A short story by me. :)

[karadan]

It was a warm summers afternoon in Cambridge, not a cloud in the sky to be seen. My friend and I had just eaten a fantastic lunch and were walking back through the park when a sullen looking girl clutching leaflets approached us stoically.
"Let the word of God course through you so that you may be forgiven for your sins!" Were her first words to me.
I exchanged a knowing look to Alex, and in that split second decided to eschew my usual routine of politely declining and quickly walking on, and instead confronting the girl and her ridiculous doctrine.
"How do you know I have sinned?" I replied.
"I can see it in you, and in your eyes. Jesus must save you both from your sins."
I sensed Alex shuffle a little. He was obviously uncomfortable. With a minor gesture I let him know that I was going to see this through. I'd had a few beers and I was confident I could outsmart the ridiculousness this girl represented.
"You can tell I have sinned just by looking at me? What exactly do you feel I have done that qualifies me as a sinner?"
"Only God can tell you that once you have repented. Let the love of Jesus into your life and all shall be forgiven."
"So, you want me to change my entire belief system in the tiny chance that a mythical being can judge all of my past deeds so that I can repent for things I didn't know I’d even done wrong in the vain hope that a mystical place in the sky might accept me?"
"He isn't mythical, he is real. His word is the bond. He is love. You should not blaspheme or the devil will have your soul for all eternity."
"Do you believe in the ten commandments?" I asked her.
"Yes, they are the word of God."
"But you told me I had sinned. Doesn't that mean you judged me?"
"I was speaking the word of God and his word is law."
"But you aren't God. That means you just broke one of the Ten Commandments whist trying to promote the word of God. What do you think he will feel about you doing that?"
During the course of our conversation her body language had become more and more erratic. She’d obviously not really met resistance before. She looked unreachable.
She screamed in my face "Jesus will save you! JESUS WILL SAVE YOU FROM YOUR SINS!" Whilst waving her leaflet laden fists maniacally.
All of a sudden I noticed people watching. This was a busy point in the city and on a nice day by the park, was fairly crowded. What had started as a funny defiant little whim quickly turned into an embarrassing and slightly worrying situation.
"Ok, this is getting weird now, I’m off. Good luck with God and stuff." I said. Alex was already a few paces ahead, head down, obviously wanting to be away from this mad lady. Unfortunately as I walked past her she thrust a wad of Jesus leaflets into my hand. So I did the tidy thing and deposited them in the nearest bin.

The next thing I remember is waking up in a bed with a man shining a torch into my eyes - the sound of an ECG machine and rubber soles on polished tiles in the background.
"Water."
A crisp cool glass was offered to my lips and I gulped the beautiful nectar, coughing and spluttering in the process. Alex soon entered the room and watched me sullenly.
"She stabbed you in the back. You had a four hour operation and you've been in a coma for three days."
I meant to say 'Fuck, thanks for giving it to me gently'. But all that came out was a feeble croak.
"The doctors said if the blade had been one CM to the left she would've got your heart."
"Croak"
Alex's eyes started to well up. "We thought we'd lost you dude."

Three years later I visited Karen. She now lived in the 'Sir Wilfred Bromsgrove wing' of the Huntingdon secure psychiatric hospital. Everyone I knew tried to persuade me not to go but I couldn't shake the image in my head that some poor brainwashed girl needed someone - anyone other than god - to help her fulfil some kind of life again.
She sat on a stool looking out through bay windows to the hospital garden with her palms held loosely on her lap, her shabby brown hair obscuring half of her face and draped over the shoulders of her drab white blouse. I'd been informed her condition was improving. She'd been treated for psychosis and paranoid delusions but considering her circumstances, she’d progressed well. Still, I was hoping she’d be coherent enough to have a simple conversation with me.
"Hello Karen. I'm Tim."
Her eyes flickered to me then looked down with embarrassment (I’d previously written to her to ask if I could visit, of course) but she probably thought it was all hot air.
"I've come to see how you are. I hope you don't mind." I felt silly. This was probably a bad idea.
"No, it's nice to have visitors. I just…. I just feel bad for what I did. They weren't really my words. That wasn't me."
"I know." I replied instantly.
"I just don't really know how to say sorry." She hunched slightly, looking as though she was ready to cry.
"It's ok. I came here to forgive you anyway."
We briefly made eye contact and in the short moment I looked into those sad brown eyes, I realised one more soul had just been saved.

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Based on a true story but with massive embellishments. Hope you all enjoyed it

[susangail]

Wow. That's really good. Makes a strong statement. I can just hear the comments from Christians if they were to read it. Good job!

[karadan]

Thank you