Something had awakened Eileen. She sat up and put her hand on her blanket. It was raining lightly. Was it the rain that had awakened her? No, it couldn’t have been. Sitting quietly in the silence she wracked her brain trying to remember what had made her awaken. Then like a vision she remembered her dream. She had dreamed about the mournful morning of the kidnapping. It was all so real and lifelike. And just when she got to the part when Daniel was taken, she heard a faint, far off scream. Then she awoke with a thumping heart. It sounded so real, yet, so far. She couldn’t have possibly dreamed it! Maybe it was Daniel calling for her from far away! “He needs me!” she thought, starting to rise. “No it can’t be him. All of this is getting to my head. Even if it was him, little help I would be.” She lay down on her homespun blanket again, remembering Daniel. They had known each other since birth, and had always been pals. This was the first time that they had actually been apart, and it was hard to bear the thought of possibly never seeing him again. Tears clouded her eyes at the thought of it. Knowing that everyone was asleep she wept freely.
“Dear God, Please help him. And, Please let him live. Amen,” was her simple prayer for aid. And just to reassure herself she reached into her pouch and felt for the piece of cloth. It was still there, it was real, and they were on the right trail.
The next morning John awoke to find himself curled up next to a horse! The episode of last night came back to him. John stood up, stretched and took stock of his situation. He estimated that the hole that entrapped him was approximately nine to ten feet high from top to bottom. The first thing he did was to try to escape. Placing his foot on a large protruding root he tried to lever himself high enough to get out. But his efforts were in vain, for the pit was much too high. After several tries he realized that it was futile to attempt to get out using this method. He circled the circumference of the earth walls searching for an escape route. Then an idea dawned on him. He looked over to the horse that was silently watching him with her soft brown eyes.
“I know! I’ll stand on you!” John said. The creature blinked her eyes as if to say, “No, you won’t!” John stepped on to the reclining beast’s back and she groaned underneath his weight. He tried to see out, but all he could see were the dirt walls intermingled with tree roots. “Alright, if you want to get out of this place then we are going to have to work together,” he addressed the mare. “Come on! Stand up now! I need your help! I can’t do this alone, you know!” he said as he tugged on her rope bridle. She was reluctant to stand, but finally man won over beast and the old mare stood. She arched her front leg and whinnied in pain, and much to John’s dismay she sat. He sighed. He knew well enough that he couldn’t stand on a horse with a broken leg. But he wasn’t ready to give up yet. Knowing that he couldn’t do much by himself, he resorted to calling for help. “Help! Help! I need help! Can anyone hear me?” John called and called until his voice was hoarse. He slumped to the ground discouraged. He knew it was useless to try anymore. He was out of the camp’s hearing range and he doubted that anyone else was around either. He didn’t think that they would go on without him, but then again, they didn’t want him there in the first place.
This was one of the most miserable and depressing days of his life. John had been taught about God since he was a baby in his mother’s arms, but he had never really believed it. But now John was in the position where he would believe anything. Being raised in the lap of luxury he never knew discomfort or fear, well not this kind of fear. This was worse than anything he had ever experienced; he was for the first time in his life, truly trapped. He prayed a small, awkward prayer, something that he hadn‘t done in awhile.
“God, if you’re real, please send someone to help me. And if you do I would be very grateful, and I promise to believe in you for the rest of my days and follow you. Please, please help me.”
