Sherry lay shivering, zipped up in her sleeping bag. She listened to Jack’s yelping for a couple of minutes before hearing footsteps descend the stairs. She hoped Wayne was bringing food. The familiar bright light rounded the corner, and an ominous silhouette moved toward the cage.
“Well, Jack, your winter coat is keeping you nice and toasty,” Wayne said. “Are you cold, ladies? Tired of the hand you’ve been dealt? Looks like Jacks are wild. One seems to be nipping at your nose, and the other would like to be, wouldn’t you, boy?”
He set the flashlight on the floor with the beam directed toward Sherry and Taylor. He unlocked the gate and entered the cage.
“Get up!” he said.
They got up quickly, standing in stocking feet on the cold basement floor.
He grabbed Sherry by the arm. “I’m not through with you, big mouth. But first I’ve got a score to settle with your friend here.”
He sidestepped in front of Taylor, his face directly in front of hers. “Are you freezing, Miss Logan? Because I was when your father killed my father.”
“M-my father never killed anyone.”
Jack’s vicious snarling caused both girls to step backward.
“Jack, silence!” Wayne looked at Taylor. “Oh, no? Your father didn’t give a rip my dad had no job, or we had no food, or couldn’t pay the heating bill. I remember shivering through most of the winter. How does it feel?” He pranced back and forth in front of Taylor like an army sergeant. “Well, the tables are turned now.” He reached inside his jacket and took out a mirror and held it to her face. “Go on, take a look! How do you like your hair? Guess you can’t afford a salon cut anymore. And what happened to your cashmere sweater? Is that a hole I see? And no fashion shoes on those cold feet? Must be hard on your ego. Oh, was that your stomach growling? Funny, I remember what hunger feels like, too. The difference is my dad couldn’t take seeing his family suffer—so he died!”
Wayne threw the mirror against the chain-link and Sherry heard it shatter. She held perfectly still, her heart racing. Lord, please do something!
“I wonder how Daddy feels, knowing his little girl isn’t coming home? Here, this one’s for him!” Wayne slapped Taylor and she fell down.
He laughed. Taylor cried.
“You think just because you’re bigger, you’re more powerful?” Sherry said.
Jack began to snarl.
“Silence!” commanded Wayne. “Haven’t you learned your lesson? I’m powerful enough to make your life miserable. Or to take it anytime I want to.”
“You’re just like Goliath—all mouth—lording your size and your power over us. But God is stronger.”
Wayne jeered. “Oh, wait. I know that story. Isn’t this where you hit me right between the eyes with a rock and I fall dead on the ground? I’m waiting …”
Sherry stood silent, aware of Taylor’s sniffling.
Wayne put his face in front of Sherry’s. His eyes looked wild. “Well, I am more powerful, and there’s nothing you can do about it! You hate me! You loathe me! Admit it!” He pushed Sherry with short shoves until she was backed up against the cage.
“I won’t let myself hate. You still don’t get it, Wayne. Hate’s ruined your life.”
“You’re crazy! G. R. Logan ruined my life. I have a right to hate him.”
“Hate’s done you more harm than Mr. Logan ever could.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You let it go on too long, and now it won’t let you go. It’s become your Goliath, and it’s controlling you.”
“Nothing controls me!” He pinned Sherry against the cage, his hands on her shoulders.
“When’s the last time you felt happy or free? You’ve been angry for so long it runs your life.”
“I run my life. And I want revenge for what G. R. Logan stole from me!”
“But what is it he stole? He may have hurt you, I don’t know. But nursing a grudge was your choice. That’s what stole your happiness—not Mr. Logan.”
Wayne’s fingers dug into her shoulders. “G. R. Logan ruined my life!”
“You could’ve forgiven, but you didn’t want to. That’s what ruined your life.”
“Well, now it’s ruining yours!” he shouted.
Sherry felt his hands tighten around her neck.
“This is what it feels like to have someone steal your life from you!” he shouted. “To take your dreams and your dignity until you suffocate!”
Sherry didn’t put up a fight. She was aware of Wayne’s contorted face and heard the words spewing from his mouth. But she looked into the face of her attacker, ready to meet her Savior. Lord, I forgive him.
Suddenly there stood before her a grand and glorious creature, draped in white light, with massive wings and a flaming sword. The angel’s penetrating eyes spoke to something deep inside her soul, and she knew he had been with her since the moment she was born.
Joy unspeakable filled her. The angel held out his hand and took hers. And then she and her lifelong guardian stepped into eternity while Wayne Purdy’s hands were still clutched around her neck.
Mary Beth woke with a start.
“You all right, honey?” Joe asked.
“I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I need to get dinner on the table.”
“Some ladies from church brought it over.”
“When?”
“An hour ago. They put it in the oven to keep it warm.”
Mary Beth sighed. “I’m not hungry. You and the kids go ahead.”
“Why don’t you come sit with us, at least? I think it’d be easier on the kids if we keep things as normal as possible.”
“Sure, let’s pretend everything’s just hunky-dory.”
There was a long pause.
“Honey, can we pray about this—?”
“This what?”
“I’m worried about you.”
“I’ll be all right.”
“Anger this strong doesn’t just get up and go. I hope you’re not getting too comfortable with it.”
“It’s about the only thing I’m comfortable with at the moment.”
Taylor watched, paralyzed with fear, as Wayne’s hands remained locked around Sherry’s neck. Her eyes were fixed on him as if she didn’t have a care in the world. When he finally let go and her body fell to the floor, he seemed angrier than ever.
“She should’ve kept her big mouth shut!” Wayne turned around and stepped over Taylor. He slammed the gate, secured the padlock, and took Jack with him up the stairs.
Taylor didn’t move for several minutes. She lay curled up on the basement floor, shivering uncontrollably. Finally she crawled over to Sherry’s lifeless body. She knelt beside her for a moment and began to sob. She took the cross ring off Sherry’s finger and clutched it tightly in her fist, then covered Sherry up with a sleeping bag.
Taylor crawled into her own sleeping bag and pulled it up around her neck. She turned on her side, warm tears running down the side of her face and onto the nylon fabric. Why hadn’t he just killed them both? At least it would be over now.
Please, God, help me through this. Sherry was the strong one, and now it’s just me. I’m so scared. Please don’t leave me all alone.