Bible Camp (7 page)

Mary could only lower her head and
continue her prayer, her words to the Lord spoken low but coming
fast as she wished to finish before she died.

Then she heard a heavy sigh escape
from the killer’s chest, followed by the sound of more footsteps,
these going away.

Mary finished her prayer without
opening her eyes. She sat there looking only at the darkness behind
her lids, her hands still gripped together before her face.
Eventually she began to shiver, the night’s cold wrapping its arms
around her, and then her legs began to cramp from their position,
but this she ignored. Her mind was in another place,
enraptured.

Only when the sun came up the
following morning did she stir, the warmth from above bringing
alive her chilled flesh.

She lowered her hands and looked
up.

The killer was gone, long
gone.

And she was alive. He had spared her.
For whatever reason, he had not killed her as he had the others.
Had it been because she had been praying? Had it been because she
had spoken with him, had identified him? Had he picked up on
sympathy?

She could not know. All she did know
was the Lord had spared her. For whatever reason, God had given her
the opportunity to live, and she would take it.

Groaning at the aches in her legs and
the wounds upon her arms which continued to sting, she forced
herself to stand.

She looked out upon the lake once
more. Abby’s body was gone, probably having floated away. Here and
there signs of life could be seen and heard, several deer drinking
on the other side of the lake, birds singing away in the woods, and
other of God’s creatures.

She wrapped her arms around herself,
grimacing as her arms hurt, then she turned from the lake, from the
dock, from the dead. She walked towards the path leading up to the
camp and the cars. She would not search for the keys, nor would she
try to find a phone. She would walk out of there, however long it
took.

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Bible Camp

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Bible Camp 3

Bible Camp 4

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