Tales of Light

AFTER THE EXPLOSION

AFTER THE EXPLOSION

After the fiftieth count from her house, Kristen Saunders paused to stare at a glazed storefront.

All she could 'see' with her dysfunctional eyes was a black void.

She took in the sounds and felt the movement of people around her like seismic vibrations passing through her.

How long had it been since the explosion accident that had taken away her sight, since she lost everything?

"Hello, Kristen!" a soft, melodic voice cooed behind her-a voice that sounded familiar.

Startled, she jumped.

"Who's that?" she asked, clutching her cane like a weapon.

"It's me."

Her heart skipped but she dared not hope.

This could be a hallucination, a horrible joke her mind was playing on her. She couldn't speak past the lump in her throat.

"Kristen, I'm sorry if it seemed as though I left too. I don't blame you. You're not a witch, neither did you cause the death of your entire family. It was all an accident."

"You're mistaken!" she said and began taking tentative steps away from him.
"Everyone hates me now. No one looks at me for fear of me casting a spell of death on them. You should leave."

"No, I'm not leaving," he said, taking her free hand in his.

She gasped, her eyes widening as she felt the hands of the one she thought she'd lost forever. Gabriel was her best friend.

Gently, he nudged her forward till they got to a bench at the main park and sat on it.

"Gabriel?" she whispered in a choked voice as she reached up her hand in the direction she hoped his face would be.

"I promised," he said and held her small hand to his face. "I never really left."

She smiled. "You sound different. You never talk like this."

"I met the One who sees all. He asked me to tell you that He sees you too. Jesus still loves you, Kristen."

At that minute, Kristen wished she could enter a wormhole. She withdrew.

Since the devastation, she stopped talking to God.

"Gabriel, you are now a Christian?"

"Yes, thanks to your persistent prayers."

"Good for you," she muttered.

"I know it can be hard to process grief and loss. I've been in your shoes. It hurts bad. All you want to do is to trust him regardless of your pain..."

Kristen allowed the salty tears to carve their way down her cheeks.

Her high walls crumbled. It was high time she returned to the cross.

Despite her state, the Greatest One still saw her as valuable. And even if the world ostracized her, she would keep beholding His face, even till the end.