Elena held her knees close to her chest and rocked back and forth on the bench, her fingers intertwined as her hands continued to shake. After Ryan had opened the door earlier, moving Shellie’s body, she could not stop staring at Shellie’s face. Covering Shellie’s face with a towel had helped, but it did not relieve the guilt that Elena felt from taking the life of another living being. Filled with disbelief that she had reached a point in a moment of anger that allowed her to justify doing what she had done, Elena rocked back and forth on the bench and mumbled. Twenty four hours prior, Elena was as far separated from God as she would have ever guessed possible. Now, on the bench, her mind was a flurry of emotion, thoughts, and feelings. Her focus had become God, and as she rocked back and forth, she continued to pray. Elena prayed for forgiveness, she prayed for strength, she prayed for understanding, and she prayed for her daughter to live a healthy trouble free life.
