When the team came out of the huddle Eden’s dad leaned over. “Watch for a quarterback sneak.”
Ty took the snap and attempted to leap over the line of defense. The middle linebacker launched himself into the air, smacking our quarterback's helmet with his own.
Ty twisted and flew through the air, collapsing in an unnatural heap.
A loud gasp went up from the crowd. Most of the spectators stood.
Eden clasped her hand over her mouth. I put my arm around her shoulders. A hush fell over the stadium as coaches and managers gathered around Ty. He didn’t move.
A few rows to my right, a woman wearing a red-and-white team jacket thudded down the bleachers and ran onto the field.
“That’s his mom,” Eden murmured.
Eden’s father touched her shoulder. “I’m going down there.”
Eden followed him, and I followed her. I assumed they’d let us on the field since Eden’s dad was team chaplain.
Our feet pounding down the bleachers thundered in the death-like stillness. The eerie silence made me shiver.
Once we hit the turf we sprinted toward Ty, pushing through a crowd of people surrounding him. His lips were blue, his eyes closed, and his neck was twisted in an odd angle. The team physician was performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and CPR on him.
“Let’s give him some space,” Coach said, and we all moved back.
Ty’s mom spotted Eden’s father. “Pastor!”
Eden’s dad hugged her, and she sobbed into his shoulder.
I felt out of place, but no one shooed me away, so I stayed to support Eden.
The team physician laid a finger against Ty’s neck. “There’s no pulse.”
A wail rose from Ty’s mom.
Men with stretchers ran toward us. One of them shouted, “Ambulance is on its way.” Guys from both teams wiped at their eyes.
Ty’s mother grabbed the coach’s arm. “This is my pastor. I’d like him to pray over Ty while we’re waiting for the ambulance.”
“Sure, ma’am.”
Eden’s dad removed his baseball hat and knelt beside Ty’s motionless body. Eden grasped my hand. I squeezed it tightly.
As the physician continued his resuscitation efforts, the four of us huddled together on Ty’s other side. Players from both teams removed their helmets and bowed their heads.
“Holy Father,” Eden’s dad said, “we come to You on behalf of this young man. Oh, God.” He paused, as if grasping for the right words to say. “Have mercy on this boy’s life.”
Ty’s mom whimpered.
Eden dropped to her knees and touched Ty’s left hand. Her lips moved but no sound came out. Tears dripped onto the ground.
Ty’s chest heaved. Coughing wrenched his body. Everyone standing around Ty gasped. His mother sank to the ground and grasped his shoulders.
Eden covered her mouth with both hands and stood. She leaned against me as if she were about to faint. I caught her and steadied her.
All around me jaws dropped in amazement. Both teammates and opponents cheered and jumped around. The stadium exploded in applause.
Ty sat up. “Who touched me?” His voice was scratchy.
Eden darted a look at me.
“I felt a rush of energy pulse through my left hand.”
Eden knelt beside him. “I did that,” she whispered.
“Thanks.”
The coach rubbed Ty’s back. “Easy, buddy. You’d better lie back down.”
The paramedics came, put Ty on the stretcher, and carried him off the field. Ty’s mom threw her arms around him and kissed him before they carried him toward the locker room. She ran behind them.
Coach pointed at a young man seated on the bench. “QB 2, warm up.
You’re on the field!”
As if nothing Earth-shattering had happened, the game resumed. The yard had been gained, Rising Sun had first down, and a fifteen-yard penalty was assessed for a personal foul.
“Pastor,” Ty’s mom yelled over her shoulder, “follow us!”
Eden and her dad sprinted for the locker room. I followed close behind.
Inside was chaos, with paramedics and team doctors surrounding Ty.
“I feel fine,” Ty protested. “I don’t want to go to the hospital.”
“It’s just routine, son,” said one of the paramedics. “We have to check for concussion and make sure you’re OK.” They began to strap him to the stretcher.
Ty looked around. “Where’s that girl who touched me?”
Eden took a few steps toward him. “I’m the one.”
