What She Saw: Unveiled

By Rachel A. Conner

Aliyah, a seventeen year old girl, is going through life as normal. Life is good after getting to know the most popular boy in school. Until strange things begin to happen to her. After a near death experience, she realizes that God has given her a gift. Her eyes have been unveiled to the spiritual world around her and now she must figure out what her part is. Facing her deepest fears is just the beginning.

She embarks on a thrilling spiritual journey that will leave her forever changed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490851884

Rachel A. Conner

Nebraska native, Rachel has traveled and lived various places, including some international. She spent ten years in ministry mostly working with youth. She is a mother of three wonderful boys and has a loving husband whom she shares her life with! She loves God with all of her heart and thanks Him daily for the blessings in her life!

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Life as It Was

Life as it was, involved nothing out of the ordinary, for Aliyah Meyers. She was seventeen this year, and was just settling in to her junior year of high school. She was going through the same ordinary routine of her life with one exception, her dreams. Her dreams had been invaded by countless nightmares and visions of things she couldn’t explain. She knew something had changed this year, or maybe it was her who had changed. Either way, one thing was for sure; change was happening, and it wasn’t going to wait around for her to be comfortable with it.

It was October and nearing Halloween. The hustle and bustle of the upcoming celebration was becoming neurotic, as was usual around that time of year. Halloween was all over the town. Everyone was hyped about the festival. The bakers were getting their prize cupcakes ready to compete. Various businesses were getting their games and decorations lined up in several corners of the large parking lot next to the town bank.

Aliyah’s small-town church happened to be just around the corner from the bank. They were getting most of the candy and children’s activities ready. The whole town came out for the festival. The town was only around twenty-five hundred in total population. The town was located just outside of Kansas City which was only an hour from them.

Aliyah had noticed all day that the talk of the school were the costumes everyone was going to wear for the big town festival.

Julie! Aliyah called to her best friend from down the hall.

Julie stopped and waited as Aliyah ran to catch up with her.

Hey, Julie! Are you planning to go to the town festival?

Yeah! Pastor Mike asked me to help with the carnival games, and Carlie is trying to talk me into going to the festival dance, so I suppose I will be staying for that too.

Yeah, I’m helping with the carnival games too, but I have no idea what to dress up as for the festival!

Me either! Let me know if you come up with any good ideas! Julie said as she parted with Aliyah to head to her class.

Aliyah wasn’t sure she wanted to go to the festival, but she had already promised to help Pastor Mike run the children’s games. Everyone was obsessed with finding the proper attire for the big teen dance that was held at the end of the festival. It was hosted by the town council for everyone in town, but the teenagers usually controlled the dance floor.

Aliyah was naturally shy. She had a hard time imagining herself dressed in a costume and getting out on the dance floor. In fact, the very idea terrified her. Last year she had come down with the flu and hadn’t made it to the festival at all. She was relieved that she did not have to worry about stepping out of her comfort zone. This year had been different, though. This year she wanted change; she wanted something more. She was ready to step out, but she knew it would be difficult for her. Stepping out went against her normal nature.

Aliyah walked through the narrow hall at school, heading toward her locker. She could hear the students chattering as they passed her. They were discussing what haunted house was going to be the best this year. There were several families that turned their homes into haunted houses every year as part of the night’s special activities.

So are you going to the haunted house on Main Street or the one on Grover? Reid was asking Sam, a fellow senior.

I’m thinking the one on Main because I heard it was supposed to be the best one! But, if you’re too scared we can go to the one on Grover, Sam said sarcastically.

No way, man! I’m totally thinking the one on Main. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t too scared! Reid responded just as mockingly.

Aliyah passed them quickly so they didn’t see her eavesdropping. She didn’t like haunted houses. She had enough of her own scary skeletons to face. She didn’t need to add any more nightmares to her dreams. She had no intention of going to any of them!

There were all of the usual groups in school: the popular girls who were all very beautiful and caught the eyes of most guys. There were the jocks who made up most of the male population in the school. Then there were the party goers. These were the ones who always set up the best parties, supposedly, but they were also the ones who were always getting into trouble.

One loner, named Sid, was particularly unusual. He didn’t fit in any social group. He only interacted with a few people in the school. He used intimidation and threats to get students to do what he wanted. He didn’t seem interested in having any real friends; just people he could control. Aliyah didn’t really know how he chose his victims. All she knew was that no one crossed Sid. Aliyah didn’t like being around him because there just seemed to be something dark about him. She got chills just thinking about his piercing stares.

