by T. K. Chapin
“Can you hear me?” Michael asked, trying to see into the car. Her face was bloodied. Other people rushed up to the scene while a woman phoned for the police.
“The car’s on fire!” A man shouted at Michael from behind.
Michael ignored the warning and continued to attempt communication. Reaching his arm through the window, it slid across the broken glass drawing blood. “Ma’am! Can you hear me?” He shouted.
Through the sirens in the distance, the commotion of the crowd and the growing fire, he could barely hear the woman’s faint voice moan.
“We’re going to get you out of here.”
“Promise?” she squeezed out before letting out a cough. “I can’t feel my legs.”
The flames grew, engulfing more of the car when suddenly a fire truck arrived. Turning, he shouted, “Hurry up!”
A fireman rushed over to him and pulled him back away from the car. “Sir, you have to back up! The car can explode.”
Michael used all his strength to push past the fireman and rush back to the car. “She’s alive and in there!” Scrambling across the broken glass and pushing his arm back into the car as flames engulfed it, he grabbed onto her hand.
“Help me!” she screamed.
“I won’t let go!” he shouted.
CHAPTER 16 ~ Rebecca
Arriving early to the restaurant for her meet up with Michael as he requested, Rebecca took a seat in the bar area in front of the restaurant to wait for him. I wonder what he wants to talk about… she wondered. Rebecca was in a relationship with Jonathan, but couldn’t help herself from feeling nervous about seeing Michael.
Thinking about the passionate kisses they’d exchanged the other evening, she couldn’t help herself from smiling. He’s such a good kisser… I shouldn’t be thinking about him like that.
“What can I get ya?” A woman bartender asked.
“Just a cola is fine. I’m just waiting for someone.”
“Oh, one of those,” the bartender smiled, grabbing a glass cup. Filling it with cola, she said, “I know how that can go.”
“Thanks…” Rebecca said. Glancing up at the television screen that hung above the bar, she tried to get out of having a more in-depth conversation.
“A fatal crash killed two and injured one this afternoon,” A reporter said on the news station.
Rebecca shook her head as she sipped on the straw from her soda. That’s so sad, she thought to herself.
Suddenly her phone began ringing in her purse. Digging for it, she was stopped by a hand on hers. “Michael,” she said, smiling up at him. Noticing the scratches on his face and the hurt in his eyes, she asked, “What happened?” She pulled out her phone to see a missed call from Jonathan up at the hospital.
“We need to talk…” He said delicately.
“Yeah, that’s what we came here for.”
His eyes welled up with tears as his lips tightened. Shaking his head as he looked down and dabbed his eyes with a sleeve from his jacket, he continued. “This is different…” His words trailed off, and worry set into her heart. What could possibly have happened?
Taking a seat over in the dining area, Rebecca’s heart began racing as he sat across from her and grabbed onto her hands tightly. “It’s Chelsea…”
“What? How do you even know her? From the sandwich shop?”
“Listen,” Michael said. Standing up, he brought his chair over to her side of the table and wrapped an arm around her. “She’s been in an accident… Chelsea lost her life today, Rebecca.”
She heard what he said, but it just didn’t register in her mind. Shaking her head, she replied, “I just saw her…”
“She was in a car wreck, and she’s gone now, but in a better place.”
Rebecca looked back at the television screen in the bar area and saw her friend’s face plastered on the screen. Covering her mouth with her hands, she began sobbing as she dropped her head into his chest.
Rubbing her shoulder, he kissed the side of her head. “I tried to save her… but it just didn’t work.”
“What? You were there?”
“I saw the truck hit her car and I rushed over to help… I didn’t know it was her at first.”
“How’d you find out?”
“I witnessed to her in the final moments of her life…”
“Witnessed?” Rebecca asked.
“I shared the salvation of Jesus with her.”
“Oh…” Rebecca replied. She didn’t believe in that God stuff, but it sounded so good in a moment like this. If she began to entertain the thought of God though, she wondered what that would mean for her mother, who was an atheist and died one.
“I know you aren’t religious,” he said delicately.
“You’re right, I’m not,” Rebecca replied sharply as she dried her tears. “She’s dead, Michael. It doesn’t matter what you said to her. She’s not coming back.”
Rebecca stood up. Thinking back to graduation day from college with Chelsea, she recalled how happy they both were to be done with school and heading into the real world. She remembered what Chelsea said on the car ride back to the dorm to clear out their belongings.
“This is only the beginning! I can’t wait to live! To travel! To experience life to the fullest! Watch out world, because Chelsea and Rebecca are coming!”
Tears started streaming down Rebecca’s face as she thought about how little her friend had accomplished in the five years since their graduation. Trying to catch her breath, she thought about how Chelsea was working at a coffee shop while she tried to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. She hadn’t traveled; she hadn’t experienced much of anything, other than the anticipation of her own future.
“She lives on, Rebecca…” Michael said softly, breaking her concentration.
Ignoring his comment, she left the restaurant in a daze. Getting into the driver seat of her car, she felt numb. Her best friend in the world was gone and she’d never see her again. Looking in the rearview mirror before backing out of her parking spot, she saw two teenage girls laughing and giggling as they walked past. That used to be me and Chelsea, she thought to herself, causing more tears to flood down her cheeks.
