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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Lock and Key (08/21/14)
“Allahu Akbar!” Lifting his janbiya, dripping with blood, high with his right hand, the ISIS soldier held high, the head of a Christian, in his left hand. “Allahu Akbar!” He shouted again and again as he pivoted from left to right, displaying the head of his enemy to all those attending the daily beheadings at the Los Angeles Football Stadium. The roar from the ‘brothers’ in the stadium, accented with the popping of firearms, grew to a crescendo as he placed the bloody head onto the chest of the body.

The beheadings commenced at nine each morning and finished at sunset. Each Christian was given a chance to either affirm their belief or to choose Islam as their only religion. Five minutes was an average time spent on each person. It was now almost two in the afternoon and forty-eight bodies lay in the center of the stadium, heads on the chests of each ‘infidel’.

Philip was on his knees, praying in the corner of one of the ‘holding cells’, located deep within the bowels of the stadium. He had been separated from his wife, Sue, when ISIS soldiers had invaded their church. There were thousands like him there, and in hundreds of other stadiums, across what was left of the United States.

“Father please give me the strength to escape and to forgive them.” For four days, Philip had been trying, without success, to unlock the door of his enclosure. The guards were everywhere, at all hours of the day and night. His plan was to open the door, then disable a guard and change into his clothes to escape.

“Lord, please help me find Sue. Watch over her.” As he finished those words, he noticed something in the back of the cell, reflecting light. Barely sticking out from under the baseboard was the tip of a nail file. He struggled, but finally his finger nails gathered up what he hoped would be his key to escape.

He waited until the adhan (call to prayer) was called out by the muezzin (responsible for each call to prayer), then he would insert the nail file into the lock and juggle, push, turn, and try and try to unlock the door. The call to prayer and the prayers were given five times a day, over the PA system of the stadium. They were loud enough to cover the noise of working on the lock.

Evening call to prayer finally sounded. ‘God guide my hands’, Philip prayed in his head, as he inserted the deformed nail file into the lock. He played with the lock for what seemed forever, and ‘click’, he heard the lock open. He opened his door, took a step to his right, then another, then another. A door opened behind him and he felt the barrel of a firearm against the back of his head.

“So, you believe that ISIS soldiers are as stupid as you, infidel?” Laughing, the soldier placed a slip tie over Philip’s hands, behind his back.

“Now you will die.” He struck Philip in the back of his head with the stock of his pistol, almost knocking him out.

The sun was setting as Philip was pushed towards the center of the football field. Before him were the bodies of at least a hundred people, lying side by side, with their heads on their chests!

‘Please God no!’ flashed through his mind.

“Do you accept Islam as your religion? The only religion?” The ISIS soldier was grinning.

“Never! I am a son of God! The only God! Bless you a thousand times over! I forgive you!” Philip screamed these words as loudly as he possibly could.

The soldier forced him to his knees, then grabbed a fistful of Philip’s hair, pulling his head back, exposing his throat to the fullest.

“Allahu Akbar!” yelled the soldier.
He placed the blade of his janbiya hard against Philip’s neck and begin slicing back and forth. Philip wanted to scream, but he couldn’t scream because of the blood flooding his…..

“….after President Obama’s announcement about the journalist’s beheading, he returned to playing golf on Martha’s Vineyard.” The TV woke Philip from his nightmare. Sue was standing over his recliner, smiling down at him.

“Kiss me, woman! I love you!” Philip kissed her, then picked up his phone to call his Senator.
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This article has been read 741 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
C D Swanson 
08/28/14
Vividly graphic and quite numbing this well written entry.

God Bless~
Brenda Rice
08/30/14
Very well written...sent shivers up my spin. So glad it's fiction for now.

A chilling reminder of the state of our nation and the world.
JK Stenger
08/31/14
2034 is still a long way off. Who knows? Maybe we won't have that long. Dear Lord Jesus come quickly.
You sure had my attention.
Well done
Judith Gayle Smith-Owens Vitouswykegardinerclark
08/31/14
Horribly, frighteningly prophetic. You will move to Masters very quickly, methinks . . .
Verna Cole Mitchell 
09/01/14
Your story is disturbing and chilling, carrying the reader along in suspense.
Pauline Carruthers
09/02/14
This was so well and so vividly written. It left me feeling grateful I would not see 2034.
Bea Edwards 
09/02/14
Utterly chilling,I don't have words to describe how your fictional account became a frightening reality as I was reading. Especially after today's news accounts of another beheading.
Thank you for stepping into this horrible dilemma with your entry.
I'm going to email my senator...don't know why I haven't already.
Larry Whittington
09/03/14
The date could be about right for the scene to take place.

You have done some studying to get the names/words to fit the story.

Was The ending of the story changed to a dream was for the benefit of the writer. It seems any other ending would have been hard to write.

What will we say/do in such a situation? Will we be faithful till death?
Sheldon Bass 
09/04/14
What an excellent call to action! Let's all call our Senators!

While the devils stalks, roaring, we are not surprised. I've always had the thought, "Perhaps it is easier to die for the cause of Christ than to continue to live for Him."

You did an excellent job of relating this tale. Kudos.