Chapter 9

"What made you defend me? What made you allow yourself to be creamed? What makes you and Mae so different from everyone else?"

Jason thought for a few moments. "Crystal," he began, "I defended you because… well… Because I care about you."

Crystal’s face fell immediately. Turning away she said, "Yeah… that’s what my mom’s boyfriends told her. The next morning they were gone. I thought I saw something in you, but you’re just like all the other guys out there. Just like Mike and Je...Mr. Smith."

"No, I’m not like them!"

"Yeah, right!" Crystal stood and moved to the door.

Before she could leave, Jason shouted, "If I’m so like them, why haven’t I called you the same things they have? I’m not a weakling. If I was like them, do you think I would have just sat when you came in here? If I’m just like them, why did I defend you?" He pointed to the bruises and cuts on his face and arms. "If I’m just like them, why did I let them do this to me? Why didn’t I join them in hurting you?"

Crystal stopped in the threshold.

"Well?" Jason asked, defensively. "Why didn’t I do those things?"

Crystal’s shoulders started to shake. After a few moments, she turned to face Jason, tears wetting her cheeks. "That’s what I’ve been wondering," she replied quietly. "Why?"

Jason paused, allowing his momentary anger to pass. "Because I do care about you. Not the way that your mom’s boyfriends cared for her, and certainly not the way Mike and Mr. Smith 'care' about you. I care about you because… because you’re a human being, created in the image of God, albeit indirectly. And I'm not the only one who cares about you: God loves you so much, Crystal."

"Why would He love me? Nobody loves me. Not even my mother loved me. She hated me!"

"But God DOES love you, Crystal. So much so, that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for you."

Crystal looked away. "Why would he do that?"

"Because He wants to be your Father. I lost my earthly father, but I still remember the last words he spoke to me." Jason paused for a moment, trying to suppress his emotions. "He told me that he might not make it, but that I would always have a heavenly Father. As long as I turned to Him, I would never be alone."

"I don't believe it! Nobody loves me! Nobody can love me! I'm horrible!" Crystal ran out the door, down the stairs, and outside. Tears streaming down her face, she ran past the barn to the tree-lined creek that ran past the wheat field.

She looked up at the sky and screamed. "I don't believe! I'm horrible! I'm ugly!" Falling on the soft sand by the bank, she wept. "I don't believe! How can I believe? No one loves me. No one loves me. I can't believe."

As she cried, scenes from her past flashed through her memory. Her mom's many boyfriends and their "love". How her mother beat her after they left because of Crystal. How her mother glared at her whenever she spoke. How her mother had shouted at her before she died. How Mike and Mr. Smith had treated her. Each scene brought a fresh flow of tears. Her sobbing increased until she began to gag.

"No one loves me!" she moaned.

"But God DOES love you, Crystal." Jason’s words echoed in her mind.

"No one loves me!" she screamed.
"But God DOES love you, Crystal."

"Nobody loves me," Crystal insisted.

"But God DOES love you, Crystal."

"Nobody…"

"I love you."

Crystal stopped. She glanced around quickly, looking for the source of the voice. She was alone.

"W-what did you say?" she asked hesitantly.

"I love you."

"Who are you?"

Silence.

"Who are you?" she asked again. No response. Crystal’s mind raced, trying to come up with a logical explanation, but deep down she knew Who had spoken.

"Y-you love me?" she asked, looking to the heavens.

"Yes," came the reply.

Joy swelled up her soul. "You love me," she said. Rising to her feet she shouted, "You love me!" From deep inside, laughter began to ripple through her throat. "You love me! I believe! I believe!"

Once again, scenes from her past flashed into her memory, but Crystal no longer felt disheartened by them. Somehow, she felt as if all the hurt, all the pain had been washed away. Her past was gone; she was a new creation.

Her heart raced. Her stomach shook in laughter. Her lips broadened into a smile. She felt something she had never experienced before: Joy. Complete, pure joy. She knew that she was loved.

"I believe!"

"The Narrow Gate"

Chapter Nine

~Jason Tells Crystal that She is Loved~

"The Narrow Gate"

*Chapter Nine*

~Jason Tells Crystal that She is Loved~

Chapter Nine