Don't Let Him Find Me

Snapshots is not dead! After a great brainstorming session we now have a full story plot to work with. I'm hoping this will be the first in many new scenes soon to come in Evelyn and Zach's story. Thank you for reading and following Snapshots!

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She pressed the washcloth to her nose, attempting to stem the flow of blood. The sticky liquid socked the cloth and covered her hands. Her nasal cavity throbbed; burned from the frequent use of drugs the nosebleeds were becoming more frequent.

Tears coursed down her cheeks, mingling with her blood. She whipped at them, wincing as her hand brushed over her black eye evidence to her recent beating. Things were getting worse; the beatings, the nosebleeds and the blackouts. They were killing her, the drugs, and him. But what could she do? She had nothing, no one, nowhere to go. Besides, if she left, where would she get the drugs? She needed them, without them she would die – with them she would die.

The outside door slammed and a gruff voice screamed her name. “Evelyn! Where the hell are you girl!”

Evelyn pushed herself farther into the dark corner of the closest. Shaking from fear and the loss of blood, she gripped the reddened cloth tighter, holding it close to her nose and mouth, trying to muffle her breathing.

“God, don’t let him find me,” terrified she stared at the crack of light piercing through into the closet from the barley open door.

“Evelyn! I’m going to find you!”

Pressing her knees against her chest she willed her body to disappear into her hiding place. Don’t find me, please, don’t find me!

The sound of heavy footsteps, crashes of pots and pans along with streams of curses pour from outside the closet. Evelyn began to tremble; memories of past beats taunting her, giving her a picture of what was to come if he found her.

The closet door swung open, slamming against the wall and blinding Evelyn. A shadow stepped in front of her, blocking the light.

“Mike. N… no,” Evelyn stammered weakly. She held up her hands, blocking her face.
Mike grabbed her by the hair and yanked her from the closet. Throwing her to the floor he loomed over her. Evelyn whimpered helplessly, the tormenting had begun again.

Written by StoryGirl

I Will Never Abandon You

This is my first scene for Snapshots. A result of one of those flashes of inspiration you get while doing dishes.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When had things come to this? He could remember a time when he had everything, when the world was his. He swallowed, forcing down the tiny speck of saliva left in his dry throat. It was gone, he had lost everything. Job, family, friends; all the security he had once known was gone. The title wave of life had washed them away, drowning his hope and his will do keep going.

What was left to live for anyway? No one would miss him. He was alone, wondering in a black void where no light could ever shine. Even God had abandoned him.

He looked up at the popcorn ceiling. Yes, God had abandoned him. Where was He when his marriage fell about? Where was He when his rights to see his children were stripped away? Where was He when his boss had called him into his office and let him go?

He shook his fist as if shaking it towards the heavens.

“You liar! You weren’t there! You said You always would be there but You weren’t! You liar!”

Tears welled up in his eyes as he spoke. He covered his face and wept.

“Oh God, where were You?”

My son.

He looked up. There was no one in the room beside himself.

My son.

Where was that voice coming from? He stood, suddenly sensing some hidden presence.

My son, I have not lied to you. I was there, but you did not seek me.

“You weren’t there! If you were there You would have stopped it!”

I gave you free will, free will comes with consequences.

“Like hell it does!”

Who are you to decide what I do?!

He was suddenly forced to His knees. Fear grabbed at his heart and he trembled before such a presence.

“They took everything,” he whispered. “Everything.”

He shivered. It was almost like someone had wrapped their arms around him. It felt so real, but he couldn’t see anyone.

I will never abandon you.

Overcome with his grief and the presence of divine love he wept.

“Oh God. It’s gone, everything. They’ve left me. God, help me.”

I will never abandon you.

Written by StoryGirl

Zach's Struggles

Hello. My first post on this blog. Yep yep. Here's a short bit I wrote for Zach.

He became a completely different person once he closed the door to his room. The strong, careless façade he gave his parents crumbled, and his anger boiled over.

How dare she? Just because she’s my mother, doesn’t give her the right to confiscate my phone.

He took a deep breath to calm himself. Anger was one of his biggest problems. He flopped on his bed and took out his iPod, shaking his head at how forgetful his mother could be. As he scanned the list of apps, he saw nothing that looked interesting.

Almost mindlessly, he opened his web browser. His fingers hovered over the address bar, shaking slightly.

What am I doing? I know better than this. I shouldn’t be doing this.

It had been months since he had been on any of the pornographic sites, but the address came to mind like it had only been yesterday. He typed it in and hit enter.

The next hour was a blur of vulgarity and obscenities. Not only had he fallen from his near-perfect perch, but also he had fallen all the way back to the vile bottom of the pit. Every perversion imaginable was available, and he made use of them all.

