7 year old Halona was helping her mother make dinner for the village. Her father and brother were out hunting, so it was a typical day.
"Why can't we go hunting?" She asked her mother. Her mother smiled.
"Because its better to let the men feel in control or else they'll act like babies." She whispered into her daughter's ear. Halona giggled and nodded. Her mother smiled and kissed her on the forehead.
Halona's father and brother Yaholo came back with a deer an hour later.
"Your son hunted this deer all by himself!" Her father said proudly to her mother.
"That's wonderful! I'm so pr-" White men on horses rode into the village. They shouted in a language she couldn't understand.
"Mama...who are they?" Halona asked, clinging to her mother.
"They've come to take the village.." She whispered. Then a loud bang filled the air. Halona's ears rang as she looked towards the source of the sound. One of the white men held a machine in his hand. Where the tip of the machine pointed was where the Chief lay dead. Everyone panicked and ran, her mother dragged her along towards the woods. She could hear the white men with machines killing everyone she knew.
Her father and brother followed only to be killed themselves.
"Father! Yaholo!" She screamed. Tears ran down her face as she saw the dead bodies of her family. Then a heavy weight dragged her to the ground. Somehow she managed to squirm out to find her mother was what held her. Blood trickled down her mother's chest.
"Mama?" The dying woman held her hand tightly and placed her necklace in Halona's palm.
"Halona. . . Run. ." She took her last breath as her body went limp. The young child screamed out in pain. Everything was happening so fast.
Instead of running she stayed and cried over her mother's corpse.
A pair of hands grabbed her and dragged her to the village. She fought as hard as she could only to be greeted by a powerful fist.
Halona awoke in a very tight space. The only sorce of light was from a small crack in the wooden box that held her captive. She could hear the screaming of other children, tears streamed down her soft face.
The only time the box would open was when the white men gave her food. Which was basically the leftovers of the men's earlier meal. . . there wasn't much leftovers. Once a day the children where allowed to use the restroom. So many of the children had filth and feces in their boxes. They stayed like that for months, until finally they stopped at the port.
Light blinded the girl for a second, when she could make sense of her surroundings a man stood above her. His skin looked rough and had a long beard. His nose seemed as if it was broken a few times. The bodies of children who became sick were thrown into the water.
The man said something she couldn't understand. He then dragged her out of her box and into the hands of two other men. Halona tried to fight back but they held a knife to her throat, forcing her to stop. They threw her into a room with other children. A few she recognized from the village. A large man with a cigarette walked in and forced them strip. Naked, embarrassed, all the children stood in shame until they were all dunked in water. They scrubbed themselves down until their skin almost became red. Ironic though, they were called "red skins" after all.
Free of most of the filth that covered their bodies, the children were then led into a room where they were given large white clothing. No longer naked, they all stood in line and were given a blanket and pillow. The building they were then sent into had bunk beds along the walls.
YOU ARE READING
Undertaker's Apprentice
Fanfiction"Halona, I have something to tell you." He said softly. The girl suddenly felt sick, as if she knew something bad was bound to happen. "W...what is it?" She asked nervously. The gray haired man sighed and took her hand. "William came by last...
