Ode of the Knight

     Jared, remained strung by the wrists in a pit hole that was as close to hell itself. The huge iron door opened and armed with a lantern and a whip, the guard entered the cell. Saying nothing, he sat the lantern down in a position to shed light on Jared’s back. The crack of the whip cut deep and in the midst of this piercing, excruciating pain, Jared screamed with panicked terror.

      With another crack of the whip, the light disappeared and the iron door slammed shut with resounding racket. Jared was again left alone in the pitch of blackness, swinging by his wrist. He could feel blood streaming down his back from the open wounds. Sweat dripped from his brow. Tears trickled down his face as mucus discharged from his nose. Drool seeped from his mouth, and most disgustingly, urine ran down his legs. Jared prayed for death. “Please, God, let me die!” he uttered in a most repenting tone; but his plea was swallowed by the dark, morbid shadows of the night as haunting chills consumed his body. He hung alone in utter silence as his body trembled uncontrollably.

      The day after the whipping, Jared had another visitor. The heavy doors opened with a screech that could awaken the dead. As for Jared, he felt that he was among the morbid or wished it to be. A figure entered the blackness as the door swung shut behind him. Not saying a word, the stranger waited.

      "Good sir, there is no light to allow your eyes to adjust to darkness. It is just a sea of obscurity, an endless pit of dark shadows haunting the eyes as the brain begins to play tricks on you. Come now, Sir, do your deed and depart this cavity of hell.” uttered a trodden Jared.

      Suddenly, with a fragment of alertness, Jared queried, “William, is that you? If it is, please leave me, I beseech you as I have been dishonored and defiled. My disgrace comes from my own doing. You warned me, but I did not heed. I let Him own me – and He sent my pitiful soul to the scorching fires of hell.”

       “Indeed, I did warn you boy, and I don’t know why I keep coming back to save your pathetic hide. Have you learned anything this time around? Have you learned that unless you play the game, you will forfeit more than you know you have?”