He Is....

He

She rubbed her shaky sweaty palms against her dark denim “skinny” Old Navy jeans as she sat on the far left side of the bench by the door. She pushed her dark brown bangs from her face and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Although it was a cold New Jersey day, she was sweating profusely. She removed her black North Face coat and sat it on her lap. She squeezed her toes together, hoping to find some feeling. Unlike the rest of her body, her feet were freezing.

She closed her dark brown eyes and rubbed them. This had to be a dream. Nothing like this happened to her before. When she opened her eyes, she was still in the same place. This was reality and she knew she was in trouble. She glanced around her surroundings to find females around her age staring her down as if they wanted to start a fight. She wanted to believe she was tough, but this place put fear in her.

“Mariana Mackenzie,” the juvenile detention guard announced as he unlocked the jail cell with his key. Mariana rose up from where she was sitting and nervously walked out of the cell. Like she suspected there was her mother, Pam, with her beady black eyes eyeing her down, looking as if she was about to grab her neck and start choking her. Mariana’s heart began to race, knowing that her mother put the most fear in her.

Mariana carefully walked up to her mother, keeping distance between them, knowing what would happen if she got too close to her. After signing a few papers, Mariana slipped her coat back on. She followed her mother outside to the cold dark night to their 2003 Toyota Camry. As Pam quickly sped out of Red Bank’s Police Department, Mariana tried to ignore her mother’s obvious death stare from the corner of her eyes. She could just hear her mother. I told you to stay away from those kids? Where’s your common sense? You better run when we get home-

“Ma, I’m sorry-” Mariana started.

“Don’t you DARE talk,” Pam snapped as she jerked the car to the right. “What were you thinking? You live in Eatontown and you manage to get arrested in Red Bank! You are to stay away from those kids. “Oooh you better start running when you go home ‘cause you and Mr. Leather will reconnect,” she added, patting her belt. A part of Mariana felt like letting a smirk out for being able to predict her mother’s reaction, but she knew better. A smile would only rile her mother up more.

Mariana tried to drown her mother’s voice the rest of the way home. When they arrived home, Pam slammed her foot on the brakes before putting the car in park. Although Mariana wore a seatbelt, her body jolted near the windshield and bounced back to the passenger’s seat. Pam unbuckled her seatbelt, took the key out and slammed the door. She rushed over to where Mariana was getting out and yanked on her right earlobe.

“OUCH!” Mariana yelped. “So you’re not even gonna give me a head start to run?”

“SHUT UP AND GET INSIDE now!” Pam responded, not appreciating her daughter’s sarcasm.

Mariana cried face down in her beat up Mickey Mouse pillow. Her mother tore up her bottom half. It was the worst beating she had gotten in years. Her mother sure wasn’t kidding when she said that she and Mr. Leather would reconnect.

As she continued to sob, she felt a familiar warm hand on her back. Mariana wiped her eyes and gazed up to her grandmother, Evelyn, comforting her. It was as if Mariana was staring at what she was going to look like when she grew up. They both had dark curly hair along with dark brown eyes. They were both slim and had matching skin complexion: fair chocolate brown. The only difference between the two was Evelyn had few wrinkles along with grey streaks throughout her hair.

“Why did you do it? You’re a smart girl?” Evelyn questioned, taking a seat on Mariana’s twin bed. Mariana lifted up her head and shrugged her shoulders.

“Everybody was doing it. I didn’t wannabe the only person who didn’t do it,” she sniffled in a reply.

“Didn’t you feel guilty?”

“Not at first, but yeah. It’s too late to do anything about it,” she responded, contemplating the mischievous night that she was actively involved in.

“Hmm.” Evelyn rose up from the bed and went over to the side of the room where her bedroom was. She pulled out her Bible and began to read it. Tired of crying, Mariana wiped her red eyes and sat up.

“You’re actually reading that thing?”

“This thing is life as we know it. Everything people go through is written in here. It gives one wisdom about how to deal with things such as temptation,” Evelyn coolly replied. Mariana rolled her eyes, doubting what her grandmother was saying. Seeing her reaction, Evelyn got up from her bed and went over to Mariana.

“Do you believe in Jesus?”

“I think he’s there. He must be since you believe in him and you always seem happy.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Yeah I believe there’s a Jesus or God, but no, I don’t believe in him. Why should I? He hasn’t done anything for me.”

“Sweetheart,” Evelyn replied lifting up her granddaughter’s chin, “he has done the best thing anybody has ever done for you.”

“What?”

“He died on the cross to save you, your mother, me and everybody from our sins. Now if that’s not enough for you to believe, I don’t know what else is.” Skeptical, Mariana rested her body against the bed and tucked her hands underneath her head.

“Well, he can’t forgive me. Not after what I did tonight. I knew what I did was wrong and even though I felt guilty, I still continued to do it.” Once again, Evelyn sat down on her bed and smiled.

“You know the best thing about Jesus is that he forgives all sins, no matter how bad it seems.” Mariana turned to face Evelyn.

“Really?” Evelyn nodded her head. “What do I have to do to be forgiven?”

“Just pray. Ask for his forgiveness. And if you truly acknowledge the fact that he died on the cross to save us from our sins and rose again on the third day, you will be saved, my dear.” Evelyn took her granddaughter’s cold hand into hers. Mariana knelt alongside her grandmother on the floor. Mariana’s hand warmed up during the prayer that saved her life.