When finally he finished, he was trembling with shame.

How can I help Evelyn, when I cannot even help myself?

Scene 4

This scene really speaks for its self, so I will keep my mouth shut on this. Oh, I did just throw a name in there because I needed one and did not know what else to do.

Evelyn laid her head in her hands as she sat down at the table in the cafeteria. Love had been all around her for years. She had easy access to it. If she needed someone to love her, someone was always there for her. But today, everyone left her for a new girl in the school. She had higher grades then Evelyn. She had fairer skin then she did. She was skinner. How could Evelyn compete with this? She would never be the popular girl again. Love would never be the same. She would have to work for it.

She buried her face in her hands and let the tears flow. Her life had changed and it would not be the same. 

I
mages flashed through her head from the past years. She saw all of her best friends at the prom. Her becoming Homecoming Queen at this last prom.

“How did I end up the Homecoming Queen?” She asked her self as she sat up and brushed away the tears. “I was the most popular girl in the school. And Zach was the most popular guy and still is.” The tears started rolling down her cheeks again. “I will probably never see him again.” She cried. She put her head back onto the table and started sobbing. 

After Evelyn cried all the tears she could cry, she was gathering up her things when she herd her name being called. She spun around to find Zach coming towards her. She quickly turned and started walking the other direction. 

“Evelyn!” He called again. “Wait, I need to talk to you.” 

She pretended like she never heard his words and kept on walking. 

“Evelyn, please. I don’t want our friendship to end like this.” Right then and there, she stopped, dead in her tracks. ‘What did he say?’ As her heart melted to butter. He grabbed her arm and turned her so that she was facing him. 

“Have you been crying?” He asked with a tone in his voice as a father talking to his daughter. She tried to wipe the tears from her face and nodded. “What is the matter? Why have you been crying?” 

Evelyn shook her head, not trusting her voice not to give away what was wrong. 

Zach took Evelyn by the hand and sat her down at the table she had just been sitting at. “Talk to me Evelyn. What is going on?” He said as he looked deep into her eyes. 

Evelyn told him everything about losing her friends, about losing love, and everything else. At the end, he took her hand in his and continued to look at her. 

“Evelyn, no matter what new girl comes into the school, you will always be my friend. No matter what girl I be-friend, you will always be my love. I promise you that.” 

Evelyn did not know what to say. A new girl had come into the school and he still loved this plain old girl who he had loved for years. 

‘How could he do such a thing? He was all over the other girl. Why would he come back to me when he has been with the other girl?’ Evelyn thought to herself. ‘Does he really mean this? Will he really stay with me forever? Will this love last forever?’ She kept asking herself. She looked deep into his eyes searching for answers. 

She stood up pushing the questions from her mind. She closed her eyes trying to push everything away. She sighed. “I better get going back to class.” She gave him a small smile and left.


~ Written by Kiehl/CivilWarDancer

Scene 3

This is Evelyn's first cutting. Mild enough, I think we can develop over time.



She slammed the lid on her laptop down, shaking in every limb.

Why did he do this? Why? Doesn’t he know how much I need him? How much I trust him? Doesn’t he know he’s the only one I turn to?

She bit her trembling lip to stop the tears that wanted to come and blinked hard, willing them away.

The pain. The pain! How much more emotional pain I can take? The one guy I trusted through that hell I was in is walking out of my life.

Betrayal.

“Evelyn!” Her dad’s voice bellowed as he banged on her door. She cowered in the corner, clutching her clothes to her. “How many times do I have to tell you to go downstairs and do the dishes? You’re so rebellious and disobedient it’s beyond belief. I want to go to bed. If you’re not down in the next ten minutes, I’m coming in.”

Pausing a moment, she forced an unnaturally cheerful tone into her voice.

“Coming, Dad! Give me a minute.”

Whirling around, she dragged her pyjamas on, one idea burning in her mind.

Dan said it worked to ease the pain.

She opened her door and headed downstairs, past her dad on the computer, into the kitchen. Sobs overtook her, shaking her slight body, though she bit her lip to hold back any noise. Dashing to the far end of the kitchen, she grabbed the kitchen towel and turned to the cutlery. She picked up a dinner knife; drawing back her sleeve, she slashed down. It cut into the tender skin. She didn’t even notice any pain as she whirled around, turning her back to the cutlery.

Oh, God! What have I done! What have I done!

Clenching her teeth, she whirled around, grabbing all the cutlery and flinging it, wet, into the drawer. Gaining control over herself a little, she hastily sorted it into piles. Knives, forks, spoons. Then she slammed it shut.

