Monday, July 27, 2009

Broken Glass, Broken Hearts (short story) part 15

“My grandma is away for a few days so I decided to come visit you for a while,” he said. “For a few days?” I asked in surprise. He laughed, “No, just for a while tonight. Seems like Jake and Milly got off to a good start.” I laughed, “Yea well, can you blame him? She’s totally gorgeous.” Andrew laughed and brushed his hand slowly through his hair and playfully said, “It runs in the family.” I laughed. I went into the kitchen and pulled out oreos. “Are you hungry?” I asked. “You bet!” he replied. I smiled and carried out the oreos to him like a waitress. “Our special today is oreos, sir,” I said in a totally phony accent. “Good, good,” he replied, also in a totally phony accent, “and one for the lady, too, please.” I laughed and we sat down at the kitchen table and ate the oreos. Milly and Jake ran downstairs laughing, and when they noticed what we were eating, they joined us. “Mind if we chow down with you?” Jake asked as he and Milly sat down and he grabbed and oreo. “What have you guys been up to for the past...oh, 57 seconds?” Andrew asked. Jake grinned, “I was just showing Milly some funny home videos Dustin and I made.” My smile faded. Jake’s main way of getting over his grieving was to remember the good memories he had with her. “You’re in them too Angela,” Milly said. “Where is Dustin now?” she asked. “I’d like to meet her.” Jake looked sad as he started to answer, but I cut him off. “She doesn’t live here anymore, unfortunately,” I said, trying to keep my cool. Jake looked at me with a confused expression. I looked straight into his eyes for a second, and then he nodded. I figured he had gotten the message. “That’s a bummer. I really wanted to meet her. Did she go away to college?” Milly continued. Jake and I said nothing, and Andrew flashed an expression to her that said shut your mouth. Her eyes widened and she said nothing more. She got the picture. Jake looked at me seriously and said, “Do you want to come watch the videos with us?” I was quiet for a second, and then I nodded and said, “Yea. Let’s watch ‘em.”

We all walked into Jake’s room and Jake sat in front of his computer. He clicked a button and a menu of the videos showed up on the screen. He clicked the video with Dustin on the swing. It went to full screen and I struggled to hold back tears as I saw Dustin on the swing at our summer house. She was laughing and saying, “Hello, viewers of this random home video! My name is Dustin, and I am currently on my swing!” I couldn’t see her face, but I still remembered it clearly. The video ended, obviously one of the pointless videos her and Jake made while they were waiting for the rest of the family to finish washing dishes. Another video came up. This video started zoomed in on Dustin’s face. “Hey, people!” she whispered. The video was dark, but not dark enough so that you couldn’t see her face or her surroundings. She turned the camera towards Jake and he whispered, “Right now, we are sneaking into our sister’s bedroom to try and pull a prank on her. Last time we tried this, we were to loud and we woke her up, so we gotta keep quiet!” He put his fingers to his. Dustin turned the camera towards her and put her finger to her lips, too. Then she turned the camera so that it was facing in front of her and she zoomed in on my doorknob as Jake slowly turned it. They opened the door and I saw that it was my room at the summer house. Dustin turned the camera toward her face and whispered, “Shhh! We’re gonna set up the camera so that you can get in on the action.” Then there was a crackling noise and the camera moved a lot as Dustin set up the camera on top of my drawers. “Shhh!” Jake and Dustin whispered in unison. I smiled slightly as I watched Dustin take the cap off of her lipstick and try to draw an ‘L’ on my forehead. She caught about one dot before I woke up. “WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?” I yelled. Jake and Dustin broke into laughter as I noticed the lipstick in Dustin’s hand, quickly turned on my lamp, and ran to the mirror to see if there was anything on my face. I started to run towards them and Dustin grabbed the camera. Then all I could see was blurriness as Dustin and Jake ran down the stairs and all around the house as I chased them. I could hear laughter and screaming and then, suddenly. It was completely silent. Dustin pulled down the lamp cord in the little storage room under the stairs. Jake was trying to stop laughing. “We are trying to hide from Angela,” Dustin said through laughs. Then I opened the door and said, “HA! I found you!”

“Aaaaah!” Dustin and Jake screamed through laughs. The camera turned off. Andrew was laughing hysterically, “Sheesh, Angela! You’ve got quite a temper!” Jake and Milly were laughing to, and I smiled. “Good times!” Jake said.


