Amanda And The Hope

Amanda And The Hope

By: Anonymousdreamer

It was 12:15 PM. Amanda Holton, a 14 year old brunette, sits at a small table in the corner of Rysville High school. Her wavy hair covers her face. Her pale, stick-like figure showed signs of an eating disorder. This was Amanda’s 6^th week of high school and already she was a prime target for bullies. Even though she wasn’t in the best of health, she was very beautiful, without all the lipstick that the other girls use. Amanda’s family had moved to Rysville because her father had found an opportunity for a good job out there, so they packed up and moved out. However, Amanda did not share her family’s cheerful point of view. Ever since she came out here, things have not been going very well. Nobody at school liked her, the only people she could call friends were the other two teenagers on her block - Katy Bartin, and Matt Hess. They would sit together every day in school, but this week Katy and Matt were not at school. This made Amanda depressed, because when they were around, nobody made fun of her. Now that she was alone, her bully troubles kicked back in. “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the little ‘stick figure’ herself?” Amanda knew that cold, mean voice. It was Rebecca and her clique of Bullies. “What do you want now” Amanda said. “Oh nothing” Rebecca gloated, “Just the food you have on that table”. “Not on your life” Amanda replied. “I haven’t eaten in 3 days!”  Rebecca obviously didn’t like what she heard. “Maybe you didn’t hear me?” She sneered. “I said; give me your food, now! Amanda rose from her chair, a little hard to pull off due to her lack of food. “I said, no”.  This time she said it with a little more anger. This time Rebecca took a step forward and pushed Amanda Hard into the wall. Amanda, still a little shocked, just laid there on the floor. Rebecca leaned over her, “Next time, when I tell you to give me something, you do it!” Before Rebecca could steal Amanda’s lunch, the school guard walked up, obviously unhappy with what he just saw. “Hey!” he shouted, “Leave her alone!”  Immediately Rebecca ran for the door, taking her clique with her. The man walked over and helped Amanda to her feet. “Are you ok Amanda?” “Yeah”, Amanda said, still trying to steady herself. “I’m Fine”. “Are you sure?” the man asked in a concerned tone of voice. “Yes, thank you”. After a short pause, Amanda sat back down, and ate her lunch. After school that day, Amanda ran home as fast at she could, to avoid the wrath of the “The Rebecca Army”.  She let out a sigh of relief as she got on her street. When she got to her front yard, her dog  Spike ran to greet her. She always felt happy and safe with her dog.  She’s had spike since he was a puppy, now a full grown “Lab.”  She opened the front door, and stepped inside, only to be met with the sound of her parents fighting. Even though they moved to get a new start, her parents didn’t seem to hit it off. They had been fighting ever since her mom went to work again. Before she could say a word, her little brother ran into her legs, with tears in his eyes. Amanda’s little brother Seth was a funny, always joking 7 year old. He was always getting into the strangest situations. But today, he was not joking. “Amanda?” he cried. “Mom and Dad have been fighting ever since I got home from school, and Mom is threatening to leave!”  “What!?” Amanda couldn’t believe her ears! Aside from her brother, Amanda and her mother were very close, they talked about everything together. But lately, things have gotten rough around the Holton household. She and her mom haven’t been the closest for a while. Amanda could hear mom crying, trying to speak, while her father was yelling at the top of his lungs.  Then, she heard glass shatter. She and Seth slowly walked to their family room where their parents were fighting. But nothing could prepare Amanda for what she was about to see. They both crept around into the family room, then… Amanda’s mouth dropped wide open, and tears began to form in her eyes. For there was her mother, on the floor, her left arm, and neck was covered with blood. Her dad had thrown a huge glass vase at her mother. It shattered into a million pieces, some of which were in her mother’s arm and neck. But before Amanda could react, an object sailed by her, hitting the floor behind her, breaking to bits. Her father’s eyes looked red with fury. “This is your entire fault!” he screamed. “You will pay for what you’ve done!” “Amanda run!” Seth shouted. Immediately, they both spun around, and ran at full speed for the door. They bolted out the door and down the street, their father must not have thought they were worth chasing, and stayed inside beating Amanda’s mother ruthlessly. Amanda and Seth raced to the corner of their street, took a left and ran straight to Katy’s house. “Dear God, please let Katy’s parents be at home!” Amanda cried. As they entered Katy’s front yard, the front door opened. Katy’s mother was standing in the doorway. “Amanda and Seth?” what can I do for…. She stopped mid sentence, she saw Seth crying and Amanda with a look of horror on her pale face. “What is the matter?” Mrs. Bartin asked? By this time Amanda was beginning to cry. “Mrs. Bartin! You have to come fast! Call 911 or the police!” “Why what’s wrong?” Seth spoke up. “Our dad is hurting our mother badly! We need help!” Now Seth was beginning to lose it. “Come Quickly!” Amanda pleaded. “Alright you two, get in the car. Mrs. Bartin answered. I’m going to call the police and 911. “Thank you so much” Amanda replied, now crying her eyes out. As she and Seth got into Mrs. Bartin’s car, all Amanda could think about was her mother, lying there on the floor, helpless as her father delivered countless blows. “Is she dead?” Amanda thought? “No, she can’t be! She’s not dead! By this time Amanda was screaming it in car.  