Here is the last chapter for Sandra and her gang of friends. “WARNING: TEAR JERKER ALERT” YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.   And Now...   A Prayer Answered The Final Chapter By Sara D.

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Chapter 12
 
I could not help wondering if what I have done is right and true, am I really a girl?

Of course I am silly I reassured myself.

I shook that thought from my fussy morning brain. I dressed in a simple pair of peach shorts and t-shirt before joining the rest of my new family. As I entered the bacon aroma filled kitchen I saw that mom and dad were close together at the stove, mom with the bacon and dad with the eggs. Brian had just placed the O.J. on the table and reached for glasses and smiled as he noticed me enter the room. I quickly scanned the kitchen and grabbed the needed plates, silverware and napkins.

We all sat and had a nice breakfast, mom and dad continued to snuggle close, and mom constantly nestled her head on dad’s shoulder as he ate his last few bites. Once we were done with cleaning up, we all gathered in the family room waiting for Officer Thompson to show. We were quietly watching TV when the doorbell rang at 10 o’clock.

“Good morning Ben” Dad said as he greeted Officer Thompson at the door “come on in; please have a seat in the living room.”

“Thank you” Officer Thompson said as he greeted the rest of us.

“Would you like some coffee?” Mom offered as she got up to go to the kitchen.

“Yes, please. Black” Officer Thomson said as he shook Brian’s hand. “Good morning Brian, I must say that we at the station are thankful you are ok, while a dangerous act in stopping that man last night, you did the right thing.”

“Thank you Officer Thompson” Brian said and then sat on the couch next to me.

“You may both call me Ben” He said as he sat on a chair next to the coffee table.

“Here’s your coffee” Mom said and handed Ben a cup, she then joined dad on the sofa across from the couch.

“Thank you Janice” Ben said as he raised his cup. “Brian now what I would like to do is record your statement for the record of what occurred last night. Once we are complete here I will transcribe it and then bring it back in a few days for you to sign. Does that sound ok?” Ben asked.

“Sure, that’s ok with me.” Brian told Ben.

“Ok then” Ben pulled a small digital recorder from his pocket; a beep was heard as he pressed a button “Officer Ben J. Thompson badge number 387 Sunday April 16, recording the official statement of Brian Allen Jones regarding case #11-15-2236. What follows is the statement of record. Please state your full name and address for the record please Brian.” Ben then pointed the recorder towards Brian.

Brian then began “I am Brian Allen Jones of…” he gave a full account of what he saw and left nothing out. I could not help but smile at him, such a trooper.

Once completed Ben then spoke into the recorder once again “this concludes the statement of Brian Allen Jones for case number…” He then stood up and thanked all of us. “Thank you again, I’ll be in touch with you soon, if you remember anything else here is my card.” He said as he handed a white piece of paper to Brian. “One more thing” he said as he stood close to Brian “like you, your father was a very brave man. And I for one live each and every day thankful for what he did for me all those years ago.” He said as he gave Brian a friendly squeeze of his shoulder.

Brian and I both gave him a blank stare; I then remembered the story dad had told us about him and Brian’s father. “Remember Brian, the story my dad told us.”

“Oh yah,” Brain said with a smile “So you’re the one my dad’s actions saved.

“He’s the one” Ben said with a smile then shook Brian’s hand once again then took his leave of us. I’ll be in touch.

The rest of the day went slowly, with church being back to normal and Pastor Gene being his jovial self made for a nice sermon. As we all sat at the table to relax after church and a late lunch the phone rang.

“Hello” dad answered the phone and sat down “speaking.” He responded to the obvious question. I then saw his facial expression change from hope to utter despair and horror. “No!” He exclaimed “When, how?” He said now visually upset. He listened for several minutes, I watched in uneasy anticipation for him to tell us all what was going on, what happened. My heart was beating faster and I was sweating now as all I could think about was Brenda.

Dad hung up the phone softly and then looked straight at me with sad eyes. My heart began to sink as I knew it was bad news.

“Sandra, Brian” he began somberly “I am very sorry, but Brenda passed away this morning.” He said visually shaken.

“What, How!” I said screaming and began to cry “Oh my God; why???” I said between crying, I then felt Brian squeeze close to me. I looked at him and he too was visually shaken.

