Chloe's People

Chloe stepped from the school bus into the snowy slush of the sidewalk, flipped her backpack around her shoulders and let loose a string of curse words as her strap broke and books and papers spilled onto the wet ground. "Well now, little child, that's some vocabulary you've got there. But tell me, do you need some help?" The voice boomed in Chloe's ear, and she gazed in wonder into eyes that oddly danced and flashed sparks of white and gold. For a moment, she forgot about rushing home to her angry, alcoholic mother and instead stood still, breathing in deep the sudden scent of vanilla enveloping her. A smile broke from her lips and she very nearly giggled. "I'm Mr. Xander," he said, reaching for her hand with long, large fingers. So began a strange chain of events following Chloe into adulthood as she traveled down dark roads and strayed into shadowy spots, searching for what she knew not in her childhood and so had no idea how to identify and obtain in her maturing years-the grace, love and acceptance of God. But can she leave the darkness for the light? It's a question all sinners must wrestle with and in the end, the only real answer is this: God does indeed work in mysterious ways. ,

" Do it." Hector stared down the alley at the red truck idling at the light and hesitated. He glanced nervously at his buddies. Leon' s face was blank, expressionless, and his hand was steady as he held out the nine millimeter, flat against his palm. Gio, next to him and swallowed by an overlarge gray hoodie, smiled broadly, his famously large teeth glinting white, even in the darkness. He slapped his hand lightly against his thigh, beating in time to some unknown song that played in his head. Hector cleared his throat and gulped. There would be no getting away from it. He nodded and took the gun, feeling the smooth black-and-silver of the barrel with his fingers before jamming it in his back waistband then pulling his sweatshirt down tight. He felt its cold against his skin and for a moment, had a terrible vision of it misfiring and sending a bullet straight into his spine. His father' s face flashed before his eyes and again, he hesitated. This is not how his father would want him to live. … But his father had been murdered, along with his mother, by the same drug lords who had kidnapped Hector and brought him to America and forced him to take part in their criminal dealings. And now the faith-in-God his parents had instilled in him since birth was all but vanished; the darkness of the crimes he had been forced to commit had all but taken over his soul. He gulped hard and strode toward the red truck, his teeth clenched tight in determination. He knew his life was on the line if he didn' t pass this loyalty test. " Get out! Get out! Now! Now! Now!" Hector fought to keep his hand from quivering as he flashed the gun in the man' s face. Somewhere, as if from far away, he heard the scream of a woman. He ignored it. He wished the man would hurry. He dreaded having to fire the gun. But he dreaded the punishments that would come his way if he failed the evening' s task. He didn' t realize the man he was carjacking was a pastor who would one day prove a pivotal figure in saving him from the cult worship of a skeleton demon and bringing him to a place where God was real. In this second of the " Chloe' s People" series, Pastor Jim and Chloe find themselves the victims of violent carjackers, and are faced with the difficulty of forgiveness.