THE OVERCOMER


By Tessa Harvey



CHAPTER SEVEN
(Continued)



That evening he slept much better and woke up feeling refreshed and confident, heading to work to face all the problems, relying on His God's Power and not his own.

His father, Solomon also got on well with Rosalie. Watching him, his son would see how much he enjoyed being in relaxing company again, but now and then, Solomon would be in a distant place for a few moments and Sam knew he was thinking of his lost Rebecca.

Sam also thought of his mother. He often felt sad that she had been taken from him so early. At times she had hurt and annoyed him, but he had known she loved him really and that was beyond price.

Stella occupied more of his thoughts now and a year later he proposed to her. He loved how her bright face lit up with joy and knew life could be good again. The factory was once more doing well.

The bride chose a traditional white dress and Sam gasped when he saw how very beautiful she looked. Radiantly, she seemed to float towards him down the church aisle.

She shared his faith, but found difficulty accepting why sometimes very bad things had happened for seemingly random reasons.
Her father, Tom had died several years before, of a sudden heart attack. There had been no warning symptoms, though that day Stella felt uneasy at times. She did not understand why until it was too late.

Perhaps God had wanted her to pray, but she decided not to blame herself for that or she would never recover. Or recover as much as anyone could. A huge loss has a tremendous impact and ripples continue for a long time.

Today was a new beginning and no-one knew or felt anything was wrong as they left the church to the sound of a carillon of bells - and posed happily, laughing at times for photos.

It was then the shot rang out, though it was not at first, recognised as such by most present.



                                    ====================



CHAPTER EIGHT


Solomon knew. He had been in the military. He saw his son slump down, clutching his new wife. Stippling the maelstrom of emotions threatening to overwhelm him, he quickly dialled the ambulance then police.

Realising seconds counted, not just minutes, he ran towards his son, blocking the angles from where the shot had seemed to come. He beckoned Smith and Wilson who were watching him. "Get everyone inside the church. Leave the sniper to the police." They obeyed instantly. They also were army men and had served with him.

Two young ladies were heading straight for Sam and Stella, one a little further back, carrying a medical bag she had obviously fetched from her car.

Heartbroken, Solomon helped get the last people into the church by yelling encouragement. As he knelt by his son, he saw that he was still bleeding.
Two older women were helping Stella inside. He could see her wounds were superficial lacerations from chipped stones, which meant the bullet had exited Sam's body, hitting the wall. Her wedding dress was ripped and blood-stained.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE OVERCOMER By Tessa Harvey CHAPTER EIGHT (Continued) Stella was obviously stunned in shock, stumbling, leaning on the older women. Sam was struggling. He kept calling for his mother. She was walking away on her high heels, wearing her tight fashionable skirt. She was going home and leaving him. He bowed his head in desperation. Desolate, he saw the dark blue of the car diminish into the distance. He kept calling "mum, mum", but no-one heard. No-one. Then he went looking for Stella, calling her name. He saw her running towards him in her beautiful, white-flowing wedding dress. She had flowers in her hair and her shining face was full of love for him. But she ran on by him and he groaned aloud. "Steady son," he heard his father and there was a strange roaring noise. He struggled, feeling heavy and weak. "Dad?" He could hear sirens. He heard his dad pray: "In Jesus Name!" Then he was asleep. He awoke to blinding light. "Hold on, son", a...
Read more
THE OVERCOME By Tessa Harvey CHAPTER FOUR "Can you tell me what happened, Elias?" the man asked. Elias swallowed, nervously. His throat felt dry. Seeing this, his father passed him the cup and watched the boy drink. Haltingly, Elias said how he had fallen asleep and awoke to screams. As he recounted the accident, he began to relive it. How he had seen the truck approaching, how they had skidded on ice into its path.  As he was flung out of the car, he saw the dark blue car crushed beyond hope of a living survivor. He began to sob. Slowly his father reached out to clasp his son's undamaged hand. "We had to have the funeral service, son." He cleared his throat. "We recorded it for you." There was a long silence. Then Elias asked: "Dad, when I get out of here, I would like to go to a school nearer you." (To himself he thought I never want to travel that road again. If only I could hear my mother say "my lovely son" just one more time)....
Read more
THE OVERCOMER By Tessa Harvey CHAPTER THREE Real terror began a few days later back at the boarding school. Absentmindedly, trying to solve a maths problem in his head, Elias took a huge gulp of the evening cocoa. The resulting taste horror nearly made him spew the whole lot across the table and onto the wall. With difficulty, and trying not to draw attention to himself, Elias tried to dribble as much as possible back into his mug. There were muffled giggles from Kirby and Dunstable and cronies. They must have used half a salt cellar in his drink. Instinctively he tried to school his features into indifference. Later, thirsty and unable to sleep, he decided to get a drink from the bathroom. He closed the door quietly, realising too late he was not alone. Recently he had been warned to not try so hard at schoolwork and to be more amenable to the bullies demands for money and extra food. As he was now thirteen and had very little in the way of extra fo...
Read more