Smacking her steering wheel, she began crying harder. “Why do people keep dying?” She screamed out loud as she freaked out in her car.
Tapping on the window, Michael bent down a little. She rolled her window down. “What is it, Michael…”
“We should talk about this. Come back inside.”
“I can’t do that right now.”
“Okay… Well, give me a call if you need to.”
I’m just going to go back up to the hospital and spend time with Jonathan, she thought to herself as she rolled her window back up. She didn’t know what else to do, and Jonathan was a good distraction from the pain that was gnawing at her inside. He’ll help the pain go away.
Getting back up to the hospital, she walked in to find Jonathan in tears. “What’s wrong? Did you already hear the news?” she asked, rushing to his bedside. “I knew you’d understand.”
“News?” He shook his head, glancing up at the television, he continued, “This episode of Pawn-It-All is breaking my heart.” Rebecca didn’t respond to his comment, but he continued anyways. “He had to pawn his Dad’s rifle… and he ended up not being able to get it back.”
“Sounds rough…” Rebecca said with a heavy sigh.
“He loved that gun. It was the only thing he had left from his Dad.”
“That sounds pretty devastating…” Rebecca replied. Glancing over in the mirror above the sink in the hospital room, she saw her eyes were swollen and red from crying. “Are you going to ask me why I’m upset?”
Wiping his eyes, Jonathan looked up at her as he shut the television off with the remote. “Yes, of course, what’s wrong?”
Sighing, Rebecca shook her head. “I’m sorry… I’m being needy.”
“No, don’t be sorry,” Jonathan said, as he reached out and grabbed
her hand to pull her closer.
Stopping herself from being pulled in all the way, she said, “My best friend Chelsea died today.”
Letting her go, Jonathan looked shocked. “Wow.”
“Yeah…” Rebecca said as she sat on his bedside. “She had been my friend since High School…”
“What happened?” he asked, sitting up in his bed to pay attention more.
“Traffic accident.” Rebecca had to speak slowly so she wouldn’t start crying again.
“That’s terrible,” Jonathan replied.
“I know…” She replied softly. His words sounded true and sincere, but Rebecca knew he didn’t understand the pain associated with losing someone like she did. He wasn’t fixing the emptiness she felt from her friend being gone forever. Picking up the remote for the television, she handed it to him. “Anyway, go ahead and watch your show.”
“Are you sure?” Jonathan asked, taking the remote from her hand.
“Yeah.”
Taking a seat in the chair by his bedside, she leaned her head against his shoulder. Can this guy be here for me like I need him to be? she wondered. Her thoughts shifted to Michael and how he converted Chelsea to Christianity at the end of her life. Was it because she was vulnerable? Did he brainwash her? Or was it something else?
Glancing over at Jonathan, she saw he had fallen asleep. This isn’t much of a distraction… I need to talk to Michael about what he said to Chelsea. I need to know what he said to my friend before she took her final breaths.
CHAPTER 17 ~ Michael
Michael finished his carne asada platter before he got up to leave. As he paid for his meal at the till, his phone rang. It was Rebecca. His heart felt as if it skipped a beat.
“What are you doing?” She asked, as it sounded as if she was walking down a hallway by the sound of her heels against the floor.
“Just paying for my meal; hold on a second.” Michael set his phone down on the counter and paid the woman behind the counter. “Thank you,” he said with a smile before heading out to his car.
Pushing the door open to leave, he put the phone back up to his ear. “What’s going on?”
“I want to talk to you…”
“I thought you had Jonathan…” At the sound of her quick sobs Michael’s heart broke, and he knew he would do anything she wanted. “I’m sorry… Let’s talk.”
“Can you come to the hospital?”
“Which one?”
“Deaconess.”
As if a cold Alaskan wind blew into the conversation, Michael froze in place. Deaconess was the one hospital in town he vowed to never go to again. After losing both his parents and his wife in that hospital, he had a certain fear of going anywhere near it. Panicked, he responded “I don’t know if I can do that…”
“Fine!” Rebecca snapped at him. “I’m sorry I called you!” Her voice heightened as her hurt seemed to climb.
“Okay, I’ll come!” He interrupted her before she could hang up.
“Don’t put yourself out; I wouldn’t want to do that!” She said through the tears.
“I’m on my way,” He said calmly.
“I’m sorry I yelled… It’s just… she was my best friend, I can’t imagine life without her, honestly. I don’t know if I want to even try. And don’t get me started on Jonathan. He got more worked up over a TV show than a human dying, MY best friend dying. She’s dead. And there isn’t anything I can do about it. I want to scream, and run and throw things and I don’t know what to do, what to feel, how to feel… I keep trying to do the right thing, but it seems like no matter what I do, things go wrong!”
“When I lost Rebecca, my world crumbled. She was too young and full of life, much like your friend Chelsea. It’s going to take time, it’s going to be trial and error, and it’s going to take trust in God to get through this.”