No school goes without a small group of unpopular kids. This group was mostly made up of random guys and girls who either thought of themselves as too smart to socialize with the other, more popular, kids or were just socially awkward and didn’t fit in no matter how hard they tried.

Last, there were a few who just didn’t really fit in anywhere misfits, who were not unpopular but were not really in enough sports or activities to be considered part of the popular crowd. Aliyah considered herself to be one of the misfits. She had no desire to be super popular. At least that’s what she told herself.

Hey! Liyah! shouted Carlie from across the hall.

Her name was Aliyah, but most of her friends shortened it to Liyah.

Aliyah Meyers, wait up! Carlie shouted, exasperated from her jaunt down the hall way.

Carlie ran up beside Aliyah and caught her breath.

She asked curiously, Have you decided what to be for the Halloween Festival yet?

Aliyah had slowed down to let Carlie catch up with her. She sighed partially out of disgust and partially out of concern for herself.

I have no idea! I can’t think of anything that isn’t completely lame!

She reached for the little silver cross necklace that was always around her neck, and began twisting it between her fingers. She played with it most of the time without realizing it. It was precious to her because her mother had given it to her on her sixteenth birthday as a promise that God would always be with her. Aliyah and her mom, Kate, went to church, and Aliyah believed in God but wasn’t so sure what believing in Him had to do with her life.

Well, I think Julie and I are going as angelic beings if you want to join us, said Carlie emphatically.

Aliyah smiled a half smile.

Well, she hesitated slightly, Okay, but no dorky stuff and not too much skin showing either!

Okay, okay! Carlie grinned mischievously.

She knew Carlie wasn’t always the most modest of girls. Sometimes she got accused of being a heart-breaker, to put it nicely, because she was always dating someone and then breaking up with them.

Aliyah’s small group of friends was made up of the two other misfit girls in the school. Julie was pretty smart and excelled in all her classes, almost to a fault. She was so into her studies that she had a hard time socially. She just really didn’t know how to communicate with people very well; although, everyone went to her when they needed help studying for a test. It wasn’t that she didn’t like people, she was just more of thinker than a talker. Aliyah didn’t mind that. She found it easier to talk to Julie because she was more of a listener than Carlie.

Aliyah was not as intimidated by her two outcast girl-friends as she was of the rest of the girls in her school. Most of them were in to sports and cheerleading. Aliyah did some track, but that was the extent of her sports ability. She loved to run and was good at it. That was probably the one thing that kept her from being completely in the unpopular crowd, which in turn left her in the misfit category. Her shyness kept her from being able to connect comfortably with the popular girls and guys.

Carlie walked Aliyah to her locker arm in arm and began her story about her latest boyfriend, Jimmy.

So, Carlie started, waiting for Aliyah to show interest.

So, Aliyah repeated, facetiously.

Guess who just asked me out again?

Who? Oh wait, Jimmy.

Jimmy! Carlie nearly screeched in excitement.

So you are going to go out with him again after he broke your heart last time?

Well, we talked about that, and actually what happened was just a big misunderstanding. So I am going to give him a second chance, Carlie was almost giddy with excitement.

Aliyah was relieved when the bell rang telling them to start heading to their last class of the day. She was afraid she would say something she would regret. She had a feeling that Jimmy would break Carlie’s heart again. Carlie skipped off to class cheerfully while Aliyah gathered her books for her next class.

She was finally left alone by her locker for at least a few moments before she had to go face Jesse. He was the most annoying boy to her at least, in the school of six hundred. She didn’t know why but he chose to pick on her. No one else really but her. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy getting under her skin.

He was in her last class of the day, which was a combined class with upperclassmen, and he drove her nuts all period. He was a senior this year, and he sat directly behind her. Unbeknownst to the completely sidetracked teacher, he would spend all period throwing little pieces of paper at her head. Occasionally, he would lean forward and pull little strands of her long, dirty blonde hair that hung down her back like thick blanket.

It wasn’t that he was really annoying to anyone else, in fact he was actually quite popular, but for some reason he found enjoyment every day picking on her during the entire last period class. She didn’t know why he chose her out of all the other people in the school he could tease. She thought that maybe it was because he knew she was so shy and he was so incredibly…well…not.