You KNOW what the Bible says about cutting yourself! What have you done!

Shakily, she finished off the rest of the dishes. Drawing her sleeve carefully over her cut arm, she walked with a fake swagger upstairs, past her Dad. He didn’t glance up.

“All done. Night.”

“Night.”

She soaked her pillow with tears for an hour or more before falling asleep. The pain in her arm had faded to a dull ache.

I should have done it deeper...

As We Sharpen Our Pens...

As one of the main authors and most likely the person who will be piecing the snapshots together, I'm taking great pleasure in watching various snapshots forming under the hand of this band of authors.

Just how far God is going to use this, I don't know. However, I pray that He will bless our efforts and our poor feeble knowledge of the darker side of life to bring people through for Him.

I'm waiting with interest to see what our two newest authors, Nick/Bookwormnick and Katie/Horsegirl95, come up with as snapshots. Please welcome them to this story!

God bless!
~Jane

(Oh, and guys. Each post we make, let's sign it off with our names from now. ;) )

Scene 2

Alright, here is the second scene that I have written. WARNING: When you read this please be sure that you have tissue handy. I started crying as I wrote it. :)  (Yes, I have more I want to add, but I will do that later. :P)


Evelyn sat on her bed with her brother’s knife in her hand. She sighed as she pulled the long knife from the sheath. She had let so many people down. She had too many broken hearts from boyfriends ditching her. Her family did not want her anymore. All they did was yell at her and get mad.

“What is the point of living if all you ever get is trampled on?” Evelyn asked herself out loud as she stared down at the blade.  “I am not useful to anyone. All of my friends hate me, my family hates me, and even my friends outside the country hate me. I am good for nothing and never will be.” She yelled as tears streamed down her face.

She put the knife back in the sheath, stuck it in her pants pocket and headed down stairs. “Mom,” Evelyn said as she entered the kitchen. “I am going to head outside for awhile.” And headed out the back door.

Once Evelyn was a good mile away from the house, she pulled out the knife and dropped the sheath on the ground. She looked around her to make sure no one was watching. All she could see was the forest around her. There was no one in sight.

She sank to her knees as reality grasped her. She was going to commit suicide. Why? There was nothing left for her. She was no longer loved. She had been used over and over again. Her friends had abandoned her in her time of need. Her parents hated her.

“There is nothing left for me!” She yelled. She seemed to wait for an answer, but there was none.  “I do not deserve to live.” She cried. Just as she cried out, the trees started to whistle, and the wind started to swirl. Evelyn looked up to see what was going on.  The clouds had started to gather and the sky was growing dark. A rain drop fell on Evelyn’s nose, making her look up towards the sky.

She held the knife right at her bellybutton ready to plunge it in at any moment.  Just as she was about ready to take her life, she heard someone whisper.

“Evelyn” It was saying. She stopped, brought the knife away from its target and looked around. To her surprise there was no one there. She brought the knife back up, shrugging away what she had heard. Slowly she pushed the knife into her stomach.

“Evelyn, my daughter, what are you doing?” She heard again.

“Father?” She asked as she stood up with tears in her eyes. She let the bloody knife drop to the ground. “Where are you? I can’t see you”

“No, you cannot. I will reveal myself when it is time.” He answered her. Evelyn felt a sincere peace come over her.  “My daughter,” He said again. “Why are you out here, ready to take your own life? Has God called you to die yet?”

“God has never cared for me.” She cried. “He will never love me. Never.”


“Oh my daughter, He does love you. He has loved you through all that you have done.”

“I am dirty with sin.” She yelled. “I have been on drugs, I have let guys use me for their sake, I have self injured myself. He does not want me.”

“He will wash away your sins so that you may be in His presence forever.” He said calming her. Just then, Evelyn realized that she was bleeding badly and that she was a little weak.

She cried even harder. “If He loves me why has He left me to fall underneath the will of men?”

The man sighed. “You have a free will my dear Evelyn. He let you chose the path you walk because He loves you enough to hurt you. Why does a parent punish a child?”

With her hand over her stomach trying to stop the bleed, Evelyn stood there confused at the man’s question. “ Because the parent is mad at the child.” She finally answered.

“No, my dear. They do it because they love the child. The parents know what is good and what is not good for the him and when the child does something that is not right, they punish him out of love.”

Evelyn nodded and then sighed. “I am a dirty rag though, He will never see pass those.”

“As soon as you confess your sins to God, He will no longer remember them. They are gone and you are washed as white as snow.”

At this, Evelyn’s head started spinning from all the loss of blood. “He is always with you. I will always be with you. I want you to come back to me.” He whispered and Evelyn collapsed on the forest floor.