“A blood clot got into her brain and cause a stroke, the stroke caused her to stop breathing…” He stopped mid sentence because it was too hard to continue then he took a deep breath. The doctors worked on her but were unable to bring her back.” Dad said then we all hugged each other and cried.

I stood hugging Mom, Dad, and Brian for a while. My heart hurt and felt heavy. That SOB who stabbed her, he’s going to pay for this I thought. This is worth it and I am going to show the world.

“What did you say honey?” Mom asked as I realized I spoke that last bit out load.

“After last night” I said wiping my eyes free of tears “I was thinking, was this worth it. Emphatically yes it’s worth it. No son of a bitch is going to change who I am. I am a woman and I am letting the world know it!” I said loudly.

“We know you are sweetie” Dad said letting go of the hug.

We sat together in silence for the rest of the night. I wandered several times what Mr. Chambers was taking all of this, should I call him, should I call Amy and Gina, but it was too hard to pick up the phone. I just could not act. I just sat with and cried. After a while I went up to my room and lay on my bed. I little bit later Brian joined me, we talked about Brenda and how we should go see Kim and call Amy and Gina. I just could not bring myself to do it.

I was awakened by dad “Honey time to get up, you to Brian.” He said as I became conscious of sleeping next to Brian for the first time in the same bed.

“I’m up, I’m up” I said sleepily rubbing my eyes awake.

“Mom and I have decided to keep you two out of school today, the rest of your friends were already told. And if you like the six of you can spend the day together or alone. They will all be here at ten with their parents and you can decide then.” Dad said and hugged me as I was now fully awake and standing.

“Brian, you and I will get things cleaned up while Sandy gets ready.”

“Ok” Brian simply responded.

The both left and I then took a well needed shower. Once I was clean and dressed I joined the boys and mom in the kitchen where I was offered a cup of coffee. While I’ve never had it, I gave it a try and loved it immediately.

We all ate a small breakfast and talked about the impending funeral for Brenda. It was hard to talk about, between me and mom crying and Brian and Dad being stone quiet the atmosphere in the kitchen was thick.

Soon we were greeted by Amy’s parents, followed by Gina, Matt and Paul’s parents. We spent the greater part of the rest of the day just talking and then more silence and crying. It seems Mr. Chambers had decided on a funeral on Friday and we were told the rest of the school had an assembly with counselors provided. All this time I never even thought about talking to Thelma about how I was feeling at this moment.

It is so hard to deal with unexpected death and the feelings that go with it. I knew then I would call her once everyone else had left. That is exactly what I did once everyone was gone. We had decided to all meet at Amy’s house and hire the same Limo Company to take us all to the service on Friday.

I told Brian that I wanted a few minutes alone and went into my room and closed the door. I picked up my phone and dialed Thelma’s number.

“Hello, Dr. Louis speaking.” She said in her usual cheerful voice.

“It’s Sandra Davidson.” I said with sniffles.

“My dear Sandra, what’s the matter.”

“My friend Brenda, she died yesterday” I then related the whole story to her. And over the next half hour Thelma just listened to me.

“I am so sorry to hear about your friend, I know you must be hurting and thinking about yourself as well. Don’t hold your feeling in my dear, let them out.” She said in a comforting tone then continued. “You are going to have a tough time getting over this loss, but with family and friend to talk to you will eventually feel better. You must also know its ok to feel differently each day. You might even be pissed off ant the perpetrator of this, don’t worry all the feelings you are going through are normal healing process.”

“Thanks for listening Thelma, you have been a great help, and in more ways than one” I said just before finishing “and just to put you at ease, I am a woman, this experience has not changed that.” I said confidently.

The rest of the evening brought more silence between us, and then I broke it with. “We need to talk about this; Brenda was my friend, if only for a short time. I feel we need to get through this together and not in silence.

“Your right honey, I’ve just been selfish and thinking about what if it had been you in that dark parking lot.” Dad said emphatically, I don’t know what I would do without my darling daughter.

“I feel the same way as your dad does.” Mom interjected.

We sat and talked the rest of the evening and each of us talked about our feelings and how we as a family would progress.

We all then retired for the night after dad told us we could stay out of school tomorrow if we felt we needed it.

Brian and I slept in separate rooms that night; it just didn’t feel right to be together just yet.

When I woke the next morning I felt marginally better, and thought it would be good for me to go back to school. Brian agreed with me, if you can imagine two teenagers agreeing to go back to school so soon.

“What a bad choice that was” I told Brian as we walked home.