© 2009

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Broken Glass, Broken Hearts (short story) part 14

I drove away from Angela's house feeling the happiest I had been in a long time. The whole day had been...well, to be quite frank, (and though this may sound lame,) the whole day was such a rush! All day my subconscious was telling me that she was looking at me. That she was STARING at me. (On normal circumstances, someone staring at me for most of the day would creep me out, but you know, this was kind of different. Kind of majorly different.) And when I moved the hair away from her eyes, (which was a total instinct by the way...ok, so I really wanted to do it-but still,) she looked at me with this expression...I don't even know how to describe it. But it was amazing. I felt like she was beginning to feel the same way about me as I do about her. Well, maybe not as strong, but she still seemed like she liked me. A lot. Which is good. 'Cause I love her.
I got home and Milly was painting her toe nails black in the living room with Good Charlotte blasting from the surround sound stereos. "Where's grandma?" I asked. "She went away for a few days. She was gonna hire a babysitter but I said that was stupid since you were old enough to babysit and there was no reason to waste money. She agreed eventually and she left a couple hours ago. I think she said she'll be back...tuesday or wedneday." I frowned, "What are supposed to do about meals?" Milly motioned toward the counter and said, "She left money for A LOT of pizza and she told me to tell you that we have cereal and we could take care of lunch ourselves." I smiled, "Pizza every night? We haven't done that since-" I caught myself and didn't finish. "Since '03," Milly finished for me. "Um...do you wanna meet some of our neighbors? I met some really nice people that live nearby," I said. Milly laughed, "I'll bet. You've been spending every second with her." I rolled my eyes, "We're not dating."
"No, but you wish you were," she said. My eyebrows rose. Could she read my mind or something? "You're easy to read," she said with a sly smile. "Ok...well...let's go. I think she has a little brother your age." She scoffed, "Gross. I hate boys." I laughed, "Does that include me?" I asked. She shrugged, "Not really."
"Ok well let's go.
I rang the doorbell and Jake answered it. "Hey Jake," I said. "Hey Tyler," he replied. "ANGIE! YOUR BOYFRIEND AND COMPANY ARE HERE!" he yelled. "HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" Angela yelled back as she ran downstairs. "But he wishes he was," Milly whispered to me. Jake looked at her and smiled. I wedged her in the side with my elbow. She only smiled wider. "Hi Andrew. Hi..." Angela said as she walked up to us. "Milly," Jake, Milly and I all said at the same time. Angela laughed, "Hi Milly. Do you know my brother?" Milly nodded. "Do you wanna go hang out with him upstairs?" Angela asked with a half smile. Milly shrugged and her eyes widened as Jake grabbed her hand and pulled her upstairs. "Hi Andrew. What's up?" Angela asked.

