Madigan {A short story}

Madigan

The thick haze of the forest matched her murky thoughts.  Madigan tried to pry her eyes open but she felt as if she had been drugged.  One eye, then two, she slowly looked at her surroundings.  The large pines and oaks enveloped her in a shroud, the only light being the glimpse of sun that was thankfully rising instead of disappearing. 

Madigan quickly tried to sit, but the rush of nausea knocked her back down.  Going slower, she was able to maneuver herself onto her elbow.  Giving her body a fast glance, she discovered her feet that had been shackled together in chains.  The metal links were fastened to a towering oak nearby.

The drug induced disorientation was wearing off but was quickly replaced with the throbbing of feet too tightly bound.  She would lose circulation soon, she was sure of it.

Panicked, Madigan tried to recollect the events of the evening before. 

She had followed Kierstan out here last night, giving way to his hungry hands and lustful breath.  She was searching, always searching for the one who would make her whole again.  After running from her abusive uncle, she had run from one idol to another, all promising to put her back together again.  Each only stripped her further.

Madigan reached up and held onto a curly brunette lock.  Her head was thick with them.  When she was dismayed, she twirled each one tighter and tighter.  Funny, her hair used to be straight as a board.

It was her own fault she was entrapped.  Sure, the sins of her uncle put her on this path, but she knew deep down that she held equal blame.

Madigan carefully tried again to sit up, this time with success.  Her throbbing feet matched the rhythm of her terrified heart.  Looking for a possibility of escape, her eyes landed on a pair of bolt chain cutters, partially hidden in the thick grass.  She would soon be free!

Reaching with her whole frame, chains further imbedding themselves, she laid hold of the chain cutters.  Tears leaked from her eyes, both from the pain and the possibility of being free. She could hardly sit up fast enough as she clamped the metal and squeezed with all her might.

Her biceps curled and her head swam red as she gasped for air.  One more try!  This time would be it!  She clamped down again, the taste of freedom almost on her tongue.  The chain wouldn’t budge.  She just wasn’t strong enough.

Moans escaped from her throat as she threw the cutters aside and cursed herself for all of her sins. 

Madigan curled into a ball as she hugged the brown moss.  One single primal scream left her vocal chords, never to return.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but she awoke with a start, staring at a burly man standing over her.  The chain cutters were in his thick hands.  He was pure muscle and she wasn’t sure if she should be relieved or hysterical.  The man clamped down onto the metal holding her imprisonment and shoved the cutters together.

The chain didn’t budge.

Madigan stared in horror as the man quietly told her that he neither had the power. She watched in disbelief as he silently left her, ambling back into the dense patch of trees.

Her sin was too much.  Despair shook her frame until hope exited every single pore.  She resigned herself to death and whispered that it might come quickly.

Ardry knew she was here.  He knew about each skin covered soul throughout his estate.  He simply needed Madigan to come to the end of herself before he could intervene.  Love must be revealed at the proper time, or it wouldn’t look like love at all.

Ardry reached down and caressed Madigan’s cheek until she stirred.  She looked into the ruler’s eyes, an ocean of benevolence, and knew she must be dreaming.  No one of such importance would ever stoop so low to one so sin encrusted.

In one swift motion, Ardry picked up the chain cutters and plunged them deep into his heart.  Before his strength left, he clamped the blood soaked cutters onto the chains and snipped every single last one.  Ardry fell to the ground amidst a sea of unshackled metal swirling in a pool of red.

Ardry choked out a few words before he breathed his last, “You are loved, Madigan.  Go, and live in this love.”

 

{There is power in the blood of Jesus.  There is power for eternal salvation and every stronghold of bondage that threatens to remain.  Invite Him in.  He longs to break every chain...every single last link.}