Seven Story Publishing

Pine Ridge, West Virginia

The seasonal leaves begin to fall in the mountains of Pine Ridge, West Virginia. The chilled streams and creeks echo through the maze of cold Red Maple Trees. The squirrels and creatures are preparing for the coming winter as they gather and scramble for the long months to come.

A brother and sister run and scream through the piles of leaves scattered across the hardened earth in joyful glee. The city life has taken it’s toll on their joyful excitement of frolic as many of the natural trees from their younger days have been taken and replaced with quiet and faceless dirt and broken trees. The revitalized nature has filled them with new life and a drive to explore nature to its fullest.

Just a ways from them, a man sits on an old fishing peer in a folding chair staring into the waters of a murky pond and repeating the same start of a line on repeat: “The Light of the World Brings…” He lays back in his plaid shirt and bright vest patting his hands on his old, dirt stained jeans letting his mind wander. Large bags rest against his tired eyes as he loses his thought.

“Dad!” His little boy cries. “Look what we found!” Loudly his rain boots clopped against the old wooden peer at lightning speed as he bounced between each step. “Daddy! Look!”

The man turned his stiff neck to the boy who held a brightly colored opal stone glittering in the sunlight. “My, that’s quite the find you have there. Who is it for?”

The little boy’s smile nearly dropped as he stared at it. “Well…it was for…” His words cut off as tears formed in his eyes.

Understanding the boy’s lament, the father picks up his son and holds him in his lap as he joins him sharing their tears. “I understand, Son. She’ll love it, I’m sure.”

Confused by his words, he looks up at her. “But Dad, how can she love it? She can’t even see it anymore.”

The Father looks at the boy with pleading in his eyes for some answer of hope to sooth his sorrows. He glances up and notices his daughter walking slowly along the edge of the pond with her hands in her vest pocket and a blank expression of nothing. His heart breaks for them as he painfully remembers why they left the city for a time.

He glances back to his boy who continues to await his answer. The echoing waters moving by the wind catches their attention as a single beam of light shines on a murky spot in the waters.

“Well, son, it’s like this. You know what I have been telling the two of you about God, yes?” His boy nodded. “Can we actually see Him? Can we actually talk to Him?”

“Of course not, Daddy,” The boy replied. “He’s in Heaven. We can’t reach there. We aren’t tall enough.”

The Father couldn’t help but chuckle at the boy’s innocence. “You know, you have a point there. We’d have to be pretty tall to reach there, wouldn’t we?”

“We’d have to be at least of Giraffe to see the bottom of it!” The boy declared with renewed excitement.

“A Giraffe, huh? What if I told you Heaven is even higher than that?”

The boy’s eyes filled with wonder and awe. “Taller than a Giraffe!?”

“Yes! Even taller than the highest mountain!”

The boy sat there frozen in wonder and amazement as his eyes darted around trying to picture anything taller than a mountain.

“Now, I’ve told you that God is in Heaven watching over us, and yet we can talk to Him every day and He listens. If God is all the way up there, how can God hear us?”

The little boy pondered for a minute as he stuck his index finger in his mouth and made weird noises. “Maybe God uses special walkie talkie that only exist in our minds!”

The Father smiled and laughed with him. “You know, that’s honestly one of the best ways to think about it. Yes, we do have something like walkie talkies in our minds when we pray, don’t way?”

“You told us He knows our every thought and de…de…” The boy stopped as tripped on his words pointing to his chest.

“Desires of our hearts?”

“Yeah! That, Daddy! And that He always knows what we are feeling.”

“Indeed He does. And did you know you that His heart is hurting too.”

The boy looked up confused. “His heart hurts? Why?”

The father pointed at the little boys heart. “Because He knows what you are feeling and why you feel that way.”

The little boy’s faced dropped again as he pushed the side of his head into his father’s chest. The father held his little boy close and kissed him on the top of his head.

“It’s not fair…” The boy mumbled under his breath. The father did not reply but began humming Amazing Grace as he rocked him back and forth. Slowly, but surely, the little boy fell asleep in his father’s arms as his daughter came up behind them.

“Is he still asking about her?” She asked flatly. The father nodded as she sits at the end of the peer hugging her legs. “He keeps asking me questions and I don’t know what to tell him.”

“I’m sorry,” The father answers sadly. “It’s not your place to have to answer those questions. I tell him all the time I’d talk to him.”

