Letters

Dear Milly,
Hey, it's Tod. I haven't talked to you in a while. You're leaving really hit me hard, I guess. We had a lot of memories together. This letter is gonna be kinda sappy, so you don't have to read it if you don't want to. Anyway, I've really missed you. I wasn't really ready to let you go, and I'm sad that I didn't spend enough time with you before. The truth is, I love you Milly. I know I'm not the kind of guy that would say something like that, but I mean it. Anyways, I'm making something for you. If you're looking down from heaven, I guess you'll see it. I haven't told anyone about it and I don't plan to. It'll just be ours. I guess I won't know for a while if you liked me back or not, but I'll wait.
Love, Tod
P.S. See you soon!

Dear Tod,
I’m writing this note because I have something to tell you. I know I’ve been friends with you for years, but deep down, I’ve always felt like you were more than just a friend. I don’t know how to say this, because I don’t want you to get freaked out or anything. The truth is, I love you Tod. I always have and I always will. I’m not sure how you feel about me, but no matter what you want, I’ll follow you. You’re still my best friend. I guess I’ll see you at church on Sunday.
Love, Milly

Moving Forward~Milly Callum

Moving Forward

I looked down into the box without believing what I was seeing. After I was out of my stupor, I ran down the stairs as fast as I could and all the way to God’s throne, forgetting to set down the box on my way there. “They’re going back!” I yelled. “They’re going back to the church!” I collapsed into his arms. “They’re going back.” He smiled and I stepped back so I could look at him. “Do you want to see Tod now?” He asked. I smiled wider than I had been already, which was almost impossible at this point. With tears in my eyes, I nodded. His face turned more serious. “You have to let go of the world.” He said. “I don’t understand. I’m in heaven. How do I let go of the world?” He looked down at the box in my hands, and I understood. “I have to destroy this if I want to see Tod?” He nodded. I was sad for a moment before realizing that now was the perfect time to destroy it. Everyone’s problems were coming to an end, and if I destroyed the box now, that would be how I remembered them. I looked up at him. “How do I destroy it?” I asked. In response, he stepped back and gestured to the floor. I nodded at him, to let him know that I understood. I lifted the box high above my head, brushing my wings in the process. Then I dropped it. I watched it as it fell in agonizingly slow motion toward the ground. It made contact with the ground and shattered, scattering the pieces in all directions. The next thing I knew, everything around me started to fade into nothing.

~~~*~_~*~~~

To all of my Friends,
I write to you now to assure you of the truth of this story. But before I do, I should explain to you what parts are actually true. Everything that has happened in ‘heaven’ is a dream made up from my own head. I am happy to say that I am in the real heaven now, along with all of my friends that I watched while in my heaven. If you were wondering, most of them died of natural causes, all except Ali and Cassy, both taken by cancer; Ali at 54 and Cassy at 67. Their children and their children’s children live all over the world, serving as everything from missionaries to counselors to carpenters, all with a powerful love for God. I look forward to meeting each and every one of them when their time comes. Everything I’ve spoken of happening on earth, well, that has all been very real. The tree where Tod hid our notes is still there, and the notes are still in place, though the area looks a little different now. It’s become known as “TM Park”, although very few people know what the TM stands for. Our letters have never been found. Everyone simply believes that someone carved a heart in a tree long, long ago. No one has ever thought to look under the carving. I’ve rewritten the letters for anyone who is curious as to their contents. I will say that there is not much to them but the love of two young people. But for Tod and I, they were everything. I cannot say much more, except that I hope to see you all very soon.
Love always, Milly

Going Back~Cassy Callum

Going Back

I woke up the next morning at noon, to the sound of the phone ringing in the living room. I must’ve slept so late because I was up all night talking to Lisa. I had just barely woken up when Lisa picked up the phone in the other room. I listened to her side of the conversation tiredly. “Hello?” She listened as he person on the other end spoke. “May I tell her who’s calling?” Another pause, this one long. Finally, she stuttered, “O-oh. Ok. Hold on.” I heard her run down the hall to give the phone to our mom. Then she came back to my room, running the whole way.“Cassy, you will never, in a million years, guess who just called us.” She said, throwing herself onto my bed. “Was it Mitchel Musso?” I asked, still half asleep. In my eyes, it would most definitely be a historical event for the Disney star to call our house. “What? Why would-” I heard her laugh and she started shaking me. “Wake up!” I turned over in my bed and tried to look at her, but my eyes wouldn’t stay open. “Joe Belle just called.” She said dramatically. That got me awake. I shot straight up in my bed and looked at her.“You’re lying!” I said.“No I’m not!” She said. “Mom’s out there right now, talking to him.” She pointed toward my closed door.“What are they saying?” I asked. I reached up to rub my eyes while she answered.“I don‘t know. I didn‘t listen long enough to figure it out.” She stopped. “But he probably just wants to gloat some more. Rub it in our face that he made us leave and he got to stay. Why else would he call?” I thought about it. I couldn’t think much, because the brain fog of sleep was starting to take over my brain again. Either way, I tried to look on the bright side. “Maybe he wants to say he’s sorry.” I twisted my hands in my lap and I heard Lisa sigh. “I wish things were like that.” She said. “But I don’t think that’ll ever happen. Joe is not the kind of guy to admit he’s wrong, and unless he does, he’s just going to start this whole fight over again.” She started to twist her hands as well. “I hate to say it, but this call is probably just going to make things worse.” She sighed again.“Maybe it’ll make things better.” I said hopefully. “We could try to figure out what they’re saying.” I suggested. I hated not knowing what was going on around me. At least if I knew, I would know how to fight it. “Cassy, I don’t want to have to listen to them fight. I don’t want you to have to listen to them fight, either. The best thing to do is just stay in here until mom comes in here and tells us that everything is all right, even though it isn’t.” She frowned and I knew from experience that she was trying not to cry. I wanted to trust that she knew best, but I had a feeling that something was about to happen that I didn’t want to miss. “Can’t we go listen for just a little while? If they start fighting we can come back here and listen to your music until we can’t hear anything, okay?” I said, hoping she would agree. I didn’t want to go out there alone. I wanted her to come with me. I could see that she was thinking, but I recognized her expression. It was the one that said, ‘I really shouldn’t be doing this, but I’m going to anyway.’ “Fine.” She said. “We’ll do it. But I can’t promise you this is gonna turn out the way you want it to.” I nodded. If you’ve ever had that feeling where you aren’t worried about something until someone warns you about how bad it could turn out, you know what I felt right then. We crept out into the hallway, keeping as quiet as we possibly could. I tried to peek around the wall to get a better look, but Lisa gripped my arm and pulled me back. When I looked at her, she shook her head as if to say, ‘Don’t push it.’ I nodded my head and turned back to look forward. I crouched and listened to my mom talking while Lisa crouched behind me with her hand on my shoulder, and I could tell she was nervous. Both of us listened quietly to our mom’s end of the conversation. “Joe, this is very unexpected.” She said. “It’s a good idea, but are you sure we could do it?” She sighed. “We have our own church that we’ve settled into now, and I don’t want to put the girls through all of this again…especially if it ends up working out the same as…” Another pause. “You have to realize that even if we work this out, we may not come back. Lisa and Cassy have been through enough and I’m not pulling them out of another church. She listened to Joe. “No, I don‘t think they are. And I don‘t know how to change that.” She said, sounding defeated, thought I couldn’t imagine why. “You can’t blame me for being a skeptic.” She said. “You haven’t exactly kept your promises in the past.”I started to get nervous. Mom never talked to Joe like this without it leading to some sort of fight. Lisa was thinking the same thing. “Come on, Cassy. We don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to.” She tugged on my arm. “Just a little longer.” My legs started to feel weak and I leaned into the wall for support. The rest of the conversation went on in a whisper, and I had to strain to hear it. Meanwhile, Lisa was nervously glancing behind us, as if calculating how long it would take to run back to my room if things got bad.Mom kept on. “What do you expect us to do, Joe? Just pack up and leave another church so that we can come back to one that treated us like dirt the first time we were there? Without a guarantee that we’ll be welcomed back?” She paused for effect. “That doesn’t exactly sound like a fair deal on our side.” She waited for him to respond to this. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Joe. We have two entirely different viewpoints. We’re never going to see eye to eye.” She stopped and took a breath. “What makes you think that could change now?” His response obviously shocked her. “You’ve been praying?” I peeked around the corner and saw her hang her head, still holding the phone to her ear. Her voice got so soft that I barely heard what she said. “Joe, I’ll call you back. I need to talk to the Cassy and Lisa about this, and I’ve got some praying to do myself.” She waited while he said his goodbyes, which she responded to with a quiet, “Mhm.”I turned around to look at Lisa, who had her lips pressed together in a thin line and looked like she was about to cry. “We can go now.” I said. She turned and we both walked back to my room and sat on the bed. “What’s wrong?” I asked when the door was shut.For a moment, she sat on the edge of the bed without saying anything. When she did speak, she was quiet. “I can’t believe it.” She said. “We might be going back.”I smiled. “I’d get to see Lacey!” Lisa still looked ready to cry. “You don’t want to go back?” She shook her head.“That’s not it. I just got used to not being there, you know. And now to be going back…it’s just…” She blinked and two tears rolled down her face. “It’ll be so different from when we left.” All of the sudden, she sniffed, straightened her back and quickly wiped her sleeve across her wet cheek. “But we shouldn’t even worry about it, because Mom might not want to go back either way.” Just then the door clicked open and mom opened the door slowly. She wasn’t wearing the smile that she normally did. Part of me was relieved, and the other part was worried. “Girls, I need to talk to you about the phone call I just got.” Before she got any further, I interrupted. “We know what happened, Mom.” Lisa looked over at me and I think she almost smiled. “I think we should go back to the church.” Now my mom looked like she was going to cry. She came and sat in between Lisa and me. “Are you sure that’s what you want?” She asked. I nodded fervently. She turned to Lisa, who smiled and nodded. “Even after all that’s happened, you girls want to go back?” She asked. Lisa took over.“It’s always been our church, Mom. That never changed when we left.” She paused. “That’s why we never stopped calling it ‘the church’.” She smiled and another tear fell down her cheek. “It’s our home, Mom. We have to go back.”Mom put her arms around both of us and hugged us tight. “I’m so proud of you girls.” She cried. “You’re some of the strongest people I know.” I sat up and kissed her on the cheek. “You’re stronger, Mom.”With that, she started crying and just sat on the edge of my bed, crying and holding each other and not saying anything. After a few minutes, she wiped her eyes the way Lisa had just done. She stood up from the bed and turned to look back at us. “I guess I’m going to go call Joe, then.” She said, and walked out the door

Amazing Words~Ali Cummings

Amazing Words

A few hours after I came home from the church, I heard Matt’s car pull out of the driveway. I figured he had gotten lost on the way back. He wasn’t exactly what I would call an experienced woodsman. I didn’t really see his leaving as relevant. I had already broken up with him.
That was kind of a smack in the face for me. I mean, we had only been dating a week and already it felt as though I would never look at him the same again. I had tried calling Niki when I got home, but she didn’t answer her cell. A couple of months ago, I would’ve called Milly and told her about it, but I couldn’t talk to her right now. This only seemed to add depth to my depression.
I heard my mom rolling through the hallway on the far side of the house and I was struck with an idea. Maybe I could talk to her about it…but that was ludicrous. It would never work. I would walk away feeling exactly the same as I had, if not worse. But maybe it will. The other side of me argued. It felt like my mind had split into two teams, each with it’s own opinion and idea about the consequences of my choice. One half of me wanted to believe that it would work, but the other half of me was fighting for the logical side, I believed. My mom and I had never been close. Well, not since her accident, anyway. She was always saying things now that made it seem like she didn’t want me around or she didn’t care about me anymore. That kinda made it hard to have any decent relationship with her.
Her wheels got closer and I knew that I would have to talk to her now, if ever. If I didn’t say something now, I would never have the courage to speak up later. So I decided. I would talk to her.
She pushed open my door.
"Ali, your dad just called. We’re going out to dinner tonight." I started at her, unable to think of anything to say. I went with the obvious.
"Mom, can we talk?" I felt maybe six years old asking her that.
"Sure." She said, pushing open the door to my room further. She pushed the wheels on her chair, bringing herself further into the room. "What did you want to talk about?" I couldn’t read whether she was shocked or scared or happy or anything. I was too caught up in my own emotions.
"Us." I said plainly. She waited me out. "We haven’t been getting along." I said. I didn’t have anything else to say after that, but she stayed silent for some time.
"Oh." She said finally. "I guess we haven’t." She stared at her feet.
