Graces in Dark Places

Graces in Dark Places

By S. Nicole Langley

Magdalene felt as if she was stuck in such a dark place. She suspected that she was a bit lost in her own life and was not exactly certain how she had gotten there. She had recently made some uncomfortable choices such as entering into a relationship with a guy she had met online. He was kind, and posed no threat, but he seemed a bit too anxious for her liking. 

Everything was going so well for the first few months as they communicated via social media and phone calls, but as soon as the two started dating in person she found that things were not as glorious as they had seemed. He was draped down in green all the time–her least favorite color and had told her a million times that he was a very neat and upstanding type of guy, but whenever she saw him in person, he appeared to be quite tacky; both in appearance and integrity. He was growing his hair out, and he talked way too much; not to mention that he had a very short temper. 

He lived in a small cottage which was located in the backyard of the home of his two closest relatives: a grandmother who hated Magdalene, and his younger brother. The grandmother was always verbally attacking Magdalene while his brother quietly watched. His ex-wife, the owner of a very upscale boutique, lived over 1,000 miles away, and seemed to be ever present in his affairs, and somehow kept a close eye on Magdalene. But even worse than any of that is that her doctor just called her with the results of her pregnancy test, and now she doesn’t know what to do; and with all of that going on she didn’t even want to think about the financial disasters she was facing. 

Feeling as if there were many hurdles in her way, Magdalene knew she needed help but did not feel comfortable sharing her personal business with anyone she knew. She felt scared, alone, broke and somewhat defeated so she decided to try her grandmother’s go-to answer for everything. 

She gently placed her teacup on the coffee table in front of the couch, and she knelt down and clasped her hands together: “God,” she hesitated as her voice began to crack with emotion, “I really need help.” She burst into tears and wept until she ran out of them, and she didn’t utter another single word. Moments later she got up, wiped her face and laid back on the couch, resting her head on one of the throw pillows. She quickly fell asleep and had a dream. 

In the dream, she found herself in the dark, standing in what appeared to be the very center of a large, empty space of land. After standing in the same spot for quite a bit of time, she glanced over her right shoulder, and saw a hole in a fence that led to where she was. On the opposite side of the fence was a well-lit street that looked really busy. It explained the gallon of milk she was holding in her right hand, and a small, yet heavy, black notebook with a rubber band around it, in her left. Infallibly, without a doubt Magdalene knew that she had gone to the store for the milk, but somehow, she had lost her way. 

Looking down at her feet, she stood in silence for a moment trying to figure out what happened that led her to take that route. Then she turned her head slightly to the right and she saw an old, red, broken-down shed with a barn light hanging at the top. Sitting closely together on the ground directly underneath the light were two Hound Dogs. The smaller dog was obviously younger and very quiet, but the other charged and barked ferociously at her. She stood paralyzed with fear until her attention was drawn to the fact that both dogs were chained and under control. As soon as she made that discovery, the wild dog's bark diminished along with her fear, and the light over the two dogs shut off. 

Magdalene then looked behind her to the left, and she saw a new image. Way down a steep hill was another dog that looked like it could have been a white German Shepherd. It was pacing underneath a light, in front of a store. This animal was very aware of her presence, for it continually glanced up at her and stared for a few minutes at a time. Once again, Magdalene became fearful until the distance between her and this animal was inaudibly pointed out; and just like with the other two dogs, her fear was gone, the light went out and that scene subsided as well. 

To the very left of her, she saw a fence. Behind the fence was yet another much larger, all black dog. The body of the dog was huge, and his mane was massive as if it had been blown out with a hair dryer, sort of like a Pomeranian. What caught her attention was his environment. He was in the backyard of a nice, pastel green house. The windows on the house had beautiful, white shutters, and the dwelling itself was covered in flawless siding. There were all types of beautiful flowers and a garden with gnomes and statues. He even had a doghouse that emulated the main house. But something just did not sit well with her about this friendly dog. Although he posed no threat, she was not at all motivated to approach him. As soon as she faced forward again that scene became somewhat dim, but it had not disappeared completely as the others had done. As she turned forward, she could still see the dog out of her peripheral vision. He was watching her closely, and he was pacing back and forth behind the fence. 

Magdalene tried to figure it all out. Then she had a grand idea and a little talk within herself: just turn around and go back through the hole in the fence, walk through the busy town and find your way home. She quickly turned to leave but there was no hole, no fence, no busy town, no light. She started to cry as she slowly turned back and faced forward again, not knowing how long she would have to stay there or what she was going to see next. With her eyes closed, she stood still and bawled with her head held down. When she stopped weeping and opened her eyes, she noticed something different: stars had been added to the sky. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she looked up and she loudly exclaimed, “I’M SCARED. PLEASE HELP ME!” No sooner than she cried out did the one huge star directly above her begin to fall straight down out of the sky. The closer it got to the earth, the more her heart paced from panic on the inside. Just as she ducked down and screamed, the star turned into what looked like a young lad that landed on his feet. He looked just like a lawn jockey that had come to life. 

