Only Skin

Chapter 7

Wedding plans were beginning to be made, and yet I did not care. My life was never filled with regular and constant amounts of vigor and joy, but that soon changed when I spent time with my dear Rose. We had officially been meeting together for a little over a month now.

Spending time with her made me feel finally at peace with my life. I am glad to say that I finally have someone to count on- a friend.

My father disrupted me from my normal afternoon reading with a knock on the door. "Henry? I just wanted to let you know that Elizabeth and I are going to be out of town for the annual festival for the next week. Are you sure you do not want to attend?" He said. I briskly closed my book and set it down, then made my way to the door. Before I could even get my hand on the door's knob, Father flung the door open.

"Excuse me for the intrusion, Henry, but we are on quite a tight schedule here." He continued as he began pacing through my room. "Now you know the drill. There will be no outside field management for the first three days. After that, Robert- you remember Robert, don't you? Oh it does not matter- he'll keep the slaves in check. Those working indoors will stay for the entire time we're gone. You've done this before so I trust you. Understand, son?"

"Yes father," I said while sitting back in my seat. "I understand." "Fantastic!" Father said with a false smile. "Come walk us out, won't you?"

I continued down the stairs and waved off my Father and his wife along with several other unrecognizable people. They were headed to the annual festival in Brookston, a two day ride from here. I went when I was younger but stayed home with a nanny when I outgrew it. It was nice to have some alone time, but I also thought of the possibilities that came with it. Maybe for once, I could allow Rose to come inside, instead of freezing in the cold, night breeze.

When dusk showed, I made my way outside like always, and waited on the steps of the gazebo for Rose. As I sat, I felt as if time was passing at an abnormal rate. It seemed to be that Rose was taking longer than usual. So I stayed and sat, waiting for my darling flower. I could almost feel time passing, and took out my pocket watch to check. She was now two hours late, and I suspected she would not be showing.

I decided to cut my losses and head inside so I do not freeze. It was a disappointing night, since all I look forward to is that quality time with Rose. However, As I situated myself in bed, I began to think. It occurred to me that Rose was never late to our encounters before, and that she would only be late if there was a problem.

Problem. I immediately ran out of bed, and headed for the staircase. It was already pitch black outside, so I quickly grabbed the lantern by my bed. When I made it outside, the crisp air stung at my skin. I smelt a faint stinge of smoke, and immediately headed that direction. My nose lead me to the slave quarters, where the possibility of Rose was. My mind quickly ran through stages of fright, and I began to ask myself all types of questions: where is she? Is she alright? What if Robert sees me? What will father do? Is she safe?

The lantern lit up the area I stopped in, and as I stood still, I could hear every sound within a good distance away. A whooping cough rang through my ears. I carefully followed the sound and noticed the house had smoke arising from it.

Rose! Without waiting another moment, I took action and immediately ran into the cabin. The rickety door swung open and hit the wall opposing from it, revealing a room filled with terrified faces. Many people of all ages were huddled around the fire, surrounding a body on the floor; No one was on fire, or endangered. Quickly, I scanned the audience for my Rose, and sure enough, I spotted her.

"Rose!" I yelled, immediately running to her. "Thank you by the grace of God! I thought you were hurt!" She stood up by the sound of her name, and I instinctively pulled her into an embrace. Her body complied, and warmed me back, but she quickly pulled away and spoke without letting go of my arms. "Henry!" She said in a hushed voice, "You can't be here!" Upon further inspection, I noticed the many people in the room were now fixated on Rose and I. Frightened looks consumed their own exposures, and I realized that they were all terrified of me.

"I'm sorry for the intrusion, Rose." I spoke in a hushed and worrisome tone. "I thought you were hurt..." my eyes and sentence began to drift off as I started to focus on the shape lying in the middle of the room. I began to shift forward, walking towards the object. It took me a moment before I began figuring out what the shape was. "Dear god, is she alright?" I spoke to Rose. She grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back to our beginning spot. "No. She's not. She's sick." Her voice was filled with pain and tiredness. "Is there something I can do? Anything at all?" "I just don' know how to help her. This is the worst she's ever been and I just..." I picked up her hand and held it in mine, hoping this action could give her some kind of comfort.

The door suddenly slammed open, and a deep voice boomed out "I'm back with the water, Ro." A dark man with strong and muscular shoulders appeared at the doorway, holding two pails of water in each hand. When he spoke, Rose immediately took her hand out of mine, and began speaking hurriedly "you need to leave. Now." He slowly turned his head to face me, and said "who the hell is he?"