Shackled Cries
by
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Life is full of unknowns. The promises and hopes one person will awaken to will find others in anguish over possibilities escaping them. Life is full of contradictions and uncertainties that can’t be explained. For life imitates fiction and fiction reciprocates in like manner. What one comprehends and is resigned to will undoubtedly make no sense to another. The views of one as truth will serve as confusion and hazy suppositions to another. Yet, the sun rises for both.
No different is the breath of novel one in this series of five. The difficulty in writing the last chapter weighed heavily on my mind. The very title, The Empty Room, left much to the imagination of ‘what might have been’, ‘could have been’, or ‘really was’. It became hard realizing there was no closure to novel one. And yet, there had to be that uncertainty to the story as a whole; offering you the reader time to digest the message. In that time to savor the underlying purposes of the incomplete ending, it hopefully became a moment for you to wonder. In that wonderment of ‘not knowing’, perhaps it caused you to reach out in sympathy to the characters; taking them into your heart and feeling the emotions they were dealing with; much as you would do for a loved one.
Life is all about relationships; how we personally interact with those around us as we continue to lift them in our thoughts and prayers. Through that intimacy of loving them, whether in family connections or friendships, we develop a bond that is like no other emotion. We hold them dear, praying for their health in all aspects: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In the caring, we become a part of their lives as they become a part of ours.
May you become close to those characters who are only a representation of real people you encounter: those who need an encouraging word; the hopeless who are looking to anyone to give them a much needed smile; perhaps even strangers who need a touch of love to embrace them. The possibilities are endless as is the love.
Let the emotions from novel one’s last chapter, The Empty Room, encourage you to imagine deeply within your heart. And in those moments of ‘what ifs’, may you search for the truth that novel two will offer you. May the hopelessness of the past be lessened; may the heaviness of anguish be deafened; and the sound of renewal to new truths echo with celebration. Truth will always be truth…even in this author’s imaginative story.
Read in search of truth; the one concealed from Sarge. Walk beside him as he asks God to help him discern the meaning in what he observed the last time he visited ‘that room’. Discover again the emotions, but with new vision to what has transpired. Believe that God has more in store for him as he trusts in complete healing for his pained heart; that his soul will once again feel the touch of peace.
May your journey with Sarge and the other characters be one of growth and renewal; always seeking counsel from the greatest Physician of all. And in those moments, may you be given the revelation that mends the most pained heart: touched by the Great Physician with His love, mercy, and grace.
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About the Book
Nathan pulled into the driveway of the parsonage, taking notice of the patrol car parked at the curb. Glancing toward the porch, he saw his friend posturing his head in his hands in a grievous manner. “I didn’t know where else to go. I…”
“Nathan, I saw the empty room. She’s gone, and there’s not a thing I can do about it. I shouldn’t have gone to the office…not at that hour. If only I had gone to the hospital instead. I could have talked to her one last time. At least touch her hand and tell her how I feel. Now, she’ll never know…”
Nathan sensed that Sarge was interpreting what Dr. Gill had yet to say by his frame of reference: the empty room. Nathan was privy to information he thought Sarge knew about. It was only upon witnessing the anguished look on his friend’s face that he knew Sarge had only partial news; the rest was left unsaid with the abrupt interruption at the hospital. “Sarge, we need to take a ride.”
As Nathan pulled into the vistor’s parking space, Sarge knew where he was; but it was a place he didn’t want to be. He never wanted to walk her halls again. He had left with a broken heart and he could not…would not…go back. Not after what had happened. Tonight, before his very eyes, Nathan was seeing Sarge in that troubled zone of confinement in which he had no control. The schedule had been made, written by God Himself; a time for complete revelation of the truth; the truth concerning Nellie Turner. Yet, why such turmoil within him? Why was he feeling so angry? He had prayed…God had spoken.
About the Author
Shirley Williams writes the stories God has gifted her with. Faith and deep love for family encourages the blending of those beliefs within her stories.