“God?” Rebecca laughed. “I don’t get how you can just… just…”
“Say it.”
“Just be so stupid! The whole idea of God is laughable!” Rebecca replied, angered.
Some Christians might have been offended by words such as Rebecca was using, but Michael was not one of them. He knew she was hurting.
“It is stupid,” Michael replied.
“What?”
“God… Jesus… The truth… It’s all foolishness and stupid… But it’s only stupid and foolish to this world.”
“Then why believe it?”
“Why not believe it? What’s the alternative that you’re fighting so hard for? You take stabs at Christianity, but you have nothing to fill it with. Christianity, God and Jesus represent a hope and a future for a dying world.”
“Yeah, a dying world, and is your God doing anything about all these people that are dead and dying? No. Nothing. You’ll never see your wife or parents again. You’ll never know what it feels to hug them… kiss them… Say hello, say goodbye, or anything else!” Rebecca went silent as she sobbed more heavily.
Parking the car in a spot behind her; Michael got out of the car without shutting the door. Glancing up at the hospital, he pushed away all the pain that attempted to make its way back into his heart and mind, and remained focused on Rebecca. “God’s working these things together for good constantly. Chelsea, my wife, my parents… they aren’t dead, they live on.”
“My mom was an atheist; don’t you have to jump through hoops to get into Heaven?”
“You have to come to a place where you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.”
Rebecca shook her head as she shouted into the phone. “My mom didn’t believe in Jesus! You’re telling me my mom went to hell?”
Approaching her, he set his phone to his side, “I don’t know where your mom is right now. But I know where I am, and that’s here with you.”
Rebecca turned around, dropping her phone from her ear. With tears streaming down her face, redness in her eyes, she asked, “What did you tell Chelsea?”
“I told her that God loves her, regardless of her flaws and shortcomings she’s had in this life. I told her that He wants a relationship with her and that if she wants to be in paradise with Him today, she needed to make a commitment in her heart that she believes Jesus Christ is her Lord and Savior.”
“And she just believed?” Rebecca stepped forward. She shook her head as she looked down. “It’s not that easy Michael… she was an agnostic. She never went to church.”
“But it is that easy, Rebecca,” Michael stepped closer to her as he grabbed her hands softly. “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a burger joint makes you fat.”
A smile creased the corner of her lips through the tears as she looked up at him. “I want to believe that… it sounds soooo good. But I don’t want to acknowledge the fact that my mother might not be in heaven. I can’t.”
“I know,” Michael replied softly as he leaned in and hugged her.
CHAPTER 18 ~ Rebecca
Michael’s hug eased the troubled seas that were raging inside of her. His touch, his care, his kindness was just what she needed in that moment.
“My mom… is there any hope?” Rebecca asked.
Michael replied. “Maybe she accepted Jesus early in life.”
Rebecca shook her head. “Not that I know of… and even if that’s true, she didn’t do anything about it.”
“Works and good deeds don’t get you into heaven. God is perfect and He requires a perfect sacrifice. That’s why Jesus came to earth for us, Rebecca. One single sin makes you filthy… so all these people and false religions who think they’re going to heaven because of how good they are… just are not on the right track.”
“Interesting, that’s not what I always understood… I just want this pain I feel to go away… I feel so empty, so lost.”
“God can’t make all your pain go away, but He can comfort you, if you just let Him into your life.”
“I don’t know, Michael…” Rebecca looked over at the trees planted over in the hospital courtyard.
The breeze was blowing them back and forth. “How can you believe in something you can’t see…”
Michael stood next to Rebecca and looked at her, then over at the trees she had her sights focused on. “What do you see when you look at those trees? What’s moving them?”
“The wind.”
“Do you see the wind?”
“No… but I can feel it and I can see what it’s doing right in front of me.” Rebecca looked Michael in the eyes. “It’s not the same.”
“How is it not?” Michael looked back over to the trees. “God’s here and moving in people’s lives, but we have to acknowledge we see it.”
Sighing, she looked over to the trees. “I don’t see it.”
“God instills eternity into our hearts, and you know there’s life after death… It’s your choice if you want to spend it with God, or without Him. I have told you how, it’s through Jesus. Chelsea knew and accepted it at the end; she’s there in heaven now. I can’t give you answers about your mom, only God knows.”
Michael began walking back to his car.
“Where are you going?” She asked nervously.
Stopping, he turned back to Rebecca. “I’ve said all that I could.”
“Fine. Let’s leave it at this!”
Watching as Michael got back into his car, Rebecca shook her head. Great, now he’s leaving… What am I supposed to do? Glancing back up at the hospital, she spotted the balloon in Jonathan’s hospital room. Not wanting to be alone, she headed back in.
Returning up to his room, Rebecca found Jonathan awake.
“What’s going on? Why are you crying again?” He asked as she walked in and up to his bedside.
“Do you believe in God?” she asked calmly.
“Yeah, sure.”
“No. I mean, do you really?”
Jonathan took a deep breath. “Yeah… What’s this about?”
“Do you believe in Jesus?”
“He was a good teacher… What is going on with you?”
“I’m just wondering what’s after this life…”