“I know what you mean, all those reporters and cameras were awful and intrusive. I can’t believe they wanted to talk to us. I’m just glad that you stood up to the one lady and told her were to stick it.”

“Yah, what a bitch she was, pushing that microphone in our faces like that. I know she didn’t know anything about us or what happened. All she wanted was our reactions for ratings, how low can you get.”

“No kidding, I’m such a lucky man to have such a smart and quick thinking girl and got us out of that mess so quickly.” Brian said.

“It’s a gift” I simply responded and smiled.

The rest of the day was a disaster as well; none of the teachers seamed in the mood to do any actual teaching, the counselor was annoyingly pushy about how everyone was feeling. ‘Ok I’ve told you a dozen times already, I am doing fine’ well almost, just leave me alone at school.

Once home we relayed what had happened at school, Dad sat down at the kitchen table smiling at me.

“Way to put the woman in her place Sandy.”

“What, you saw that?” I said surprised.

“Yep, it went out live, and you know what?” Dad responded.

“What?” I asked.

“Mr. Chambers called and said thank you.”

“For what” I asked “all I said was, why don’t you leave us alone and let us grieve.”

“For That” Dad said simply and then gave me a hug.

“Well then tell him ‘you welcome’.” I told him and smiled for the first time in two days, I think.

The rest of the week went by slowly, the mood at school improved on Wednesday as the TV crews were gone along with those counselors. The teachers were still in a funk and we learned little but it got better on Thursday. Everyone seemed to be in a better mood. As those who knew Brenda vaguely moved on to the newest hot topic in town. I wasn’t following what was going on so I have no idea what is was, and to be frank I was in no mood to care.

That afternoon in Thelma’s office was a basic repeat of our phone conversation and then she asked if I was going to speak at Brenda’s funeral tomorrow. I hadn’t even thought about it until she brought it up.

“Um, I don’t know. Am I supposed to?” I asked confused and concerned.

“All those close to the deceased will be asked to speak if they wish to. It is a good way for some to have closure for those they have lost.” Thelma explained.

“I’m not sure; I’ll have to think about it.” It that moment I thought about what would I say. “I guess I will.” I finally stated.

Thelma then ended our session with. “With all you are going through and what is to come, you must remember that family, friends and those closest to you are there for you and you them, and salvation comes from love and faith.”

“Thank you Thelma” I said as we parted ways for the session.

Friday morning came too quickly and I had no idea of what I would say if asked. I dressed in a black dress and minimal makeup. Mom came in my room just as I was brushing my hair.

“You look nice, are you about ready.” Mom asked looking at me through the mirror above my dresser; I could see mom was also in a black dress but with lace across the chest.

“Just about” I answered at I put my brush down and went with her to the car where we met up with Dad and Brian who were both wearing suits and ties, Linda joined us on the drive way coming home to be with us from college.

We all met up at Amy’s house as planned and piled into the two limos one by one. It was a tight fit but comfortable enough for us, good thing it was two stretch limos for all 18 of us.

I have to say this now that Pastor Dean is a moving but somber speaker.

“Today we lay to rest a very loving and dear child of God; her short life was brought to an abrupt end by an evil and unjustified act. While on earth Brenda had her short comings, but true friendship and love brought her to the right path. Brenda is with God now as no child can know evil. It was evil who took this lovely girl from us. I pray that God comfort her in his house and console and comfort those who loved Brenda. Now let’s bow our heads in silent prayer.” A few minutes past and he spoke again.

“The family has asked that anyone wishing to speak about Brenda may do so now.” Pastor Dean said as he handed the microphone over to Mr. Chambers.

“I would first like to thank all of Brenda’s family and friends for coming and supporting us today.” Mr. Chambers said somberly and holding back tears. “Brenda, all those sit here today will miss you and pray for you. Daddy loves you.” He said then broke down into tears and collapsed into the fetal position on the floor. Pastor Dean had to help him back to the pew.

I wasn’t sure if it would be right for me to say anything, but looking over and seeing Thelma a few pews back and her visual encouragement I then found the courage to stand up and talk about my friend.

As I approached the microphone I felt uneasy, I still had nothing to say about her, what could I say, I then just let it out.

“My dear friend did nothing to deserve this end to her life, Brenda was my friend. She had a funny way of showing it the first time I met her once I became Sandra. She was just as confused as I was, she just didn’t have the courage yet to show the world who she really was.” I paused for a second.