“You’re Eden, right?”
She blinked. “I didn’t realize you knew my name.”
“Will you visit me at the hospital?”
“Yeah, sure.”
Before the paramedics took off, I heard Ty’s mom talking on her cell phone, telling her husband to meet her at the hospital. Then she climbed into the ambulance and sat alongside her son. The rest of us returned to the stands.
Through the remainder of the game Eden and I sat speechless, even when the fans around us cheered.
Over and over I replayed in my mind what had happened on that field. My friend had touched Ty, and immediately after he was healed.
I’d read several Bible verses about spiritual gifts lately. One was the ability for someone to lay hands on the sick and pray for them to be healed. Did Eden have that gift?
I wanted to stand up and dance. Instead, I stared straight ahead, smiling from ear to ear.
Chapter 13
ON FRIDAY NIGHT, Eden invited me to hang out at her place while her parents went to a meeting at church. I enjoyed a great meal of spaghetti and meatballs with Pastor Bob and his wife, Kathy. Since they had to leave right after dinner, Eden and I offered to clean up. Kathy went upstairs for some final touch-ups while her husband disappeared into his study. I started rinsing the dishes, then Eden put them in the dishwasher.
A greasy pot slipped out of Eden’s hands, skidded across the linoleum floor, and thudded against one of the kitchen chairs. “Slimy little bugger,” she said. She bent over and picked it up.
We broke out laughing.
She came back to the sink with the slippery pan.
“Klutz,” I teased, then jabbed my forefinger at Eden’s side. She jerked back as if she was afraid of being touched.
Kathy walked back into the kitchen and grabbed her Bible off the table. The scent of her floral perfume filled the room. “You know the rules, right?”
“Yes, Mom. Clean up our messes. No boys in the house. In bed by nine thirty.”
I could tell she’d heard the speech a hundred times. Sounded like the same speech my mom always gave me.
“Uncle Jeff said he’d come over to check on you sometime tonight, just to make sure you’re safe and sound.”
That seemed strange. We were teenagers, not eight-year-olds. Why did we need to be checked up on?
A shadow crossed Eden’s face. She turned on the hot water and squirted liquid soap into the sink.
“The meeting is scheduled to end at eight thirty, but you know how your father likes to talk to everybody afterward, so we probably won’t be home until at least nine.” Kathy retrieved a white sweater from the coat closet by their back kitchen door and pulled it across her shoulders.
“OK.” Eden shoved her hands into the steaming dishwater and rubbed them vigorously. “Come home as soon as you can.”
What teenager would want her parents to come home soon? I loved the freedom of not having adult supervision.
Kathy walked up to Eden. “Are you OK, honey? Would you rather I didn’t go? Or do you want to go with us?”
Why was Eden’s mom treating her like a little girl?
Pastor Bob poked his head into the kitchen. “Come on, Kathy. The girls will be fine.” He looked at his watch. “We’re already late.”
“I’ll be fine, Mom. Olivia’s here. I’m not alone.”
Kathy grabbed her purse and Bible, then headed toward
the front door with her husband.
“Free at last,” I sang out as I snapped at Eden’s leg with the rolled-up dish towel.
Her eyes stayed focused on the sink, and her hands rubbed beneath the water in a frantic motion. I looked closer and saw that she was scraping the back of her hand with a steel-wool pad. Red blotches rose on her skin.
I grasped the scouring pad. “What are you doing?”
Her hands flew out of the water, sending a spray of suds and water across the room. The round, gray pad landed on the counter beside the sink.
“I’m fine.”
She started washing the dishes that wouldn’t fit in the dishwasher. I grabbed a towel and rinsed and dried them, then placed them on the kitchen table so Eden could put them away where they belonged.
I felt an urge to reach out to Eden, but I waited, hoping she’d say something to open up the conversation.
When she stayed silent I finally opened my mouth to speak, but stopped when I heard a loud pounding on the glass of the back door.
