Finding Madeline

Chapter 18

Madeline:

I never realized how much the human body can be pushed until it breaks. My body felt like it was in constant pain, never subsiding. The pain was unbearable for a while, but now I felt almost numb. The hunger pains ceased, but I didn't get any food, my throat didn't hurt, but I didn't drink any water, and I just couldn't move anymore. I didn't know what was happening, but I guessed my body was at its breaking point. I tried as hard as I could to crawl to the corner with now 27 rocks marking the days I'd been here. I was finally able to make it with much struggle. I took a deep breath and squeezed my eyes shut. I knew my body was taking a turn for the worst. I knew I would die. I was ready. I didn't want to spend any more time like this in captivity. I wanted to die. I curled up in the corner and held my breath. Maybe if I passed out I wouldn't wake up. I looked outside through the hole at nature. I would miss the beauty. I would miss the trees and the feeling of air blowing in my hair. I would miss having fun. I would miss my friends, Matt especially, and my family. A tear streamed down my face as I thought of all the things I would never experience again. My eyes were blurry from tears, but I caught a glimpse of something reflecting the sunlight. My lungs were screaming for air, but I refused to breath. I reached my hand out of the hole and felt around for the thing that was catching the sunlight. My fingers finally grasped it and I pulled it into the shack. It was a bracelet. It was very beautiful and contained a shiny silver charm hanging down. I tried to keep myself calm as I felt dizzy from the lack of oxygen. I squeezed the bracelet in my hand and thought of it as the only thing I had from the world outside captivity. I wanted to die while looking at it, remembering what it was like to have a charm bracelet. I set it next to me and stared at it, waiting for my body to become unconscious. As I saw blackness closing in on my eyes, I caught a glimpse of a name on the charm. I squinted my eyes to look at it and read: Taylor. My eyes got wide and I let out the air I was holding in. After a few minutes of regaining an oxygen pattern, I picked up the bracelet.

Taylor O'Brien? I thought.

I got a rush of hope as I realized I might be in the same place as Taylor was. It was strange. The bracelet changed my mindset. It felt as if it was a sign, a random sign, to show me that I couldn't die, that I had to keep fighting. I tucked it under some hay to protect it from harm. I decided that it would be the source from where I get hope. Any time I was doubting whether or not to keep fighting, I would look at it for strength. It would symbolize courage. I took a deep breath and thought of Matt. I missed him so much. I couldn't let him down. I had to get out of here. I needed to think. I'd been sitting for over three weeks just thinking about everything I didn't have, everything I'd gone through, everything I'd been robbed of. I shouldn't be wasting my time thinking about wanting to die, I should think about how to get out of here so I can live again. Where did the kidnapper go for all this time anyway? I had to go through a daily routine and he would occasionally stop in to give me some scraps or a small cup of water. What about the other hours I'm just left alone? When I was rebellious, I had chains on me, bounding me to the wall, preventing me from escaping. Now that I started cooperating, the chains were taken off. I could get out, couldn't I? I pressed my face against the hole and looked around frantically. There was no sign of the kidnapper. I scrambled to the door and unhooked the latch. The door swung open. I was shocked at how surprisingly easy that was. I pushed myself to my feet and tried to run as fast as I possibly could. I saw the woods ahead and knew I just had to make it into the thick trees to be blocked from view. As I was only a few yards away from freedom, I felt an excruciating pain in my hip, causing me to collapse. I screamed out in agony and clutched my hip. I saw the rock, now stained with blood, that hit me. I saw rubber boots nearing in the distance and I began to cry hysterically as I knew my freedom was short lived.

"You! I thought you would cooperate!" the kidnapper screamed. I looked up at his furious face and gasped in horror as I saw a whip in his hand. "I should've never trusted you! You are my daughter! You stay with me! I love you baby, you don't run away from me!" he screamed as he raised the whip and came down on my back with unfathomable force.

I screamed the loudest I'd ever screamed, cried the hardest I'd ever cried as the whip continuously hit me. The pain was more than I could possibly handle. I threw up from the pain and terror I was experiencing as I took the worst beating of my life. He grabbed a shovel and repeatedly hit me with it. I could feel my bones crack under the metal each blow I took. First it was my legs, then he moved up onto my ribs. I was in the most pain I could ever imagine. He threw the shovel and whip on the ground and screamed out in anger. He pushed and kicked me, then yanked me up by my fingers. He forced me to run back to the shack and every time I collapsed, I would take the beating again. I was hit everywhere but my head, to ensure that I would stay alive. I finally reached the shack, and he picked me up by my hair and threw me into the corner of the shack. I heard him take deep, angry breaths and then he walked toward me. Tears streamed down my face and my body shook with horror. He moved the hair out of my face and stroked my cheek. He arched his eyebrows as if it pained him to do this to me.

"I'm so sorry Maddie," he said in a malicious whisper.

He walked out of the shack and left me, laying helplessly in excruciating pain.