“Once she realized who she was, we quickly became friends and kindred spirits. She once told me a few days after letting go of her inhibitions that she could not understand why she waited so long to see the light. I simply replied, ‘because you should have hit your head on the ground instead of mine’ she looked at me shocked and shamed at the same time, but I had at that moment already forgiven her and meant it as a joke, and until the day she was attacked it was a private joke between us. I love and miss you Brenda, my friend.” I finished and cried all the way back to my pew.

Pastor Dean took back over after a few more people spoke about their friend and Pastor Dean spoke about how hate causes blindness and faith causes everything to become clear.

He concluded the service in the chapel and we all then made our way to our prospective vehicles for the funeral procession. There must have been over 100 cars in line, with the Hearse first followed by the family limo and our two close behind.

It was a somber moment when Pastor Dean laid Brenda to rest at the casket was lowered into the ground, the last time I was a witness to this was for my mother.

“Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust, by the sweat of your face you will eat bread, til you return to the ground. Because from it you were taken; for you are dust and to dust you shall return.” He said as a final prayer, and then concluded the service.

Most everyone at the service gave Mr. Chambers their respects and departed our group was last. I think I gave him the tightest hug because he groaned as I did. I tried to apologize but he had nothing to do with it as polite as he is.

We left as a group and then went our separate ways when we reached Amy’s house. We had a quite dinner at home that night and weekend.

Life moved on, Monday brought the same challenges back as well as some new ones. Brian was called as a witness the Brenda’s now classified Murder. It was hard to watch as he and others explained in detail what had happened. It turned out that Brenda had begun babysitting for this man a few weeks prior, and once he found out he had made up his mind that it was his duty to protect his six year old daughter and the world from Brenda. He made no excuses and no remorse for what he had done. Even his defence attorney turned red as he addressed the court at his sentencing hearing as he spat hate and was thankful the world was rid of Brenda.

He got life, the bastard.

We learned that his daughter was now a ward of the state; his wife had died giving birth. I felt bad for her and found Lisa had a strong connection to Brenda when we talked to family services when we asked about it. I told Brian we had to do something, but what could a couple of teenagers do with a six year old. Well we found a way. We mentored her through the rest of the school year and summer and her and I became inseparable as I began to develop. Brian took notice and we were becoming closer each day. We decided it would be best to wait and were older to go further. It was such a miracle to watch him mature into a man that year.

That June after we graduated mom and dad married. It was a great day for us all. Mom was gorgeous, and Linda made a beautiful bridesmaid. And lolly me was a cute and voluptuous ring bearer. I know I was a little old but I did not care.

The day after I turned 18 and with Thelma’s final blessing I was scheduled for surgery. I woke up two months later a complete woman and happy. Brian proposed once I was coherent enough and was giddy as a school boy. Lisa was like a daughter to us now and once I was healed enough we petitioned to have her come live we us in our new apartment.
Dawn from family services could not be happier and offered up adoption instead.

Brian and I could not be happier, we were immediately granted to be her foster parents for the time being while the adoption process was worked out.

Epilogue:

I stood at the altar staring at my soon to be husband. After all these years and all of our struggles here I was standing in my long white gown holding hands with Brian. I knew our lives together would be great if not interesting. I listened as Pastor Gene began to speak and began our ceremony.

“Today we are gathered to join in holy matrimony Brian Allen Jones and Sandra Lynn Davidson. These two come before God and the Great State of New Hampshire to join in an unbreakable union. God has answered the prayers of these two, and we are proud to have them before you all as witnesses of their undying love of one another and their daughter Lisa.” He paused and our beautiful daughter of ten joined us at the altar as ring bearer. I could not be more proud of her, as she stepped up with the pillow with our rings on top tied with a yellow ribbon. She smiled and showed her pretty white teeth and red colored lips.

Once the beautiful ceremony was over and Brian and I were dancing the first dance, I could see that Mom and Dad were dancing lovely together. They looked so happy together and so were Brian and I. Brian guided me around the dance floor and could not help but smile at all our guests. Kim was sitting alone while Gina and Paul were talking with Amy and Matt who were showing off their new born son Jason.

Our first dance was over and then Dad and I heated up the floor for the father daughter dance. He was so gentle at first but then we both got carried away and just had fun. You could not get the smile off of my face with blow torch.

THE END...