Eden jerked her head toward the sound. A shadow swept across her face again. As she headed toward the door, a whispered word slipped from her mouth that sounded like a curse.
After Eden turned the deadbolt and opened the door, a balding, overweight man walked into the kitchen wearing a shirt that was too small for his hairy belly. “Hey there, beautiful. How’s my favorite niece?” His voice was too loud for the quiet room.
He reached out to touch Eden’s arm, but when he saw me standing at the sink, he shrank back. “I didn’t know you had company.”
Eden twisted her dishtowel in her hand and stared at the floor. “This is my friend Olivia. She’s from my school. And church.”
His eyes moved up and down my frame. A cold chill swept over me. I felt like I was being looked over like a horse being sold at auction. “Olivia’s a pretty name. Just like Eden is. Two pretty names for two pretty girls.”
This guy was definitely a creep. I suddenly realized why Eden had stiffened in his presence. I’m sure she had the same feeling I did. Or worse.
Eden wrapped her arms tightly across her shirt and held her legs close together. I’d never seen her so tense.
He broke the silence with a small laugh. “Well, if Eden isn’t going to introduce us properly, I’ll have to do it myself. I’m Uncle Jeff. Pastor Bob’s older brother. He probably doesn’t talk about me much. Can’t say I blame him. After all, I ain’t the whitest sheep in the fold, am I?” Coarse laughter echoed through the room.
My creep siren went off again.
“OK, you don’t have to hit old Jeff with a baseball bat for him to get the message. I can see I interrupted some serious girl talk here. Y’all were probably talking about your boyfriends, right?”
“N-not really.” Eden’s voice was hesitant and guarded.
“Well, I told your daddy I’d check on ya, and I did. So now I’ll just head back across to my lonely house.” He turned away, and I let out a breath. I hoped I’d never see that man’s face again.
He grabbed the door handle, then turned around and looked me over once more. “It was a real pleasure meeting you, Miss Olivia.” His eyes reminded me of a wolf stalking its prey.
The second he walked out the door, Eden pushed it tight against the frame and turned the deadbolt with a fierce twist.
I draped my dish towel over a kitchen chair. “Eden, I know something's bothering you. You don’t have to tell me what it is right now. But if you feel like talking sometime, I want you to know that I really, truly care about you.”
Her fingers clenched the fabric of her pale gray shirt. Her eyes looked as timid as a kitten’s. “Liv, I . . . ”
She smiled a fake smile, like older people do when they think you’re not mature enough to handle the adult topics of life. “Oh, never mind this serious stuff. Let’s talk about something fun—like our science project.” She grabbed her books out of a backpack sitting on a small stool in the kitchen.
Only Eden would think a science project was fun.
“Shall we go to my secret laboratory?” she asked with a fake German accent.
Though I was still worried about Eden, I welcomed the change of mood. “Why, of course, Herr Frankenstein!”
We giggled and headed upstairs.
Eden’s room looked like a Disney store. Cartoon princesses graced her walls, and she had a whole shelf of fairy-tale storybooks above the headboard on her bed.
I’d always felt her taste in room decoration was odd, but I never teased her about it. I wondered if her parents wouldn’t let her put up band posters and other typical teenager stuff.
We threw our schoolbooks onto the Hello Kitty bedspread and flopped down on our bellies beside each other. I opened my science book but couldn’t concentrate on the words. God’s voice prompted me to speak to my friend about more serious stuff—something more specific than from a high school science book. “Eden . . . ”
“Let’s not talk. I’d rather just do our homework, OK?” She reached up to put her hair into a short ponytail with a hair tie she’d had around her wrist, and I saw a flash of skin when her sleeve slid down. I grabbed her hand and pulled the sleeve farther down.
“Hey!” She pulled her hand away. “What are you doing?”
“You can stop hiding it now. I saw the scars.”
She slid the sleeve back in place and picked at a piece of frayed fabric on the bedspread.
“You’re a cutter, aren’t you?”
