Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Fulfillment (04/06/06)
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TITLE: A Room Fulfilled | Previous Challenge Entry
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04/11/06 -
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The young beauty sat on the edge of the unmade king-size bed, legs crisscross, arms over chest, skeleton frame rocking. With her back toward the door and front facing the window, she watched obsessively as the sky appeared in movement and its coloration dimmed and changed. In that moment, Isabelle neglected to notice the one person who should have mattered most—the skinny little girl waiting in silence at the rear of the room.
Ten-year-old Catherine stood in the shadows, not even the grumbling of her unfed stomach enough to spur her to action or sound. Especially smart and receptive for her age, the young girl knew, without understanding such or even how, the cost of breaking silence. She looked upon hopelessness and pain, witnessed the infectious nature of misery, and through it all, comprehended the necessity of stillness, if only because of the rocking. What Catherine did not understand, though, what she could not see, as it impossible to see with mere eyes, was the reason for her mother’s behavior. With nothing else to do, she quietly moved to the floor, curled into a ball, wrapped her tiny fingers around her cross, and prayed for the help of Jesus.
Day shifted to night, which in turn shifted to morning. Isabelle never closed her eyes. She spent the entire time in thought, in memory. She spent the entire time in guilt; for her transgressions, particularly one, weighed heavily upon her heart and soul.
But then, just as Isabelle swelled with the worst kind of sorrow, as she imagined her own death, envisioned her hand filling with pills and the pills moving to her mouth, a stir from the other side of the room drew her attention. With a quarter turn of the head, she saw young Catherine in her ball of sleep, clutching desperately to a cross. Isabelle realized what she had forgotten and promised to never do it again.
As if somehow aware, young Catherine woke in that very instant. She moved to her mother, collapsed into Isabelle’s arms, and said with seeming confidence, “Mama, it will be all right. I have prayed to Jesus. You will be all right now.”
Tears filled Isabelle’s eyes. The dark eyed mother kissed her daughter on the head and pulled the child into the warmest embrace ever. “Yes,” said Isabelle, “I will be all right, Catherine. Once I have learned to forgive myself, as I know God has forgiven me, then I will be . . . I will be better again. I will be more than better. Thank you for your prayers.”
After one more minute of embrace, Isabelle lifted to a stand and helped her daughter do the same. “Come, Catherine. I know you are hungry. Let us go eat. Then, after, we will go to church and pray. We will ask God to forgive us our sins and to fill us with the Holy Spirit so that we may be guided in all that we do and never know . . . never again know . . . what it means to suffer by moving away from Him.”
Catherine took her mother’s hand. The two entered a new room, side by side.
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Nice writing style.