TRIGGER WARNING: rape, abuse, hostages
Recently, I read this amazing book called Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland. It’s about the Cleveland kidnappings that happened years ago. If you don’t know about the Cleveland kidnappings (I didn’t!) basically what happened was in 2002, a man named Ariel Castro abducted a woman named Michelle Knight and kept her chained up in his house. Less than a year later, Ariel Castro abducted Amanda Berry as she was walking home from work. In 2004, he abducted Gina DeJesus when she was walking home from school. He kept all three women locked in his house until they escaped in 2013. Hope was written by Amanda and Gina so it covers their experiences. Michelle wrote her own book which I am going to read soon.
So, at first, this book was absolutely horrifying! These women went through so many horrible things. I won’t go into details in case anyone decides to read it but they were literally chained up for years while Ariel would rape them multiple times a day. They were also forced to cook and clean for him.
I’m trying not to give too many details away but eventually the women were able to escape. It was a miracle because Ariel really thought of everything. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be locked in someone’s house for up to 10 years or more and then get out and live a normal life. But these women did it. They made a promise to themselves to survive their experiences so they can get back to their families and tell their stories.
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about these women and what they went through in that house. It inspires me for sure. I felt the need to share. We, as humans, have the ability to adapt to even the most horrible situations. Imagine being a prisoner in someone’s house for 10 years for virtually not reason! Like how?? They were mentally, physically, emotionally, sexually, and verbally abused. I remember in certain parts of the story, they had opportunities to escape or scream really loud so maybe someone could hear them but they were too scared of Ariel and what he would do.
The scariest thing about something like this is that people go through a version of this everyday. Maybe not this extreme, like with chains involved, but a lot of people have been in relationships where they’re basically prisoners. And what do you do? You adapt. You wait. And eventually, hopefully, you leave when the time is right.
However, some victims of domestic violence or kidnapping, do not make it out alive. Let us take a moment to share a moment of silence for those victims’ families.