She looked up at me. Tears pooled at the corners of her eyes. “I . . . I can’t stop it, Liv. I’ve tried. I don’t want to do it. I . . . I just can’t help myself.” She dropped her face into her hands, and a flood of sobs shook her shoulders.
I touched her back. At first she recoiled as if my hands were made of ice. But then she relaxed beneath my fingers. “Why did you start?”
After a long silence, she said, “Him.”
I knew exactly who she meant. “You mean Jeff?”
She nodded. “He . . . touches me. And he makes me touch him. He forces me to do things. I hate my body!”
Vomit burned its way up my throat, and I swallowed to hold it down.
The acidic taste made my eyes burn. I took a deep breath and tried to calm my voice. “When did you start?”
“When I was eight. Jeff said everybody does this with their favorite niece. He said I’ll like it better when I grow up. Olivia, I don’t want to grow up!”
Suddenly Eden’s choice of room décor made sense. It reflected her desire to not grow up.
I listened without interruption as she told me about the times she fought against him. I felt like beating the living daylights out of Mr. Perv!
“I hated the way he talked about me growing prettier every day. So I stopped eating. When starvation didn’t destroy my body I started cutting it. I wanted to look ugly enough that he’d stop wanting to touch me. But it didn’t work.”
“Do your parents know?”
“No. My mom saw scratches on my arm once. She thought my neighbor's puppy did it.”
“Why didn’t you tell her the truth?”
“Jeff said Daddy would lose the church if I said anything.”
I wondered if I should tell Eden’s parents about this dirty old man.
Would that help or cause more problems?
“I’ve prayed for him to die.”
“I don’t blame you.”
“But I feel guilty for praying that way.”
I had no idea what to say. She needed someone a lot more qualified than me to deal with her psychological issues. But I sure didn’t want her to end up with the shrink my mom sent me to.
“Oh, Olivia, you don’t know how long I’ve wanted to tell someone.”
“I’m glad you trusted me enough to share this.”
“I feel so much better just talking about it.”
Sensing the Holy Spirit urging me, I asked, “Eden, can I pray with you?”
“I’d like that.”
I c
overed her hand that was lying on top of her textbook, then closed my eyes. “Father God, reach down into Eden’s heart. Take away her pain the way only You can. Take Jeff out of her life, God. Raise up a wall of protection around her. Lord, You know Eden. You knit her together in her mother’s womb, and You know everything about her, inside and out. You know her pain. You know her desires and her longings. You can deliver her from this torment and the evil Satan has planned for her. You are greater than he is. Father, I ask You to show Your power in Eden’s life, even tonight. I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.”
When I opened my eyes, I saw a smile spread across her tear-dampened face. I hugged her close.
Standing behind her, beside the bed, an angel stood about eight feet tall, smiling at me. He had a black beard and curly hair. His breastplate was dented as if it had been used in heavy battle. On it was a frieze of a bear’s head, its mouth open in a roar. Draped around his shoulders was a bear pelt, fastened around his neck with a gold clasp in the shape of a bear claw. Under his arm he grasped an iron helmet in the shape of a bear’s head. The opening looked like a bear’s mouth, with sharp metal teeth.
His golden eyes held me in a trance. Then his gaze turned to Eden, and his face softened with affection. His large, scarred, hairy hand completely covered the top of Eden’s head.
As I released my friend, the angel transformed into a grizzly bear standing on its hind legs, poised for battle. Then he disappeared.
A wave of relief came over me. Eden was certainly well protected. Her angel looked battle-worn. No doubt he’d had a hard job. I hoped the worst was over.
“Thanks for praying for me, Liv.”
“My pleasure.”
Eden disappeared into the bathroom. I heard the water running. I waited until she entered the bedroom again. I hoped the angel in the room read my thoughts. You watch over her. Like never before.
As I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and put on my pajamas, the shocking image I’d just seen kept playing in my mind.
When I returned to the bedroom Eden was studying her textbook. She looked peaceful. I sat down on the bed beside her and opened my own textbook, trying to concentrate on our assignment. I stared at her arms.
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