did when really its still their. Besides, what do you think drugs and alcohol are for?”

“Stuff like that wont make the pain go away. It’ll only numb it for a short amount of time. By doing all of that your just hurting yourself.”

Sandy just sat their fiddling with her pencil.

“What happened? What’s making you hurt inside?”

“Its not like you would understand.” Sandy said quietly.

“Try me.”

Sandy took another deep breath. She felt shaky. Never before had she really told anybody this. “Basically, when I was little I didn’t have your ideal family. My parents would fight everyday. My dad was a drug addict. My mom was too. She isn’t anymore. She got help. But at the time…yeah. Anyway, my dad started hitting me and my mom. He would yell at us and hurt us. He also said that if we told anybody about what he was doing that he would kill us. So, it remained a secret. Everyday when my dad came home I would hide in the closet so he wouldn’t find me. One day, when I was seven, my mom didn’t come home. It was just me and my dad. He was high and wasted. He threw me up against the wall and my head started to bleed. Just then the police came into the house. When they came in I saw my dad put his hand on his gun. So I ran out the back door. I didn’t know where to go. As I was running a guy in a big truck pulled over and told me I needed to go to a hospital. But he took the car to and empty parking lot and he…” Tears came down her face and she fell to her knees.

Chris ran an put his arms around her. He held her close. “Sandy, did he…”

“He did. He did.” Sandy got hysterical. “After that he threw me out of the car and told me not tell anyone. I’ve never told anyone. Later the police found me and told me that they took me dad away. They helped me and my mom start over. I’ve never told anybody about what happened.”

Chris just held her. That was horrible! She had been through so much.

“Sandy, you need to tell someone and get some help.”

“Nobody can help me.”

“But-”

“Promise me you wont tell anybody!”

Chris didn’t sat anything.

“Promise me!”

Sandy’s cell phone started to ring.

“Hello?…yeah I got ’em…tonight?…where and when?…see you then.” Sandy shut the phone.

“Who was it?” Chris asked.

“It was Justin.”

“Who?”

Sandy wiped the tears away. “Justin Foley. Serious drug dealer. One his friends had me hold some meth for him and now I gotta give it to him.”

“Sandy, you don’t have to do this. Just tell the police. You can get help.”

“I don’t want help!” Sandy finally snapped. “Quit telling me all this Jesus crap! Quit telling me to get help! You’ve had a great life! You’ll never understand!”

Chris kept his cool. “Look, I’m sorry I-”

“I don’t need you fricken apology! I don’t need anything from you! I’m outta here!”

“I’ll be praying for you!” Chris yelled after her.

Sandy ignored him. She slammed the door and didn’t turn around. Memories were coming back to her. Of her father, of what happened in the van, she even remembered the car wreck. At least their was one thing Chris didn’t know about. She thought about it…

Sandy dropped to the ground in tears. She wanted to scream but if she did people would only stare at her. Think she was in insane. Maybe she was. Sandy started to talk to herself. “I can live like this. My dad hated me, my mom thinks I’m a screw up, the only person who cared is dead, and if God is real, he’s probably up their laughing at my pathetic life. Probably put me here just to entertain Him. I cant take it anymore!”

She reached into her school bag searching for the knife she always carries around with her. Strangely, she felt something leather. Sandy pulled it out just to see what it was. To her surprise it was a Bible. On the front it said: Sandy, God loves you! -Chris. Under that were Bible verses that Chris had written down. Sandy started to read them.

Then she read about how God came and died for her. She read about how He was betrayed by one of His disciples and how He rose from the dead. How he promised us eternal life.

She began to cry harder. “Dear God, I don’t know how this praying thing works. But, I just read about how much you care about me. How you died for me. Thank you so much God! I don’t know how to say this but God, please come into my life. Please help me. Please take away my pain. I’ve been so lonely God.” She choked on a sob. “Please God. If its not to late, take me as your own.” Sandy suddenly felt as if a huge weight was just lifted off her chest. She stood up and started dancing around the sidewalk. Instead of feeling sad, lonely, afraid, and rejected, she felt a wave of peace come over her. For the first time she was truly happy. And for the first time she felt loved. It was an amazing feeling.

Her cell went off. It was Justin.

“Hello.”

“Your five minutes late.”

“I’m sorry. Someone was trying to sell me something. I’m on my way.”

“You got the stuff?”

“Right here.”

“Be here in five.” With that he hung up.

Sandy started to panic. What to do? She looked to her left and saw a dumpster. She took the meth and put it in their and was on her way to meet Justin.

“Where’s the stuff?” Justin asked as soon as he saw her.

“I don’t have it.”

Justin looked at her quizzically. “What did you just say?”

“I don’t have it.”

He slammed Sandy again the wall and had her in choke hold. “Where is it?!”

Sandy could barely breathe let alone talk. She felt her neck being crushed. “I…..threw…..it…..out.”

Justin pulled out a gun and shot her in the knee. With that he walked off.

Sandy coughed. Her throat was still closing up even though Justin no longer had a grip on her. Plus she was bleeding all over the ground. She reached for her cell phone.

“Hello?”

“Chris…help.”

‘Sandy?”

“Chris, I’m behind the old bakery. I’ve been strangled and shot. I need help.”

“Oh my gosh. I’ll be their in a split second.” He hung up and was out the door.

It only took Chris three minutes to reach the older bakery. He saw Sandy immediately. He ran over to her and without saying a word picked her up and put her in the back of the car.

“I brought some cloth. It can cover up the wound for now.”

He got in the driver seat and drove off. The hospital was literally around the corner.

When he reached the hospital he pulled Sandy out of the car and ran inside.

“Emergency! This girls been shot! Help! Help!” He yelled at the top of his lungs.

Medics ran to their attention right away and brought her into the emergency room.

“Sir,” the doctor said. “your gonna have to wait out here.”

“Is their anything I can do?” Chris asked.

“Call this girls parents.” With that he walked off.

Chris called and called Sandy’s parents but nobody picked up.

A few hours later the doctor came out.

“How is she?”

“Not good. She’s lost a lot of blood and the tubes in her throat are on the verge of collapsing. She’s not gonna make it threw the night.”

Chris stood their in shock. “Well, uh well I mean uh may I see her?”

“Be my guest.” The doctor took him to Sandy’s room.

It was a horrible site. Seeing her on that bed with tubes going threw her nose and using an IV.

“Chris?” Sandy said faintly.

Chris started to cry. “Its me.”

“Chris, I have to tell you something.”

Chris went up to her side. “Before you say anything um…..I know I’m not supposed to tell you but the doctor said…” he tried to stop crying. “he said that your not going to make it.”

“I know. I could tell by the way he looked at me.” she gave a loud cough. “Chris, when I left your house, I freaked out and I read the Bible you put in my bag and I received Jesus as God of my life.”

Chris started crying harder. “Sandy, I’m so happy for you!”

“I wanted to say…” she coughed more. “I’m sorry for the way I treated you earlier. Because you were right.” Her pulse started going down and the beeping started lessening. “Thank you for showing me what it really feels like to be happy and to be loved.”

“Sandy, I-”

She reached up and was lipping something but Chris couldn’t make out the words. Then he heard the heard monitor go off. She was gone. But she was with Jesus. Chris new that even though she left the earthly realm, she got to live forever with Jesus and that one day he would see her again.