Therion 2 - Amazing Grace

Burning pain pierced my shoulder and neck. I fought and pried but couldn’t contend with the iron grip. The darkness of the forest engulfed my senses, trapping me like prey in a hunter's snare.

 
In a dreamless nightmare encircled with fear, I lay cold and alone. Finally, the abyss of darkness began to fragment as bright sunlight roused me from the forced slumber. Warmth, I immediately thought but exhaled a frosty breath. I surveyed my faint surroundings and examined myself as much as possible. Dried blood matted my hair and kept my right eye from opening. My clothes had been removed but by some miracle this boma shelter I was in prevented me from becoming completely hypothermic. 
 
Small vines were laced intricately around my wrists and ankles, holding me captive. I tugged with cold, stiff hands against them but they would not yield. Praying for strength I jerked the hardened cords once more when I heard…something. Suddenly, there was movement in the shadows behind me, and I immediately froze. Its familiar fingers touched my bloodied forehead and drew them to my chin playfully, lustfully. Repulsion and anger finally brought heat to my skin. 
 
The man rotated slowly into sight, a rotten-toothed grin appeared through long greasy gray hair. A tepid stench emanated from his crouched position, overwhelming my nostrils. He moved slowly, pulling a metal shard from a loop in his tattered jeans. It was some type of make-shift knife. My heart raced as he began to press into my abdomen, feeling, searching. I had no idea what he was planning but that did not stop my brain from searching for the most contemptible of deeds. 
 
He found his mark. Pressing into his target with a single finger, he angled the cold, rusty blade and began the surgery. I twisted away from the pain, violently producing a shock from this heinous criminal. He dropped the instrument but quickly snatched it from the ground and hammered my skull with the blunt end of it, re-opening last night’s wound.
 
The trauma-based anesthesia helped reduce the pain of the operation. I fell into and out of consciousness as he cut and sliced and pushed. I felt lost and out of control, I sensed the sting of death.
 
I was a child again. I was with my mom in the house I grew up in. “Mom, I don’t want to go to school. I don’t know anyone, what if I get lost?” I cried.
 
“Oh honey, you don’t have to worry. I’ll walk you to the door and we’ll find your teacher together before I go. Just remember, Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
 
I saw her again, this time I was a teenager and she was pleading with me, “Ben, sometimes I worry you’ll find yourself falling into the ways of the world. Promise me you’ll always call on Jesus, don’t ever forget his name.” (Jeremiah 33:3)
 
Jesus. His name came to my mind hazily.
 
Jesus, it was more clear now.
 
“Jesus,” I said aloud. It was a mere mumble that the man didn’t notice but inside me, it was a shout. “Jesus, I am sorry for living like the world but I need you now. Forgive me of my sin and save me. I need you, Lord.”
 
I could summon no more energy or words and fell back into the haze and distant aching. In that far-off place, I heard a shuffling, a breaking of sticks and shadows blocking out the rays of sunlight. I peered over to see the wretched doctor of death being pulled violently through the stick wall. His screams were loud then quickly trailed off into the forest, then only silence was heard.
 
My arms dangled free for a moment, the cold bright day biting a little and then I felt wrapped in something warm - a fur of some type. I felt a gentle movement, gliding along as if I were in a boat traveling through the forest. A soft heartbeat and the cadence of steady breathing salved my soul. Though I did not understand I felt safe and at peace. 
 
“Ben, Ben are you okay?” A middle-aged woman wiped the blood out of my eye freeing me to see clearly. I was in an ambulance, I was hooked up to an IV. 
 
“We found you 300 yards from your vehicle, what happened back there?”
 
“I was lost, but now I’m found,” I replied.