The Town

Hope

I ran to the shed to get more firewood as Master's shadow faded into the moonlight. I collected some firewood and put some in the fire. I soon heard Master's footsteps behind me. He took me by my potato sack dress and started barking orders at me. "Cook some food!, Take care of my pigs!, and clean Her room!" he barked. Master was still in grief from mistress's death.

The sound of master's voice interrupted my thoughts as he yelled: "don't fail to clean her room as your sister did!"

The mention of my sister nearly broke me down in tears but I knew that I had work to do so I plucked some corn from the fields and I put them in the boiling water.

The haunting memory of the incident washed across my mind. "Dust faster!" Cora yelled. "If you clean at this pace you will surely get us beaten," Sister said as she continued to dust mistress's china hastily. As I continued to dust, the loud sound of one of the mistress's favorite vases crashed to the ground.

I soon heard the sound of master's clucking boots slamming on the ground. He was taken aback by the sight of what was his wife's favorite vase on the hard ground. He glared at me coldly as he took out his whip.

"Stop!" Cora exclaimed. "It was my fault if anyone deserves a beating, it's me," Cora said.

I was soon stricken with fear for there was nothing I could do to cease the screaming of my dear sister.

The sound of her screaming echoed in my mind as if it was to punish me for my careless actions. "You was the one who deserved it not her" I murmured. "Useless, useless, useless." my mind taunted.

The pain of Masters whip cut through my skin. "Git"! "Git outta here" "I'm done with you!" Master roared. The whip stopped slashing through my skin and left my back feeling like it was pricked by a thousand needles. I slowly got up with the little strength I had and limped into my makeshift shelter me and Cora made with a few sticks and leaves.

I soon found myself sobbing at the sight of what little belongings me and Cora had on us on the long trip on the slave ship.

A mini portrait of Mother, Father, Cora, and me. Five marks. The sight of our money brought me back to the memory of our hard work me and Cora did back home.

We worked for an old man that would pay us to do farm work. He gave us simple jobs like feeding his pigs or stacking bales of hay. There was only so much our small, frail bodies could do at the time. But with simple jobs, there was only so much money we could get. We soon earned over 100 coins over the year of our work. We soon got to the point of the bad news He gave us He revealed that he could no longer afford to pay us because he found out he was in debt of over 200 coins.

We soon found our pot with only five marks left on the bottom. I threw a fit soon after I found out Father found our stash and spent it on drinking money. " I should've known he would do this" Cora said bitterly.

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The sound of Master's rooster soon woke me up.

I crawled out from what was left of my shelter. And started my and Cora's morning duties. Ack! I screeched as the pain of leaves stroking my skin.I got up in fear of waking Master up.

About halfway through of cleaning the barn, The sound of Master's voice soon reached my ears. I jumped up and turned around in fear of being whipped.

But, I saw nothing except a few hay bales and a few scattered rocks. I finally gave up looking and returned to my chores.

I soon found myself sitting by the fireplace, expecting Cora to return from the fields with Master's soon to be dinner of corn and eggs.

I sobbed at the thought that my sister was gone and was not going to do her chores because she was dead

"Useless, useless, useless"

The sound of Master's voice interrupted my slumber " What are you doing!?" he yelled "Git up! You useless, lazy slave!" Master yelled as he gestured toward his whip as if to say "You're pushing it.".

I slowly hoisted myself up, my back was sore from the whip.

Master slowly approached me and "Smack!"

I soon felt the taste of blood in my mouth. The overwhelming taste of metal made me want to vomit. "Swallow it!" Master commanded.

He took me by the hand and pushed me out of his house. I took that as his cue that he was done with me and I hobbled through the dark night. The white glossy moon filled me with the hope that I wasn't alone as I crawled into my shelter and fell asleep to the comforting sounds of the chirping of crickets and the sound of owls.