It had been almost a year since Jamie's traumatic experience with the Cartwrights and the poor kid still could not bring himself to forget about the traumatic events that had occurred on that farm, no matter how badly he wanted to. For two months on end, he had been beaten, starved and treated like a slave. The worst part was that his father, the very person who was supposed to love and protect him allowed his son to be subjected to this torment. Perhaps he deserved it for unintentionally killing his mother at birth? Both his father, Matthew and his new, stepmother, Elizabeth had grown concerned at the new, abrupt change in Jamie. Sure he had grown quieter, allowing a new peace to enter the mansion but he had grown too quiet.
Matthew and Elizabeth hardly ever saw much of Jamie after they had retrieved him from the Cartwrights' farm. The only time they would ever see Jamie was when he would need to use the restroom or get food for himself, even then Jamie barely said a word to either of them. Soon enough, Jamie had stopped accepting meals all together and would just remain in his bedroom for hours on end. He had begun sleeping through most of the day as well as the night since sleep was his only escape from the horrific memories that still haunted his mind. On the rare occasions when Jamie was awake, he would merely cry himself back to sleep.
Elizabeth and Matthew had especially grown concerned when the nightmares had begun. Using sleep to escape his traumatic memories did not assist poor Jamie for too long when he had begun to have nightmares of his experience on the Cartwright farm. Jamie's nightmares would grow so intense that Jamie would not only lose complete control of his bladder but would also scream and cry loudly for help that never seemed to come. Matthew and Elizabeth were both often awoken by Jamie screaming in his sleep as if he were being murdered. When they would rush to his aid and wake him up, Jamie would always be in hysterics once he had been awoken.
"I think we should get him mental help..." Matthew finally announced a possible solution at yet another breakfast that Jamie had decided to skip.
"You don't mean send him away again, do you?! Sending him away is what made him like this in the first place!" Elizabeth exclaimed in a panic.
"I don't know what else to do, darling...If he doesn't eat something soon, he's going to die and these night-terrors are beginning to scare me..." Matthew sighed in defeat.
"Just let me try to help him, please?" Elizabeth practically begged. Anything to keep her new son from possibly having one of those horrible lobotomies she had heard so much about.
"Very well..." Matthew reluctantly agreed with a sigh, earning an excited smile and a kiss on the cheek from his new wife. Elizabeth did not hesitate to rush upstairs to Jamie's bedroom once Matthew had agreed to allow her to try to help him.
"Jamie? May I come in?" She asked gently as she knocked on his bedroom door. When she heard no response, she quickly grew concerned and opened the door to let herself in anyway. Tears began to fill her eyes once she saw the state that poor Jamie was now in. Jamie was so thin from not eating in days that his skeleton could clearly be made out through his skin.
"Jamie?" Elizabeth questioned again in concern as she rushed over to him. A sigh of relief escaped her lips when she saw that he was still breathing.
"Hm?" Jamie grunted in response as this was the most communication his weakened body could muster at the moment.
"I-I brought you some breakfast..." Elizabeth offered.
"I don't want it..." Jamie weakly sighed in response.
"Jamie, you need to eat something...If you don't eat, you'll die..." Elizabeth begged desperately.
"I don't care...Nobody else is going to care either..." Jamie refused as tears began to gush from his eyes once again.
"I'll care, your father will care..." Elizabeth tried again.
"No, you won't...Father left me on that farm to be tortured mercilessly and you just stood by and allowed him to do it..." Jamie reminded with a tone that lacked emotion, despite the tears that had begun to profusely gush from his eyes.
"Jamie...What did they do to you on that farm?" Elizabeth asked gently. They seemed like such nice people but that could have easily been a facade. Did they abuse Jamie while she and Matthew were in Chicago?
"Please, Jamie...I want to know...I want to know so I can help you...I'm your friend, remember? I'm your mother..." Elizabeth desperately began to beg when Jamie had refused to answer her as tears had begun to gush from her own eyes at this point.
"Two months..." Jamie let out with a shaky sigh.
"What?" Elizabeth asked for clarification.
"For two, whole months, they made me their slave...I was beaten brutally and starved nearly every, single day..." Jamie confessed before beginning to cry softly.
"Oh, Jamie...Jamie, I'm so sorry...I didn't know...They seemed like such nice people; I never would have expected them to do something like this..." Elizabeth apologized, beginning to cry as well as she carried, the weak, fragile boy into her arms.
"I-I just want to forget that it all happened b-but I can't stop thinking about it..." Jamie sobbed into his stepmother's shoulder.
"I will help you forget, Jamie; I promise..." Elizabeth tearfully promised.
"H-How?" Jamie sniffled as he stared up at his stepmother with the faintest glimmer of hope in his sad eyes.
"I know someone who can help you but first I need you to eat something for me..." Elizabeth negotiated since Jamie did not look like he could last much longer without any nourishment. Jamie reluctantly agreed to Elizabeth's bargain as he began to eat the breakfast she had brought him with great difficulty. Since Jamie had not eaten in quite a while, he had to fight the feeling of nausea to keep his food down long enough for it to digest. Once Jamie had finally managed to finish his breakfast, he got dressed into an outfit that appeared decent enough for him to leave the house in before allowing Elizabeth to lead him to the church that was within walking-distance of their mansion. Normally Jamie would be skeptical at the idea of a church being able to help him but the poor, broken boy was so desperate for help to escape his, current, emotional trap that he was willing to give anything a try at least once.
