Adelee's Fight

Chapter 2

Hi guys. This is the second chapter! Hope you enjoy!

We walked down the road for about a minute when we reached a sleek black carriage. There was a completely white horse with a long brushed mane and the most expensive bridle I had ever seen. All over it, it had jewels and was polished, so you could see your own reflection off it. The mistress and master stepped in and we was told to ride in the back where there was a hard wood seat with chains locked on. We sat down and the driver came around and locked us to our seats. The seats had no roof to cover us from the piercing sun and no place to rest our sore feet.

            About 15 minutes later, I checked on Hannah who had fallen asleep despite the fact that we was jolted back and forth the whole time with the handcuffs digging into our skin. Her thumb was in her mouth again and I sighed wondering how long it would take to get rid of that habit. I hated to admit it but I was a bit jealous, wishing I could be so innocent, with an excuse to hang on to something. As I looked down the street I saw so much life I couldn’t believe it. There was the music players-white and black both-, singing and dancing hoping for some money, and there was the children playing in the streets their mothers chasing after them and scolding the kids they did get. There were the pigs and goats who walked wherever they pleased and eating all the scraps people had left behind, usually getting a whack or two from a broom.

            We rode the entire day, passing through fields and small towns. I kept Hannah as shaded as possible from the glaring sun. There were times where I pulled at the chains in frustration for it restrained me from shading Hannah completely. I remembered that at the plantation families would come to my mamma for cures against the sun-sickness. She would get certain weeds from the fields, which she said were actually herbs. If anybody came across these “weeds” they would rip them from the earth and hand it over to mamma. I tried to recount all the steps as to cure ourselves if either Hannah or me got the cursed sickness by the end of the long, horrible, scorching day. Finally night crept over our backs and I began to get nervous. What about coyotes, wolves, bears, Natives, my mind went racing. I hated the night time because it was the time when darkness swallowed the world killing every source of light in the never ending war. Every morning whiteness won, but at night the blackness took over. I wondered if maybe we would turn it out like that, us blacks actually fighting. I silently said a quick prayer. I tried to stay calm and checked on Hannah to see if she was okay. She was asleep that little, foolish Hannah with a light blush upon her cheeks and her lips pursed as if she tried to dream us out of this world, tossing and turning. I stroked her silky hair, as black as a starless sky. I heard the quick hiss of a match as it illuminated the inside of the carriage. I sure wished the master would be able to give us one, in the outside, cold air. My eyes began to droop and I fought back with all my strength thinking about Hannah. I finally surrendered pondering about how much had changed over the last two days. I curled over on my side and gave way to a dreamless sleep.

            I woke up, blinking, Hannah shrieking with laughter, trying to catch the heavy raindrops that fell from the cloud filled sky. I began to laugh too, feeling all of the dirt and grime that built up over the last two days, wash off my sleek body. The rain wasn’t freezing, almost warm. I began trying to catch the spirits trapped in the water droplets and started explaining this to Hannah. After a while though, I had ended up just tickling her so much, her laughter echoing off the carriage. I took off the shawl mamma gave me before she was taken away, and gently put it over laughing Hannah. The rain pouring over my head, I looked up at the sky and tears, started running down my face. In my head I began cursing the people that took mamma away, and thanking the spirits for keeping me and Hannah together. The rain began to cease slowly and I saw a ray of sunlight pierce through the dark sky.  The carriage abruptly stopped in the middle of a street in between a field. The mistress walked out, looking down at us, rain dripping off our bodies, a smile still lingering on Hannah’s face. Then the mistress started screaming at us for making too much noise. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, we were in the rain, chained in the storm and here she was scolding us for being too loud!