Ghosts of Christmas Past by Laura Briggs

Author:Laura Briggs [Briggs, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: christian Fiction
ISBN: 978-1-61116-212-7
Publisher: Pelican Ventures Book Group
Published: 2012-08-14T04:00:00+00:00

****

In the car’s cold interior, Libby drew a trembling breath. If she could change that moment in the bus, she would now. She would open the cover of the book Jake left in her room and read its words. Maybe he was right. The only difference between their lives was somewhere in its pages.

The pain in her chest sharpened with each breath. How bad was the blow to her head? As if it mattered, given the drop in temperature and the fact that no car had passed by to discover her. Unless she could walk, she might be trapped here all night, without a blanket or water or anyone even noticing her car crashed just off the highway.

If she had shown Jake how much she cared, then right now, someone would be concerned for her safety. He would have called the police or gone to search for her. She would have told him the name of her destination before leaving, at least.

If that connection existed between them, perhaps she wouldn’t have been running away this weekend to chase a decision she made twelve years ago.

“I pushed him away so hard,” she whispered. “Why did I always make him go? If just once I had...I had let him know the whole truth. Maybe if I had been vulnerable...” She didn’t finish as her voice became choked off in the darkness. Not that anyone was listening, since the phantom of Alecia seemed to have vanished. There was no one left to listen but herself and God.

If she saw Jake again, she would make an effort to tell him she was sorry. She would go to him in person before she left for Nashville and apologize for having been so cold in the past. For having left him and everyone else behind without a personal goodbye. Even now, she wasn’t sure she could bring herself to tell him the whole truth about this weekend. Some things were beyond friendship. She didn’t permit herself to think past that point.

She opened her eyes, her head rolling sideways towards the empty passenger seat. At this moment, even a hallucination would be more comfort than the silence. So long as the voice of God was silent above, she had nothing else to occupy her mind except fear and pain.

Is this how I end up, God? Bitter regrets instead of my big chance? Libby’s hands wrapped themselves around her coat lapels, drawing it closed tightly around her body.

A light appeared in the dark windshield, penetrating the layer of snow as if bright headlights were concentrated just ahead. Her car engine sprang to life again in the cold, the windshield wipers sweeping back and forth slowly to clear a space of visibility.

On the other side, the headlights illuminated not a fir tree’s branches, but a long, high platform outfitted with performance lights at the base. Red velvet curtains were strung behind it, cascading down in elaborate curves from the ceiling above, stained glass windows glowing from the walls. In the center of all this stood a woman at a microphone.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.