He Led Me To Life

Chapter 19:

      After I talked to Amy for a while, she said she had to go get ready for a date with Peter. I said it was fine, after all, I didn't want to keep her from doing something she wants to just because I don't want to go home. That would be stupid.

But even though I was not with Amy, I wasn't quite ready to go back home yet. That's too much stress for me to handle at the moment. Even if my family isn't home, that house reeks of their disapproval. If it was empty, it would tell me that they left to go somewhere without telling me, and if they're still there, that means they'll turn the cold shoulder, and it would basically be like they weren't even there anyway.

I sat on the park bench for a while, watching as people passed, walking dogs or going on runs, or heading somewhere for a picnic. They all seemed so happy, and the sight of so many happy families made me feel hollow and unhappy. It wouldn't do to sit around being envious of other families' happiness.

I stood up and stretched, my muscles stiff from sitting so long. Maybe a walk would make me feel better? I could do with some exercise, after all.

I made my way to one of the paths deeper within the park, and simply hoped that I wouldn't encounter anyone. Maybe I would be lucky enough to get by without any meetings. I felt like I needed some alone time without the stress that my home carried.

As I walked, I thought. I hoped Samuel was doing okay, even though he'd assured me earlier that he was. I was still worried anyways. Just the thought of any of my friends or family, or even someone I knew, getting in such a bad accident that they had to be in the ICU for a whole night—it wasn't a pleasant thought. I just know that if anything like that ever happened to me, I don't think I would be able to handle it. Samuel had seemed so calm when I was texting him, and he had mentioned that he'd been praying for his mother. I don't understand how he could be so unbothered. Maybe he wasn't as close to his mom as I thought he was? It was a possibility, but I didn't think it was really true. Samuel had seemed to genuinely care for his mother whenever I'd seen them together.

My thoughts wandered a bit further. What could I do to make my family see that being a Christian isn't a horrible thing? It just seemed so unfair that they were judging everyone in the group as being awful people. I mean, I had always thought the same things, but at least I had been willing to learn more. They seriously needed to lighten up. They were treating their hate of religion as if it was a religion itself. Maybe if I talked to Jack and got him to realize, he could talk to my parents and get them to see the truth. It was worth a shot.

I was just about to turn back, maybe after going for a few more minutes, and then I rounded a corner between some thick bushes and ran smack into someone going the opposite direction.

I flew backward and landed square on my butt. Papers fluttered around my head, landing in a loose circle around myself and the other person.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going at all." A nervous exclamation makes me look up to see who I collided with. It was a young guy, maybe just a bit older than Samuel. He looked to be either in high school or perhaps freshly graduated.

"It's fine, I wasn't paying much attention either." I wince as I stand because my butt hurts where it collided so harshly with the concrete path.

"But I should have been looking where I was going, I'm really sorry." He made a face that was somewhere between concern and embarrassment. A strand of pure white hair falls in front of his face from the inside of his black hoodie's hood. I stare at it in shock. A most-likely-teenager with white hair?

"No, you have nothing to be sorry for. It was as much my fault as it was yours." I pull my gaze away from his strangely colored hair and bent down to help him pick up his papers, which flew everywhere when we bumped.