"It feels like you hate me." I said. I felt the tears coming and I tried to hold them back. I felt like if I said anything else, all the tears would come spilling out. I couldn’t look at her.
"I don’t." She said. I could tell that she was crying, but I still didn’t look up at her. "I really don’t. I don’t try to make you think that." I knew she didn’t. Why did I even say that? I knew she didn’t hate me. But that was how it felt sometime.
"Am I doing something wrong?" I asked as a few tears spilled over my eyelids and rolled down my face. Her quiet crying turned to sobs.
"No." That was the word I had been waiting so desperately to hear. It was selfish of me, but I needed to know that I wasn’t the cause of this whole thing.
"Then why do you act like that?" There was a long pause in which the whole world seemed to have stopped spinning.
"I don’t know." This only made the tears come faster. I still tried to hold them back, but I wasn’t doing so good a job at it. "I really don’t know." There was only one more question to be asked.
"Do you think we could fix it?" I asked. I waited and waited for a response from her, but it seemed to come entirely to slowly.
"Yes." I sighed a sigh of relief and let my tears fall fast and uncontrolled. All the anger and resentment I had had for her for the past seven years melted away and I literally felt the tension leave the room. I tried to carry on with the conversation so that the tears would stop.
"I broke up with my boyfriend." I said. I didn’t look up to see her reaction.
"I didn’t know you were dating anyone." She said. I could tell she had stopped crying.
"I haven’t been for long. Maybe a week." I said. I finally got the courage to look her in the eye. What I saw was the sad face of a mother that felt like she was missing her daughters life. My eyes threatened to overflow again. I didn’t want her to miss my life. I wanted her to be a part of my life.
"Was he nice?" She asked.
"I thought he was." I said. She nodded as if she understood.
"Sometimes boys aren’t always as nice as they pretend to be." She said. "They’ll do anything to get what they want." I understood exactly what she was saying. I remembered Matt’s words exactly. ‘All I want is you.’ ‘I want you, Ali. I would never do anything to hurt you.’ Well, where were we now. He was probably back at his house, sulking about the fact that he had lost something he wanted. And I was still torn up over the fact that he had hurt me. It wasn’t a great place to be.
I thought about the kisses he had tried to force me into and I wondered if he would’ve done more, had I given him the chance. He wasn’t a Christian, and his standards didn’t match mine. There was no telling how far he would’ve gone if I hadn’t walked away. I shuddered. If I hadn’t walked away. Suddenly, sitting in my bedroom talking to my mom was the happiest place I could think to be.

Peace After a Storm~Niki Belle

Peace After a Storm


The turned my head to look down at the bible sitting next to me. My eyes refused to focus on the gold printed letters on the cover. The blurred into a mix of shining blur mixed with a dark, dull red. I had meant to come into my room and read over some verses, but I had given up on that when I realized that I couldn’t focus my eyes on anything in the room.
I laid back on my bed and thought for a while. My thoughts never stayed constant. They would stay on one thing for a few seconds, then skip to the next thought with no rhyme or reason to it. Most of them all had to do with Tod. I remembered his funeral, the Teen Game night just before his death, the tree falling, and my trip to his room.
In truth, it hadn’t been as hard as I thought it would be to step into his room and take in everything. Untouched and like he had left it. My first stop when I went into his room had been the desk. I had known that he had been working on something for Milly, and I was going to try to figure out what. My search had come up empty except for some scraps of paper with the words scribbled out and laying crumpled on the edge of the desk.
His closet was something completely. I took one look at his clothes and I was absolutely positive that I could’ve told you at least one time where he wore each individual outfit. This one to church, that one to Laser Tag, that one to the movies when he went to see Bolt. I had closed the closet before I could start crying again. The funeral started a half-hour later and I would need my tears then.
Looking back, I blocked the funeral from my mind. It had been very similar to Milly’s, people milling around and crying on each other’s shoulders while I tried to block everything out. It was harder now. Every time I heard his name, I was once again brought back to reality. My brother was dead. Milly had been dead. They were together, and I was alone. I knew that would sound selfish, had I ever been brave enough to say it aloud.
I actually had a lot of things that would sound selfish if I chose to say them aloud, but I didn’t want anyone to worry about me, so I kept quiet. I was always there for other people, but I didn’t really talk to anyone if I had a problem. I remembered back to the time when I had been shy and almost antisocial. It wasn’t that I didn’t know how to talk to people, I just didn’t want to. People scared me. I didn’t want them to see what I was behind me wall.
I thought about that for a long time. I laid in my bed thinking into that. If I hid behind a wall for my whole life, what were people going to say at my funeral? That I was a good person, who was there for everyone. Part of me would be delighted to know that they were saying that. The other part of me would be screaming that it was a lie. I wasn’t there for everyone. I wasn’t strong. I pretended to be strong, but that was it. I could pretend to be strong for other people, but when it came to helping myself, I was helpless.
I was jolted from my thoughts by a knock on the door. "Come in." I said, thinking it was my mother. The door opened and my father poked his head in the room.
"Can I talk to you for a second?" He asked. I was confused. Usually I was the one that wanted to talk to him. I realized he was waiting for an answer.
"Sure." I said, still wondering what he could want to talk to me about. "You can come sit on my bed." I offered. He ignored me. He looked as if he was a different world altogether. He pulled up a chair from the edge of my room and sat down facing me.
"It’s about Tod." He made the topic clear.
"Oh." It was the only thing I could come up with. I didn’t really want to say anything until I figured out what was a safe topic and what wasn’t.
"I shouldn’t have said those things to him. They were wrong." It took me a minute to realize he was talking about when he had yelled at Tod. "He really did love her." He said. He was quiet for a moment, as if he didn’t know exactly how to explain it to it’s fullest extent. "He gave up everything for a dead girl." He said. I thought he might’ve been finished, but I stayed silent, still not knowing what was safe to talk about.
"I’ve learned from him." He said. I looked up, surprised. He was not the kind of person to say something like that. "He was willing to give his life for a girl he wasn’t even with." He paused. "And I couldn’t even give up one part of my life to support him for it." I understood where he was going now.
"Dad, I’m sure Tod doesn’t blame you for it. He’s forgiven you for that." I said. I almost reached out to touch his shoulder, but I drew my hand back, not knowing what his reaction would be.
"I don’t deserve his forgiveness. I don’t deserve your sympathy." He said. His voice was huskier than usual, and he cleared his throat to hide it.
