Open Doors

Copyright © 2013 by Michelle Skorupan.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 03/27/2013

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Contents

Dedication

Introduction

Open Doors

Fourteen Years Later

Four Years Earlier

Epilogue

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this story to mothers who have lost their children to sudden infant death. In this story, I have used my experience from the loss of my precious daughter, Talia, who died of SIDS in 1992. She will always be in our hearts.

Introduction

There was silence for a moment as we stood together in remembrance of the babies who had passed on to Heaven.

The community bought red noses the same time each year to raise funds for research into sudden infant death syndrome, commonly known as SIDS.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Petra, and standing by my side are Jardious, Tyrone, and Sardeyor. We are robustly built angels. Most of us stand at seven feet and over and are a well-skilled, vigorous, and binding force. We are clothed for the battle in God’s holy armour, with our belt of truth around our loins and His breastplate of integrity. Our feet are prepared to face the enemy with firm-footed stability, covered by the shield, which absorbs all the flaming missiles of the wicked one.

Unity is our strength in worship to our creator of all things, God the Father.

The town lived in darkness, their eyes veiled from the light. Lurking on the street was a different kind of shadow. Reflections appeared, glimpsed over puddles, across paved walkways. Obstinate, elongated figures scavenged around like hyenas starved of morsels of meat. Intruders of the night waited to strike the weak, the ignorant, and the young.

Open Doors

Autumn wind swept through rustling trees. Horses huddled together behind shrubs, trying to escape the chilly night in the paddock.

Crows clung tightly to a branch, staring intently at the Blackwells’ house. Shadows of dark angels trespassed in their backyard.

The moon dimmed as clouds swallowed its light. The wooden gate opened and shut, clanging and banging against a pile of bricks.

Julia Blackwell, a tall, thin, attractive brunette, wiped her daughters’ faces with a white facecloth.

The girls disliked it when bath time was over. Julia grabbed towels from the rack, while Nia squeezed out shampoo all over her sister’s head.

‘No, Nia, that’s naughty!’ blurted Julia. Nia gave back a cheeky grin. ‘No, don’t let the plug out, Brittany. I have to wash the shampoo out!’

‘All finished. Here’s your towel, Keisha.’ Julia placed it around Keisha’s shoulders. ‘Go wait next to the heater. Not too close, okay?’

Julia dried them, ready for their warm flannelette pyjamas.

Keisha was the eldest being five, with big blue eyes and soft brown hair. Keisha liked her things to be in order; one of her favourites was her large dollhouse. She was the quiet one; she loved wearing dresses and brushing her long hair, loved her mother’s make-up, playing and acting games. She loved to be Ariel, the little mermaid, and Brittany would be Eric.

She liked to play with her sister, Brittany, who was three years old. She had green eyes and straight dark-brown hair which fell softly on her shoulders, and she was a tomboy at a young age. Now Brittany was a little bossy and outspoken for her age and said it how it was; Julia had to constantly remind her that some people were different and they came in all shapes and sizes. She was too opinionated and too smart sometimes for her own good. She would not allow anyone to go near her baby sisters without her permission. She would say, ‘Did you ask my mother?’ She was articulate and knew just about everything except the wisdom to understand when, what, and how. So Julia corrected the girls a lot, teaching them ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. ‘No’ was something they would hear a lot, teaching them that they should love others as they would love God.

Julia helped them into their pyjamas and then prepared a bottle of warm milk for Nia. Nia was her fifteen-month-old daughter. Just as she put her to bed, Talia, her youngest baby girl, woke up; she was gorgeous, being a three-month-old. Human babies are the sweetest gift from our God, who created all things. I watched her being formed in her mother’s body. I saw her as God gave her shape in the most secret place. All the days are planned for humans before they are even one day old. What God has done is wonderful.

‘Girls,’ Julia called, ‘the video’s about to start. Sit up on the lounge while I change Talia’s nappy.’

‘Come on, Brittany, we’re watching The Land Before Time.’ Keisha grabbed her soft pink-and-white blanket and her cute white teddy bear.

‘Oh good!’ Brittany placed her forefinger in her mouth, with her little hand twisted upside down. That was the way she would suck her finger now that she didn’t have a pacifier. With the other hand, she twirled her soft, silky hair, as she tottered up the hall leading to the lounge room.

‘Mummy, can we have a drink?’

‘Your straw cups are already made up on the bench. You can get them, Keisha.’

While Keisha was getting the drinks, the phone rang. Julia placed Talia in her baby bouncer, where she was content for now.

‘Hello, how are you?’ greeted Annie, a close friend of Julia’s.

‘Good. It’s nice and quiet about this time of night. The kids are watching TV.’

‘Is Joel back yet?’ enquired Annie.

‘No, I’m still waiting to hear from him.’ Julia paced back and forth, speaking quietly so the children wouldn’t hear her. ‘He’s probably at his mate’s house, or God knows where.’ Joel liked the party scene, the pubs and loud music. He smoked cigarettes, drank a little too much, and was hardly there for Julia and the children. He was selfish; Julia often felt abandoned, and it made her feel anxious and depressed. She would wonder why at times she stayed in such an insecure marriage. We knew what he was doing when he was out. He would be with other girls flirting and staying at their houses or some cheap motel.

‘Do you want to come and stay the night?’

‘I can’t, Joel has the van.’ Julia frowned.

‘That’s right. Give me a call some time tomorrow.’

‘Okay, I better go. I need to feed the baby.’

‘Okay, I might see you tomorrow then.’

We watched over Julia and her children. We were created to guard over them day and night.

Through an open door, the enemy entered. Without any invitation, he slipped past the girls on the lounge and disappeared down the dimmed hallway.

We stood at the door and drew our swords to protect Talia. Divination declared his ground. Readings took place, and the prophetic words were spoken. Death had come to claim his victim.

We were held captive by many demons. Without the prayers of the Saints, we were rendered weak and unable to fight them off.

There was a stir in a woman’s heart to pray for Julia and her children an hour before. Sara, a devoted Christian in her thirties, lived on her own with her son, Jake, in a quiet, leafy street in Mount Saint Thomas. She was in the kitchen making a coffee. She poured hot water into her cup and filled up her son’s dinky cup with some warm milk and Milo. She thought to herself that if the feeling to pray was still there after her coffee and Jake was tucked