Through Her Lives

Mary

She ran through the slaves' quarters, trying to close each door behind her as she went. His footfalls were loud on the floor as he thumped around, following her, slamming open the doors she had closed.

Nobody else showed themselves, no one to save the young girl as she ran quicker than she ever would in her life. Tears staining her cheeks, she sniffed loudly swallowing the urge to vomit. Swallowing with it the urge to throw herself at him with fists flying as he next walked through the door screaming in rage.

She could hear his breathing getting louder as she grew tired and her own breathing grew shallower.

Mary couldn't bring herself to turn her head around to see how close he was. It was with that thought, that he grabbed her around the waist, throwing her easily over his shoulder as she screamed. Kicking and biting with the only energy she had left and it quickly left her body as his hand smothered her small mouth and with it all sound she could make. Big brown eyes looked at her as she screamed soundlessly.

Any person would have expected to see coldness and hardness in  the murderer's eyes. In his, there was only warmth, a similar warmth to a fire place on a cold winters day.

He loosened his grip on her, leaving her room to breathe and with it room for her to bite him. She did so with force and swearing he shoved his handkerchief over her small mouth, smothering her again.

Surely this was her end. An ending that she was hardly able to choose, she was falling short of oxygen, she desperately tried to force air in. A difficultly came to breathing that she had never felt before, it was terrifying.

***

She awoke in a cot, her bare feet touching the splintered wood at the end. The first thing that hit her was the smell. The air was filled with the smell of urine and rotten eggs. It assaulted her nose filling all corners of the room. Above her the ceiling was a maze of fine cracks and she watched as the fan turned slowly.

Mary had no idea where she was, everything from the colour of the walls to the horrible dirty smell was foreign to her. Out of her comfort zone and confused as to how she appeared there she tried to get out of her wooden prison.

Her small arms grabbed the wooden planks, shaking them with the small amount of strength she held. They would not move. Had she been taller she would have been able to catch glimpses of the other girls, some as young as her.

They came from similar backgrounds, the ones in the same room as her. It was easiest to keep them all together.

The day was a grey one, though one Mary would never forget. It was the beginning, though she didn't know it, of the cycle. She could hear the sounds of metal springs squeaking as their occupants released them of their weight. Feet shuffled along the floor, groggy girls voices floated around her. Nothing that she could easily understand. A woman's face appeared over the top of the cot, peering down at her. Her teeth were a horrible yellow and she bared them at Mary. Shrinking back as the woman outstretched her hands a shriek escaped her lips. What was to happen to her if she let this woman touch her?

                Another face appeared above her, both of them exchanging glances.

                "Now now child, everything will be just fine." The other woman's smile was friendlier but her teeth seemed worse. Mary couldn't decide which would have had to be the good witch and the bad witch. It was an even draw. She let herself be touched on the cheek by this other woman, now decidedly good witch with bad teeth. She didn't bother to try and ask questions, adults ignored children, especially black ones. Unworthy they would sometimes spit in their faces.

                She crawled slightly towards the friendlier woman and sweeping her out of the cot she placed her on the ground. Mary finally got to see the room she would call 'home' for the next stage of her life.

                The walls were lined with grime, the floors built of broken tiles, and it didn't jump out at Mary as to what this building meant. She held hands with the friendlier woman as they walked through grime lined walls. Feelings of confusion that she had since managed to hold back bubbled up within her.

                She cried tears blurring her eyes. She couldn't speak and she could understand what had happened to her, she wouldn't for many years. The friendlier woman bent down to her level, looking her in the eyes. She bit her lip, tears about to over flow, her body nearly shaking with the sobs she held in.

                "You parents, well you know they aren't coming back." She looked Mary straight in the eye. She knew her parents were dead but where was Major Thales and the plantation and why did she feel to small.

                She let the tears flow freely, straight down her cheeks. Landing on the floor, she tried to crawl along the ground until she found a corner to curl up in, she couldn't even do that. The woman now stood above her.

                No longer a friendly face she informed Mary of her new life. She didn't bother to bend down to her level, didn't even try to smile, she loomed over her and spoke the word Mary would never forget.

                "Your parents decided to leave you at our doorstep, you're an orphan now little one."