“It’s ‘cause I look like her…”She replied bitterly. The father didn’t respond but watched as a tear rolled down her face. “I’m trying to figure things out too, but I can’t look in a mirror without seeing her and I’m all twisted up trying to deal with this.”

“The Light of the World Begins…” The father muttered to himself.

The daughter turns back to him. “You’ve been saying that to yourself under your breath since Mom left. What are you trying to say?”

The father let out a deep sigh as he laid his head back to rest against the folding chair. “Well, it’s a line that has been playing over in my head on repeat since everything happened. I don’t know where it came from, but it’s been repeating in my head without ever getting a complete answer. I hear her every day telling me this same thing, but then nothing but silence.”

The daughter nods as she stands up and moves to his lap. He happily pulls her in and hugs her from the side. “I wish I knew what to do, Dad. It’s like…someone turned the lights off around everything in my life and I’m stumbling in the dark.”

“That’s a beautiful way to put it. You’ve always had such a gift for words. I know you talked about being an author one day.”

“Yes, and I think I still will. I think that’s also why I’m angry. Why am I feeling so inspired to write when all I want to do is sit alone in my room? It’s like…like someone is intentionally trying to turn a light on when I keep turning it off.” The father gave her a knowing look. “Yes, Dad, I know how that sounds. And you are probably right, but…all the thoughts I have for my stories are filled with happiness and bright things. I feel like I’m betraying her by thinking these things.”

“Well, now, I wouldn’t say that,” The father rebutted. “If anything, perhaps that’s her way of helping you move on. You always were so close to her and it shows by how much you are still keeping her in mind when you make decisions.”

The daughter smiled as she pulled her blonde hair out of her face and wiped the tears from her eyes. “I miss her so much, Dad. I can’t help but keep asking God why…why her? Why us? Why anything really. She had so much love to give and shared so much light with people that…everything just looks dark now that she’s gone.” She glances down at her little brother snoring and drooling way on her father. “And he wants me to do everything with him and is scared when I leave anywhere without him. I know he needs me and I need him. It’s just…a lot to process.”

He stopped rocking for a second as he felt something in the back his mind pop. “The Light…the Light…that’s it! You figured out the rest of the sentence!” He answered happily.

“I did?” The daughter asked in confusion. “Well, don’t keep me in suspense. What is it?”

The father glanced at the shimmering light in the water. “It’s something your mother told me once. I nearly forgot. She said: ‘When the light of the world grows dim, it’s harder to see the light. We try and find any source of joy and comfort to fill the void, but we turn up empty ever time. The only path to find the light, is to commune with The light. In return, we become His light that everyone so desperately needs in this broken world. The light doesn’t begin with fantasies, hopes, or pointless dreams. The Light Begins With…You.

When all the darkness tries to cover the world: The Light Brings you.”

The daughter smiled and hugged him around his neck carefully, as to not wake her brother. “Thank you, Daddy. I needed to hear that.” She stands to her feet and wipes the rest of the tears from her eyes. “I’m going to warm up the car so we can go to that Diner we saw coming into town.”

“Sounds good. I’ll give him a few more minutes before I bring him over there.” She nodded and kissed his cheek as she grabbed the keys from her pocket and followed the short trail back to their family’s car.

The father continued to lean back and stared into the slowly shifting clouds. “The Light Begins With You. It certainly did with you, Babe. She really is just like you. I can’t wait to see you on your side of Heaven’s gates one day. Until then, our children need us. The darkness follows them and they need a light to guide their way. I pray you keep talking to them as you do me, my love.”

The father slowly picked up the boy as the small opal rolled across the peer and rested against a post as a beam of sunlight pierced through the shifting clouds and shined down on the stone. A tear filled his eye again as he held his son close and walked away to the car with a torn piece of paper flies out of his pocket and lands behinds the opal with a single line written in cursive: “The Light Brings You.”

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About

James is a Christian Fiction writer who puts his faith first and foremost in all his inspiration. After a decade of retail life, he seeks to join the writing world by creating a safe reading selection for teen/young adult readers. He is the author of a 10-book series called the Grace Series and the Fantasy series Clash of Light and Dark.

James follows the teachings of the King James Bible and believes every day is another chance to learn from the Creator and spend every day taking steps closer to becoming more Christ-like.

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