FORBIDDEN

CHAPTER 16: VALERIE

I felt the cluttering of the wagon beneath the dirt road. It was completely covered only a speck of light penetrated the thick wood. There were seven of us all cramped into one wagon,heading to an unknown location. The only person I knew in the wagon was Tracey, the youngest Miller triplet. She held onto my arm way too tightly - cutting the blood circulating through my arm- but she was way too scared for me to say anything. It was the first journey she'd ever taken without her sisters. She still had her nightgown on just like me, her long hair still braided into two thick braids and pinned to the top of her head.

"We'll be fine Tracey, don't worry", I reassured her, even though my voice sounded far from it.

We had been traveling for what probably must have been a day now, I could only tell from the light coming in through the crack on the wagon wall. And every time the clopping of the horses stopped. There were no other sounds but us, so we were definitely not in a town or in any forest.

The more time passed the more creative my thoughts became, I'd heard of slaves being disposed of silently, maybe that would explain the unknown shadowed faces in the wagon. Or maybe they were just transporting us to a new farm and Mr.Smith didn't think it was important to let us know. It would certainly explain why Bennet was the one who came to fetch us.

The more thoughts about what would happen to me flooded in my head. The more thoughts of Tom joined them. I hadn't even gotten a chance to say goodbye.

Then an even worse thought dug it's way in. What if Tom knew, what if, the kiss we shared that night was his way of saying goodbye.

I brought my dust covered hands to my face and groaned. No, Tom would never do that to me. And I'm sure as soon as he learns of what happened, he'll try to get me back.

But as more time passed the thought kept coming back until I couldn't push it away anymore. I felt the tears build up behind my eye's, but I didn't wanna let them out -I blame it on the horrible smell of urine that clings in the air- I've cried way to many times lately. Even if Tom knew about it he wouldn't have been able to do anything. He wasn't the oldest, Bennet was. But it would've been great to at least have gotten a warning or something.

I could've warned the triplets before they were harshly separated.
I close my eye's praying for blissful sleep to come and take away the ache in my body from staying in one position the whole ride. Thankfully my prayers are answered, I sleep the whole way and awaken to the sound of the wagon door sliding open.

"Get out!", shouts a man outside, his voice gravely deep.
I grabbed hold of the wagon walls and manage to push my numb legs out. I just about crumple to the ground when my feet touch the ground, my legs cramp up even worse, sending a searing pain all the way up to my thigh. I try my best to ignore it and help Tracey out of the wagon, I never noticed how petite she was until she was holding onto my arm as we stood there, her head resting against my shoulder.

We were herded from the wagon and only then did I notice our surrounding. We were pretty much in the middle of nowhere, there were no towns or people just trees and the big farm house that stood out like a sore thumb next to all the green.

We were directed towards the front of the house where three men came out of the house. I was surprised to see that they were middle eastern, a dignitary from one of their country had visited one of my masters before. Although the oldest looking man had a rotund belly and a shaggy beard and a mop of curly black hair, looked fully Arabic, the two men beside him, who slightly resembled the man did not. They shared the same curls and strong harsh features as their father, but that was all they had in common. They're complexion was lighter, their face way more attractive with gray eye's that almost appeared colorless. They would've looked very attractive if it wasn't for the scowls on their faces.

"What have you got for us this time, Harry", one of the younger men spoke to our handler. I was surprised he didn't have the thick accent that I had grown accustomed to the dignitary having.

"I've got six of em for ya, Eli, in great condition".

There had been seven of us in that wagon, I counted all of us in line and noticed the crying face of a couple at the end of the line and I immediately understood, I sort of felt sick to my stomach. How long had we been inside there with the body.

"We'll check for ourselves", remarked Eli as he walked towards me eye's studying me from top to bottom. He seemed to smile a sickening smile as he suddenly grabbed hold of my mouth and pressed on it, forcing me to open it, before he inserted his finger into my mouth, checking my teeth. I had to fight the response to bite down. I'd done it once and had completely regretted it, I had ended up with a broken jaw that had take way too long to heal.
When he was done he removed his finger and moved it to my hair, grabbing a curly strand and pulling it down and releasing it and watching it bounce back.

"You've got quite a beauty here", I knew he was still talking to Harry but his gaze was fixed on me. When he finally moved to Tracey, I released a silent breath.

I hadn't noticed that the other men had already started examining the other slave.
The oldest man who I learned was called Salum or Sal as they called him was indeed the father of the two, Eli and Shawn.

When they were done picking us, they ended up choosing four of us. Leaving a middle aged man and the crying childless mother. The woman was making horrible loud racking sobs as they rounded her back to the wagon.

I was extremely fortunate Tracey was still with me, but at the same time a strong feeling of dread and uneasiness settled in my gut. As they again herded us to our quarters, I couldn't help but wonder what Tom was doing. If I would ever see him again or whether I would have to forget him in the end like everyone else I loved.

Once we were settled in our quarters, a big barn with beds lined up against the wall for the other workers too, I would be sharing a bed with Tracey.

Just as sat on the horribly hard bed, a sharp blood curdling scream pierced the air, jolting me from my thoughts.
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