Salvation

Chapter III

Flickering weak light of the lamp fell upon the person on the floor. The man's disfigured face was hidden by his dark hair the whole time, with strands of hair falling miserably down his eyes, but the obvious bruises and cuts were too noticeable to be ignored.

I gasped in shock.

Torned pieces of once white shirt and dark pants were the only remaining parts of his former clothes. He was completely barefoot.

I took a better look at him.

Parts of his shirt were hanging loosely around his waist, exposing his bare chest filled with deep wounds that left dark red traces of blood on the fabric.

As I approached closer, I could sense every muscle in his body tensing up to the point of him looking like a prey being caught by it's hunter. It seemed as if he had completely stopped breathing. His strange stiffed pose caused by my sudden presence caught my attention and I diverted my eyes to his hands. They were tied behind his back to a damaged old pipe, but yet still firm enough to keep him in place.

„Don't...come...any...closer. “ His voice trailed off as he kept looking at the ground.

At that instant, I knew that leaving this man down here in such condition would be unforgivable.

For someone in such unusually weak state, being tied down and not even able to lift his head, it was a pure miracle that he was able to talk, yet shout like he did before. I couldn't imagine what sort of pain he had to endure to make him like this. Who would even do this to someone?

„Sir, please stay awake. I am going to help you. “ I quickly approached him, disregarding his warning and assigning it to his shaky state. He was probably out of his mind, on the verge of passing out due to all the blood loss and wounds.

I kneeled down behind him, trying to untie fat knots of the rope that was tightly clenching his hands together around the pipe. Whoever did this, did it very carefully, not wanting to give him a slightest hope of loosening the rope.

After a couple of minutes, I realized it was too tangled up for me too free him.

„I can't... Oh God. Sir?“ Noticing that he didn't say anything for a while, I tried to shake him, but he did not respond.

„Listen to me, don't pass out. I'll find something to cut the rope.“ I desperately yelled at the silent man.

Tears started to bulge out of my eyes as I was sure that the one before me was now dead, and it was all over.

„Sir..sir..!“ The body in front of me became a splash of colours, smudged by the tears that were now sliding down my cheeks like crazy.

Seeing someone who was left alone here, to die just like that, and being able to help him but fail miserably, was just too much for me.

„Stop it.“ I suddenly heard him say in a calm voice. My heart almost jumped in joy when I heard his words.

„You are alive.“ I gasped wiping away my tears at the same time. „I thought you were dead.“

„I am dead.“ He calmly added.

„No, you are still alive. Don't give up. You can survive, just let me help you.“ I quickly got up and tried to find a light switch. There was no point in trying to find something in a complete dark, and my light source, a weak lamp with slowly fading light, wasn't of big help at the moment.

I started to search for something sharp to cut the ropes off. For the whole time, he didn't say anything.

Finally, a pair of old garden scissors caught my sight. I reached behind the pile of tools, and grabbed it's rusty handles. „This will do.“