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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Encouragement (among believers) (11/08/07)
DRAWN BY THE LIGHT OF A CANDLE

Jessie looks at herself in the mirror, trying to get her curly hair under control.
Then her eyes fell on Simone behind her where she is sitting on the bed, paging through a magazine.

“I don’t think I want to go tomorrow night.” Simone is trying to convince Jessie to go with her to a party on Saturday night. “We’ve been going out a lot lately and I just want to take it easy for a while”

Jessie, still struggling with her hair, pretends not to see the unbelief on Simone’s face at her words of taking it easy. Then she looks back at herself in the mirror. Lately there has been some stuff bothering her. She cannot quite put her finger on it, but she is not interested in all the partying and drinking and late nights as she used to.

There must be more to life than this emptiness she thinks by herself. Going out used to make her forget about this unexplainable longing she has, but now it seems to make it worst. Frustrated she throws the brush aside and fell on the bed next to Simone.

‘O come on Jessie, look at you, you need some fun for a change, especially after that what-his-name-guy stood you up the other night.’

Jessie sighs, she did not tell Simone, but it was actually she who stood him up. He was such a jerk, with his pretend sweet talk showing false interest in her. Without a doubt he was just trying to get her into bed. A few weeks ago she might just have go along with it but not now.

‘It’s not fun I need, its rest and I really don’t feel like getting up every morning of the weekend with a hangover or something’

Simone puts the magazine aside and sits upright, stretching her legs. She tries to hide her annoyance with this side of Jessie she does not know.
‘O, don’t tell me this is got something to do with that girl at your work? What’s her name again? Little- miss- perfect Elizabeth?

Feeling a bit upset at the remark, she snaps back, a little more harsh than she ment to ‘No its not, and there is nothing wrong with Elizabeth, I like her.’
To avoid any further inquiries, she quickly added: “I’ll go get us some juice from the kitchen. She slips out of the room just to hear a very sarcastic ‘Yeah right’ coming from Simone.

As Jessie pours the juice in two glasses, she thinks about Elizabeth. Simone is actually right. Elizabeth is unlike anyone else she met before. She’s got this thing about her, she is almost, always bubbling over with joy and strange as it may sound, even when she is sad, she is happy. It’s as if there is this light shining from inside her and she never met anyone with so much peace surrounding her.
Jessie can’t even imagine being so at peace, she can’t even remember when was the last time she felt any real peace at all. Real peace, like what Elizabeth has, from the inside, not from some kind of drug she took.

And that’s another thing she can’t understand. Elizabeth knows the kind of lifestyle she is living and although Elizabeth goes to church and is a Christian she never make her feel like the devil himself, unlike other people she knows. In herself she feels guilty when she gives to much detail about her wild weekends but not of something Elizabeth would say.

She always believed in Jesus but have not given much though about the things she do and if its right or wrong, lately this changed as well.
Sometimes she will get irritated with Elizabeth simply because she is so content and then immediately feel bad about it. She love talking to her about the bible and to hear things she never even knew about. It makes her want to know more. It is unbelievable how one person can bring such a change of mind in her simply by acting out their faith.

Just as she wants to take the juice, Simone came rushing past her, out through the door.
“Sorry Jess” she shouts “my mom are looking for me, gotta go, but we‘ll talk later about tomorrow night”

She wonders what Simone would have to say if she tells her she is going to church on Sunday.
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This article has been read 801 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Seema Bagai
11/17/07
This is a good piece. A few typos here and there. Fix those, and this story will be an encouragement to older teens.
Dee Yoder
11/19/07
Good story that will be even better with a little polishing. Sometimes, reading your entry out loud to yourself can help you find your errors before you post it to the Challenge. This story has a good plot and interesting characters. Your writing has a lot of appeal to it!