"We don’t deserve a lot of things, but God let’s us have them anyway." I almost chuckled. "You of all people should know that."
"I’ve let down a lot of people. I’ve fought with a lot of people that I should’ve forgiven. I drove people away from me." His conversation had taken on a new direction.
"Like?" I said, knowing full well who he was talking about.
"The Callums. We didn’t agree on much, but we were part of the same family, and we didn’t do a good job of respecting that. We were both part of their leaving, but I had control over my part. I could’ve changed things." He was silent. The silence was pressing this time, as though something that needed to be said wasn’t. I decided to say it, regardless of the consequences.
"What are you going to do?" The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. Strangely, I didn’t regret them. But I still hadn’t heard his answer yet.
"I’m going to try to talk to them. I don’t know if they want to work this out or not, but from my point of view, we’ve put everyone through enough." I nodded. My mouth was dry. I had never imagined my father as being the one to end the argument. I had always thought it would either continue or Milly’s mother would try to reason with him. Even then, I can’t say I predicted a good end to it all. This way, I thought, would work much better.
I leaned forward and wrapped him in a hug. I felt his arms on my back and I thought for a moment, I felt him shake. "I’m proud of you, Dad." I said. With this, I definitely felt him shake, but only for a moment. He straightened up, cleared his throat again, and stood up.
"I’ll go try to call them." He said. He turned and walked out of the room before I had the chance to say anything more.

20 Questions~Milly Callum

20 Questions


"J-Jesus?" I stammered. My tongue seemed to be tripping over itself. He was standing there, scars in his wrist and a warm smile on his face.
"Yes?" He replied, laughing. "Who did you expect?" He asked. I sighed. Being with him was easier. It didn’t feel like a guessing game, but more like just having a friend.
"I’m not sure. I guess I just forgot that there were three of you." I said, still trying to wrap my head around the trinity.
"Three of us?" He asked, seeming genuinely curious.
"Well, yeah." I said. "You, God, and the Holy Spirit."
"That’s only one." He said, smiling. "You count it as three. To us, it’s only one." I thought about this for a minute.
"Us! You said us. That means there’s more than one." I said, finally feeling as though I had a substantial argument.
"Yes." He said. He seemed to be waiting for a response.
"But you just said that there was only one."
"There is." He said. I couldn’t quite make out the smile on his face. Finally I got it. My face broke out into the same smile his face held. "Did you get it?"
"Yeah." I said. "Three in one, one yet three." I grinned. "You’re just messing with me." He nodded.
"That I am. I’m glad you got that. We could’ve gone on all day with that." The same smile appeared on his face again.
"Yeah, we-" I cut myself off, understanding the joke. "You know exactly how long it would’ve gone on." I accused. He nodded, laughing.
"You’re getting better." He said. I hadn’t realized until that moment that we were actually walking down the road toward my house.
"I guess." I said, trying to act nonchalant. "I have a question, though, about the conversation I had with your dad earlier."
"Me." He corrected.
"Fine, the conversation I had with you, then." He nodded and we continued to walk down the road without stopping.
"Continue." He urged.
"Why is it that people turn away from you? I mean, you said that the reason people suffered is because they didn’t put their all into you. But why are people so against doing that?" I asked.
"Ahh. I knew that question would come up sooner or later." I wanted to point out that he knew all the questions that would come up sooner or later--it kinda came with the all-knowing thing--but I had the feeling that he was going to continue. True to my expectation, he kept talking.
"Well. There’s a lot of reasons that people don’t come to me. They don’t know me. They think it’s a waste of time. I scare them. There’s so many reasons. Some people are mad at me." I asked the obvious question.
"But why are they mad at you?"
"They think maybe I’m doing something that’s not in their best interest. Like I said, it mostly stems from the fact that they don’t know me."
"But some people say they just don’t want to know you. What about them?" I asked. This was going to get complicated in a second. I could feel it.
"The people who say they don’t want to know me think they already know enough about me to think that I’m not worth their time. Does that make any sense?" He asked, looking down at me.
"I’m not sure. I think it makes a little sense." We kept walking until we got to my mansion. We stood staring at the doors for the longest time before either of us spoke.
"You want to have some time by yourself?" He asked.
"I won’t really be alone, will I?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"Not really. I’ll still be here. It just makes it easier for some people if I’m not there physically. It makes them feel a little bit less like they’re being watched." He chuckled. "Really, I’m always watching you." He said.
"That actually makes me feel a little better." I said. "But I would like some time by myself." I continued.
"I know." That same smile he had been wearing before crossed his face. "You know where to find me if you need me." He turned and walked back the direction he had come.
I watched him until he turned and was out of sight, then I walked up the steps to my house and walked through the front door.

Messes and Memories~Lisa Callum

Messes and Memories

Before I had even completely woken up, Cassy bound into my room with a cake mix box in her hand. “Lisa, can we cook something today? I found mommy’s recipe for the cookies we used to make. It’ll be just like when we were little. Please, Lisa?” She asked all in one breath. I smiled at the chance to spend some time with her. I had been trying to do more of that.
“Yeah.” I said. “Just let me get dressed.” I looked down at my camisole and shorts and decided I would rather just brush my teeth and comb my hair. I could use a little lounge time, and I couldn’t remember the last time I had baked cookies in my pajamas. I missed it sometimes.
“Thanks, Lisa. I’ll wait for you in the kitchen. Hurry, so we can start!” She said, already skipping out of the door and into the next room.
The room was silent as soon as she left. It gave me a minute to think. I was starting to wonder if maybe our family was finally coming together. It was weird to think that, having recently lost two of our members, but the ones remaining----Mom, Cassy, and I----had never been closer. And every day seemed to improve the situation.
It only took me a minute to yank a brush through my pin straight hair. Then I made my way to the kitchen to find Cassy already mixing ingredients in a glass bowl. During the divorce, she had learned how to cook a lot of things, because Mom and I had always been tired and Milly kept going off by herself.
“Milly, have you seen the…” I stopped where I was. “Milly, what…what is this?” I asked. She dropped her head. She couldn’t even look at me.
She was sitting on the edge of her bed with a knife in her hand and her bleeding arm lying on a bloodstained towel. There were tears streaming down her face and the palm of her hand was covered in fresh blood. The air was thick with the smell of it.