© 2009

Broken Glass, Broken Hearts (short story) part 13



I dialed my sister's old cell phone number into the landline. Tears welled up in my eyes as I heard my sister's voice on the message machine. "Hello?" she said. There was a pause and then she said, "Um, actually this isn't Dustin. Its her friend. Dustin's at the grocery store right now. Can I take a message?" Then it beeped. It wasn't the first time I had called her cell just to hear her voice, but it was the first time that I left a message. "Umm..." I started to say through tears and sniffles. "Hi Dusty...its me. I miss you...I miss you a lot Dusty. I wish...I wish you were here. A lot's been happening. I met this guy..." I half laughed as I imagined what my sister's reaction would be to that. "He's really sweet. And cute. You'd like him. ...so...I've been thinking a lot about...Christianity. I remember you always telling me about it...I'm thinking about...um...looking into it. Anyway...I miss you. I love you," and then, just to add drama to the moment, (no, not literally,) I said, "call me back." I hung up the phone, put my head down in between my knees, and just allowed myself to cry for a while. I didn't understand why I couldn't move on with my life. Most people would be over grieving by now. My parents were on vacation, trying to distract themselves. My brother was of course still sad, but he didn't have these dramatic little weeping sessions or random flashbacks all the time. (Well, as far as I know.) Why couldn't I just deal with it? I always asked myself that, but really, deep down, I knew the answer. It was because I didn't know where she was. I wasn't sure if I believed in God and heaven. That's one of the main reasons I decided to look into Christianity. I needed to know that she was safe.
Tyler came to pick me up again the next morning. "Morning, sunshine!" he said as I walked up with a yellow swoop neck t-shirt and jeans. "Morning yourself," I said with a smile. Of course I was still sad about my sister, but just being in the presence of Tyler made me happier. He just glowed with this overwhelming happiness. Tyler opened the door for me and I said, "Hey...wait a second...its Saturday." I turned to him and he nodded and said, "Your point?" I put on a confused expression, "Why are you picking me up?" He smiled, "We're going adventuring!" I shrugged, "Ok."
Tyler took me to a little campground surrounded by trees in the middle of the mountains. "Come see this," he said as he walked with me past the empty campground and into the trees. He brought me down an unmarked trail for quite a while, and then suddenly we were on the shore of a large pond. It was beautiful! "Wanna swim?" he asked with a smile. I laughed, "Maybe later. Lets just put our feet in for now."
"Wait," he said, "it gets better." He walked over to a huge tree with an extremely thick trunk. He went around to the other side of the tree and I followed him. The tree was hollow and a small raft stuck out of the opening. Tyler smiled at my wide eyes. "My sister and my dad and I used to come here and float around on this raft in the pond," he said longingly. I could tell he missed his dad. "Do you want to..." I started to ask, staring at the raft. He smiled and nodded.
Before I knew it, Tyler and I were laying down on the raft facing each other and telling funny childhood stories. "My sister and I used to sit in that treehouse you saw for hours just staring at the Orlando Bloom poster we put up on the ceiling and talking about how beautiful he is," I said with a laugh. He smiled, "I didn't know you had a sister. Is she on vacation with your parents?" My smile faded, but I tried to compose my face. "She doesn't live...in the house anymore." His eyebrows rose. "Forget I asked," he said. I nodded. He told me more stories about his crazy hippie family and their life on the road in their hippie van/trailer. I laughed so much! I was so happy. He was laying on his back the whole time he was talking and I was laying on my side, facing him, and watching his funny hand motions. He stopped talking for a minute. I watched as he brushed his hand through his hair. It took my breath away. Then he turned onto his side, facing me, and smiled. My heart stopped. I had the sudden urge to say 'I love you'. And I would have, too, if it hadn't been for the fact that he suddenly rolled off the raft and into the water, clothes and all. I laughed histerically. "Come on in, the water's nice!" he said with a laugh. I smiled and cannon balled into the water. "That's the spirit!" he said as we bobbed in the water, laughing. Hair was all over my face and Tyler reached over and pushed some of it away from my eyes. Something in me told me to run away. Something in me told me I wasn't ready to be in a relationship. Something else told me that I was being stupid. That I was falling in love with this guy, and I needed to let him in. Luckily, I didn't have to make a decision right then and there, 'cause Tyler dove under the water and sprung up on the other side of the pond. I laughed and swam over to him. We raced back and forth across the pond until we were completely exhausted, and then we got out and he took me home. It was the most amazing day, other than the day of the dance, that I had had since my sister's death. And I made a decision.

© 2009

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Cool. Weird. Whatever. part 1

Chapter 1 Deciphering Pain
Some people say that I'm really cool. Some people say that I’m really weird. I say whatever.

I have figured out how pain works. Pain is all in your head. I figured out a way to stop pain. I figured out how to program my brain into thinking I’m not in pain, and then I feel nothing. Some people think that’s cool. Some people think that’s weird. I think whatever.

I can have anything I want. So what should I do? I can convince myself (and others around me)

that I am on the shore of a beach in Hawaii, with wind blowing my hair and cool sea foam brushing

on my face. I can make myself smell fresh cookies baking in the little oven in the kitchen. I can bite

into disgusting lasagna and convince myself that I'm eating prime ribs at a fancy restaurant in Europe.

Why I can do these things, I'm not sure. But I think it has something to do with my scar.

My scar is in the shape of a crescent moon. It looks like a vampire bite. Something out of a horror

movie. It has been there ever since the day my 'parents' found me. And for all I know, it was there

before that too. It is a strange bite mark. My doctor said that it could be from anything. A dog, a wolf,

a fox, a coyote. But every time I use my...ability...my scar burns like its on fire. It seems to me like a

battery. It gets worn down when its used, but it takes part in tasks that are quite beyond your

expectations of a scar.

