Eli---What? What happened? I was...I was...burning? Am I in Hell? No. No. I'm saved. I wouldn't go to Hell. Is Jaci ok? All I remember is we were together and then...Dad...no...He's not my dad. Jeff...yea...Jeff threw the knife. I ran the wrong way so he could get me instead of Jaci. He did. He got me in the side and Alec pulled out the knife. It hurt...so bad...And the burning....oh the burning...I really wanted to die until...Jaci...she kissed my neck and it stopped burning a little bit. Then she sang to me....the song she sang to me on the bus on that long FBLA trip...we were coming home and I was so sleepy but it was hard to sleep on the bus....it was so beautiful...OW! What was that? "He's coming back....fading again...clear" OW!!! What in the heck's going on?!? "He's swinging in and out guys.....clear"

Eli's eyes snapped open and he heard a gasping noise. As he began to breathe, he realized the gasp had been him. "Kid? You alive?" a doctor shined a light in his left, then right, eye. "Yea...." he breathed. A few hours later, he was in a different room and Jaci was right beside him, holding his hand and letting tears silently streak down her brown face. Eli wiped the tears away from her face. It hurt a bit where the stitches tugged at his side. "Eli you ran the other way. You saved me. You wouldn't be in here if it wasn't for me. I'm sorry." Eli gave a weary smile. "True. But I also would have never known what it felt like to love someone and I sure wouldn't know how to love someone. You taught me how to love because I sure as heck had never seen it. Look at who my dad is....was...did the shot kill him?" Jaci looked away for a second. "No. It grazed his shoulder. They found the bullet and have his DNA and all but he ran away. He's missing. He was spotted somewhere three or four hours from here." Eli smiled sleepily and prayed before nodding off. Thank you, God. Let him repent and find you, Lord. I pray you'd help me forgive him and help me to heal. In Christ name I pray,
Amen.