Prayer

It’s around two in the morning when Emily’s baby-sitter Crystal wakes her up and drives her to the hospital. On the way there Crystal trys to explain to little Emily that her parents got hurt in an accident driving home, but Emily is too sleepy to fully understand what is going on. It’s only when they reach the hospital and Emily talks to the doctors that she finally realizes what is really going on....1

“Are you Emily?”2

“Yes.” Emily replies rubbing her tiny purple eyes.3

“My name is Doctor Bailey. I am the Trauma surgeon who worked on your parents when they came in a couple hours ago.”4

“Ok…”5

“I have some very bad news sweet heart. Your mommy and daddy got into a car accident this evening when they were driving home and they were very badly hurt.”6

“Well um what, what’s wrong with them?” Emily eyed Doctor Bailey intently hoping that what ever the doctor was about to say next wouldn’t be as bad as she was already playing at.7

“Well, your mom was thrown out of the car and landed on a very sharp rock which is making her bleed a lot on the inside.”8

“And what about my daddy?!” Emily was trying to hold back tears. Crystal saw this and wrapped her up in a hug.9

“His air bag didn’t deploy so he hit his head really hard against the steering wheel. I am so sorry to tell you this but all of the doctors and nurses who are doing everything they can to help your parents don’t think that they’re gonna make it through tonight.” Doctor Bailey got on her knees and began stroking Emily’s long black hair in hopes to comfort the little child. After a few awkward moments Crystal finally looked at the doctor and asked, “Would it be alright if Emily went up to see her parents before I take her home?” Doctor Bailey nodded and all three girls went up to the ICU.10

When Doctor Bailey opened the door to the two patient’s room Emily ran and hurtled herself onto her mother’s bed and reached over to grab her father’s hand. She closed her eyes as Doctor Bailey and Crystal sat down on the couch. Emily, holding in her tears with all her little might began to pray.11

“Dear God and Jesus,12

I know I’ve already prayed to you tonight but this is really impordant! My mommy and daddy got really hurt and they really need your healing right now. Like mommy needs you to stop the bleeding in her tummy, and, and daddy needs you to fix his head! Please dear God and Jesus, I want them to be home and not have to hurt anymore. Ok…that’s all. AAAAm…oh wait! Please bless mommy, daddy, Grammy, Grandy, Granddaddy Wood, Nana, Grandma Carol, Nana Carol, Mrs. Crystal, Doctor Bailey, and everyone else that you made. Amen!”13

As Emily said her “Amen” both her parents machines went flat… 14

15 years later15

*HEY MISS MURDER CAN I, HEY MISS MURDER CAN. MAY BEAUTY STAY IN FINE, TAKE MY LIFE OOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!* 16

“fuck who the hell are you…um hello?” Em grumbles as she rubs her eyes trying to read the clock on top of the piano.17

“Good morning sunshine! And might I ask, do you plan on picking me up sometime today or should I call you back in a year?” 18

On the other end of the line is Em’s friend Kailey. Kailey and Em have been good friends since they met each other at Chorale camp almost 5 years ago. Ironically they became friends over a crush they both had on Daniel Radcliffe at the time.19

“Oh Shit!” Em throws her covers over her sleeping cat Spitball and runs to her closet trying to find something remotely clean to wear. “Oh my gosh Kailey I am so sorry! I totally spaced last night and forgot to set my alarm clock!”20

“Ha-ha Emy its ok. Really we still have like ten minutes till it Sunday school starts. I’m only calling cus we are normally there by now so I kinda figured you forgot to set the alarm.”21

“Yeah but still I hate being late and I feel really bad about forgetting for like the umpteenth time! Gosh darn it where the hell are my socks?” Em begins grunting in frustration while Kailey laughs and adds, “I honestly couldn’t tell you. Your room, like mine, eats anything and everything that falls on the floor!” Em laughs in agreement, “yeah and no one ends up finding the things that they lost for like a year after you needed the stupid thing!” “Exactly!” 22

Em quickly runs down the stairs and out of the apartment wearing a pair of blue jeans and her red coca-cola shirt perfectly complemented by her green fuzzy slippers. As she starts her little jeep up she tells Kailey a quick “later” and drives off a lot faster than the 25mph sign says to. She finally stops at the Academy and Maizland intersection waiting for her light to turn green when she glances out the passenger side window to see a random hobo holding up a sign. She has to squint to read the small letters under the big “NEED FOOD” part of the sign but she is finally able to make out, “’pray for those who lose their lives everyday’ ok that’s random.” Em just ignores the sign but quietly whispers to herself, “sorry dude but I don’t pray.” At that very moment a blue Saturn back ends the brown jeep sitting right in front of him in the lane right next to Em’s. Em trys to stay calm now that her light has turned as she calls the police to tell them about the accident. The police put her on hold as she looks back at the hobo through her mirror. He was gone. She turns onto Kailey’s street and honks to let her know that she is there as the police finally get back to the phone. 23

“911, Can I have your name please.”24

“Yeah um, Emily Taylor.”25

“Where do you live?”26

“Meadowland apartments room number 999.”27

“What is the emergency?”28

“Yeah a little blue Saturn just rear ended a brown jeep at the Maizland and Academy intersection. No one was hurt I don’t believe.”29

“Alright thank you Emily we will be sending an Ambulance right away.”30

“Alright, bye.”31

Em places her phone back into her purse right as Kailey gets in the car. After a quick hug across the seats the two girls are finally on there way to church. Kailey inquires as to why Em was on the phone, and Em explains the accident to her.32

“Yeah it was really weird, I’m gonna guess that the brakes were out or something cus this little car had tons of clearance.”33

“Wow that’s pretty interesting.” Kailey replies.34

“Oh hey Kailey, have you ever seen a hobo just standing on the corner holding up a sign?”35

Kailey, not sure why this is an important question, looks at Em curiously. “Um…no why?”36

“Just wondering.” Em finally replies after a few moments, “It was kinda odd, there was this guy just standing there holding this sign that said ‘NEED FOOD’ and then in really small letters it said something like ‘pray for those who lose their lives every day’ and no joke right after I read that the Saturn hit the Jeep. When I looked back the guy was gone. Maybe I’m finally going crazy but it was weird.”37

“Oh wow that is weird. Hey can we listen to something?”38

“Oh yeah most definitely! My i-pod is in my purse, plug that in and you can play whatever you want.”39

To be continued