Blessing

I work as fast as I can and only ease my grip once the job is complete, needing to be finished before the rain begins. After carrying all the firewood up to the shed, then milking the cows, I wrap my hands in a scrap of linen that I found a week earlier in the garden. The bleeding from all the hard labour on my hands hurts but my mother used to say that hard work is hard for a reason. My mother died when I was twelve. I never knew my father, so it's just been my little sister Elle and I for five years now.

I'm working for a wealthy family to provide for us. I can't yet be free as I'm 17 and underaged, but I can't wait to be a free man. I would have saved enough pounds for us to have a steady future and not have to live in the attic scuttle of the barn where I work. We wouldn't have to sleep with the rats that play all night and the flies that fly circles around the room, making that propeller sound, an annoying high-pitched zzzz that hums along your skin. Free to make our own decisions at least. My father, for all I know gave us the coloured skin that doesn't help us in this society. He married our English mother which still leaves Elle and I to be considered unimportant, more improper, and better as slaves. Quite unjust but that's just how it is in this 18th century.

I head towards the back of the house to start putting the milk in the storage when I hear a sound I never wish to hear, slight sobbing coming from behind the back porch. There's only one person's voice besides Elle's that I memorise like this, that I listen to as she sings past me every morning to help her mother grab the clothes of the line. The girl, the oldest of 4 daughters in the rich household. None of the daughters are aloud near Elle and I. We are dismissed by them but even so, I still have managed to become quite fond of her soft beautiful tunes. I listen to her cry for a moment longer, debating on my next move. Last time I interacted with the youngest child by waving back at her I got a great amount of whipping. Without a moment to brace myself she turned to look at me, almost desperately, and it was clear she wanted me to intervene.

Sighing, I then decided to move to sit in the open space beside her. Giving in to her minor request, I felt small next to her. Her beauty made me look even more filthy than I already was. Her skin was as white as snow and looked as soft as the peddles of a rose. Apart from the tears blurring her eyes and blushing her cheeks she looked untouched. Before I could even come to terms with the bereft space between us. She embraced my arms sobbing and cried, "Oh Will, I'm going to be killed if they get to me, I'm going to die!" she let out a load weep and I didn't care where I was and what the consequences might be. I held her tighter and pulled her in, so she was facing away from me but between my knees. Her small body against mine bought shivers down my spine and I noticed she was shivering. It's amazing how much someone can mean to you in such a short time. In the five years I have been here, I have never spoken to Eloise and her sisters. We are the same age yet so different. She is important and I was always just the brown boy from the paddocks. "Eloise, you can tell me, I won't tell your parents, they're not going to kick you out." Concerned as I am, I try to speak with certainty.

I decide to pull myself up and kneel on the steps just below her. I am greatly confused about her robust accusations. I take my jacket off and replace her bare shoulders with it, holding her petite hands intertwined with mine to try and warm them up. I feel the need to ask for answers now. "I want to know Eloise, please, it's just me."

"A group of men were following me home and I was running, and I screamed at them to stop, and they said they would find me and hurt me, hurt me badly if I came down those roads again!"

"Why would they say such a thing to you?" I notice she is trying to fight the tears from her eyes. "They said that us rich deserve no more than to be overthrown and killed. And that father is a bad man who cares only for himself and his money." The thought that a man's ego can affect their loved is unbelievable. But what scares me more is that Eloise is the loved one and she is in danger. "I am not going to let anything happen to you." I hope that my words stay as true as they seemed to her because she began to calm down and sit more contently. "Can I stick with you tonight? Everyone went to the mainland today and will be there till the evening tomorrow, it's just us here." Surprised as I am with her request, I didn't hesitate to nod with agreement as I know why she is afraid to be in her house by herself. I stand up keeping a delicate hold of her hands as I urge her to stand. With a hesitated look on Eloise's face, she continued after me with puffy eyes.