him. I loved him like a brother,” Seth hinted a smile.
“Bad joke, Seth,” Jessica was not in the mood for jokes. She had loved Jimmy more than others knew. She even surprised herself how much she cared for him. Jessica was mad at God, Why did he take such a great person? If we had more like him the world would be a much nicer place. Why did You take him?! Jessica almost spoke the last words.
“OK, enough with the jokes,” Seth said and motioned Jessica over to the desk. “I found this lying here with this verse circled. I don’t know if he had known that he was going to die or if it was a coincidence.”
Jessica picked up the Bible and read Thessalonians 4:13, the verse that was circled, aloud, “‘Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.’”
There was a long pause as the verse hit home in Jessica’s heart. She had hope, she knew that Jimmy was a Christian and so was she, she would eventually get to see him again.
“Hey, don’t you have that awards ceremony to go to?” Seth asked.
“Oh shoot, I do! How could I forget?” Jessica had been nominated for the Best Teen Pop music award. She raced home and changed into her outfit for the evening.
She rolled up to the red carpet in her brand new Audi R8, which she had bought since her other car lay in the deep blue. The photographers snapped away, the shutters clicking every step of the way. The constant bright flashes annoyed Jessica a little, but she hid it as she posed and smiled for pictures.
As Jessica sat she recited her acceptance speech silently if the time arose. Many of her favorite artists in the other categories who were nominated won the award. The ceremony seemed to be long with all of the awards given and the special music performed by a range of talented artists. Finally the announcers, Rachel and Louis, came on stage to announce the winner and present the award to the winning artist in Jessica’s group of nominees.
The tension rose, as did the music, as the nominees’ names were shown once again. Rachel opened the envelope and said, “And the winner of the first ever award for Best Teen Pop is: Cassandra Walters!”
Jessica was disappointed and happy at the same time for Cassandra. A recent good friend and she was Jessica’s only real competition; plus Cassandra was also signed by Diamond Records, so it wasn’t a big disappointment. Close to the stage Jessica caught the eye of a man starting at her. He didn’t look away and kept his ice cold stare at Jessica.
She gasped when she recognized him. It couldn’t be! He shouldn’t be here! What is he doing here?
He started to advance towards Jessica and she panicked. He was coming for her and he was not going to stop. She swiftly made it out of her row and immediately headed for the exit. Looking back every few rows she saw he was gaining on her and no one else seemed to notice.
The lights went dim as Cassandra was finished with her speech. Jessica quickened her pace as she saw the light from the exit. An arm from behind yanked her back. She stiffened and gulped in air to calm herself.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to my friend Tom Preston who shared his knowledge about music and music producing with me. To my editor Frieda for the many hours she spent working on editing and providing advice. Finally, to all who supported and helped with advice for the novella.
Desire of the Soul Page 14