Magdalene stood straight up, and he stood directly in front of her. The two of them just stared at each other for a brief moment. He smiled but did not say a word. She thought this boy was going to harm her but to her surprise he started walking toward the fence where the friendly dog was still pacing. He beckoned for her to follow him, but she was afraid to move. Then she heard a voice like a whisper say, “follow him,” and immediately she felt a sense of relief; and she realized that he was there to help instead of to hurt. She turned to follow behind him but the closer he got to the fence; things began to get even more strange. First, he changed from a boy to a celestial figure that whizzed through the air in the form of stardust; and reached the fence just a pace slower than the speed of light, and then immediately turned back into a boyish figure. Magdalene stopped in her tracks because it took her a minute to wrap her mind around what she had just seen. Second, part of the fence changed into a huge wall, not a brick wall, but a metal wall. The gate portion of the fence, which was the entrance into the yard, had turned into an enormous, metal door with a gigantic keyhole; like something one would see in a castle. Her only thought was, how in the world are we going to get in? We need a key. She looked to him, and once again he transformed into stardust and vanished into the keyhole. Before she knew it, the massive door in front of her opened. Just as she stepped through, he was standing there as a boy again, gesturing for her to come on in behind him.  As she stepped through the door, she heard it close behind her. She turned to look and there was nothing but the metal wall; no door, no field, not even enough space for her to take a step backwards--just the wall. 

As she looked around, nothing behind that fence was what it had appeared to be. The pastel green house with the perfect siding was an old, nasty looking, olive colored house that looked like it was going to fall off the map. The shutters were no longer white, but black and broken, hanging and ready to let go at any moment. The flowers and statues had all become garbage and debris. The doghouse looked like some type of run-down shack. It didn’t even match the house anymore. 

A growling noise to her left grabbed her attention, and when she looked in that direction the mutt was leaping at her with his mouth wide open, and all of his teeth in position to take a vicious bite. Her knee jerk reaction was to quickly slam the gallon of milk right into his mouth and when she did, he fell down. Her eyes shifted as she looked for the young man, and when she found him, he was waiting and beckoning again. She told him she couldn’t move because the dog was getting up, and the amount of space she had to follow the lad was very tight, and very narrow. She was actually between the wall behind her, and a fence in front of her, and there was no wiggle room. Magdalene could not see how she was going to make it through without getting bit. Her friendly companion stuck out his hand as if to grab hers, but just as they almost touched, she felt a slight pull forward, and the animal attempted to bite her. He got close enough to where she felt the wetness of his cold nose and his warm breath on her leg, and she heard his teeth snap together; but he was not able to touch her. That is when she glanced back and saw that he too was in the care and custody of a chain, and under full control. 

As soon as Magdalene made it through the narrowest part of that path, she was standing directly in the backyard of the ugly, green house. The youngster was still moving forward, but she stopped for a moment and took it all in. The dog was nowhere to be found. Everything in that yard had looked wonderful from the other side of the fence, and just like the other sequences, in an instant it was all gone. 

Magdalene also realized that her “help" was standing a short distance away, still waiting for her, and she wanted to get out of that yard, so she proceeded to follow him again. She was exiting the backyard and heading through the driveway toward the street while trying to keep her eyes on him, but suddenly there were a bunch of obstacles in her path. Every time she made it over or around something, there was another impediment of some sort right after it; and every time she overcame one, the sky above became a little bit brighter. So, it took her a while to catch up to her rescuer because the driveway was full of challenges. After she had conquered all of her barriers, she saw that the remainder of the pavement leading out to the sidewalk was clean and free of hindrances. 

For a quick moment she thought that she was going to have to find her way out to the street by herself. But she looked up and saw her fearless leader standing on the sidewalk. Not only had he seen her through, but he was waiting on the other side of her troubles so that he could lead her out; and as soon as they made eye contact, he turned to the right and walked out of her sight. When she reached the end of the driveway he was nowhere to be found. But because he had gone to the right, she too went in the same direction; and although she did not see him, she sensed that his presence was near. What she did see was the dawning of a brand-new day, and a very bright light shining from around the corner, which seemed only a short distance away. She knew that whatever that light was, that it had something to do with her entering into the second half of her life; and it was going to be much better than the first half.

As she walked on, she felt something in her left hand. She had forgotten that she had never let go of the small, black notebook. She removed the rubber band, only to realize that it was holding the notebook closed so that the envelope inside would not fall out. When she opened the envelope, it contained a bunch of crisp $100 bills with a small note attached that read: 

You did what you had to do,

even if you had to do it afraid. 

This amount of money can’t even compare 

to what’s in store for you. 

Just continue to follow the Light.

Love, 

Grandma

Magdalene put the note and the envelope back into the book, then turned her attention to what was still ahead of her: the light at the corner. A few hours later, in real life, she woke up feeling fantastic although she looked at her hands and found there was no notebook, and no money. 

What a big disappointment until she remembered that she inherited her grandmother’s old, black Bible when she had passed away months prior. The Bible was quite weighty because it was full of pieces of paper that hung over the edges of the pages, but Magdalene had never actually opened it up to see what they were. When her aunt gave her the Bible, she was careful to hold it together so that none of the contents would fall out; but she brought it home and placed it inside of her keepsake box on her closet shelf and there it stayed. Could her grandmother really have left her a fortune in an old Bible?

She stood up, took a deep breath, and…

The End