She stood up from the bed and started putting things away. Before she could slip the knife into her bedside table drawer, I grabbed her wrist and she winced in pain. The pulse flowing steadily under my fingertips alerted me that the blood was still flowing freely. I turned her arm over quickly and found where the slit on her arm stopped. After yanking the ribbon out of my hair and tying it tight at the top of the cut, I let her hand slip from my grasp.
I looked at the drying blood on my hand, refusing to believe what was happening. I looked at Milly for some kind of answer, but I regretted it as soon as I did. Her head was hung down and she was shaking with the effort of holding back tears.
"Milly..." I started. I had almost too many questions to sort through. I started at the beginning. "How long have you been...doing this?"
She took a shaky breath, but replied quickly. "Two weeks." She said plainly.
"Why did you do it?" I was amazed at how calm my voice was staying. I told myself to leave things as they were. If I could remain unemotional for now, there was no reason interfere.
She shook her head. "I don't even know. It was like when I was doing it, nothing else mattered. I thought maybe it would wake me up, but it just became an addiction. I know it seems stupid, but I don't know how to stop." She said. When she finished, her shaking hands were in fists and the tears were flowing again.
"Milly." She looked up in response. "Can you promise me something?" I asked. She looked at my and nodded.
"You have to promise me," I started. "That you will not do this again." My voice broke. "I don't want to lose you." A flash of acknowledgement crossed her face and then she hung her head, ashamed. I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her shaky shoulders. "I don't ever want to lose you." I said, pulling her tighter against my chest.
"You won't." She whispered against my shoulder. Her shoulder relaxed and I heard the knife clatter to the floor.
“Lisa,” Cassy said, jarring me out of my flashback. “Can you hand me the vanilla? I can’t find it.” She said, pointing to the cabinet above her head.
I shook my head to throw the bad memories from my mind. “Uh…sure.” I said, reaching to open the cabinet. I found the vanilla behind several other extracts including butter and almond. Setting it on the counter, I asked, “Cassy, how do you remember Milly?” I rephrased the question. “I mean, when you remember her, what do you think about?” I looked down at her. She had stopped stirring and looked like she was thinking particularly hard. Finally she answered.
“I think about that time we went to Kings Dominion and we took a picture of Megan in that coffin.” She said. “And that other time when we were singing that song Megan wrote about chik-fil-a as loud as we could in the back of the car. Even mommy was singing with us.” She paused to think some more. “Sometimes I just think about her being at the church.” She frowned. “The church was fun.”
I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and she started mixing again. I tried to think of a way to cheer her up. It was my fault. I was always taking my misery and putting it on everyone else, even Cassy. Suddenly, I knew exactly what would cheer her up. I reached over quietly and took a pinch of flour from the bag on the counter. While she was distracted mixing all the dry ingredients, I took the pinch of flour and threw it near her face, careful not to get it in her eye.
She squealed and turned to face me. The left half of her face was covered in the white powder. “Oh no you don’t!” She said, grabbing a small handful of flour and tossing it in my direction. Even with the warning of seeing it all, I squealed playfully. I looked down at my pajamas. They were covered in white dust. Before I could look up, I was hit again. Cassy stood in front of my grinning like she’d just won a medal. I grinned evilly. I grabbed another handful of flour, dodged Cassy’s third throw, and flung it in her direction. She threw her hands up in front of her to stop it, but too late. She was already covered with the stuff.
I crouched like I was about to pounce on her and she turned to run. I bolted after her. When I caught up to her, I scooped her up with ease and blew a raspberry on her stomach, instantly sending a cloud of thick white into my face. All the while she laughed and struggled.
When we were done with our fun, there would be huge mess to clean up, but that didn’t seem to matter right now.
“Lisa, put me down!” She squealed. I obliged and she landed gently on her feet. She looked up at me with a smile still on her face. “Why haven’t you ever acted like this before?” She asked.
I brushed my hair behind my ear from where it was hanging in front of my face. “I don’t know. I guess maybe I had just been remembering all the wrong things.” She put her hand on her chin and thought for a second.
“Well, now you don’t have to.” She said. “Because everything is gonna be okay.” I could hear the question in her tone.
“Yeah.” I said. “Well, it will be right after this.” I said, launching the handful of powder I’d been hiding towards her. She almost ducked in time. I had to admit, her reactions were getting better. Instead, the puff settled into her hair and shoulders.
I crouched and the chase was on again.

Walking Away~Ali Cummings

Walking Away


For about the thousandth time today, I had no idea what I was doing or why I was there. All I knew was what had happened earlier that day. I had attended Tod’s funeral. For the short amount of time that I was there, I wasn’t able to focus on much. I had sort of just slinked away from the crowd the moment it was over. There were no hugs, no talking, no contact whatsoever. I didn’t know if I could stand it. I had already seen one of my friends lowered into the ground and I didn’t know if I could bear to see another..
That had been hours ago. Now I was sitting in my house just staring at the wall. I didn’t know what I was doing here. I couldn’t figure out why I hadn’t run away when I had the chance.
The doorbell rang, knocking me out of my trance. I ran to the door, thankful for any distraction other than sitting alone and feeling sorry for myself. I opened the door without checking to see who was on the other side.
“Matt!” I said, shocked, as soon as I could see past the door. “W-what are you doing here? I mean, I didn’t know you were planning to come over today.” My lips stumbled through the sentence.
“I wasn’t planning to, but I wanted to come and see you.” He said, smiling. “I thought we could watch a movie.” He held up a Wal-mart bag with several DVD cases in it. I couldn’t read the labels to see what movies he had. “I brought Eagle Eye.” He said.
I sighed. I wasn’t really up for watching a movie, but I did want to talk to him for just a little while. “Do you think we could just go for a walk instead. I need to talk to you about something.” He bit his lip as if he would really rather stay.
“Sure. Yeah, we’ll walk.” He said, still reluctant. He set the bag of movies just inside the door and put his arm around my shoulders, leading me out the door and shutting it behind us.
We made it all the way to the top of my long driveway before either of us said anything. “So what’s up?” He inquired casually. Just like always, I almost got too lost in his eyes to think.
“Oh,” I said, snapping out of my trance. “Well, this is gonna be really difficult to talk about, but I’ll try.” I said. I could feel my palms sweating and I tried my best to wipe them on my jeans.
“Go ahead.” He said, keeping his tone casual. The apathy in his voice would’ve bothered me, had his voice itself not been so mesmerizing.
