This week I decided to share with you a short story I wrote sometime ago. Hope is something that we all need in live… See how Hope changed someone’s life.

HOPE 

Paula left her apartment convinced that she was not going to return. She wasn’t sure of what she was going to do or where she was headed, but she knew that her chest was tight and she felt like she couldn’t breathe anymore. So many things had happened in the last year that she felt like she was at the end of her rope.

She was walking down the street.  It was dark outside, but there were no clouds. All the stars were distinctively able to be seen in plain sight. It was somewhat windy, but the pain in her heart was so big that she didn’t feel the cold in her body, even though she was not wearing a coat. It was so late that there was not another soul outside. She started running and running, almost as if she were trying to escape from herself, but the pain in her heart was so heavy that the more she ran the more it hurt.

Like a movie flashing in front of her eyes, the last year of her life was playing in front of her. First was the tragic accident in which both of her parents died. She had just had dinner with them at a restaurant, but she decided to allow them to take a cab back home because she was meeting her boyfriend later. She blamed herself, if she had driven them home, maybe they would be alive.

There was also the problem with her health, she had been feeling these crazy pains in her body. She thought she was too young for all these aches. She finally decided to go to the doctor and was diagnosed with RA.  How could she have arthritis and she was just approaching thirty? She was in constant pain; and it  made it hard for her to get up in the mornings to go to work. It was hard to stay in bed for long periods of time; it was hard to stay seated for long periods of time. The medication helped some, and it seemed to make the pain less intense, however it didn’t make it go away.

Her job was less than tolerant and with all her absences due to her illness, she started having problems at work. Also, even though she was trying really hard, her productivity had declined because she was constantly not feeling well.  So that morning they had let her go.

Pain and sadness struck her as she walked into her apartment.  Her boyfriend was using her place as his bachelor pad. Paula felt a range of emotions, anger, betrayal, shock and heartbreak. This was a time where she needed him the most. On her drive home she had been hoping to find some comfort in his arms, instead she found treason and another woman.

After he left she sat on the sofa for hours in shock. She didn’t even cry. She couldn’t move. Her mind was racing, but she felt like the world around her had stopped. When the numbness started to fad, she decided that she couldn’t take it anymore and took off running out the door.

Paula ran until she came to a bridge. She stopped to catch her breath. She noticed there were very few cars driving by.  She was panting and as she stood there trying to catch her breath; she  finally started crying. She bent over the rail of the bridge wailing in pain.  She looked at the water and had an idea. Jumping over would be the solution to her problems. She finally would be able to end her pain.

Come back on Wednesday as we get to share the second part and the end of this story of Hope…until then. Be Blessed!