Mr. Fuller, the teacher in her last period class, never noticed Jesse’s antics. He didn’t even really want to be there. He was retiring at the end of the year. Aliyah didn’t blame him because it wasn’t like their class was an easy one. They had some of the most obnoxious students in it. Jesse was as ornery as he was cute. At the beginning of the year, Aliyah had had a slight crush on him because of his mild picking attention and cute face. But, after dealing with it every day for the last two months, it had gotten old. She was just plain irritated by him now. At least she could take comfort in knowing that he would be graduating at the end of the year.

To make matters worse she had to see him every Sunday as well. Thankfully, she found that on Sundays’ he was too busy with other friends to worry as much about what she was up to. Aliyah also managed to avoid him pretty easily being that there was usually a decent crowd at church.

Jesse Williams had moved to town only this summer but was very outgoing and so had no trouble fitting right in. His obnoxious antics were comical to most students. He became very popular very fast. All the girls swooned over him, but he didn’t seem interested in getting caught up in a relationship. He was more focused on sports. No one knew much about his history. The only thing most people knew was that he was a foster kid and he was staying with Pastor Mike Richards, the local minister of their small town church. Pastor Mike had always taken in various foster kids throughout the years but Jesse was the only one Mike had living with him this year. They seemed to have a mutual respect for each other.

Aliyah took a deep breath and shut her locker. She gently tugged on her light blue fitted t-shirt as she adjusted it under her back pack. All she could think about was what Jesse was going to do to annoy her in the upcoming class. It was pretty obvious she was on her own in her battle against his constant irritations. She just tried to make the most of it until she figured out how to handle the situation without causing a major uproar in the class.

She knew that if she tattled on him, she would be the brunt of even more jokes then she already was. He did not respond to her dark and peeved glances; that just made it all the more pleasurable to him. She was not witty and so had no keen responses to throw back at him. That left just ignoring him.

After taking a deep breath, she walked in to the class and took her seat like normal and pretended to not notice Jesse as he winked at her with that same insufferable smirk on his face that she had grown so accustomed to.

He began tugging at little strands of her long locks that just touched the top of his desk. Quickly, instead of giving him the usual death stare she scooped her hair over her left shoulder and continued on pretending to listen to Mr. Fuller. She let out a disgusted sigh. She could almost feel Jesse’s smirk plastered on his face.

She rolled her eyes knowing that something would be next, either little pieces of paper being tossed at her head or maybe a pencil poking the back of her neck. She hated the anticipation but she just waited patiently and tried to plan her next reaction.

Right when she thought maybe he had given up on her for that day, she felt the familiar feeling of little pieces of paper lightly thumping the back of her head! She immediately leaned forward on to her elbows allowing them to rest on her desk. She continued to pretend to be listening to Mr. Fuller’s lecture, trying her best to ignore Jesse.

The little pieces of paper continued thumping the back of her head every so often as the class went on. Thankfully, no one else in the class seemed to notice the little pieces of paper hitting her sporadically. One of these days she was hoping he would just get bored of picking on her because she no longer reacted to his pranks. The final bell for the day rang and she swiftly grabbed her books and slid out of the class as quickly as possible.

Aliyah knew she could avoid any further contact with Jesse. Once that bell rang he would be quickly surrounded by all his buddies and the latest girls who were swooning over him. One girl named Maya; was one of the most popular girls in school and incredibly beautiful. She was clearly trying to take ownership of Jesse even though it was apparent to Aliyah that he wasn’t interested. Nonetheless, Maya’s distraction would give her plenty of time to disappear into the crowd before Jesse could confront her with some clever remark that would really embarrass her.

Jesse! Maya yelled after him as he had almost gotten away from her.

Jesse turned to see who called his name and waited patiently as Maya came scampering over, and quickly clung to his arm.

Hey! What are you going to be for the Halloween festival? she asked fluttering her eyelashes as she spoke.

Um, hadn’t really thought about it yet, I guess, Jesse replied sounding not really interested.

Well, if you need any ideas, I will be more than willing to help you, she sent a flirty smile his way as she finished.

Uh, thanks. I’ll let you know.

Jesse’s buddy, Darin, motioned from across the hall for Jesse to catch up with him. Jesse quickly dodged out of Maya’s grip and caught up with him.