Let me just explain to you exactly what I am capable of doing. My mind, different from most, is in

my control. Controlling my brain is like driving the winning race car. I can do ANYTHING. I have

previously experimented with programming the 'memory chamber' in my brain to be able to see my

future as well as my past. I have programmed my brain so that I may 'wirelessly connect', as I call it, to

other people's brains. Aka, I can read minds. And I can put my thoughts into other people's minds. Not

only can I do all these impossible (or so I thought,) acts, but I can also change things in my brain so that

I can perform physical acts of impossible feats. Strength, for example, and speed. I'm like a superhero.

Only it sucks and I save no one.


Super powers: as pointless as sugar free chocolate.

The thing about my abilities is that they usually cause destruction, not only to the world around but also

to myself. Especially using my physical abilities. Programming my brain so that I can do things out of the

ordinary does not come without a price. While gaining unordinary capabilities, I also lose ordinary, and

necessary, capabilities. Reading people's minds freaks me out and makes me realize why God didn't give

us the ability to hear each other's thoughts himself. I hear people thinking about killing themselves. And

I can't do anything about it. What am I supposed to do, tell them "Don't do it!"and then when they ask

how I even know they were going to, tell them I read their mind? No, no one knows about my abilities

other than me and my parents. And no one ever shall.


© 2009

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Midsummer Day's Dream part 2

(Lysander/Peter) 

I felt the wind on my face as Rain Dance flew out across a meadow. Rain, frightened, tightened her grasp around my stomach. I smiled and kicked Rain Dance lightly. She sped up. We were going so fast that Rain started screaming. Although I knew she had been asking me to slow down, I could hear the happiness in her screams.  “PETER!” she screamed. “ALRIGHT,ALRIGHT!” I yelled back with a laugh. I slowed Rain Dance and jumped off her back. I put out my hand to help Rain down, but she seemed paralyzed to her saddle. I laughed, “Come on Rain, I know its nice up there, but you gotta come down some time.” Rain just stared out in front of her wit wide eyes. I smiled. “Rain,” I whispered as I put my hand out closer her. She looked down at me, her eyes still wide. “B-bandits,” she whispered. My eyes widened too and I looked out to where she was once again staring. There, less than twenty feet in front of us, was a group of bandits. They all had guns, meant for hunting but obviously not used for it. I grabbed Rain’s arm and literally pulled her off of Rain Dance. I pushed her behind me. I grabbed both of her arms and walked carefully with her in front of Rain Dance, knowing that it was her they wanted. “That’s a nice girl you got there,” a man with brown hair said. Rain squeezed my hand. “The horse I mean,” he added with a chuckle. He stepped forward and I pushed Rain Dance slightly back. “Mind if we take her? If you let us, we’ll leave the human girl with you.” I glared at him, “This is MY horse,” I said through gritted teeth. “Have it your way,” the man replied as he pointed his gun in the direction of Rain. I moved her so that they couldn’t get her without getting me. The man smiled, “So that’s YOUR girl then?” he said. The men with him laughed. “Well, I’m afraid that in this situation lad, you either get the girl, or you get the horse,” he said with a grin. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a rifle. “Or,” I said, taking a step towards him, “I could keep both and you could go on your way.” The man’s eyes widened as I pointed my gun directly at him. “Drop your gun,” I muttered. He dropped his gun and put his hands up. “Them too,”  I said, motioning towards the other men but not looking away from him. “Drop your guns, boys!” he said loudly. They didn’t budge. He gritted his teeth. “I SAID DROP YOUR GUNS!” he hollered. The guns dropped. “Now GO,” I said. The man started to reach down for his gun. “LEAVE THE GUNS!” I yelled. He stood up, put his hands back in the air, and started to leave, pushing his men along with him. I waited until they were a good distance from their guns and then I jumped back onto Rain Dance, helped Rain up, and took off.   


© 2009

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Broken Glass, Broken Hearts (short story) part 12

I went home that day with a lot on my mind. I hadn't had so much information to think about since my sister's death! I lay on my bed that night and stared up at the ceiling. What was I supposed to do?

