Falling

Michael's Story

Michael Jones had a story, a long story.  When he was a little boy, he was taken, abducted, stolen, whatever word you want to use.  The point is is that he was four years old, and he lost his parents.  To men had taken him from his parents at the mall, they had weapons, his father ran after him but was knocked down, he lost his parents in the crowd and didn't see them for three years.  The kidnappers hid him deep in a forest.  He didn't know where he was, all he knew was these people weren't his mommy and daddy.  They tortured him, made him work, there were five other children there that they had taken.  It was almost like a cruel camp.  Michael was the youngest, the others were all at least seven, they took him under their wing, taught him the ropes, and tried to make things easier on him.  He didn't really know why all this had happened.  All the children were underfed, worked, and not treated properly.  

For instance, one time, the children had to carry things down from a hay loft in the barn near where they were being held.  The other children couldn't get up to the hay loft but Michael, (who loved to climb,) said, "I can make it up there!"  He was almost to the top of what he was climbing up there on when his foot slipped, he fell, landed on the hard floor, and broke his arm.  The only thing his kidnappers did was throw him down and make him work more.  Later that night, the other children nursed him and made a makeshift sling for his arm.  It took a year for his arm to fully recover because it was so badly treated.  

Eventually, one day the oldest of the children, Jamie, who was 13, saw their kidnappers talking on cell phones.  That night, when the kidnappers went to bed, Jamie snuk out of bed and stole one and run, she called 911, gave them a brief description of the area, and said she would try to light something to let them know where she was.

A month later they were found, the kidnappers were taken under arrest and later sentence to life in prison.  It had been three years for Michael, but he was finally reunited with his mom and dad.

Now, he had lost them again, but this time, forever.  He and his parents were very Christian people, they were traveling to Rio to see "Christ the Redeemer."  Michael's parents saw the plane starting to rip in half, they were sitting almost exactly in the middle of the plane.  They threw Michael towards the front and yelled at the others, "Take good care of our boy!"  And then the plane was torn in two.  That was the last time Michael would see his parents.