The Book of Literary H'Enjoyment.

A is for Another Chance At Life.

1788

The darkness that surrounded the forest suddenly became illuminated by the flash of lightening in the sky, as Amina ran as fast as she could bare feet.

The cackling thunder that followed was so loud and terrifying that the young woman let out a squeal and began to run even faster.

Tonight, Amina had become a runaway slave.

Her master, Sir Walters would surely be searching for her now, and if he found her, he might just kill her.

He had always made sexual advances towards her, but this night was the straw that broke the camel's back. He had almost raped her, and she was lucky enough to escape by hitting his head with the pan which she made his dinner with.

"Where exactly am I running to? What if I come across the slave patrol?" She thought still running.

The rain had stopping falling now, but the cold London breeze blew past and intensified the cold that she felt from her wet clothes.

The woman felt weak and sat against a wall that had a sort of roof covering in front of it, thanking God that she had gotten into a town and not more in the dreadful forest.

Amina could see a person holding a lantern come down the road and her heart began to beat faster.

Quickly she got up, it could be slave patrol walking down, she had to hide.

She nearly stumbled to the ground as she placed her hand on the wall, then she realized it wasn't a wall, but rather a gate into a mansion.

"Who could be living in such wealth?" She wondered, even the wealthy people in the town her master lived in didn't live in such huge mansions.

"Hey you! Stop there!" A booming voice shouted and she stiffened.

The man with the lantern had seen her.

"A wandering slave, I see." The man says, and it was obvious that he was slave patrol.

"N — no please I am not a wandering slave." Amina begged, scared, she had heard stories of the horrible things that happened to slaves that were captured by slave patrol and she didn't want to be among that demographic.

"She's mine, good sir." A deep voice says from behind her and Amina jumps in fear, turning to see who spoke.

It was an averagely tall man, the light from the lantern illuminated his face beautifully and she could see that he was very handsome and had feline eyes.

"She's mine. I sent her on an errand earlier and she is just returning." The handsome man says again and the patroller nods.

"Very well then. Have a good night sir." The patroller says and continues down the street.

"Come in, its cold out here." The man says to her and she nods without thinking.

The quiet man hands her a warm cup of tea after he instructs her to sit in front of the fireplace to warm up.

"Why did you help me out there?" Amina asks the man who just stands by the fireplace, looking into the fire, the flames illuminating the side of his face.

"I heard you open my gates, it alerted me and I came out to see who touched my property." He replied without emotion.

Occasionally, he would pull down the sides of his suit jacket down a bit lower and crack his neck sideways.

"I'm sorry I touched your property. I would leave now, thank you so much for helping me." Amina says standing up and curtsying.

"I'm not done questioning you." The man says, turning to look at her pointedly.