One last surge of Grace - Part 1

My time was up. Dragged from the floor and tied to the pole, my every being cried out with pain of the lashes I received before. But, I gladly bear the pain for you all as my pulse raced and my hands were trembling at the fear of death.

I looked around and I saw I was in a open court yard of an old ruins. The walls were smudged by dried blood. Blood of the innocent who died for their Faith. There were still foot prints where a young boy had left when he was chasing after his friends in game of ball. The cool tropical wind blew in my face gently which only gave a slight comfort from the hot humid temperature. I then looked at my left. I saw my family members, my friends standing helpless.

Mum was kneeling and pleading. Dad was crumpled in heaps in the arms of older brother. They were powerless. I tried comforting them with a smile but I couldn’t. My lips were dried from dehydration of the past months in the old jail. I sighed and sadness swell within me as I looked up in the sky. Clouds were forming. It seems that rain is coming. I swallowed my sadness down my throat and as I looked ahead, memories of old came flashing through.

"I was a young boy and live was good. However, my heart grew heavy as flashes of my life changed. I saw my disappointment in my own eyes. I felt my heart was broken to many pieces when told my younger brother my story of my survival in the jungle of Sumatra. I told him how I have coped with adversities in keeping my Faith strong when there seemed no hope. I spoke wistfully the time when I cared and respected others but no appreciation of thanks were returned. I spoke how I have continue to feed, sheltered and protected them for all this years as their brother but in the end they had abandoned me and rejected me of the person I was. Even now, they had turned their backs on me."