Love on the Run [Wattys 2017]

8. Alone

Originally, I was supposed to have this book finished by the week of 24 July, but my phone deleted all of my writings I had saved and that really made me unmotivated to not want to continue this story.

I had to push myself to finish, because deep down I really want to and I would like for it to be eligible for the contest, even though I already know I'm not going to win😭

But I won't let that discourage me, I wanted to try something different and I wanted to see if the end will be the same as I envisioned it a month ago.

I'm still going to do my best and finish this story before the month of July is over with.

Sorry for the mini rant, I just had to get that bit of information off my chest, so without further ado, I give you the continuation of this story.......

Delia slowly opened her eyes to the bright sun peeking through her curtains as she laid in the comfortable silence of her bed.

At that moment, all was well, but she was quickly snapped back to reality when she realized that her best friend was killed last night because of her and who knows what happened to Coleman after Delia had left

Instant guilt had washed over Delia as she wished none of this would have happened and she shouldn't have never ran away in the first place.

"Delia, masta wants to see you." Lola said opening the door to Delia's room

She nervously got up out of the bed and pulled the covers back as she slowly followed behind Lola down the hall

Lola stepped to the side when they reached the open door to the bathroom while Delia stood nervously in the doorway as master Bradford was sitting on the toilet

"You wanted to see me, sir." Delia said quietly

"Ah yes, Delia! I missed you at breakfast this morning." He said as she held her head down

"Sorry, sir."

"All is forgiven, I thought I would be a little nice to you seeing as how you ran away last night with that nigger boy and I know you're going to need all of your strength, and speaking of, you won't be seeing him anymore." He stated as Delia's head popped up

"Why?"

"I sold him to a good friend of mine in Charlotte, and don't you worry, he'll be well taken care of." He grinned as small tears began to form in Delia's eyes
"And as for you, I want you to be ready in thirty minutes because I'm taking you on a little trip."

"Yessir." She said sadly as she left out of the doorway

Delia waited for master Bradford and when he finally showed up, he instructed Clayton to bring the carriage around front as he went out into the fields

Everyone instantly became quiet and worked faster than before because it was rare for master Bradford to ever go into the fields and after witnessing what happened to Coleman last night, no one wanted to get on the master's bad side

He walked around examining the slaves as they made no eye contact and focused on working.

He spotted a woman holding her ten month old baby in her arms as she did her best to work, and he went up to her to take away the baby

"Oh no, please sir." She quietly begged as he pulled the baby away from arms

Once he had the baby and began to walk away, the baby started crying and started reaching in the direction of his mother while his mother stood there with tears in her eyes silently crying

"Get on." He said as he handed the baby to Delia and sat inside of the carriage with Albert

They rode for what seemed like forever and finally the baby stopped crying as Delia was comfort it in her arms and gently rub his arms

She saw them approaching some thick woods and upon some water, as she heard the buzzing noise and the smell of moss

Delia didn't know what his plans or intentions were for her to be out her, in the back of her mind, she figured this would be an attempt to scare her and to make sure she doesn't run again by showing her what happened to Emilee or something worse than that

He and Albert both got out of the carriage as soon as it stopped and Delia immediately hopped down from the back

"Clayton, get the baby and tie it up." He said as Delia was a little confused as to why he wanted to tie the baby up

"Why is he tying the baby up?" Delia asked as Albert grinned while loading up the shotgun

"Because I'm using it as bait to catch me a gator for tonight, I originally thought about throwing you out there but you'd be just as useless as a dead log and I don't have time to be fooling around with you, so instead I'm using something that'll be more easier." He said as he gave Albert the end of the rope and he handed him the shotgun, and Albert tossed the baby into the water and it soon began to float out into the deeper parts

The baby began to whine and splash around in the water, wanting to come back to shore and just about a good fifty feet away, an alligator had its head perched up in the water and was observing the babies motions

The gator submerged back under the water and steadily walked closer to the baby and then it peeked its head up again still observing.

The two noticed as Albert began to slowly bring the baby back into shore to lure the alligator

The gator moved in some more as Albert slowly kept reeling in the baby as it kept splashing and whining.

Master Bradford brought the shotgun up and was ready to aim and fire as Albert kept luring the alligator closer to the shore.

With the baby getting louder with its cry, the alligator sprung into action and headed towards the baby as Albert quickly jerked at the ropes and dragging the baby.

Master Bradford had gotten a clear shot of the top of the gators head as it still tried to attack the baby.

Once the baby was on shore, Delia quickly rushed to the baby's aid and untied the ropes from his wrists and picked him up.

Master Bradford shot at the gator once more making another loud gun shot ring out as this startled the baby even more and he began to cry profusely.

They wrestled around with the gator until he was completely dead and wasn't putting up a fight any longer.

They used more rope to tie his mouth closed and bind the front legs together, and threw it on the back of the carriage. "Shut that damn thing up!" Master Bradford yelled at Delia as the baby continued to cry

"Yessir, I'm trying." She said as she tried calming him down by shushing him and slowly rocking him in her arms

I know this may be shorter than normal, but I'm trying to finish.

I don't have many chapters left, if I had to take a guess, I would say about five.

I didn't want to make this story too long, but I also wanted to write this because if I didn't start back, then I probably would've never finished this in the first place.

I do intend on finishing this story sometime this week, I know I will be tired as all get out because I have to work but I'm determined to get this one done.

I have others to get caught up on as well, but right now this one is my main priority for the time being.

There's definitely more on the way, let me know what you think so far.

Will Coleman and Delia ever be reunited? And has Delia lost all hope and motivation to want to be free ever again? 🤔