I walked into my house that night and heard nothing. Total, utter silence filled the whole house. It was darker inside than it was outside, and it was pitch black outside. No wind came in through the windows, though there was a storm outside and we usually left most of our windows open. Nobody was home, I knew that from the fact that there were no cars in the driveway. I was surprised by this, because my sister was supposed to be home. I tried to flip on the entryway light, but it wouldn't turn on. I suspected a dead lightbulb. I walked into the kitchen and tried to flip that one on, but it didn't work either. "Great," I muttered, "power outage."
"Tyler? Is that you?" my sister's voice yelled from upstairs. "Yea Milly, its me. What are you doing in here with all the light off?" I yelled back. "HEL-LO-O, power outage," she said as she walked down the stairs. I couldn't see her at all, but I heard her voice coming closer to me so I just assumed that she was coming downstairs. "Why don't we ditch this joint and go out for ice cream?" I asked with a smile in my voice. She scoffed, "No thanks." I sighed and remembered the days when she was tiny and we did everything together. I took her to theme parks and malls and Thrifty's ice cream shop. But then the incident of '03 happened, and all of that ended. She became a total emo. She hated life, she hated everyone. She died her hair black and wore a bunch of dark clothes. She started hanging out with all these other creepy emos. "How about we rent a movie?" I asked. She shrugged, "Maybe. If we don't get some lame romance." I laughed, "Me? A romance? Please. Lets get a horror!" She smiled shyly and shrugged, "Ok, I guess." I smiled and went into the garage. I plugged my ipod in and played Boom Boom Pow by the Black Eyed Peas. I turned it up as loud as was safe for the car, and Milly got in. She crumpled her nose, "I hate this song." I changed it to I Write Sins Not Tragedies by Panic at the Disco. "Do you like this one?" I asked. She shrugged, but I could tell she liked it. I turned it up and she half smiled.  I started screaming the words and she laughed. At the words "I love you" I turned my head and whispered "I love you" to her in a playfully dramatic voice. She laughed and started to sing with me. "I CHIME IN WITH A HAVEN'T YOU PEOPLE EVER HEARD OF CLOSING THE DOOR, NO!" we yelled. At the word 'again', I tipped my head back and yelled it out. She laughed loudly. It was the first time I had seen her smile in a long time, and I was happy.
We walked into Blockbuster and I previewed all the horror movies for her. "The Uninvited, a charming tale about a psycho person who blamed her papa's girlfriend for her mommy's death," I said in the voice of the people in commercials. She smiled and shook her head. I pulled out Taken and said, in my commercial voice, "A story about two girls who want to travel Europe on their own and then get kidnapped and have to be saved by Papa." She shook her head again. This went on for a while and then I pulled out the movie The Messengers and said, "A lovely little story about a family who moves into a house full of ghosts who want revenge on their murderer and how the new family gets mixed in." Milly took the movie from my hand and read the back. "Let's get this one," she said. "Of course, your heighness," I said. "Don't call me that," she said in an annoyed tone. I put my hands in front of me, "Whoa! No offense intented." 
"Whatever," she said. We drove home and watched the movie. The movie was pretty good, but I more enjoyed the time with m sister. I know it might sound kind of lame for a guy to love spending time with his little sister, but the fact is I love her. Guys and girls enjoy spending time with the people they love, believe it or not.

© 2009

Monday, July 6, 2009

Broken Glass, Broken Hearts (short story) part 11

My sister had always been a Christian. She had told me about Jesus and encouraged me to read the bible and go to church with her. But I wasn't sure if I had ever actually become a Christian. To me, Christianity seemed like a nice idea, but I was never sure if I was ready to commit. But with Tyler, the happiest person I had ever met, telling me about his dark past and how God had shaped his life, I felt like becoming a Christian was more of a necessity than just an optional life choice.

