Free When the Fairytale Ends by Dwan Abrams

that came to my mind. Who knows the story of Job?”
    They spent the next twenty minutes or so reading passages from Job and discussing the obstacles he had to face in life. Greg made all the kids stand to their feet, and with the associate youth pastor’s help, he assigned them different roles: one person was to be Satan, the others God, Job, Job’s wife, Job’s three friends, the messengers, and Job’s children and cattle. They reenacted the scene from the Bible to make the story more realistic for them.
    Afterward, he asked the kids to retake their seats, then said, “Does anyone know why Job’s story is relevant to you guys?”
    For once, the class was silent, and no one raised their hand.
    Greg cleared his throat and walked around the tables as he talked. “Job’s wife continually told him to curse God and die. Basically, she told him to kill himself. After all he had been through, after all he had to suffer through, the average man would’ve probably done just that—killed himself. That’s why I chose Job’s story.” He looked around and stared at each pair of eyes, making sure the kids were listening to him. “Sometimes, life can get so depressing that you might desire to take your very own life. Youth suicide is on a rise, and this is nothing but the enemy doing his job. Stealing, killing, and destroying young lives. I don’t want anybody to raise your hands, but I can guarantee you that somebody in this room has seriously considered or at least thought about ending it all at some point in time in their life.”
    For the next hour, Greg talked to them about teenage suicide, and why that was never a good idea. He explained that life was only temporary, and that circumstances were temporary too. The children openly discussed their thoughts of suicide and battles with depression. Hearing about some of their home lives saddened Greg. It broke his heart to hear their various stories. Some of them had one or both parents addicted to drugs or alcohol. Others had parents in jail. Many were being raised in single-parent homes. Some had headed or were on the verge of heading in the same direction that Jonathan had taken. Their plights seemed never ending. Even still, Greg tried to be a beacon of light and told them that no matter what they were going through, God knew about it, loved them, and cared about what happened to them. He finished up with a group prayer, but offered individual prayers as well.
    After services were over, Greg laughed and joked with some of the students. Interacting with the youth made him feel energized and alive. He felt his iPhone vibrate in his pocket and saw that it was Shania. She must’ve been looking for him. He answered as he made his way down the hall and up the stairs to meet his wife. He told her that he was en route and ended the call.
    When he walked into the church vestibule, he had to stop and greet one member after the other. It wasn’t until a woman with a familiar face caught his eye that he thought about the woman from the bike dealership, the one with the body carved out of a fantasy. He stared at the brown-eyed, black-haired woman for the longest time and could almost swear that it was the woman from the dealership. But something about her looked… different. This woman didn’t have that look of danger in her eyes. And plus, the woman at the dealership had curly brown hair with blond highlights. This woman’s hair was jet-black. And even in the modest white dress she was wearing, he could tell that she had a nice shape, but it was nothing like the hourglass figure that had turned every head at the dealership.
    To his surprise, he watched as the woman headed over to Mother Washington, and he watched as Mother Washington hugged her tight, rocking her from side to side, as though she had known this woman for a very long time. With unanswered questions eating at him, Greg continued staring at the