AN INVISIBLE, COMPELLING force drives me away from the cabin and towards the woods. My feet move under me as if controlled by another being, and soon I find myself beside the fence at the edge of the woods, and I am unsure whether to venture further or go back to work at the peach trees.
Work seems impossible right now so I walk to the pond and sit on the bank, while the sun cries golden tear drops into the water.
Then, when I can't bear to see the complete calm of the water any longer, I rock my shoulders over my hips and fall into the pond. The agitated, cold water feels good on my skin. I let my body float just under the surface until my lungs scream for oxygen. My nose breaks the surface first. My eyes remain closed as I swallow air as quickly as I can.
I roll onto my back and bring my legs above the water's surface. The bank is still close enough to me that I can touch it with my toes. Mud slides of it on contact. Some sticks to my toenails as I push off, floating across the pond, leaving a shallow wake behind me. The cold water glides beneath my body like a snail sliding over a wet stone.
I float on the surface for a long time, just thinking. Thinking, thinking.
After about an hour I drag myself out of the water. I lie down on the bank and watch the leaves swaying on their branches above, hypnotising me.
I am still at the pond when the sun sets and the sky darkens dramatically and I can no longer see the outline of the leaves clearly and no one has come looking for me. I remain on my back, seeking comfort in the shadows of the night.
It must be midnight when I finally get to my feet and start to walk back through the trees. The darkness around me is so dense that I have to rely on my memory to guide me back to my cabin.
The night is silent and the lack of noise seems fitting with the blackness. The only sound I can hear is the sound of my feet trudging along the damp ground. I reach a small clearing, where I can see a section of the sky and I notice that it glows with a strange, pale light. I walk more quickly and when I reach the fence, I can see that the light is brighter. I can also hear a low crackling sound. It is as if the sky is on fire.
I climb over the fence, curiosity thrusting me forward. I have only taken a few steps when the house slides into view and suddenly I understand why the sky seemed to be burning.
Large orange flames crawl up the side of the house. Men in uniforms run around it, shouting. I stand where I am as smoke engulfs the building. Suddenly, a vast section of the roof tumbles from the house and that's when I think of Julia and that's when I start to run.
YOU ARE READING
Mind Of A Slave
Historical Fiction"The life we're living is the easiest of the difficult." Cass Jinney Jackson is a Louisianan slave girl. She has recently moved to a plantation near the woods, but her life there is far from ordinary. Growing up as the civil war rages on, she finds...