I looked over at her as I pulled into the school parking lot. "You seem like you're thinking hard," I said. She smiled half-heartedly. "Well, that was a lot to take in, you know," she said with a shrug. I realized that I didn't know if Angela was a Christian or not. For a non Christian, that really would have been A LOT of information to take in. But as I sat there and looked at the cars in front of me, I realized that I was glad I had shared all of that with her. I was in love with her. She needed to know that stuff about me. And if she wasn't a Christian, maybe I could help her to become one. I didn't want to just try and convert her, but I felt so much for her. I couldn't imagine the person I was in love with having to face life without God. Even harder was to think of what would happen to her after life if she didn't become a Christian. I felt a sudden urge to get her to believe. I couldn't lose the one I loved.
Angela seemed spaced out for the  rest of the day. "Is there something wrong?" I whispered to her during lunch. She shook her head, "No...I'm...I'm just thinking." I bit my lip. "About what I told you?" I asked hopefully. She nodded. I started to smile, and then she turned to me and said, "My si- uh...someone I used to know was a Christian, I think. She tried to convince me...but I don't know if I ever became a  Christian." She looked very confused and dismayed, "How do you know if you're really a Christian?" I sucked in my breath. Did she want to become a Christian too? I hoped so. "If you believe that Jesus died to take away your sins, and you ask God to enter your heart, then you'll be a Christian," I said. Selena walked up with a tray of food and sat across from Angela and I. Her possy walked up behind her and sat on either side of her. "What are you guys talking about?" Selena asked as she stuck a straw into her juice. I hesitated, but Angela went right out ahead and said, "We're talking about Christianity." Selena almost spit out her juice. "Seriously?" she asked. Angela's eyebrows went up, "Is there something wrong with that?" Selena looked utterly surprised and confused. "Umm...no," she started to say, "Its just...not what I expected." Angela surprised everyone at the table when she said, "Are you a Christian Selena?" Even more surprising than Angela's question was Selena's response. She nodded. "Yea. I have been since I was five," she said. I couldn't believe it. "Really?" I asked. She smiled and nodded, "You didn't expect that either, did you?"Angela and I both shook our heads. Selena laughed, "Well I'm not making it up."

© 2009

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Broken Glass, Broken Hearts (short story) part 10

