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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: End (02/13/06)
“It’s over!” Carolyn yelled as she slammed the door shut behind her and walked-off into the winter snow. Steve stood there as his stomach slowly sank into the recesses of his bowls. As far as he was concerned, everything was fine. He felt as though he had been emotionally raped.

Carolyn was moody before all of this. It still didn’t explain her reaction. He searched himself to understand how missing trash night could end a marriage.

Now Steve was trying desperately to cling to a future that was fast becoming a shattered dream. “Why didn’t I know? Wasn’t I supposed to see that something was wrong? It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.” As the reality of Carolyn’s leaving was setting-in, Steve got angry and yelled, “God, it’s not right!” Shouting as loud as he could seemed to help relieve some of the pain he was feeling but, it wasn’t giving him complete relief.

He sank into his wing-backed chair and just stared at the fire he noticed had all but died. It seemed like a bit of irony as far as he was concerned. He was worried. Worried that Carolyn was right about it all being over. And he was worried that Carolyn’s drive would be endangered by the incoming snow storm.

Steve began to fade in his chair as he re-played the events of the evening, over and over and...

The loud banging on the door caused Steve to shoot out of his chair with a start. He looked at the clock, 3:00 a.m. “Who would bang on my door at three in the morning?” he thought. He grabbed the handle and his heart sank again. He knew it wasn’t good news.

At the door was Jeremy Mueller, a volunteer EMT who attended the church faithfully for 10 years. He looked down for a moment, as if trying to find the words that would work right, “Pastor. It- it’s about Carolyn.” He hesitated for just a moment.

“Where is she? Is she okay?” Steve grabbed Jeremy by the shoulders and looked him deep in the eyes. “Tell me Jeremy, what’s wrong?”

Jeremy could see the desperation in Steve’s face and suddenly remembered himself. “It’s nothing like that Pastor. She’s fine. They found her wandering around the park downtown. They said she just kept repeating, ‘What am I doing here?’ over and over again.”

“She’s at the hospital right now. She’s suffering from a mild case of hypothermia. It took a while but, when she came out of shock the last memory she had was leaving the church yesterday evening.” explained Jeremy.

Steve grabbed his coat and raced to the hospital. When he arrived he learned that Carolyn had been rushed to the operating room for emergency surgery. Nobody would tell him anything. He did manage to find out who was doing the surgery. He was pleased when he found out it was Dr. Sariq Ahlef, the best doctor in town and a member of his church. Steve was concerned with why they had a neurosurgeon working on his wife. He could only find a seat in the waiting room and wait.

Dr. Ahlef came out of the operating room smiling. “Pastor Steve, I have good news.” He said, “After they treated Carolyn for hypothermia, she still seemed somewhat delusional. They ordered several tests and found out she had a tumor in her brain. We needed to operate immediately.

The tumor wasn’t cancerous but, it was growing. Has she been real moody lately?”

Steve about came out of his skin. “Yes.”

“I can’t speak for her but, chances are she wasn’t in control of her emotions.” explained Ahlef.

“Can I see her now?” asked Steve

“In about five minutes.”

Carolyn opened her eyes to see her husband standing over her. They held each other. Steve pulled away a little and looked her in the eye. “Are we okay? Are you and I going to make it together?”

Carolyn looked perplexed, “Of course we are. Sweetheart, we’re together forever. I promise, I will never leave you.”

“It’s over!” Steve yelled as he left the door open behind him. He dropped to his knees in the front room and cried out to God, “Thank you! This ugly part of our lives is over. Thanks to you, we can press on – together.”

Now their shattered dream was once again a promised future. Carolyn would be home in a few days. She would be new again and so would they.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Virginia Gorg
02/23/06
Love the comment about trash night :) So often we jump to conclusions about things when we should look to the end. Nicely written.
Edy T Johnson
02/27/06
The title grabbed me, first. You know how to pull a reader into your writing (great job :) Then, what a neat way to let us know this man is a pastor (surprise!). I didn't wonder why the marriage seemed to be in trouble as much as I noticed how quickly, like any of us, the pastor, confronted with an unexpected event, was perhaps too quick to second-guess himself, wondering where he went wrong, etc. More times than we might think something or someone else is responsible. This story gives a wonderful example, and I liked it just the way it was written. Keep writing!