Free The Strange Healing by Misty Malone

her, and she looked at him, eyes wide open.  He explained, “Honey, it is not illegal to be where you were.  What they did was definitely illegal.  I firmly believe in accepting responsibility when you do something wrong, but you did nothing wrong.  It's totally wrong for anyone to try to put any blame for this on you.”  He kissed her forehead and said, “Honey, don't let them get away with that.  You have no blame in that, just as you have no blame in what happened the other day at the beach.  Do you understand?”
    Sara paused a moment, then dropped her eyes, looking at the floor.  “But there was something I could have done to prevent it, so it is partly my fault.”
    “ What could you have done to prevent it?”
    She quickly responded, “Like they all said, I shouldn't have been in that alley at that time.”
    “But that alley was public property.  Anyone had a right to be there.”  He then tried another tactic.  “What about the other day at the beach?  That wasn't your fault.”
    “ But again, I could have done something to prevent it.”
    An astonished Heath asked,  “Sara, what could you possibly have done the other day to prevent those men from approaching you?”
    “I should have been paying more attention to my surroundings.”
    Heath was flabbergasted.  “Okay, you probably could have been, but how would that have kept those two men from approaching you?”
    “If I would have been paying more attention, they probably wouldn't have tried anything.  Just like the guy that hit me at the exit ramp.  If I would have been paying more attention it might not have happened.”
    “ Tell me about the guy at the exit ramp, Sara.”
    “ I got off the interstate, and the man ahead of me got off there, too.  I stopped at the end of the ramp behind him, and all of a sudden he put it in reverse and backed into me, hard.  He floored it and really rammed into me.  I didn't know what was going on.  He apologized, told me he accidentally put it in reverse instead of first.  But then when the patrolman got there he blamed it on me, said I didn't stop, just ran into him.  I told the officer what happened, but the guy denied it all, and said I apologized to him, said I just wasn't paying close enough attention.  His story made more sense, so that's what the policeman believed, and I was cited.”
    “ Are you kidding me?”
    Sara shook her head.  “Then he sued me, claiming he had whiplash and a back problem.  It was awful.  Nobody would believe me, even when I saw him putting a new roof on his house.  I knew he wouldn't be putting a new roof on a house if he really had back problems.  But he denied putting a roof on, and my insurance company believed him and paid him off.  My insurance premiums went up then since I'd had an accident.”
    Heath ran his hand through his hair.  He was pretty sure he was starting to see what her problem was.  “Honey, you were set up.  That man was running a scam, and there was nothing you did wrong.”
    “ If it was a scam I should have been able to prevent it.  Things don't just happen; something has to cause them.”
    “ Something did cause it.  The man backed into you, then lied about it, just to get money.  He was dishonest, and none of it was your fault.”  She looked doubtful, but before she could say anything else, he asked, “Sara, are there other things that have happened, that were your fault?”
    “ Well, of course.”
    The way she said that so matter-of-factly made Heath sure he was starting to understand her problem a little better.

Chapter 5
    “ What else has happened that was your fault, Sara?”
    Suddenly Sara stiffened, and turned quiet.  Heath scooted over closer to her on the couch and said, “Sara, you're doing really well.  I'm so proud of how you've been talking to me.  Do you feel any better?”
    He watched her expression as she thought about that.  Finally she quietly admitted, “Yeah, I guess I do.”
    He smiled as