15 minutes

Not all princesses wear crowns.  They don't all live in castles either.  No, there is a princess that lives in darkness...in pits so deep that not only does light fail to reach her, but even the notion of light is foreign. Yet she is royalty.

A noble prince riding in an throwing her a line is an idea for fairytails.  This princess doesn't live in a fairy tail, her dark and grim reality is marred by abandonment, neglect, and abuse.  She is utterly hopeless.

Then the earth shook and a faint sliver of light broke through.  She was speechless, she didn't cry out.  She didn't believe it.  After all these years her eyes must be deceiving her. She knew no hope, so this light provided none.  But somewhere, deep inside, a spark was kindled.  She covered that spark, afraid to believe.  Afraid of hope.  Afraid to hurt again.

A team of rescuers was dispatched.  They had heard of this princess and they loved her.  Before they knew her, they loved her.  So they did what they could to reach her.  They threw her a line.  She didn't take it.  They cried out to her trying to help her to understand that they loved her, that they were trying to rescue her, that there was an abundant amount of light, warmth, hope, and love...she just needed to reach out her hand.

But people change when they live in darkness.  Their eyes and skin get sensitive to the light.  Her skin is scarred from the pain of reaching out.  The darkness is cool.  It is not entirely pain free, but it can become comfortable once you get used to it.  The light can hurt your eyes.  It takes an incredible amount of courage to reach a hand up, to grab on to the rope.  "What if I fall when I'm half way up?  I'll still be in the dark, but in so much more pain.  What if the rescuers change their mind and toss me back into the pit?  What if they don't love me after all?"

Our princess isn't a creature of darkness.  She's a creature of light that has been imprisoned in darkness.  Hope is within her, but it is lost within her.  Only a miracle can reach her now.  The choice to reach out her hand is hers.