Why He Left

By Erika Davis

When twenty-five-year-old Logan Taylor is in prison, he accepts God in his life, and before he knows it he finds himself free. But when Logan returns home to Dickson, Tennessee, his wife unveils a secret that will change his world forever. As Logan and his wife grow closer, will tragedy and secrets bring them closer to God or tear them apart?

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781512721331

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Copyright © 2015 Erika Davis.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Author photo by Sheena Thorn

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-2134-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-2135-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-2133-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015919463

WestBow Press rev. date: 11/19/2015

To my parents and brother

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Epilogue

About the Author

Acknowledgments

F irst and foremost, I would like to thank God Almighty for giving me such an amazing opportunity to share my love of writing.

I would also like to thank all my family and friends for being so supportive and believing in me.

Chapter 1

Logan

I used to look at life like a deck of cards. I thought I could handle the world and every card I was dealt. Except I had the mind-set that if I was ever dealt a hand I wasn’t satisfied with, I could throw it back and pick the next card from the deck. Of course, that theory of mine didn’t quite work when the card I drew was prison. Maybe the phrase luck of the draw is more suitable. Either way, I ended up behind bars.

I didn’t kill anyone or anything of that sort. I got busted for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Considering there was no evidence to clear my name at the time and prove my innocence, I’ve been staring at the same cell walls for the past five years. However, just last year my name was cleared, but there was nobody to pay my bail, so I was still left in prison.

A lot of things have happened in the outside world since I’ve been here. My parents were killed in a car accident about two years ago. They were hit by a drunk driver on their way to visit me. Then my older brother, Justin, was shot and killed in Afghanistan last year. I had to miss all three of their funerals because I was locked up in this joint.

There are a lot of things I remember about my parents. They were the nicest people you would ever meet. They were the type who would give you the shirt off their backs if they thought you needed it. My parents raised my brother and me in a Christian environment. I can remember my mom always telling us that if Jesus wouldn’t have done it, we shouldn’t do it either.

What a lot of people don’t know about my family was that we all grew up in the small town of Saint Marys, West Virginia. We didn’t move to Tennessee until I finished my junior year of high school. Truthfully, if I’d had the choice, I would’ve never left West Virginia. In the part of town I grew up in, everybody knew everybody. Half the time a trip to Walmart ended up being a family reunion because you would run into just about everyone you knew. Growing up, you didn’t have to worry about what the latest toy was, because you had an entire backyard as a playground if you lived in the right spot. I spent a lot of my free time sitting on my back porch, looking out to the horizon, where you could see nothing but treetops for miles. The best thing about living in the country was that when I had a bad day, I would come home, go find a spot in the woods, and listen to the nature around me. Listening to the birds sing their melodies back and forth melted away all my worries.

People take little old Saint Marys for granted. They always want to leave when they grow up, but when they do, they miss the little things about it. I’m hoping that I can find my way back to my home in the mountains one of these days.

Mom and Dad used to take us to a small church back in Saint Marys called Wind of Acts Ministries. It was a white building that sat on top of a little hill with a cross in the front yard. I can remember mowing the yard on weekends to earn a few extra dollars so I could have my own money. Mom would take us to church every Sunday morning, and we would learn about Jesus and the Bible. My dad called that place his refueling station. It was where he could go to hear the Word so he’d be ready to tell the world about Jesus on Monday morning. My parents used to tell people that they weren’t religious but that they were in a relationship with God.

My parents were prime examples of what it meant to live a Christian life. I miss them every second of every day. Have you ever wanted to cry so badly but no tears came, so you just stared blankly into space while your heart broke into pieces? That’s how I felt when I heard about the death of my parents.

Losing my parents was hard enough, but when I found out about my brother, my world felt like it was coming to an end. When Mom and Dad died, it was easier to get through because I still had my brother around. But after he died, I had no family left. Within a year I became an orphan and an only child.

There are no words to describe the feeling I get every time I think of them and remember they’re no longer in this world. The pain never goes away, and the heartache never stops. Wherever they may be, I hope they know they will always be my guardian angels.

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In the time I’ve spent here at the Tennessee State Penitentiary, I’ve yet to get a decent night’s sleep. Maybe that’s only true in my case. Most of my restless nights consist of lying on my cot in pure fear from the previous nightmare—the one where I never escape and my body is left to rot with the prison and the rest of the inmates. Then there are the nights when I sit at the edge of my bed and contemplate whether or not the guards will choose to be nice.

They never choose to be nice. I’ve had my face slammed into a wall so many times that the left side of my forehead is permanently scarred. The punishments here are enough to make anyone drop to his knees and confess his sins. To put it simply, any