Faith In The Wild •CARL GRIMES•

Hanging On To Your Every Word

Was God speaking to me?

I don't remember ever bookmarking anything in this particular book..

The bookmarked chapter was underlined on Deuteronomy 2:7, "For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows you're trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD has been with you; you have lacked nothing."

I was cut so off guard by this, yet somehow I understood. I lacked nothing, because even after all I lost, I still have my Faith and I still have God by my side.

I yawned as I continued to try to read, but every few minutes, my eyes would flutter closed and I'd start to drift into sleep again, then stutter awake. My eyes felt like bricks were weighing them down.

I finally argued myself into putting my Bible back in my bag and curling up to the corner to rest my head on my backpack.

Despite the chaos all around me, the smell of the rain was nice. It reminded me of my 9th birthday, the last day of school before summer break.. the last day I ever saw Carl. It was a warm but rainy day like this and after begging my dad for hours, he agreed to let me stay the night with Carl's family.

~Beginning Of Flashback~

Around 6:00pm, my dad dropped me off at Carl's house and I ran up the steps as fast as I could without dropping my backpack. Before I could even reach the top step, Carl opened the door with his big, bright smile.

--"Happy birthday, you pig! Did you even save any birthday cake for me?"-- There it was, his quirky, yet sweet smile.

I scoffed, trying to act offended. "No, I didn't. And even if I did, you're not getting any!" I replied, playfully shoving past him into his house.

With a hurt gasp, his teasing smirk turned to a fake pout, and then came the puppy dog eyes while he followed me into the kitchen.

"Oh, don't even start with the pouting. You know me better than that, I brought cupcakes." I flashed my prettiest smile and my one dimple complimented my rosy cheeks, as I was setting my stuff on the counter and getting the cupcakes out.

--"Really?"-- His eyes lit up with excitement.

"Mhm. But you have to earn one." I said sternly, trying to hide my smile.

--"What? Whyyy.."-- He said with a disappointed look.

"Because! You can't call someone a pig and then expect a cupcake, that isn't how the world works, Carl." I spat out as if I knew any more than he did about 'how the world works'.

He gave me an annoyed eye roll and said, --"Fine, be that way. I'll put up with it today, but ONLY because it's your birthday. What do I gotta do to 'earn' a cupcake?"-- His tone gave away that he wasn't actually annoyed, but he always loved to make me feel bad for being overly picky and complicated.

A smug smirk crossed my lips and I whispered to him, "Come dance with me in the rain, and I'll give you a cupcake.."

He cocked his head at me and gave me a look that said 'no' in like every language.

"Come on, pleaseeeee.. my brothers never dance with me anymore. They all three hate being forced to hang out with me all the time, so they never do when they have the choice. And besides you're like my only friend. " I stuck out my bottom lip and pouted at him.

--"But it's raining."--

"So, what? I thought we both loved the rain."

--"Fine, fine. Come on."-- he took me by the hand and went outside in the street.