A Game of Colours

Chapter 19: Never Again

 QUICK RECAP:

"Would you please just...tell me what it says," I sigh impatiently.

Picking up Jarrah's crumpled letter and uncurling it in his hand, he reads aloud what has to have been the longest words of my life.

"Lost the court case. We need to get you out. Find me."

*        *        *

So they lost. I'm going back to Mississippi.

It was all for nothing.

Tonight, my whole world has crumbled around me. Finally, the delicate house of cards I have built around myself has fallen into a disorganized pile of chaos.

No matter how many battles I fight, how many times I'm whipped, or starved, it all means nothing. 

I'm nothing but a shell anymore.

My knees buckle and I fall to the ground, head in hands. Isaac immediately embraces me, worry lining his face. I can't even cry this time. I just kneel there, paralyzed. 

Isaac takes my hands in his.

"Look at me" he says, and I obey.

"Whatever happens, I'm not gonna be split from you. I'll chain myself to the wagon and go back with you if I have to. I need you to listen to me now."

I lift my chin and meet his stern eyes.

"Find...find Jarrah. He must know what's happened--when they're taking you away. Go."

Isaac helps me to my feet, and hugs me fiercely.

"It's gonna be okay" he says, probably comforting himself more than me.

I run towards the stream, no longer concious of my footsteps but thinking of my dark future ahead. It's dark, and no one is around. I wait for a half an hour--an hour, but he doesn't show up. Maybe we were meant to meet somewhere else--the manor?

But I'm not allowed in there anymore. I'm not a maid.

Think, Alice. He said "find me." But this is where we always meet...

I just don't know. I retreat to my quarters for the night, deciding to figure it out in the morning.

I have never made a greater mistake than using patience in a race against time.

*        *        *

I awake to being shaken and abruptly dragged out of my quarters and into the hot, night air.

"Get up, girl."

I groan in response, confused.

"Up ye lazy runt!"

By the faint moonlight I make out two men, one my overseer and the other who I don't recognize. They pull me farther and farther from my quarters, me too groggy and tired to register what's happening to me.

"What are you...let me go!" I hiss. 

 My mind clicks into action when I see a wagon in the distance--I realize what's happening. I try to scream but I'm muffled by a sweaty hand. Frantically, I struggle to get out of my captors' grasp, but I'm too weak. They toss me unkindly into the cart cell, and lock the door behind me.

"What are you doing?" I growl, "why am I in here?"

 My overseer sighs. "You'll find out soon enough. Let's just say we won't be seeing each other again."

"Is it because they won the case? Are they taking me now?" I ask frantically.

The overseer looks me dead in the eye, and says nothing more. He turns and leaves.