“This morning, I went to a funeral.” I started. I looked up at him for some kind of reaction, but he only nodded. “One of my friends…” My voice broke and I inhaled deeply. I paused for a long time, not sure if I would start crying again if I tried to speak. “He’s dead.” I finally said.
I expected to feel his arm wrap tighter around my shoulders in an attempt at comforting me, but he didn’t even miss a step as we walked. “Oh.” He said. There was that casual tone again. “That’s what you meant.” I stared at him, begging him to let his emotions show. Right now, I needed to know that I wasn’t the only one that cared.
“What I meant when?” I asked.
“When you told me that you needed to talk to me about something.” He explained. “When you came to the door I kind of thought you looked a little…” He voice trailed off.
Then it was my turn. “Oh.” I tried to decide if I wanted to know what he was thinking. I finally decided against it. I would ask him what he thought I had wanted to talk to him about, but what good would it do? His voice once again broke through my thoughts.
“So where are we going exactly?” He asked. Being back in reality, I realized that we’d walked almost a mile. The pauses in between our responses must have been longer than I thought. I focused back on his question. Suddenly, I knew exactly where I wanted to be going and why I needed to go there.
“Come on.” I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him into a side trail in the woods. “I’ll show you where we’re going. You’re gonna love this.” I said. The path we were going through was a thick part of the forest, but it would get us there much faster than taking the main road.
We walked for almost twenty minutes before he had the chance to speak. He had to use most of his concentration on getting bushes out of his way before he could trip.
“You never answered my question.” He said. “Where are we going? Ow!” I turned around to help him get out of a thorn bush his legs had gotten tangled in.
“You’ll see when we get there. Plus, you should recognize it by now. We’ve only got about a minute’s walk left.” I said, pointing to the break in the trees not far ahead of us.
“All I recognize is trees.” He mumbled. “And they all look the same.” I giggled quietly. From his reaction to the overgrown path, I guessed he didn’t spend much of his spare time in the woods.
Soon, we were pushing through the woods and into the back yard of the church. He had been here before, but he had never seen the back of the church. I heard him chuckle behind me.
“We came all this way so that we could come to your empty church?” He said.
“Isn’t it amazing? I don’t know, there’s just something peaceful about this place. I love coming here with just me.” I turned to face him. “And now you.”
“You’re joking, right? The church?” This time, his voice hurt. The subtle pull behind it was completely gone, washed away by his sarcasm.
“What’s wrong with that?” I asked defensively. In my eyes, I didn’t see how a person could not like it here. It was so peaceful and serene and the pavilion provided the perfect place to just sit and think when you had a lot on your mind.
“It’s just…Why would you spend all of your time at a church?” He asked. “It’s not like there’s anything special about it. It’s just an empty building.” This shocked me.
“It’s not just a building. This is where I come when I need to talk to God. It’s like he’s here, waiting for me to come. I trust him with everything.” I said. Why didn’t he see that?
“You really think he waits here just for you?” He asked, disapproval in his words. He sounded like a parent who was scolding a teenager for believing in a guy too much. It was as if he was calling my gullible.
“For anyone who comes here. It’s not just me. He’s wants to talk to everyone. Don’t you ever feel that? Don’t you ever feel like he just wants to talk to you?” I asked.
“I never feel anything like that. I can’t feel something from someone who doesn’t exist.” He said. Finally, the casual tone was gone, but it was replaced now with defiance, almost anger.
Hearing the last part of his dialogue, I didn’t know what to say. I turned and ran to the pavilion and heard him following close behind me. I sat down on the bench, breathing heavily. He said beside me and grabbed my hands. I almost pulled away, but I found that I wanted his touch. Even when he was the source of my pain, I ached for him to be the source of my comfort.
“Ali, I don’t care that you’re different from me. We don’t have to have the same religious views to be together. I’ll love you no matter what.” He said. For a second I almost the believed the words and left it at that. Then my mind snapped back into action.
“But Matt, it’s not just some religious view. I have a relationship with the risen, living king. I love him and he loves me. Nothing comes before that. We talk to each other. You can’t deny that kind of thing.” I argued.
“That’s fine. Have your God. Talk to him all you want. All I want is you.” He said. He leaned in to kiss me on the lips. My mind lapsed and I forgot to pull away from him. Finally, I got my head focused back on the conversation and I was able to break away from the kiss. With him off of me, I noticed that he had gotten close enough to push my back into the wooden support of the pavilion roof.
“You don’t understand. I don’t know how anyone can know him and see al the miracles he’s done and then deny him even existing. How can you do that?” I pleaded.
“Look, Ali.” I jumped when I heard that his voice had risen to a shouting level. “I told you I don’t care if you have a different belief then me. If the religion thing works for you, that’s fine. Just don’t take what you believe and try to shove it down my throat!” He said. He leaned in to kiss me again, but the sting from his words kept me in reality long enough to protest.
“What are you doing?” I asked, suddenly scared of him. I tried to back away from him, but the post kept me from moving any farther away from him.
“I want you, Ali. I would never do anything to hurt you.” He put his hands on the sides of my face, pulling my into another kiss. I pushed him away with all the strength I had.
“Then stop!” I yelled, now feeling more terrified that pleased with his actions. I had managed to push him away from me, but his hands were still gripping my face, preventing me from looking away.
“Ali, do you love me?” He asked. Al the fight went out of me. There was no way I could lie to him about that, even now.
“Yes.”
“Can you give me a chance?” I stopped.
“No.”
I felt his arms go limp and I took the chance. I was able to easily remove his hands from my cheeks and set them back in his own lap. Not once did he protest. I stood up from the bench and turned my back on him. I started to walk in the direction of my house, and I didn’t hear a single footstep behind me.

Angel's Song~Niki Belle

Angel’s Song


I woke up the next day in a complete fog. I couldn’t recall exactly what had happened. But when I glanced over at the wall, the events of yesterday hit me. The door was open and I could see the room across the hall. I could see what used to be Tod’s room. A thought struck me, and for about half a second, I considered it. Then I shook my head firmly. I couldn’t go in his room. It was too soon to revisit those memories. None of my family had been in Tod’s room since his death.
In any case, I would have enough pain and memories today. It was the day of Todd’s funeral.
