Blood Rose

Chapter Twelve: The Runaways

My mouth gaped open as I stared at the dark-skinned strangers in front of me. I wasn't used to being around slaves, much less runaway slaves. I was only accustomed to Harper and the Miles family. I had no idea how to treat these people.

I shook my head to wipe away the look of shock. "Pleased to meet you, Sir," I said to Joseph. I walked over to the hole that had covered his company with dirt and grime. I bent my knees and set my elbows on my thighs, facing the girls in the hole.

Behind the youngest girl, I noticed a little kid peeking out from behind. "I'm Evelyn," I whispered to her. "What's your name?"

She moved her head to make eye contact with me. "Remmie," she squeaked.

"Hi, Remmie," I said as I craned my neck to face Joseph. "Is this your daughter?"

"Yep, my lil' pride and joy." He walked towards the hole and stood next to me. "This is my wife, Lana, and our friends Ollie and Camana."

I waved to them all with a big smile on my face. I saw Ollie and Camana with their fingers laced together as they waved back. I thought nothing of it at the time, and focused on the young woman hiding Remmie behind her hips. Lana Perez.

I took a moment to study her. She had a plump nose and a round face, her eyes calm and inviting. Her dark skin was caked with dirt in patches on her hands and face, and her short, curly hair was pulled back by a green bandana. Her feet were bare and bloody, and her outfit was none that I've seen before.

All three ladies were wearing something of similar cloth and style. Lana's was tan and puffy-sleeved. It was ripped in some places along her torso and tied between her legs. I soon realized that she had turned a dress into short pants. Ollie and Camana also had the same attire. Ollie's was a light purple to complement her tan skin, oval face, and almond eyes. Camana's was a deep red with the sleeves completely torn off.

Next I studied Camana's looks. She intrigued me the most out the three women. She and Ollie looked to be quite older than Lana and Joseph, but they were full of a youthful spirit. Camana had a tall and skinny figure, while Ollie was shorter and a little larger. Lana was a combination of the two.

Camana had skin more similar to Lana's, and a face shape that was very long and prominent. Her eyes were a reddish-brown, and shaped like a thumb. Her nose was long, and wide at the end. I was somehow fascinated with her, and I stared at the ribbon that held her mass of hair away from her face so no more grime could infect her beauty.

I forced myself to turn back to Lana and Joseph. "What are you lovely people doing in a hole?" I asked Joseph, subtly concerned.

He moved closer to the edge of the hole, possibly preparing to lower himself next to his wife and child. "Well..." he responded, "as yuh probably figuhed out, we is runaways. We wanted our lil' Remilda to live away from our mastuh. We call huh Remmie so she don' figuh out tha' our mastuh was the one who named huh."

I looked over at the little girl cowering behind her mother, discovering that she was asleep. I soon lowered my voice as I responded. "Oh... I'm so sorry, sir." I paused. "What about your friends here?"

I motioned to Ollie and Camana, still with their hands intertwined. This time, it was Ollie who answered the question. "Yuh see, Cam and I got married in secret. We lived on the plantation nex' tuh Lana 'n Joseph, 'n tha's how we know 'em."

Yet again, the pieces that were in my head soon came together. Ollie and Camana loved each other... as more than friends. They loved each other the way each other Lana and Joseph did.

She continued, "our marriage wasn't ac'epted by our ownuh's friens. They didn' like tha' he had queer slaves, and they was plannin' to kill us. So we ran. Thuh same time as the Perez's, so we met a' the rock between our places. We been runnin' for the past two weeks."

I sat down at the edge of the hole, trying to find my bearings. These people had really been running from the most miserable life possible, only to still be miserable along the way. I was appalled by this world and the cruelty within it. I couldn't imagine things being so bad that I would have to run away from the life I know. We treat Harper and her family like relatives of our own because we know of the torture that slaves go through. And yet, I couldn't imagine it.

Lana studied my face with a puzzled expression, and she asked the question I had been dreading: "so, Miss Evelyn, why was you runnin' from that nice house ovuh there?"

"Well...uh..." I started, "my brother lives in that house. He sent this man, Lincomb to scare me and capture me. When he brought me here, it didn't occur to me that my brother put him up to it. But I saw a letter from General E. Lee that said my father had lost his life in the war."

As soon as I said that, Camana reached up towards me out of the hole that I was standing beside. She put her hand on my ankle and gave me a look of comfort, pity, and loss. I smiled weakly and continued, "I decided to turn in last night, when I realized that I left the letter that stated my father's death on the dining room table. I needed to bring it to my mother so I moved back to get the letter, but I lost my way back to my bed. I fell asleep in a random room because I was so tired."

I paused and held back the angry tears welling up in my eyes. I breathed through my mouth as my lips trembled, and I squeaked out the next sentence. "I woke up covered in my dad's blood, which means my brother was his murderer. My own brother... he was torturing me for so long, and ended it by killing my father."

Everyone was silent, jaws dropped. Joseph soon gave me his hand, and I lowered myself into the hole. I settled in between Lana and Ollie, and I looked back up at Joseph. "I think it'd be good for me to go get us some food from the house o' yo' brothuh, Evelyn."

He hoisted himself away from the hole and covered us with a black cloth and leaves. The last thing I saw was dark, bare feet walking towards my brother's house, leaving me with four strangers in the dirt.