A few days after she, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus, became free from their ordeal I read about it. Michelle was the one that my mind lingered on, not only because of what I read, but because of what I didn’t read…or see. I didn’t see any photos of Michelle, and there was little information. I tried to find images of her and saw only one: that of an attractive blond girl. She was the first to be kidnapped, and appeared to be singled out for particular cruelty. Apparently she was impregnated at least five times, and starved for two-week periods during those pregnancies while her stomach was beaten until her body aborted the developing fetuses. Michelle was threatened with death if Amanda’s new-born baby she delivered died, and Michelle did resuscitate the girl when she stopped breathing. For over a decade Michelle Knight was repeatedly raped – with Amanda and Gina close behind – and the only way it could possibly stop would be with her murder. And so there they were, in the home of an outwardly appearing normal person who ran "a torture chamber and private prison in the heart of our city", as prosecutor Timothy McGinty put it.
How these women could be hidden from detection for all this
time (if they in fact were) is another story with a lot of unanswered
questions, but at least the women are free now. Or are they? When people live
in fear for over 1/3 of their lives - fear of being murdered, fear of being
beaten, fear (and actuality) of constantly being raped – and that suddenly and
dramatically changes, how are they affected? What would it be like to never
leave a house for a decade and not even be able to freely move within that
house; spending those years tied up, locked up, and shut up? How could a child
be born and raised in a house without neighbors, family or friends of the
victimizer ever knowing? Were there never any visitors?
The authorities thought Michelle was a 20-year-old runaway.
It appears that nobody tried very hard to find her. And that’s what worries me.
She was the one her captor (or captors, we’ll see when the story is fully told)
learned his skills on. What kind of terror and abuse did she suffer as the
first kidnap victim? Was Michelle a troubled young lady with few friends and a
dysfunctional family? Is that why she was quickly forgotten after her
disappearance? After a few days Amanda and Gina were released from the hospital
and are now with their families at home. A long road is ahead for any kind of
healing, and what will the final result be? And what about Amanda’s 6-year-old
girl? The only life she has known has been an extremely secluded, strange, and
unnatural one, to say the least. What ghosts and demons has her father cursed
her with?
Michelle stayed a few days longer than the other women at
the hospital. Her mother said it was due to mental health treatment. I can only
imagine.
No I can’t.
When she left the hospital, Michelle, as well as Amanda and
Gina or their families, asked for privacy. Where did she go? What opportunities
await a 32-year-old woman who has essentially spent her working years tormented
in a cage? She now has to once again make decisions for herself and
(presumably) will eventually need to get and hold down a job. She’ll need to
relearn how to function in society…assuming she functioned well enough in the
first place. What nightmares will haunt Michelle Knight as she tries to live
out a normal life? The loving families of Amanda and Gina will, by the grace of
God, pull them through this ordeal. But what about Michelle Knight, is anybody really there for her?
Let’s hope so. Let’s pray so.
