We’ve had a look at what is happening with Lucy. Now what about Ella and Jennie? You may remember that Jennie is being punished for predicting the future. Here she is in her own words.
Jennie
My knees ached from kneeling on the hard floor. I clasped my hands in prayer because Uncle Graham said I’m possessed by a demon in me, and I have to pray him out.
Am I possessed? Is that why I know things, bad things, that are going to happen? How did I get a demon in me? Please, God, take him out. I didn’t mean anything bad. I just wanted to keep Uncle Graham and his horse safe. That’s why I told him about my dream of a rattlesnake biting his horse. But he said snakes are demons. It was a snake that tempted Eve in the garden. Eve was responsible for all the sin in the world.
I’m sorry, God. Forgive me. Help me. I don’t know how to make the dreams stop. Sometimes I think they’re gone. I don’t have one for a long time, and then they come again. The last one was about Grandmother True. I knew before anyone else when she died. I got up in the night and went to Aunt Hannah and told her. She knew I had dreams, but she never told me I was bad. She did say I should never tell anyone else.
But, of course, I told Ella and Lucy. And they said, “Never tell the other aunts or anyone because they won’t understand.”
I promised I wouldn’t, and today I broke the promise because I didn’t want Uncle Graham to get hurt.
Now I’m the one hurting.
Why do I have these dreams when they don’t help anyone? The first one came when Mark died. I didn’t know he was dead. I just dreamed he was cold, so I climbed in the cradle with him and tried to make him warm. If I had told Ma he was cold, could she have saved him?
“Don’t feel bad.” A boy’s voice came from the bed.
Shocked, I sat back and looked up. He was lying on the bed, propped on his elbows with his fists under his chin.
“How did you get in my room?” I asked. “Who are you? Are you a demon?”
“Shhh! Not so loud. No, I’m not a demon. I’m Mark, your brother. I came to tell you it’s not your fault I died.” He sat up and dangled his legs over the edge of the mattress.
“If you’re dead, you must be a demon. I have to call Uncle Graham.”
His face scrunched. “And get another whipping?” He rubbed his nose. “Why do I have to be a demon? There are angels in the world too.”
Series in Progress 