Steven woke up early with his family to go to church with them. Every Sunday their small-town church is filled with almost the entire town. The pastor was late to the service and comes running in “Sorry, everyone, I was at the hospital and one of our members is in critical condition. Gus Mulch needs our prayers” the pastor says while bowing his head for a prayer. Stevens family sat in the middle a few rows behind the Hansons. Marcus looked back at Steven to see how he was dealing with it. The message that day was about forgiveness but Steven couldn't help but laugh at it forgiveness? Are all actions forgivable? There has to be a line.

After church everyone gathers downstairs in the lobby for refreshments. The people always chat about the local town gossip. Marcus and Steven step away from everyone to talk alone. “How are you feeling, man? What are you going to do if your parents find out you were involved?”

Me? He was trying to beat me up and I dodged. This wasn’t my fault and he deserved everything that happened.”

Marcus backed away after not ever seeing Steven act like this. He was always kind natured and even cared about what happened to Gus. This wasn’t like him.

Steven walked away from Marcus not in the mood to talk about it. He knew he didn’t do anything wrong and that Gus got what was long coming for him. Steven needed some air and told his dad he was going to walk home. After walking about a block from the church Gus’s goons catch up to him. “We know you pushed him in that fire on purpose and you better believe we will get revenge for him” they all gather around him so there is no place to go. Still while circling him they lead him to an alley no one would be able to see them in. Once they get back there, Gus’s right hand man Roger pulls out a switch blade while the other 3 hold him down. They push Steven down while Roger hovers over him and places the blade to Stevens neck. “You can’t push me in a fire now, can you?” Roger says. Right before his blade touches Stevens neck, he freezes. After a few seconds the goons wonder what’s going on. Right then Roger’s face turns purple and he falls over slamming his face into the pavement. Steven now had the knife in his hand he could be my first offering he thought but instead he throws the knife down and runs out of the alley.

After a few minutes of walking Steven gets to his road and starts walking down it when something in the woods catches his eyes. He began walking to it but whatever it was keeps moving further and further away. He starts running towards it when a hidden root trips him and he hits his head. Laying there Steven passes out from the pain.

…

Steven sits up from his bed and feels hazy. Everything around him is different, but he recognizes all of it. After a few minutes he hears “Is everything alright, honey?” Freaked out Steven looks beside him to see a strange lady in his bed with him. White as a ghost Steven jumps out and is frozen in a panic. “Willis did you have a bad dream?” The woman says. Did she just call me Willis? “You haven’t been sleeping well lately have you. I’ll get up and make you your favorite breakfast. She walks out of the room and Steven turns and sees his reflection in the mirror. That’s not me. Who is that? Willis? Steven looks around and doesn’t recognize his surroundings anymore and walks into the living room to see the strange woman making breakfast.

He walks over to the table and sits down. The woman who Steven now realizes is his wife brings over rice and jellied veal. Staring at it, Steven is able to eat the rice but lost his appetite looking at the jellied veal. “Is there something wrong, honey?” the woman looks over at him. “It’s nothing. Just still waking up please forgive me.” Steven says as he walks back to the bedroom

Searching the room he opens a drawer and there it is, the candle with only a little over an inch left. Steven jumps back at the sight of so little left. He grabs it and runs out the door. Running down the street he doesn’t recognize his surroundings at all. The streets have the same name but the desolate town didn’t resemble his in the slightest. At that moment the old town map comes to his mind. Quickly almost on instinct he runs over to Willow drive to check it out. Desperately he tries to remember the address. 1234? No 3224? No… that’s right! 2234! He takes off running north on Willow drive. Suddenly he sees this old shack with the address he was looking for.

He knocks at the door of the building to no answer and decides to open the door. It’s unlocked. Looking around the shack was dark. No windows were in it, nothing was in it in fact. Knowing he didn’t have a flashlight or anything to get more light he takes out the candle and the entire room lights up in writing. All over the wall words in different languages could be seen by the candlelight. Finally, he comes across some in English. RUN. Get to the gazebo. Shine the light at the ceiling.

Steven wakes up on the ground in the woods. Covered in dirt it started raining when he was out. It was dark already and he forgot why he was out there. Looking up there it was, the gazebo. Rushing over he takes out the candle and stands on the bench inside. Holding it up as high as he can he can make out faint writing but it isn’t clear enough. I need to find something to stand on. Desperately looking around he sees a log in the distance. He runs over and picks it up but when he turns around the Gazebo is gone. He carried the log for a while looking but cannot find where the gazebo has gone to. It being dark he decides to return home.

Arriving home Steven sees the police in his driveway. “There he is oh thank goodness he is okay” his mom yells from the porch, “Steven where have you been you said you were walking home after church and it is 9 at night…. Oh no your head is bleeding? Are you okay?” His mom told the police to disregard the missing persons. “We might have to come back soon though. Gus Mulch says Steven pushed him in a fire and we will be following up.”

Steven and his mom went inside. “Did you push Gus into a fire” His mom asked but Steven was speechless who does my mom think I am. Steven just walked away to his room without answering. While there he pulls the candle out to measure it. 5 in a half inches?! Where did it go? When did I get lucky? Steven thinks back to the past couple days and narrows it down to Gus falling into the fire. This candle shows that I got lucky. I wonder what might have happened if it didn’t stop him when it did. What if I covered my heart, what would have happened to me? Steven get’s ready for school the next day and heads to bed.