A look at the clock on my bedside table told me that the funeral would happen in a little less than two hours. I wanted so badly to turn back over in my bed and cry myself back to sleep, but I made myself lift myself over the side of the mattress and stand shakily. I trudged to my closet, not knowing if I would have the strength to get dressed, much less actually attend the funeral. I dressed in a haze, without actually knowing what I was doing. All I know was that I chose a black dress that I hadn’t worn in a couple months.
When I came downstairs, Dad was sitting on the couch flipping channels like he had been the day he yelled at Tod. The only difference was that when I came down, he said nothing. He seemed to be in the same trance-like state that I was. The entire house was silent, and no one seemed to mind. I sat down at the kitchen table, trying to brace myself for the event that was to come.
Mia was sitting across from me looking like an absolute statue. She had taken the time to straiten her hair, but a burn on the side of her ear told me that she hadn’t been much on focusing. I was beginning to think that no one in the house was, and with good reason. It was easier not to think of anything than to be flooded with thoughts of Tod.
For the first time in days, I thought of Milly. This thought cheered me up almost enough to bring a smiled to my face. Tod and Milly would finally see each other again. I could imagine them running towards each other on the white clouds of heaven. I had imagined the same scene happening so many times on earth, it seemed almost like memory, as if it had already happened and not just the imagination of an 18 year old girl with a dead brother.
I was jolted away from my thoughts as I realized that the radio had come on. My head whirled around to see what had caused it to suddenly break the silence like glass, but no one was standing anywhere near the radio and I was the only one that seemed to notice it playing.
But what intrigued me was the fact that I didn’t recognize the song that was playing, but as the bright LED display clearly displayed, the station was one I listened to often. I listened intently to the lyrics.

What I’m feelin’,
Time is gonna heal it
I been hearin’ that for so long now
They say I’ll move on
Got to try and be strong
Life will go on; I’ll get though this somehow
Oh, but how, when I’m still waiting,
For you to come back,
If you could only come back,
I’m aching for you to walk through that door
Hold me once more
But you won’t, still I go on waiting
It was a Sunday
We buried you in the rain
I never knew pain till that first night alone
Opened you closet, breathed you in
I lost it, the truth of it, baby, finally hit home
No, you’re not comin’ home,
But I’m still waiting,
For you to come back,
If you could only come back,
I’m aching for you to walk through that door
Hold me once more
But you won’t, still I go on waiting
Wish you could talk to me somehow
Tell me what do I do now
I’m still waiting,
I’m aching for you to walk through that door
Hold me once more
But you won’t,
Yeah, I know
That you won’t,
still I go on waiting

By the time the music faded, I was in such a fit of tears, I had trouble believing I would ever stop. The words in the song had described my situation so perfectly.
Suddenly I was hit with the same idea I had had that morning when I woke up. I made up my mind that this was something I had to do before the funeral started. I looked at the radio to see what time it was and was shocked to see that it was once again off. “Must’ve been one of God’s angels.” I thought to myself.
I jumped from my chair and walked across the living room and started up the stairs slowly. I reached the top of the steps in what seemed like no time at all. It was certainly not enough time to prepare myself for what I was about to do. Then again, no amount of time could’ve prepared me for this. I turned to face the open door and stepped into Tod’s room.

Going Back~Lisa Callum

Going Back

I swung my legs over the edge of my bed and looked down at the floor. It had been two days since I learned of Tod’s death. I looked over at my clock. The viewing would be over by now. I swallowed and thought of Niki. She needed me at the viewing. She needed me to be there for her. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It was too hard. After going to my own sisters viewing, how could I possibly force myself to see the boy she loved lying dead in a coffin. Just the thought of it brought tears springing to my eyes as if they had no care as to the time or the place. I wiped them on my arm, quick to rid myself of the things that were more of a hindrance than a harm.
I looked up to see my mother standing in the doorway, looking down at me. For the first time, there was no smile on her face. Her cheeks were soaked with fresh tears, and I could see her shaking from where I sat.
I wasn’t quite sure what to do with this. I had never seen my mom like this before. Even when she was hurting inside, she was always smiling. Half of me was scared to see my mother like this. The other half of just wanted to hold her and make everything in her life better. Finally, I had the courage to say something.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” I said, my voice shaking.
“Lisa, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” She said. “I should’ve been there for you. I knew what he was doing and I didn’t stop him.” She held her head in her hands. “Why didn’t I stop him?” She asked.
“Mom, no, you…” I stopped. I couldn’t believe what I was feeling. For a moment, anger flared inside of me. I thought over what she had said. Why didn’t she stop him? How could she have kept quiet when she knew what he was doing? I kept my eyes on my feet, not daring to look at her face. “I…I don’t know what to say.” I said honestly.
I hesitated and tried to figure out just what I felt. She was my mother; I had been mad at her before, but not like the rage that was building inside me now. I could only think of what she hadn’t done, what she hadn’t said.
“Right now,” I started. “I just need to be alone.” She moved to put her hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged it away. The pain in her eyes hurt me, but I turned away. I was determined to ignore her pain like she ignored mine. Finally, she stood up and walked out of the room, fresh tears filling her eyes. That was when I broke down.
I flung myself onto my pillow and started sobbing. I was filled with anger and hatred and regret and several other emotions I couldn’t describe. My head was spinning with memories and decisions. When the tears slowed, I shut my eyes tightly and clutched the pillow to my chest. I started praying aloud.
“God, why did you let him do that to me?” I asked, infuriated. “And why didn’t you give her the courage to stop him?” I cried harder. “I was only twelve!!” I screamed, my face still buried in the pillow. “What did I do to deserve that?” I was still angry, but the hatred was dying down to sorrow and grief. “God, where were you when I needed you?” I asked, scaring myself with my own thoughts. I knew somewhere in the back of my mind that he had never left my side, not once. The fact that I was accusing him of leaving me now almost pushed me over the edge of thinking it was true. This thought only scared me more, and I once again gave in to the tears that cracked my voice without my wanting them to.
In my eyes, I had no one to turn to. God may be with me, but he had done nothing to stop the torture, done nothing to erase the pain. And now I found that my mother had played the same role. Always knowing, never interfering. I lifted my head from the pillow and wiped my cheek with the back of my hand, and was shocked to see Cassy standing in my doorway.
“Cassy!” I said, my voice still angry. She jumped from my sudden outburst directed at her. “What are you doing?” I hissed, embarrassed that she had seen my little episode. I was then hit with something like panic. How much had she heard? My question was quickly answered.
“Who hurt you?” She asked simply. I swallowed.
