Rescue | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Rescue | Previous Challenge Entry
By Gary Ritter
03/14/15
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She knew it wouldn’t work out. Nothing in her young life ever had. They’d realize the mistake they’d made and soon enough she’d be back on the streets.

Examining herself in the mirror of the bedroom they’d given her all to herself, she saw the toll of everything she’d been through. Fifteen years old. Going on forty. Classic Filipina features with light brown skin, dark eyes, what had been a flawless complexion in a rounded face framed by jet-black hair. It was the eyes that told Mariela’s story.

Abducted from the mall at twelve. Taken to a city she didn’t know. Threatened that if she didn’t do as ordered she’d die a painful death. With no options, she cooperated. Within three months she’d learned the trade so well her owner said he loved her. After that whatever he wanted she did. Gaining his approval was what Mariela lived for, despite the terrible men to whom he gave her who paid for her services.

Now it was over. She’d been rescued, but what did that mean? How could she ever go back to a normal life? She didn’t even know what normal was anymore.

The man and woman who took her in had made a separate area available in their house for this purpose. They said their ministry was to provide shelter and healing. They spoke gently to her and assured her she could rest here as long as necessary. Mariela heard the words but doubted. How could she not? Every promise from her life before the streets had died. Every word spoken by the man who’d owned her proved treacherous. But she’d go with the program; see where it took her.

Each day had few demands other than the structure the couple imposed a week following her arrival. After breakfast they gathered, with the husband and wife praying for her. It was a nice sentiment – their prayers – but any concept of God within her had long since ceased. They read to her from the Bible and explained the passage, trying to draw her out with questions. She’d shrug, mumble a few words, and retreat inside herself. No other reality had worked over the years except that one. Although Mariela no longer dreamed like she had as a young girl of a golden future, the sanctuary within herself provided safety. No one else could reach her there.

A month passed. A longing developed in her heart for the affection she’d experienced in her former life, for a man’s touch, for soft words spoken in her ear. One day she saw her chance. The woman went shopping on a trip Mariela knew would take hours.

Mariela lay down after lunch waiting. When she heard the water running, she knew the man was taking a shower after his workout. Within moments she arrived at the bathroom door. It wasn’t locked. Steam fogged the mirror and a warm blast of damp air greeted her. She slipped off her clothes and entered.

Sure that the man would be pleased, she giggled behind her hand louder than she intended. Suddenly the shower stopped, so she pulled the curtain aside. The man looked at her with horror and reached for a towel. He said, “No! Mariela, you can’t do this.”

He didn’t want her! She wasn’t good enough. Humiliated, she fled to her room.

Caring little, she threw her few things in a bag and ran for the front door. The wife’s car pulled in. Mariela saw a strange expression on her face through the window and ran down the sidewalk.

Before she’d gotten to the next driveway, the strong arms of the husband gathered her up and brought her struggling back to the house. He released her to the wife’s embrace where she wailed and sobbed how no one loved her. She thought she could please the husband, but he’d rejected her.

In her warped view sex was the only means of loving she understood. They told her there was a greater and better love. Love that didn’t demand, use, or hurt. Her heart softened as they poured this real love out upon her. The couple’s kindness surrounded her. She didn’t comprehend it. It was different. Through it she felt a newness of life flood her soul.

Mariela had a long way to go, but that night everything changed. Her vision cleared. Her hearing sharpened. The words of the Bible penetrated. She heard, saw, and understood. Turning to Jesus, she ran into Her Savior’s arms.

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