Short Story: She Felt Alone

 She felt alone, lost, abandoned in this dark world. Every day she would walk the streets trying to catch a glimmer of hope. What hope was there for her? She could not return home. He would be there, trying to sell her off to men twice her age. What could he see in that anyway? What had he hoped to gain from it?

The girl pulled her tattered, ragged coat round her thin bony shoulders. The night was bitterly cold; the streets were illuminated with neon billboards enticing people to come into the den of illicit affairs. Men were cat calling and wolf whistling at her, thinking their sounds would catch this rather attractive female like she was a prized possession. A possession which once used could be thrown away. 

She fled down the streets, away from the district, away from these disgusting men, away from home. The girl came across a street in which people left their washing to dry on a line high above the ground and jazz music oozed from every apartment window. However it was not the jazz music which attracted the girl to the street. In the middle of the street was a beautiful, grand building, the windows adorned with stained glass. She walked closer to the building, the light illuminating the stained glass windows. Her brows furrowed when she saw the picture on the window, why would this beautiful building have a picture of a young man being horrendously tortured on a wooden cross? Just as she was about to walk away, an old man came out of the building. He had seen the girl looking in through the window. From her appearance, he gathered that she was involved in the sex trade. From his appearance, she gathered that he was a religious man of some sort. However, the old man knew it was wrong to judge the girl so he invited her in. When he realised how thin and frail she looked, he immediately fetched her warm coffee and a hot meal. The girl looked up at him and told him that this was the first meal she had eaten in three days. The old man’s heart ached for her and he knew that this was someone who he could help. 

He explained to her that he was the minister of this church and had been for over forty years. She explained that she had run away from a father who sold her off to men for sex. When describing the harrowing story, she started sobbing and said that she wanted to get away, to get away from her father, to get away from her past and to start over. She said that this building looked warm and comforting, but she was confused with the picture of the man on the cross on the window. The minister smiled and told her that man was the Son of God, also known as Jesus Christ or The Lord. He then proceeded to tell her that His story and many others are recorded in a book called the Bible, but the most amazing thing is that Jesus is alive today and when he died on the cross, he died to take away the sins of the people because He loved us so much and still loves us. The girl was amazed. She was amazed that this man would die for her. Wiping away her tears she thought of her father, of her dead mother and the life she had led so far. The minister told her that he would pray for her, he put his arm around the girl and bowed his head. He thanked God for bringing the girl into the church. He prayed that she would come to know Jesus as her friend and to understand that He has plans for her life.

Once he had finished praying, the girl started sobbing again and buried her face into the minister’s chest. All that emotion that had built up inside her for all those years, that anger, that hate, that sadness was now all coming out of her. She did not want to hurt the men that hurt her; instead she wanted to forgive them. She should have hated her father; instead she wanted to love him. All the painful memories came flooding back which she had tried so hard to forget. The emptiness and the loneliness she had felt through the years were unbearable. She wanted a new life, a new start; she wanted to have a purpose. She got on her knees and she cried out to the Lord to help her. Instantly, she felt as if a huge weight was being lifted off her shoulders. The pain had eased and for the first time, she felt free. 

One year later, the girl was no longer cold, alone or afraid. The church welcomed her with open arms and she set up a refuge for women involved in the sex trade. Many of these women came in just like she did, were given a hot meal and a warm drink and told about the love of God. Some of the women had seen and known the girl from the district and were now touched that she was now helping them to get off the streets and to realise that their lives are precious to God and worth so much more.

This is what made the girl so thankful to have stopped by that church on that cold winter’s night.