The Faith of a Mustard Seed

Chapter Nine

     Standing in the middle of a deserted school hallway Nathan hears the distant sound of laughter coming from behind a door at the end of the hall. Desperate to know who the laughter belongs to Nathan darts down the long darkened hallway, and bursts through the door. A bright light suddenly blinds Nathan as soon as he pushes the door open. After blinking the white spots from his eyes Nathan spies a small group of friends standing near his locker, and right in the center of the group is none other than his cousin Gracelyn.

     Gracelyn is surrounded by her closest friends doubled over laughing. Her long chestnut brown hair catching the light as she goes to stand her hazel eyes shining with mirth. As he stands watching her laugh Nathan feels an unfamiliar warmth spreading through him, and overflowing into the atmosphere around him. He starts running eager to join his cousin and her friends but before he can get there everything changes.

     The warmth and light that had once filled everywhere has vanished leaving in its wake an empty and cold darkness. The hallway is almost completely deserted except for a lone figure standing with their arms wrapped around each side almost as if they were attempting to hug themselves. Taking a closer look at the figure Nathan suddenly gasps as he recognizes who the figure is.

     Standing before him is none other than Jasmine Winters. Nathan hesitantly walks forward unsure of what to do. Jasmine is standing with her head bowed oblivious to Nathan's presence. As Nathan moves forward, his eyes searching for a clue as to what she could be doing there, but he can find none. When he's about three feet away from her, she looks up.

     Nathan gasps loudly at what he sees. Jasmine's dark black and green hair is pulled high on top of her head in a tight bun, and she's wearing the same skin tight clothing she had on the first day they'd met but what alarmed him was her pale, pale face was covered in nothing but endless dark purple bruises and cuts.

     The marks continued down her face and onto her neck, and upon closer inspection he could see various marks on her hands. And she was crying. Nathan stood there watching as tear after tear fell silently from her deep green eyes. She made no noise. She just stood there hugging herself. After several long moments had passed Nathan finally croaks, "Jasmine, what happened to you? Why are you like this?"

     Closing her eyes briefly and reaching a hand up to dry her tears Jasmine whispers, "You don't care. No one cares. I am nothing more than a freak and I will always be a freak. Because you said I was."

     "What? Why do you think that I wouldn't care? If someone is hurting you, you need help."

      "Freak...Trouble...An Outsider....All because of you no one will ever know me. I will become nothing more than a mere shadow that walks these halls. No one cares that I need help. Why would they when you labeled me a freak....All because you thought I was replacing your cousin." Jasmine whispered as she turned away and started walking down the hall, her head bowed.

     "NO Jasmine I didn't mean to. I didn't know you needed help. There must be something I can do." Nathan called after her as he begins to run to try to get her to talk to him.

     Jasmine ignores him and disappears through a door at the end of the hall. Deciding to try to help her Nathan pushes through the door too, only he's no longer at school. He's standing alone on a grassy hillside and all around him white marble tombstones stick out of the ground. Walking forwards his eyes land on one, set off to the side all by itself.

     Once he reaches the lone tombstone tears fill his eyes and he screams "NO," as his heart begins to ache. Written in neat straight words on the white stone is, "Jasmine Winters, Born September 22, 2001, Died December 21 2017. She was a complete outcast and freak hated by all who laid eyes upon her."