Trust in The Cross

Chapter One

   Ellie was sitting in a band concert thinking about all of the tears she'd shed recently. The top high school band was playing a song she had heard on the radio while her mom had informing her about the fact that, they were probably moving. She yanked her head out of the clouds and glanced at her mom's phone. She was typing something into the calendar. "Mom what's that for?" She asked. Her mom glanced at her dismissively and looked back at her phone. "It's a day at the church when your father is going to be recognized for what he has done for the church." Ellie looked confusedly at her mom. "Why?" Her mom shrugged. "It's his last day on staff at the church."                                                                                                                                                                                         "WHAT?!" Ellie screamed, right as the song ended. She made a mental note to never listen to this song again. Why was her dad leaving the church? Why was her mom so bad at telling her things? And more importantly, When the heck is dinner? "Shhhhh Ellie" Her mom scolded, glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention to her fretful daughter. "We will talk about this tonight." Ellie turned awkwardly away from her mother in the auditorium chair so that her back was facing her mom. She didn't want her mom to see the tears pouring down her face.                                                                                                                                                                                                --------------------

 Ellie sat silently in the car all the way back to her house. Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes every time she blinked, so she tried to blink as little as possible. She typed rapidly trying to text her friends as fast as possible, but it still seemed to take an eternity to type "AHHH" and hit send. "Ellie, are you okay? You've been quiet the entire trip back." Keep your temper, keep your temper Ellie come on don't- "NO I'M NOT OKAY!" She screamed. Well, there goes my self control. Oh God help me. She prayed silently, now ravaged by her temper. She glanced over at her dad with tear filled eyes, and could immediately feel the waves of anger coming off of him and her mom combined. They sat in an angry silence until her father pulled into the garage. As soon as he pulled the car to a stop, Ellie burst out of the car and ran into the house all the way to her room.                                                                                                                                                                                            Ellie collapsed onto her bed and began to cry. Her cat, Vivienne, took pity on her and snuggled down on top of Ellie's head. I can't breath!  She thought to herself, seemingly trying to communicate telepathically with her cat. Man your fat. Why are you so fat? We feed you the recommended portions! Her cat seemed to get the message, and moved grumpily to the other side of the bed. She raised her head and dramatically took in a deep breath. "You know Viv, you could probably work as an airlock for NASA with all that fat. I mean come on! Do we need to get you one of those exercise wheels for cats?" Vivienne yawned in agreement and closed her eyes for a nap. Ellie retrieved her phone from her back pocket and frantically texted her friends. Ahhhh My dad's leaving his job on top of us moving, and now I'm going to be lectured again from losing my temper in the car!  She read her text over and sent it right as a knock sounded on her door.                                                                                                                                                                                                Ellie looked up and shoved her phone under the covers of her bed. "Come in" She called hoarsely, mimicking the voice of someone who had just spent the last ten minutes crying. Her dad threw open her bedroom door and stooped in the doorway. "We need to talk. Now"