Aliyah went to her locker and got the rest of her books and headed towards the school exit. She waited by the exit hoping to remain invisible until her friends Julie and Carlie got there to start the walk home with her. Because they lived in a small town just outside of the big city, they were able to walk home every day after school. No one lived more than a few blocks away.

Even though she had just turned seventeen in September, right when school started she did not have a car yet. Her mom couldn’t afford to get her one. She didn’t really need one that badly because she lived so close to the school but she had started saving for a car when she started high school nonetheless. Picking up a part time job at the Diner was her goal, the local café in town. She would work after school to hopefully save up a little faster.

Carlie and Julie seemed to be taking longer than usual to meet up with her at the front exit of the school. Aliyah decided to head outside and sit on the nearby bench while waiting for her friends. She was feeling awkward waiting by the front doors while everyone was trying to leave.

She had left her hair off to one side over her shoulder as she had dodged out of her class so quickly trying to avoid contact with Jesse. The wind was starting to pick up and she could feel a cool breeze blowing down the back of her neck. It blew her hair violently, wrapping it around her face. Hurriedly she collected it and twisted it back onto her shoulder hoping to contain its wildness. The cool fall winds were beginning to blow in causing her to shiver ever so slightly.

As she raised her head to see if her friends were headed out yet; she met eyes with Sid. He was walking out of the school and was staring directly at her. She immediately looked down and pretended like she had something to find in her backpack. She hoped desperately that she had looked away in time.

Oh great! she muttered under her breath dreading the impending interaction.

Sid scared Aliyah. He just seemed to enjoy making people nervous and he was always very confrontational. Aliyah was the opposite; she hated confrontation of any kind.

Sid was a different kind of intimidation than Jesse; Jesse was just a jokester who liked to have fun, while Sid enjoyed making people feel inferior. If she had to choose to have a confrontation with someone she would of much rather it been Jesse. At least she knew he wouldn’t do anything completely awful to her. He would just make her uncomfortable temporarily because of her intense shyness.

Unfortunately, Aliyah hadn’t looked away from Sid’s peering stares quick enough or maybe it was too obvious that she had intentionally looked away; she didn’t know but he was headed her direction at a rapid pace. She had no time to escape so she just braced herself for the inevitable. She pleaded with God to intervene!

Aliyah was digging through her bag looking for some phantom object as to avoid any acknowledgment of Sid as he walked towards her. She couldn’t avoid noticing the shadow that suddenly covered her feet and streamed up the side of the bench where she sat. She slowly looked up knowing that Sid was standing over her. Aliyah held her breath.

Sid reached over and picked up the little cross necklace that was draped around her neck, causing Aliyah to feel really uncomfortable with him in such close proximity. He smiled an evil grin and with sarcasm in his voice, he asked her bluntly, Why do you where this little cross around your neck all the time?

Aliyah, had to peel her lips apart as she was petrified by the knowingly contentious question.

She stuttered, I…uh…my mom gave it to me.

She found herself gradually leaning farther back into the bench trying to avoid his dark heavy shadow that seemed to encapsulate her as he stood in front of her.

Sid continued smartly, It seems foolish to wear something that you know nothing about.

He chuckled aloud, You don’t even know what kind of power it represents!

Without giving her a chance to respond, he continued unrelentingly.

You go to church right?

He sat down right next to her and was very nearly in her face while he talked.

Um, yeah, Aliyah stuttered again as she found herself leaning back to avoid being so close to him.

Sid went on without giving her a chance to say anything else.

Well, then surely you would know why you wear a cross around your neck?

Aliyah searched her mind hoping to find some sort of right answer to give him so he would leave her alone, but none seemed to come to her mind quick enough.

Abruptly Sid was staring at her neck with a stunned look on his face.

Forget it! I’m just wasting my time with you! You obviously don’t have a clue!

He sounded more nervous than frustrated and stood abruptly and started to walk off. He turned back one more time and looked at her with a sinister smirk and said, Don’t worry, baby, our paths will cross again.

He winked maliciously and walked off knowing that he had succeeded in rattling her.

Aliyah didn’t know how to respond to Sid because she was too scared to say the wrong thing and was a nervous wreck when confronted by intimidating people. Her tongue always seemed to get all twisted and stuff when she would try to say something in response, and then it would come out all weird and make no sense at all.

She thought about what Sid had questioned her on, as she held tightly to her special cross necklace. She knew that the cross was a symbol of her faith in God, but she just couldn’t get it out of her mouth when faced with the intensity of Sid’s questioning. She shook her head at herself in disappointment. However, she did find relief as he had left her abruptly without any further attention.

