Dream Smashers by Angela Carlie Page B

to sound easy—well, it is easy. “I have faith. That’s the
reason I seem carefree. But, don’t get me wrong, because I do care.
I care a lot.”
    She’s quiet.
    He stands and gives another spin. This time
he sits on the handle bars.
    She says, “Faith? You mean your
religion?”
    “I mean I have faith in God, in Jesus. I have
given my worries and burdens over to Jesus. He takes them from me
and deep down I know everything will be okay—”
    “What? You give your worries to Jesus? That
totally doesn’t make sense.”
    “Why not?”
    “How can you possibly just give your worries
away? If I worry about someone, like Grams or Rainy or even
Jacinda, it’s because I care for them. I care what might happen to
them—”
    “Yes, of course you do. I understand. What
good has worry ever gotten, though? Has it helped your Grams any?
Has worrying about your mom made her life any easier—or yours?”
    The fog thins enough to see her face. Her
eyebrows furrow, like she’s thinking.
    “Well, no. I guess worrying hasn’t helped.
But, how do you stop worrying?”
    “You know the story about Jesus, right?”
    “Yeah, I think so. He died for our sins and
stuff.”
    “That’s exactly right. Jesus died for us. He
wiped our slate clean of all sin, but only if we accept him into
our lives and hearts. Once you do this, surrender yourself to him,
you are saved.”
    Autumn’s face puckers. She must be thinking
again. Evan jumps off the merry-go-round and gives it another
whirl, hoping he didn’t just kill all chances with her.

CHAPTER TWENTY
     
    Uncomfortable. But interesting. I still don’t
get it though, not one bit. This can’t be right. It sounds too
simple.
    “Actually, I’m getting a bit dizzy,” I say.
Girlfriend, evil mom, burdens, Jesus. All this thinking along with
the whirling is giving me a headache. “Do you mind if we go home
now? I’m tired.”
    “Oh, of course.” He holds onto a handle to
stop the merry-go-round. “I hope I didn’t scare you or anything.
It’s just that I get excited when talking about our savior.”
    Savior. Now my head definitely hurts. “No.
I’m just tired. It’s been a long day and a lot has happened.”
    He holds his hand out to help me off the
ride. The strange fog has disappeared, exposing the sky above.
Clouds glide across the canvass revealing the stars and then
covering them again.
    The drive home almost puts me to sleep. The
purr of the engine calms. We pull up to my house. Evan jumps out to
open my door, but I’m faster.
    “So, did tonight scare you off? I mean, do
you want to help again on Wednesday?” He wrings his hands
together.
    “Sure, I’ll help out. It wasn’t that bad
until Jacinda showed up. She won’t show up again this week, will
she?” Not that it matters. I don’t care about her anyway. Her
stupid episode is totally ancient history—sorta.
    “I don’t think that I’ve seen her there
before. So, you’re probably right.” He steps forward and gives me a
hug. Warm, caring, making me want to hold on to him for years. He
steps back too soon, his face a little pink. No kiss. “I’m glad you
came tonight.”
    “Me too. Sorry about what happened and
all.”
    “There’s no reason for you to be sorry.” He
smiles. “Well, I’ll swing by on Wednesday around three then?”
    “Sounds great.” I can’t believe he didn’t
kiss me. Maybe he doesn’t see me as a girlfriend after all.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
     
    Tuesday, October 6 th
     
    Jacinda sits up. The bed squeaks. It’s
fuckin’ cold, dark, and the rain pounds something fierce on
whatever hella roof is above her head.
    Black, not even a glimmer of light to let her
know where she’s crashed. She flops back down and wraps the
scratchy blanket even tighter around her body. Her stomach’s on a
fuckin’ roller coaster of its own. She’s had worse. She can take
it. Bring it. She can take whatever shit life throws at her.
    The faint smell of bleach in the air burns
Jacinda’s damn