As Jamie and Elizabeth neared the large, pointed building, Jamie felt a newfound peace take over him, a peace that he had never once felt before in his entire life.
"Good mornin', Ms. Elizabeth! What brings ya here at this time of week? It's not Sunday and who's this young man ya brought withcha?" An elderly man that appeared to be the church's main pastor greeted Elizabeth at the church's main entrance.
"Sorry to bother you, Pastor Dave but I have a bit of an emergency; my son, Jamie desperately needs your help..." Elizabeth frantically explained as the pastor took the time to examine Jamie's sickly, sunken-in appearance.
"Oh, dear...This boy is in serious need of The Lord..." The Pastor then gasped upon seeing the broken, desperate look in Jamie's eyes.
"Please, come in, come in." Pastor Dave quickly beckoned both Jamie and Elizabeth into the small, humble church that also served as his home. Jamie was instructed to remain seated in one of the pews while Elizabeth briefed her pastor on Jamie's predicament. As Jamie waited for them to finish their conversation, he began to examine the church's decor. Jamie gradually began to feel safer at the sight of all of the crosses and angel statues surrounding him. He had not felt safe for quite, some time and for the first time since he had first met Elizabeth, he gradually began to feel less alone.
"Jamie..." Pastor Dave gently broke Jamie's train of thought, causing the broken-boy to jump slightly with a small gasp.
"Woop! I didn't mean to scare ya..." Pastor Dave then apologized as he gently took a seat next to Jamie.
"Your mother already briefed me on what happened to ya..." Pastor Dave added, causing Jamie to shamefully look away from him. He used to think so highly of himself so he was ashamed that he had allowed something like this to happen to him in the first place.
"I can tell already thatcha don't wanna talk about it so I'll do all the talkin' and you can just listen, alright?" The Pastor offered. A large grin spread across Pastor Dave's countenance when Jamie had returned his shattered gaze to him with the faintest look of hope glimmering within his eyes.
"Now, I'm not gonna rehash everything that happened to ya but I will bring up how ya feel about your daddy..." The Pastor began, instantly causing Jamie to tense up.
"Now, your flesh-father may not love ya as much as he should but your Heavenly Father can give ya all the love right now thatcha never got as a child; in fact, your Heavenly Father loves ya so much that he became a man to fully understand the pain of bein' human and then he sacrificed his human life so you could spiritually be with him for all eternity..." The Pastor gradually explained to Jamie which of course, filled the young boy with peace once again.
"But if he loves me then...why did he allow this to happen to me?" Jamie could not help but ask, causing the pastor to let out a small sigh.
"Jamie, this world is a fallen world, filled with sin...Because there's so much sin in the air, everyone suffers from it, both good and evil but God loves all of his children and will bring blessing out of our suffering if we're willin' to receive his help...I know ya can't see it right now, Jamie but The Lord will bring good out of what happened to ya..." Pastor Dave reassured before placing a comforting hand on Jamie's shoulder. For the first time in months, Jamie smiled a genuine smile. causing both Elizabeth and Pastor Dave to smile at him in return.
After attending church with Elizabeth for a few months, Jamie had returned to eating normally and had even begun to dress nicely once again. He now lived a much, happier life due to the newfound love and blessings that he had begun to receive from his Heavenly Father. A new, radiant light had begun to shine from him that even his flesh-father, Matthew had taken notice to. Jamie had even become a much, more, kinder person due to the love that now filled him. One day, after one of Pastor Dave's sermons, just as Jamie and Elizabeth were prepared to leave the church, Jamie had accidentally bumped into a young girl, about his age. The girl had bright, red hair that was carefully decorated with a large, pastel-pink ribbon and she was also wearing a white-frilled, long, pastel-pink dress that matched the elegant ribbon that rested within her hair.
"Oh dear, I'm terribly sorry..." Jamie nervously apologized to the lady as he dusted off his blue suit.
"No, no, don't be...It was my fault for not looking where I was going..." The lady apologized as well before looking up at the young boy that had bumped into her. When their eyes had made contact, it were as if the world around them no longer existed.
"I don't believe we've met before; I'm Jamie..." Jamie politely introduced himself as he offered his hand out to her for a handshake.
"Honey...I'm new to this town and this church as well..." The lady kindly accepted Jamie's handshake as she introduced herself as well. The girl that Jamie now knew as Honey flirtatiously fluttered her eyelashes at Jamie, who in return, flirtatiously wiggled his eyebrows at her.
"Jamie? We promised your father we would meet him for brunch and he will be worried if we don't return home soon..." Elizabeth reminded, despite how happy she was that Jamie had finally met someone.
"Right, well, um...I'll see you next Sunday, Honey..." Jamie blushed before returning to Elizabeth's side.
"See you next Sunday, Jamie. Maybe we can sit together?" Honey offered.
"It's a date..." Jamie agreed before leaving the church with Elizabeth. Now Jamie felt as if his life were finally back in order. Had his pride not been shattered by the mental as well as the physical abuse that the had suffered from on the Cartwright Farm then Jamie never would have attended church with Elizabeth, formed a relationship with his Heavenly Feather or met the woman that would later become his wife. What the Devil meant to destroy him, God used to bless his life tremendously.