Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: CHILL (10/27/16)
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TITLE: A Shiver in the Night | Previous Challenge Entry
By Amy Gaudette
11/03/16 -
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The candle flickers helplessly in the dim, drafty room. I pull a frayed quilt tightly against my body. My knees pressed hard against my chest, I become a human ball, tucked into the only chair that hasn't been demolished by Ed's rage.
I tremble . . .
Waiting . . .
I try to remember my Sunday school verse from last week. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High . . .
I imagine my grandmother's checker-board quilt, though far past its glory, as God's shelter around me.
He who dwells . . .
What was that? My heart skips and runs recklessly ahead. My chest hurts. I peer through the holes of my quilt. A large, shadowed figure comes through the doorway. My breath comes much too quickly, and I feel faint. Icy fingers twist terror around my young heart. I barely quell my scream.
Footsteps approach. The floor groans. He is here.
He who dwells . . . He who dwells . . .
A gust of frigid air from the open door sucks the life from my candle and wracks my body in a relentless shiver.
The strike of a match. The glow of the reborn candle illuminates the intruder's face.
“Anna? Anna, can you hear me?”
“Grampy?” My voice shivers in the cold.
“Oh, Anna . . .” He runs to me. His large, loving arms encompass me. His sweet scent of spice sends the demons fleeing.
Sobs escape my lips involuntarily. Frigid from fright and the winter air, I slowly, painfully, relinquish my hold on my body. Still my fingers grasp the war-torn quilt.
. . . will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
“I'm taking you home, sweetheart. Your mom's resting at my house, and she's just fine.”
I sniff. “God hid me, didn't He, Grampy?”
“Yes, honey. Yes, He did. Now, let's get you home and get you warm.”
Psalm 91:1
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Congrats on your win.
A chillingly beautiful story.