I walked out of my driveway wearing a white shirt covered in blue and green skulls, hot pink shorts, neon sunglasses, tube socks and a side ponytail. It was eighty's day. I was feeling a little embarrassed and wondering what Tyler would think. I knew, of course, that everyone at school would be dressed wearing this kind of stuff, but I still felt kind of self conscious. My style was usually a white tank top, black jacket, dark jeans, and white or brown sandals. The one piece of jewelry I ever really wore was a white string with a tiny silver cross hanging from it. I had never dressed up for eighty's day, or any other spirit day for that matter. But Tyler had called the night before and insisted that I dress up. So I had gone through some of my sister's old clothes and managed to find this outfit. Wearing it reminded me of her crazy outfits. Her style was usually a hot pink tank top with a picture of the band 'Good Charlotte', a bright blue mini skirt with hot pink polka dots, lime green rain boots, five hundred gold bracelets, purple guitar pick earrings, and neon orange Ray Benz. Wearing her clothes felt a little strange, but it was also refreshing. Ever since I met Tyler, I had been backing away from my memories a little bit less. I felt like remembering her was a necessary part of the healing process.
Tyler pulled up to my driveway in his little black car. I laughed as I saw his outfit. He had a neon striped sweat band on his head, a white shirt, tube socks, neon sunglasses and shorts, and tennis shoes. "Angela!" he called, as if there were other people there and it was actually necessary to call me out. I looked around pretending I couldn't find him. He got out of his car and waved his hands wildly, "ANG! OVER HERE!" he called. I looked past him toward the trees. "No, no! Right here!" he said. I laughed and looked at him, "There you are!" I said. "Nice outfit," he replied. I laughed, "Hey, this was your idea-" I started to say. He put his hands up, "Total respect! The eighty's were da' bomb, man!" I laughed, "As if you were alive then."
"Naw," he said with a shrug, "But my family carried over. We kept the eighty's goin' all the way
'til '03!"
"What happened at '03?" I asked with casual curiosity as I climbed into the passenger seat. He furrowed his brow, "A lot of things." He had a look on his face that I had never seen before. It was an expression of confusion and anger. Not just confusion like he didn't understand what someone had said. Confusion that appeared to have been caused by some ancient inner battle that had never ended. A battle where both sides had surrendered, and no one ever found out who had won. I didn't ask more, worried that I had struck a chord a bit too personal, but he continued. "My parents divorced," he said. I felt hugely guilty for having brought it up. I was about to say how sorry I was, but I didn't get the chance. I'm sure I got the most shocked expression that was humanly possible when I heard what he said next. "I was twelve when it happened. I didn't understand it. My family didn't believe in divorce. They disapproved of it as much as some people nowadays disapprove of abortion. They were also deeply in love. They went on dates every weekend. They always grossed me out by being all 'mushy gushy' and cliche. Then one day when my parents are both at work and my grandma is over watching me until they get home, she pops the big news. She told me that my sister and I were going to move in with her. When I asked her why the heck we would do that, she told me that my parents were getting divorced. And as if that wasn't enough, she also told that my sister and I had to live with her because the child care services did not approve of us living with either of my parents. I went into complete, utter shock. The weekend before she told me this, my parents had gone to the movies. They had a great time, and they were totally in love. And you know how when a kid's parents get divorced, the kid almost always automatically blames themselves? I had good reason to blame myself. I found out that the reason my parents were divorcing was because they had found out that child care services were refusing that Milly and I live with either of them, and they blamed that on each other. They were so furious about this that they broke their strict no-divorcing code and split. I went into a deep depression. My parents both moved as far away from each other as possible, and I ended up never getting to visit them. I haven't seen either of them in five years. My depression got worse and worse, and I even considered suicide." I couldn't believe my ears. Tyler, the most happy-go-lucky person I had ever met, was telling me that he had considered depression in his not-so-distant past. "But..." I started to say, "what happened? You're...you're so happy! You cheer up everyone you meet! How can that be true?" He smiled, "That's the good part! My grandma was one of those super religious people. You know, the ones stereotyped as 'Jesus Freaks'. She made me go to church every sunday. I hated that place. Honestly, I had this deep horrible hatred for that place and everyone in it. I hated the way everyone there was so happy. I hated how they talked about how God had changed their lives. I hated their phony smiles and their freakish innocence. I hated the fact that every single kid I knew that went there had two parents who loved them. I hated how they told me that if I accepted Jesus, I could have a heavenly father. I told them that my first experience with a father had ended horribly and I didn't want another one. But there was one thing that I hated more than anything in the world. More than the child care services, more than divorce." He laughed half heartedly as he went on, "And her name was Scarlett. Scarlett May. She went to my school, she went to my church, and she lived directly next to my grandmother's house. My grandma, of course, thought she was totally adorable and a complete angel, so she invited her over to play with me all the time. I swear, all the girl ever wanted to do was preach to me! She started off easy, and then she started bringing over her bible and her devotional. She even bought me a bible. Its not like I didn't think it was nice that she cared about me so much, but I felt that I got just about as much preaching as I could take. Like I said, I hated everything about church. I didn't want to know about God or Jesus. So Scarlett was my worst nightmare. But that all changed when my grandma sent me to summer camp. When I first got there, I thought I was going to have the most miserable week of my life. Everybody there knew each other and was laughing and smiling and jumping and screaming. The only person I knew was Scarlett. There was a lake with a zip-line and an extremely high diving board. There were tons of cabins and a chapel and a ropes course and a pool. It was every kid's dream. But not mine. It looked like a big ol' torcher chamber to me. I went to my cabin and spoke to no one as all the guys talked and screamed and threw clothes at each other. I sat next to my bed and took as long as humanly possible to unpack all my clothes and put them into my drawer. Some guys tried to be friendly and talk to me, but I kept to myself. When my counselor told me that the whole camp was going to be sharing testimonies that night, I rolled my eyes and expected the worst. But when I sat down on the round outdoor staircase, I was shocked. People there had stories that were more depressing than mine. But they had all been transformed by God. I was paying complete attention by the time they got to Scarlett. I rolled my eyes and expected her to tell a story about a pet dying or something. But when she spoke, I was caught totally off guard. I found out that when she was ten years old, she had been in a terrible car accident and she had watched as her little brother died in her arms before the ambulance could get there. Her parents had died too, and she was left an orphan with no relatives since her parents were both only children and her grandparents had died before she was born. I was confused, just like you were when I told you my story. How could she be so happy? I found out exactly what had happened: she had found God. Her adopted parents had brought her to church and read the bible with her everyday. She said that God had spoken to her one day. By now, you can imagine, I was totally engrossed in her story. But I was once again caught off guard when she looked directly at me and said that God had told her to talk to the boy who had moved in next door. She said that God had assigned her to be his teacher. To bring him to Jesus. I knew that she was talking about me. And she accomplished her goal. She brought me to Jesus. And it was a slow process, but eventually I came out of my shell, with God's help, and became who I am today." I could not believe this. Tyler was a Christian. Tyler's whole life had been changed by becoming a Christian. I thought for a moment. Was I a Christian?

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