New Freedom

Chapter 3

The sun is setting now. The master came today but he didn't touch me unlike yesterday. Our group in the garden began singing. A few of the women taught me the lyrics. They're supposed to symbolize freedom that all of us dream about. Luckily, the words are in other language, or more like code, so the monster doesn't find out. If he found out that we were singing about freedom, I have no clue what he would do to each of us personally.

Thinking about freedom, reminds me that we actually might be escaping tonight. My day suddenly becomes brighter just thinking about that. Only about another hour until I will see John again. I continue on with my work, picking the weeds from the garden. While I am working, I wonder how we're going to escape. I hear the stories from the women in the cabin before going to sleep of what has happened.

One night, as I was lying on my plank of wood with a small blanket covering my nearly naked body, the women were chatting about a man that tried to leave the other night. They spoke quietly, trying not to disturb others, but I just had to listen in. "No listen, Lisa, a man who usually works in the cotton field, escaped. It had to be about two nights ago," one woman said.

"Well, what happened to him?" the other woman asked.

"I heard that he got mauled by the dogs," another chipped in.

"What are the dogs?" a little girl who was listening in, like me asked. I think she was a newcomer. I have never seen her before and my guess was that she came in at the last auction.

"They are big, mean, and scary dogs that were trained by the monster himself. They walk with him wherever he goes and if someone is misbehaving, he uses his mutts to beat us if he is too lazy to do so himself. They also are the watch dogs. At night, they watch if anyone tries to escape and are told to tear us to pieces if we do," the first woman stated.

I snap out of the memory I was having just in time for me to see the master with his evil mutts coming towards the garden. I shield my face away from his view and continue picking the weeds. My pace accelerates more and more each time I head the monster's heavy footsteps race closer. The singing stops from the women, everything quieting down to see why the master is so angry. "Where are my vegetables, you worthless pig!" He screams in woman's face.

He continues, "My wife wants some tomatoes right now and by the looks of it she ain't getting some because the maid is to sick and weak to do nothing! Now get me the tomatoes right at this instance or you're going to end up like the maid-to weak to do anything!" He finishes with a blow to the stomach causing the woman to double over. All of us stare at the girl holding her stomach until the man speaks again, "What are you looking at pigs? Get back to your filthy work? Who ever told you to stop?"

At that note, we all look back down at what we're doing and start working again, scared to get beaten if we don't. When the monster struts away with his dogs, three women get up from what they're doing and check for any major injuries on the girl who was picking vegetables. When they found no major injuries, they get back to work while the girl leaves to deliver the tomatoes to the house where the family lives.

The work for today finishes and its time to head back to the cabins. I walk to the back of the cabin excitement flooding my veins on what was going to be happening tonight. I see John on my way talking to some men who work in the field. I inch closer, not wanting to disturb what they are speaking about. One of the men turns around, noticing me. He puts on a big smile welcoming me on the journey.

"Hello there, my name is Peter," he greets holding out his hand. I return my hand saying, "Nice to meet you, I'm Alice."

John turns around, his back facing the men and I. I notice more and more men and women coming from different directions, crouching and crawling the best they can, so that the monster and his family doesn't notice them.

When everybody huddles on the ground next to each other, John speaks up and begins to tell us the plan of how we're going to escape. He says that we're going to run in pairs until we get off of the plantation. He'll be in the front, leading while his buddy Peter, whom I met just moments ago, will be in the back, following up. Once we get off the plantation, we'll be in a group rushing through the woods until we find somewhere to stop.

I trust John, he seems like he knows what he is doing and he's seems very confident about the way to go and that we will get there safe.

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I know I haven't updated in a really long time because I had really bad writer's block and I had homework and the show that we just finished. But I'll try really hard to keep updating! But the last show this year is coming up and I'm working that so I don't know but I will keep updating sometime or another!! Thank you so much! And I'm sorry if they're errors I'll get to those sometime :)