GOD DON’T LET MY MOM DIE!” Then she heard the car door open, and Mrs. Bartin got into the car. “Alright, let’s go”. As quick as lightning, Mrs. Bartin turned on the car, backed out and sped away to Amanda’s home. It seemed like a life time before they reached her house. “Seth, stay in the car” Mrs. Bartin said firmly. Amanda jumped out of the car, and ran inside. She heard absolutely no noise as she slowly walked to the family room where the violence had taken place. Her dad was nowhere to be found.  Amanda Turned the corner…. And all she saw was a red pond of a sort, with Amanda’s mother in the middle of it. “MOM!” she screamed. Mrs. Bartin came seconds later. Mrs. Bartin, horrified by what she saw, didn’t say a word. Amanda ran into the lake of blood and rescued her mother. “We need to get her out of here, to the hospital. The paramedics are on their way” Mrs. Bartin said. Amanda slowly carried her mother outside so they to get her to the hospital as soon as the paramedics got there. “God, please help my mom”. Amanda never really thought much of God, but now she wished she had. The ambulance got there about 3 minutes later; they loaded her mother into the ambulance van. “Can I come?” Amanda asked. “Sure, hop on in” the medic said. As they sped away, the police came. One of the officers got out of the car and began to question Mrs. Bartin. “So what was going on here?” the officer asked. “My daughter’s new friend, Amanda Holton, got home from school today, and when she went inside she heard her parents fighting.” “A few minutes later, her father started to beat her mother, she then ran to our house for help” “I see” the officer said, considering what he just heard. “And where’s Ms Amanda now?’ the officer asked. “She went with the paramedics to the hospital, I was going to follow them” Mrs. Bartin replied. The officer looked back on his notes, and then said. “Mind if we inspect the house?” “Sure” Mrs. Bartin said. As the police did their job, Mrs. Bartin got back into her car, and drove to the hospital. Meanwhile, the paramedics had reached the hospital, and got Amanda’s mother out and wheeled her into the hospital. Amanda was at her mother’s side and questioned. “Mom? Can you hear me?” Mrs. Holton’s eyes openly slightly. “Amanda?” Mrs. Holton weakly asked. “Yes mom, I’m here, how are you feeling?” Amanda replied. Avoiding Amanda’s Question, her mother asked, “Where’s your father?” Amanda tried not to cry, “I don’t know where he is”. Just as she was about so say another word, she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was one of the paramedics. “Sorry miss, but you will have to wait here while we take your mom in” the man retorted. Amanda found a nearby chair and sat down as the rest of the paramedics rolled her mom down the hall to a room on the right. Now Amanda was all alone. She felt as if her world was coming to an end. She didn’t blame God, she blamed herself. For some reason she felt like her depression, eating disorder, and her lack of trust in people was the cause of all this. She didn’t know if her mom would survive, for she had been badly hurt by Amanda’s father. But now she made up her mind. “I’m done with this crappy life. Nobody wants me or loves me, but what about Katy and Matt? No they don’t really care for me do they??? Whatever, I’m worthless to the world.”  Amanda thought. Now ready to kill herself, Amanda reaches in her back pocket and pulls out a small knife that her older brother gave her. She had never used it before and it was still very sharp. On the handle it read, “I Love You”.  But those words were nothing to Amanda now. With tears rolling down her pale frozen cheeks, in the quiet hallway of the Rysvillie Hospital, she was going to end it there and now. She rose from her chair, with the knife to her chest, she cried out. “ God! Forgive me, forgive me, FORGIVE ME!!” With that, she ran the knife through her chest. Her scream was like that of a little girl who saw here mother murdered by her father. Then, after a few seconds, she began to black out. She started to collapse. It felt to her as if she was falling for a life time. Right before she hit the ground, she saw a doctor running towards her. And then….. Everything went Black… More black then the night sky. To the people in the hospital, Amanda was dead. But Amanda saw herself leave her body in the hospital. She saw the doctor turning her pale body over to see the knife stuck in her chest. and the blood flowing freely. She looked down at her chest, the hole in her chest was there, and the blood as well, but the knife was gone! This puzzled her a great deal. “Am I really dead?” she thought? But then Amanda finally took the time to look at her surroundings. She couldn’t speak… What she saw, was a never ending Star field, with planets and galaxies. She looked down, the same thing was there.  