Without having more time to think about Sid’s abrupt depart, Aliyah saw Carlie and Julie bounding down the steps, Carlie chattering away as usual. They all met up and headed in the direction of Carlie’s house first.

Carlie noticed Aliyah’s shaken up demeanor and asked, Are you okay? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost!

Aliyah shrugged and gave her a weak smile, I’m fine. Sid just startled me.

Really? Carlie said in shock.

What did he say?

Oh, he was quizzing me about why I wore a cross necklace, but he didn’t really give me a chance to respond. He just questioned me and walked off.

Huh, well, he’s kind of weird. Don’t you think? Carlie directed the question to both Aliyah and Julie.

Yeah, Julie agreed giving Aliyah a bewildered look.

So anyways, Carlie changed directions, I was thinking that we could wear glitter on our arms and faces to make us shimmer! What do you think?

Uh, what are you talking about? Aliyah asked confused.

Her mind was still on the previous conversation.

You know… our costumes for the festival? Carlie reminded her before continuing, Anyways, Julie said her mom would get the glittery wings for us to wear on our backs too! I’m so excited!

It sounds like a lot of glitter to me, Aliyah responded sheepishly.

Oh, Liyah it will be fine! Carlie chided.

Aliyah glanced at Julie and she shrugged her shoulders seeming to not really care too much either way.

By the time they headed down towards the end of the street that made up the school property, Aliyah could hear Jesse’s distinctive laughter booming across the school yard as he and his buddies left the building and headed towards the parking lot. She glanced back at them but quickly turned away as Jesse also glanced over at the girls as they were disappearing around the street corner.

Hey, man, come on! Shouted Darin at the obviously slightly side-tracked Jesse.

Jesse caught up to his buddies.

Hey, Jesse, are you coming tomorrow? Darin questioned.

Um, I don’t know.

Come on, man! It’s your senior year! It’s like a rite of passage for us!

Okay, well, maybe…

Great! It’s settled then! Meet me here right before last period! Don’t be late!

Darin interrupted before Jesse could come up with any more excuses.

The guys got into Darin’s car and sped off. Darin was one of Jesse’s close buddies. He was just as mischievous as Jesse. That was probably why they got along so well, but also set them up for getting into possible trouble.

Aliyah found herself intrigued by Jesse in spite of his unrelenting teasing. There was just something different about him. Aliyah was hesitant to talk to guys in general. She had never really known her father and felt really awkward around the opposite sex. Everything she said seemed to come out weird or lame. She just preferred to avoid any unnecessary contact as to evade any possible chances to be embarrassed by her shyness.

The three girls had planned to meet up after school the day of the festival and get ready at Aliyah’s house. Julie’s parents were going to be gone on a business trip together and Carlie’s home life was chaos, so Aliyah’s house was the obvious choice.

Carlie had four brothers and sisters and her mom worked endlessly at the meat packing plant near the city and her dad could be found in the local bar drinking most of their pay check away on the weekends.

Aliyah was an only child and her mom wouldn’t mind the girls coming over to get ready there besides Carlie and Julie were providing most of the costume details. She wanted to contribute something. Aliyah’s mom was pretty conservative and so she knew that they were not going to be able to make anything too skimpy for their ‘angelic beings’ costumes, which was usually Carlie’s preference. Aliyah and Julie, however, preferred not to show too much skin, mainly because it would draw way too much attention to them.

Carlie was the first to part ways at her street to head to her house as the girls walked together like they did every day after school. After Carlie left, Julie and Aliyah walked together for two more blocks.

So you seemed to be really bothered by what Sid said? Julie started.

Uh, yeah, he bothers me. I really don’t understand him, and he just gets under my skin. I don’t know there is something eerie about him, Aliyah responded still feeling annoyed at him.

Yeah he is eerie, but you don’t have to be afraid of him. He just likes to intimidate people. It’s not like he will actually do anything to you.

Probably not, but I guess I’m just bothered by what he said. I mean I couldn’t even think of the obvious answer to his question!

What question?

Well, he asked me why I wore my cross necklace, and then he blew it up in my face before I could answer him.

He apparently didn’t really want an answer. He just wanted to bully you.

Why me? I don’t get it! Ugh! Aliyah finished as they approached Julie’s house.

