Slowly thoughts began to roll around in his mind as he regained consciousness. He found that even as he opened his eyes, he could not see. A course, black fabric was tied tightly around his head blocking any vision. He wondered if it was day or night, and began to reach for the fabric to find out, but immediately found his hands tied behind him. A sharp panic cut into him. He began to scream out, “What’s going on?” But found that a thick fabric had been shoved into his mouth, presumably the same fabric covering his eyes, and this kept him from speaking. He could barely even manage a muffled grunt. This, of course, didn’t help the panic, but with considerable effort, he settled himself and took a moment to judge the situation he was in. His hands, and feet where tied to what seemed to be a small, stout wooden chair. Beyond that, he could feel a thick rope around his stomach, as well. It occurred to him that on top of not being able to see, speak, or move, he had no idea where he was or how he had gotten here…
He thrashed around in the chair for a while, but found that it yielded no fruit. He screamed and screamed into the rag in his mouth until his throat was so sore that he could taste blood, but that too yielded no fruit. He then wept until all the energy left him and he fell into a restless sleep. In the sleep he found no grace either, as it was filled with fiery nightmares of a shadowy figure that paced around the room he sat in. In the dream he hovered above himself in the chair, and saw what a poor state he was in. He saw the “shadow-man” walk around him, occasionally sneering in his face. He couldn’t tell if it really was a dream or not, as it felt so incredibly real. All of the sudden in the dream a near blinding light cut into the room, and another man stepped into the room through the light. The “shadow-man” recoiled with a hiss into the corner as far as he could go, but the man stepping through the light did not seem to notice. The light was so intense that he shared the same horror as the “shadow-man,” and tried to recoil from it as well. As he tried to flee he saw the man from the flaming light reach out towards him in the chair…
He awoke suddenly and with a jerk. Something was different about the room he was in. Somebody was in the room with him. He heard a soft step taken towards him, and then all the sudden felt cold hands on his arms. He jerked away in terror, but the cold hands pulled him back harder. He thrashed around with all his might to avoid those hands. He didn’t want to die! He felt the cold hands on his head, and knew that they would snap his neck if he didn’t get them off of him, so he thrashed again and flipped the chair over onto the floor. Thrashing harder, he tried scooting the chair across the room, against the wall, but before he could, he heard the quick thudding of footsteps to cut him off. All of the sudden he felt a heavy weight on him and he tensed every muscle in his body. Whoever was in the room had put their full weight on him to stop him from moving! All of the sudden he felt the hot breath of the person in his ear hissing, “All of this won’t help you. Just stay still!” Then the person ripped the rag out from his mouth and he did the only thing he could think: He screamed. “Get out! Get away from me! Leave me alone! Just go!” He felt the weight of the person shift on him, as if this blood curdling scream alone had enough power to knock them back. This encouraged him, and so he continued screaming. He felt the cold hands grab his body, but he screamed louder and they released him. The voice spoke to him again, though this time he couldn’t hear what it said due to his own loud yelling. Finally he felt the weight completely leave him and heard the thud of footsteps receding. He stopped screaming, and heard the foot steps slow and stop as well. He then heard the voice say, “This madness is your…” and he screamed once again to cut him off, “LEAVE ME ALONE!!” After a moment the steps receded, and he heard the door shut. After some time of silence he wept again, this time with relief. He had survived. He began to think again about what to do to get himself free…
It was a brisk morning in May as Salvus Abeo walked down the mountain trail and saw from a distance the old ramshackle one room cabin in the forest. He approached it and slowly cracked the door open. Peering through he saw a man sitting in the middle of the room, tied to a chair and gagged. The man’s head was slumped down, and he was in such horrible condition that Salvus was sure he was dead. He took a few steps towards the man, and heard his ragged breathing. He’s alive! He thought to himself. He reached out to untie the man’s hands and all at once the man jerked violently away from him. Salvus grabbed his hands tighter, and tried to untie them again, but the thin, frail, man thrashed with such violence, that he was sure it would cause him great harm. So, he grabbed the man’s head to get the blindfold off of him to let him see his surroundings, and to see that Salvus was trying save him, but the man again thrashed so violently that he flipped himself over in the chair. It was a pitiful sight. The man tried with everything in his power to scoot himself in the chair over to the wall. He was speechless as he saw how afraid this man was, and it broke his heart to see that he would not let him untie him. He began to weep as he moved quickly over in front of the man, and he gently put his knee on the man to keep him from moving. He spoke to the man, through the tears, and said, “All of this won’t help you, please be still.” Salvus pulled the rag out of the man’s mouth, and to his surprise the man screamed at him, begging him to leave him alone and to go away. This confused Salvus, and he shifted back a bit in wonder. The man screamed louder, this time his speech was unintelligible. Salvus, now confused by it all, and wondering if the man did indeed need saving or if this was some horrible game he was playing, said to him, “I’m trying to help you!” But the man didn’t seem to register what he had said and continued on screaming. He stood up, and tried to set the man back upright, but again, the man screamed at him. He released him and took a few steps backwards. It frightened Salvus to see a person behave like this. The man finally stopped screaming at him, and Salvus said, “This madness is your downfall. How can anyone help you like this?” But the man screamed before he could finish, “LEAVE ME ALONE!!” In shock, Salvus stood there looking at him. Finally, he turned, left the cabin, and shut the door behind him. He immediately went to the police to report all that had happened, and before he had finished with the report, they said to him, “You aren’t the first to try to help him, Mr. Abeo. Many people have tried before. He just doesn’t want to be helped. Go on home, and don’t let this bother you too much.” But it did bother Salvus, and he went up everyday for months to try and help him, but each time the man would scream at him and thrash away from him. Finally, one day Salvus went up to find that the man had died. He was laid over on the floor, still tied to the chair, mouth open, as if he had been screaming for help. But Salvus knew he had probably died screaming against those who had tried to help him.
-L.C. Magnus
“He came to His own, and His own knew him not.” – John 1:11
Bearlee Afloat 