She was floating in the universe. It was so beautiful, with multi-colored planets, the HUGE black holes, and the trillions of stars. She felt as if she was in heaven. A few minutes later, she heard the stars singing. It was the most wonderful sound she had ever heard, the harmony was so peaceful, like the birds in the morning, and the waves hitting the sandy beach. It’s really very hard to explain what she saw and heard. Only Amanda could tell you that. She floated along, past our solar system into the uncharted universe. Amanda was simply amazed. “If only I had paid more attention in class” she wondered? Now she was in a place she never had seen. I can’t really describe it well, you will have to ask Amanda. After floating in the universe which felt like hours, Amanda saw this Blue sort of light ahead of her. She strained her eyes to see it better. As she was floating, it got nearer and nearer, bigger and bigger, and prettier with every passing moment. After a few minutes, the blue orb added some white to its magical color. Soon the white began to over power the blue. Amanda has to cover her eyes a little to keep from going blind. Then she began to pick up speed, going faster and faster until she reached the blinding white light. When she was close enough to touch it, something happened. This startled her, for right there in the light, was a form of a man. By now Amanda’s eyes here getting used to the light. It was a tall man, with what looked like a white robe, with a red stripe in the middle of it. Then it spoke. “Amanda, there’s still time”. Amanda, who now was scared out of her sadness, tried to speak. “Who are you?” she asked. There was a long pause until the man spoke again. “I am the one you have been praying to”. Amanda was overwhelmed with all this. “You’re…You’re God?”. “Yes child, I am.”  The man had such a loving sound in his voice that Amanda couldn’t help but be drawn to him. “God? Is my mom alright?” she asked in a weak voice. “You will have to go back and see for yourself” the man replied. He continued before Amanda could speak. “Amanda, you have so much talent in your life, I know your life isn’t going very well, but I’ve heard your prayers, and listened to your cries. It’s not too late for you to return and make a change in your life and the people around you.” Amanda was frozen, trying to find the correct words to say. “Will you help me through this if I go back? “I make no promises” the man said. “but I’ll promise you this, I will never leave you. Hold tight to me, and I will help you, trust me.” Trust and Amanda were not ever good friends, so she had a hard time believing it. But then, she answered. “Ok, I will. I promise”. With that, the man began to fade away. Amanda was falling back to earth, but before he was out of sight, he said a phrase that shook the universe. “I Am With You”. Amanda never forgot that. Then, she blacked out…. And a few minutes later, she woke up. Her eyes were met with a bright light shinning down on her. Then she saw her mom, Matt, and Katy standing over her. “Mom?’ Amanda asked, obviously shocked to see her mother. Mrs. Holton had a Cast on her left arm, and a neck brace. “Yes Amanda, I’m here” Mrs. Holton said. “How long was I gone?” Amanda asked. “Dude you were out for like 3 hours, Matt replied in his funny voice. “Don’t ever worry me like that again” he continued. Amanda cracked a smile. “Katy?” Amanda asked?.” Yes Mandy. I’m right here. How are you feeling?”. “A little sleepy” Amanda said. “Thanks”. After a few seconds she heard a voice that made her feel so happy to be alive again. It was her little brother Seth, and the yapping of her dog Spike. Now Amanda had the Biggest smile you would ever see. “Hey sis!” Seth said, happy to see his sister awake. “Are you ok?’. “Yes, Amanda replied with a giggle. “I’m fine”. “I was hoping you would make it” Seth began. But before he could say more, Mrs. Holton put in. “You can leave the hospital tomorrow afternoon. You are going to be ok.”. Amanda began to cry. “Oh mom, I love you so much, you too Sethy!” “We love you too!” Seth blurted out. “We love you too” Matt, and Katy cheered. “Never Lose hope” Matt said Confidently. “We will all be there, I will wait by your side” Matt concluded as he gave Amanda a hug. Amanda couldn’t stop crying. She had found hope to keep living, to make a change in her life, and to please God. She had found, HOPE.

THE END.

Epilogue

I wish I wouldn’t have to stop there. I hope you enjoyed this story. You ask if this story True? No sadly it isn’t. But I hope you learned from this. Never lose hope. Its not too late to change. Never too Late.

Thanks for Reading! J

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