I don’t know; that’s weird, Julie stated.

He’s never picked on you before. Well, this is me… See you later! Julie parted ways with Aliyah as she walked up her driveway to her house.

Yeah! See you tomorrow!

Aliyah walked the last couple blocks alone. She didn’t mind though, it gave her some time to think. She liked to have some time to herself to reflect on the day and whatever was stirring in her mind. One of the things she couldn’t stop thinking about was the dance on Friday. She wanted to be part of the activity and excitement like everyone else but she was so nervous that she would trip over her own feet or do something stupid. She didn’t know why she cared so much about what others thought of her, but she just did.

The girls had decided to be angelic beings whatever that was, which according to Carlie meant wearing short little white dresses and wearing lots of glitter and makeup, and then of course adding some wings to the back of their outfits. Aliyah had a hard time picturing these costumes and wasn’t entirely sure what kind of dress she would be wearing. Carlie said she had found plenty of cute short white dresses at the thrift shop and a few in her moms’ closet; which made Aliyah all the more nervous.

Aliyah’s mind then raced back to her conversation with Sid that had taken place just after school. She ran over the whole conversation again in her head and began justifying her lack of response.

He was just so overbearing that I didn’t even have time to think about what I wanted to say! she grouched to herself.

She then began to feel guilty about not being able to respond with a sure answer about her faith. She wore the cross necklace and went to church and tried to be a good person, but deep inside she didn’t really know who God was to her, let alone what He wanted from her. She needed to figure things out. She arrived at her house and she headed in to spend some time with her mom before she left for work.

Aliyah walked into her quaint little house and saw her mom cleaning the last of the dishes.

She walked over and gave her a hug saying, Hi mom!

Hey, honey! Did you have a good day? her mom, Kate asked innocently.

It was fine, Aliyah lied, I’m going to work on my science project some before dinner.

Okay, sweetie! I have to work tonight so I’m setting out some chicken to thaw for your dinner.

Okay, Aliyah said as she sat down to work on her science project.

Aliyah and her mom were very close. It had always been the two of them since her mom and biological father split up when Kate found out she was pregnant. Her mom had been only eighteen at the time and wasn’t married so they parted ways and never talked again; at least not to Aliyah’s knowledge.

Kate didn’t like talking about Aliyah’s father much. Every time Aliyah brought him up in conversation or asked a question about him, Kate would turn pale and quickly change the subject. From what Aliyah could tell her father was not a good man and Kate seemed to be somewhat afraid of him, although she tried not to show it to her daughter, but Aliyah could sense it in her voice.

Hey mom… Aliyah started.

Her mother was busy picking up the house before she headed out.

Yeah, honey?

Is my hair sandy- colored because my father’s was? I mean, I obviously didn’t get your dark hair and grandma had darker hair when she was younger…

Huh? Kate was stunned by her random question, Um, I guess your hair is similar to his, but I have a lot of relatives on my side who have the same color hair as you. So, you get it from both sides I guess.

Aliyah didn’t bother asking any more questions because she knew her mom was on the verge of saying something like, I would rather not talk about it right now Or I don’t know, honey. Kate’s tone of voice would change when she was feeling uncomfortable talking about something. That was Aliyah’s clue that her mom was shutting down the conversation.

Her mom had never gotten married again mainly because she worked all the time but she was only thirty-five and had had several admirers throughout the years so Aliyah knew it wouldn’t be too long before she finely gave in to dating one of them. She just hoped it would be the right one. She longed for a father in her life. She wished she knew more about her real father but her mom wouldn’t talk about him much. Aliyah could tell that whatever had happened, had been bad. She figured if he was a good man she would have already met him by now. Since she hadn’t, she was left to assume the worst.

Kate’s second job was at the local gas station, which kept her away most of the evening, but she was always home by midnight. There was only one gas station in town and it was always busy with townspeople coming and going. Kate worked at the hospital during the day as a nurse and then she would have a couple of hours with Aliyah in the afternoon and be headed off to work again.

Aliyah rarely waited up most nights but she always woke up around midnight to see if the living room light had been shut off. They usually left a light on in the living room until Kate got home. It comforted both of them as Aliyah was home alone until then and her mom didn’t like walking into a dark house either.

Honey, I’m heading out! Kate chimed as she came over to kiss her daughter on the forehead.

Okay, mom.

"Don’t forget to leave the lamp in the living room on for me. By the