Walk Through the Valley (Psalm 23 Mysteries) Read Online Free PDF Page B

father. He never calls,” she said. Warning bells began to go off in her head and her stomach lurched.
    Jeremiah looked up sharply as she answered the phone.
    “Hey, Dad,” she said, the breath catching in her throat. “What’s going on?”
    “Honey, you better sit down,” he said.
    “Why? What’s happened?” she asked.
    There was a long pause before he finally answered. “It’s Kyle.”
     

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    The phone slipped from Cindy’s hand and clattered to the ground. She was white as a ghost as she swayed for a moment on her feet and then sat down on a chair.
    “What happened?” he asked.
    She didn’t say anything.
    He scooped up her phone and pressed it to his ear. “Hello?”
    “Who is this?” her father asked.
    “Jeremiah. I’m a friend of Cindy’s. She just dropped her phone. She’s sitting down now. What’s going on?”
    “There’s been an accident. Her brother Kyle is hurt pretty badly. We don’t know more than that yet, but...it’s not looking good,” he said, his voice cracking.
    “Where’s he at?”
    “St. Mary’s Hospital in Las Vegas.”
    “Okay. I’ll see that Cindy gets there,” Jeremiah said.
    “Thank you. Kyle told us you were a good man. We are just getting on a plane...” he drifted off.
    “We’ll all be praying for him,” Jeremiah said.
    “Thank you.”
    Cindy’s father hung up and Jeremiah placed the phone down on the table next to her. “He’s in the hospital in Vegas,” he said softly.
    She nodded, but didn’t say anything.
    “If we leave now we can drive there in five hours,” he said.
    “It will be faster if I fly,” she said, seemingly snapping out of it as she grabbed her phone. “They should have a flight leaving soon.”
    “You should grab some stuff from home.”
    She shook her head. “No time.”
    “Do you want me to go with you?” he asked.
    “No. My parents can get weird when things are stressful. I don’t need that right now. We don’t need that.”
    He didn’t like the answer, but he understood. Cindy’s relationship with her parents was a bit strained, at least from her point of view. If having him there with them was going to stress her out more then he could stay away.
    “Can I drive you to the airport? I don’t think you should drive yourself.”
    “Yes, please.”
    Cautiously they left the Sunday school room, Cindy locking the door behind them. They walked slowly back toward the crime scene and Jeremiah listened intently to see how many people might still be around.
    It was fairly quiet, though, and a few seconds later they discovered why. Only a couple of police officers seemed to be left. The witnesses, the suspect, Liam, and the press all appeared to be gone.
    Jeremiah felt momentary relief and they continued quickly on to Cindy’s car. She wordlessly handed him the keys and climbed into the passenger’s side.
    A minute later they were on the road and there was silence as Cindy searched for and bought her ticket. When she was finished she leaned her head back against the seat for a moment, eyes closed. A couple minutes passed before she straightened back up and called the business manager at the church to let her know what was happening. The call took less than a minute but her voice was cracking with emotion by the end of it.
    They drove on for a few more minutes in silence. Finally Jeremiah couldn’t take it anymore. “Do you know what Kyle was doing in Vegas?”
    Cindy’s brother was the host of a television travel show for the adventurous and was always doing things that seemed incredibly dangerous. He was Cindy’s opposite in so many ways and their parents’ favorite. He knew all that added to her frustrations with him and her friction with her parents. A lot of healing had taken place a few months back, though, between Cindy and Kyle on an adventure trip that he had roped them into taking.
    “I honestly don’t know. Mom usually tells me when he’s out shooting a new episode but she never said anything