So many thoughts stampeded through  my mind. Would this be the day I died? The cold metal certainly seemed to scream that was the case, making my blood seem to run cold as ice. I know I should have felt more fear, but the pounding of my heart only seemed to intensify my quiet prayer. "Abba father. I have faith in you. May Your will be done."

A snake like hiss escaped my attacker's lips, and he looked at me as if I had slapped him. His eyes narrowed, and he lifted the gun to knock me out with it.

Suddenly,  instead of the exploding of a bullet from the chamber, a clatter and the pressure holding me was released. I looked at the cashier, she had composed herself and held the gun in one hand, a phone in the other talking to the police.

Fearfully, looking behind me, my attacker was lying still, likely unconscious from the looks of him, on the floor. My eyes looked to the one who had taken him down. My jaw went slack. "Aster?"

"Cassie. Are you okay?" Aster was breathless from the fight that had just taken place.

"Fine." We found a seat at the booth nearby as the cops arrived and questioned us.

"That was eventful." Aster commented, a nerve wracked laugh escaping him.

"I thank God it turned out as it did. He sent you." I smiled at him.

His eyes became shadowed. "Is God real?" His voice was suddenly rough, his words sharp edged.

"Of course He is!" I exclaimed. "Abundantly so. He led my parents together. Brought my mom out of a situation that would have been horrendous. He is a good, good father."

"He should prove it in my life then." He practically growled now.

"What's your story?" I found myself asking.

Trust seemed to rise in his eyes. "My parents weren't married." He gulped. "The man that fathered me was some hot shot actor about 16 years or so ago. He was in a relationship with his co-star, course my mom was told it was just for show and ratings. That she was the one that he really loved. She gave him... everything. When he found out she was pregnant with me, he paid her a lot of money to keep silent. I've never even met the man. Wrecked mom's life. She was working at a diner, and had to take on extra jobs. Is that the kind of 'father' this God character is?"

"No!" I hadn't realized how far forward I was leaning. I pushed myself back. "God is always there. Even if it doesn't seem like it. He wants you to be with Him. For eternity. He sent his only begotten son to earth, just so He could die for sinners. That way our sins could be wiped clean and we would be perfectly remade for heaven." I went on to explain my testimony, and that of my mother too.

Aster blinked at me. "A lot to take in." He adjusted a strap of a guitar case I just now noticed. "How do I come to this Jesus guy?"

"If you feel Him calling in your heart and burning and just I don't know. You will know, when He is knocking on the door of your heart. Just pray to him. Ask forgiveness for the sins in your life. You don't have to name them one by one. Just lay it all at His feet. Ask Him to come into your heart and cleanse you and make you new."

"I will think about it." Aster nods. "I better get going." He joins a woman at the door of the diner, it must be his mother. The dark hair on their heads is identical.

Speaking of dark haired people, a tall one strode in just now. His eyes flashed around the room as he dashed to my side. "You missed a lot, Uncle Alan."