Blinded By The Past-- The Greatest Showman/Anne Wheeler Fanfiction

Chapter 4

*Not Edited*
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"Anne," She heard from Lettie. The woman looked up from her small trance. It has been a bit over a minute, but Anne couldn't stop thinking of her mother.

"Where's your mother?" The bearded woman asked. W.D. didn't say anything for a moment, neither did Anne.

"We don't know," Anne said. "We haven't seen her since the day we left,"

"What about your daddy?" Helen asked.

"Master Derek sold him," W.D. said. "We were young. We didn't even know until Mama told us the day after,"

"You didn't wonder where he was?"

"We just assumed he was loaned to the nearby plantation,"

"How did you escape?" Phillip questioned.

"That didn't happen until a few months later," Anne explained. "Maybe a year,"

"You did the same thing until then?"

"Most of the time. At night, I would sneak out and climb the tree that was near Charlotte's window,"

"You were only 8 at the time?"

"More or less,"

"I knew she left the quarters," W.D. said. "I woke up after hearing her open the door,"

"And he followed me," His sister said with a small smile. "You knew Charlotte and I were the best of friends,"

"Who didn't?" He joked. Anne smiled. W.D. always knew everything about his little sister, before and after the two ran away.

"What would you do when you saw her?" P.T. asked her.

"I would wait in the tree until I'm sure everyone is asleep. I'd lightly knock on her window, and she would open it. We had our little secret knock. Two soft then a loud knock. After I was let in, we would just talk about our day. She even gave me a few reading lessons, and taught W.D. a bit too,"

"You were never caught?"

Anne looked down. "I was almost caught one time, but that led to me making one of the biggest mistakes of my life,"

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**Flashback, 1835**

Anne quietly made her way to the door of her home. The slave quarters were made up wood and had the necessities for the slaves, which was a chimney, a few tables and chairs, and cabinets. As for beds, the slaves slept on the floor with the blankets given to the children. In total, there were about 50 of them, but only four houses made for the slaves.

The young child quietly stepped over the sleeping bodies that laid on the floor. She was very light on her feet after nearly a year of climbing.

Anne made it to the door and walked out into the cold night air. She was used to the night wind since she spent more than a few times in a tree waiting for the sun to rise with her brother. The girl wrapped herself in her mother's shawl. It was losing some of its colors, but the embroidered flowers made it beautiful to Anne.

The child ran through the grass in her bare feet, adding another layer of dirt onto her skin. She hid behind the tree that was in front of the house and led to her friend's window. Anne looked at all the windows, seeing all the light turned off. All except for Charlotte's.

She climbed the tree, grabbing the strongest branches. Anne reached for her friend's window, with the white curtains pulled away. She saw Charlotte reading her book, with the candle giving a little glow of light. Anne did the knock she always did, two soft and one loud. The rich girl looked up to see Anne. She smiled, closed her book and opened her window.