“No one.” I said solemnly. It tasted a lie on my lips to be saying the words when in truth, I had been hurt by so many people, I had lost track. She didn’t look convinced, but she got the hint and dropped the subject.
“Can you come play outside with me?” She peered though my window as if checking something. “It’s a pretty day.” She stated the obvious. The weather was a cloudless and sunny sky, and the high temperature was going to be around 75 degrees. It was definitely not the weather that reflected my mood, but it was beautiful day out, and I didn’t want to leave Cassy to be bored by herself.
“Sure.” I said, climbing off of my bed. “What do you wanna play?” I asked. Her face lit up and she smiled the widest smile I had seen in months. I realized soon enough that her smile was contagious.
“We could have a concert.” She suggested. I tried to remember the last time we had had a family concert. We would stand out in the yard with our audience consisting of our parents, stuffed animals, and our dogs, and we would sing the silliest songs we could think of until we got hoarse or until it got dark. The last time I remembered doing a concert was when I was eleven years old. After that, I had generally become part of the audience, if I participated at all. Milly had always been the singer in the family. I was better with instruments and Cassy had always done backup. She had the sweet clear voice for it. I figured if now wasn’t the time to get back into our band, I didn’t know what was.
“That sounds really cool.” I said. She smiled and I returned it. “I’ll get the stuffed animals.”

Understanding~Milly Callum

Understanding


I didn’t know whether to cry or scream with joy. I felt pain for Niki and Ali, but for Tod and myself, I couldn’t have been happier. I was going to see him again. And I had already made myself a promise. I wasn’t going to keep it a secret this time. He was going to know how I felt about him. After all these years, he would know.
Before I could continue the celebration of our approaching reunion, I was hit with a thought that sent my head whirling. Where was he? I tried to think of how long it had been from the time I had died to the time I awakened in the empty room with Alana, but I couldn’t remember anything.
I closed my eyes, hoping something in the back of my mind could remember, but again, I drew a blank. My curiosity sent my flying down the stairs and out the front doors of what was now my home. The trip down the golden street took far less time than normal, but whether it was due to my excitement for what was to come, or from my wings carrying me of their own accord several times, I couldn’t be sure.
When I came to a stop at the throne, God was standing, waiting for me with a warm smile on his face. I threw myself against him, but he stood firm.
“What is it?” He asked, though I knew full well he already knew my thoughts. Even so, I phrased my question carefully.
“When…” I paused. “When do I get to see Tod?” I asked, deciding on my first phasing of the question.
His smile suddenly fell and I was stuck by a sense of panic. “What is it?” I said. Unlike him, I didn’t have the ability to read peoples thoughts before even themselves. I could, however, read his face and it was definitely not conveying good news.
“You will see him again,” He promised. This gave me a glimpse of hope, but his face still didn’t look hopeful. I waited for him to finish. “But he cannot come here.” He finished.
My heart sunk down into the bottom of my stomach. Instinctively, my mind raced to the obvious, yet incomprehensible answer.
“Do you mean that Tod is in Hell?” I asked. Even as I said the words, my voice broke. He couldn’t be in Hell. Of all the people I’d known on earth, Tod was never one I considered not to go to heaven. I hadn’t spent a week with him before I knew this.
But now everything I had thought about him seemed to turn up-side down. I was quickly brought back to reality by God’s warm hands on my shoulders. I looked up at his face and he wiped away a tear from my cheek.
“He is not in Hell.” He assured me. I sighed and realized I’d been holding my breathe and biting my lip. One more question came to mind.
“When will I see him?” I asked. He smiled.
“Have patience, my child.” He said. “You will see him when the time is right.” I nodded in agreement. He looked at me, instantly reading that my mind was not yet satisfied. “What is it?” He asked, again limiting himself so that he was on a human thinking level.
“Did you hear Niki’s prayer?” I asked. If I was going to see Tod soon, I guessed the best thing to do was give in to the sympathy I felt for Niki and the rest of Tod’s family. Again, he smiled the warm smile that told me he had everything under his control.
“I did.” He answered. I waited for him to say more. “Milly, I will always be with her. You don’t need to worry about her.” He said. It was my turn to smile.
“I still do.” I said to Him.
“You always had a gift for understanding my way of thinking.” He said. I gave him a questioning look. “How many people have told me not to worry with them?” He asked. I ran through the unknown statistics in my head. Finally, I sighed.
“Too many?” I asked; we both laughed.
“Precisely. Does it mean I oblige, and let them fall to the hands of evil?” He asked. The questions were getting difficult, but I kept the answers coming as best I could.
“No?” I guessed. He didn’t respond. He knew I had more to say. “But, if you don’t let anyone fall to the hands of evil, why do bad things happen to such good people?” I asked. One part of me longed for an answer from the only one I knew could give it. The other half of me was scared of his response. But again, he simply smiled warmly and answered calmly.
“Have you ever tried to save a friend from a wrong decision, say, getting involved with some of the wrong people?” I nodded. “Did you do that because you wanted control of them, or for their own good?” He asked.
“For their good.” I answered, anxious to see where the hypothetic situation was going to lead.
“Did they see it for what it was?” He asked. I shook my head. “They turned from you, accused you of taking control of what was not yours to take.” I nodded. The memories were only too fresh in my mind. I stared down at my feet.
“Only one more question.” He promised. I looked back up at him, preparing myself for the toughest question yet. “When she fell, were you able to catch her?” The question itself was not hard to answer at all. It was a simply yes or no question with the answer being obvious. What hit me wrong was the memories that came flooding back because of the question. I shook my head.
“She didn’t let me.” I said. A light bulb went off in my head. “Is that why bad things happen? You try to help people, but they don’t want your help?” I asked. He nodded.
“I try to stop the suffering. I’ve been there.” My head jerked up.
“But how-” I stopped. The God I had seen everyday for the past few weeks had disappeared. Standing in his place was a younger looking version of him, with shoulder-length brown hair, wearing a white robe. He reached to touch my face, but I drew back quickly when I saw what was on the hand he held toward me.
What I saw was a scar, where a nail had been hammered through his very hand. “Jesus?” I asked.
He smiled, filled with the joy of youth. “The very same.” He said, holding out his hand for me to shake. Instead of taking his hands, I threw my arms around his waist.
When I stepped back, he was still smiling. While I was still trying to figure out why I had never seen him before in heaven, he continued his introduction.
“I believe you just met my father.”