Runaway Slave

Memory Lane

There was a slave named Claire she was black with curly black hair and brown eyes. She was very beautiful and worked in the fields. She didn't have much clothes as her mistress hated her. She would make sure she wouldn't even get shoes for her own feet. Her husband was very fond of her to the point that he would rape her over and over again. Claire just wanted left alone, she would find escape when the mistress and master went out for a while. However, their son started seeing her the same way she was portrayed: a jezebel. A jezebel was a black woman in little to no clothing who was always seen as someone trying to seduce their masters. He also saw her as someone that was trying to rip their family apart but wanted to be like his father.

"Claire, why aren't you working harder today," says the boy.

"You know why, Mas' Travis," she growled.

There is a loud smack it didn't stir Claire she was used to this treatment. She could talk up as long as no one could hear her. The whip marks proved that, he grabs what is left of her sleeve yanking him to her.

"I own you, don't you forget that negro," says Travis.

"You're father owns me! You are just a young master, until you're father dies you don't own nothin'," says Claire.

Travis smacks her again, Claire doesn't say anything or fight as he drags her to be whipped. She normally wouldn't sass him as hard but she has had enough. These men think they can do anything they want to her treat her like a toy. For years Claire has been beat on, raped, spat on, and whipped for years. All because she isn't white, she decided months ago that she won't take it anymore. A familiar voice snaps her out of her thoughts that keep her from furthering her plans.

"Travis! What are you doing with that bitch?!" asks Mistress.

"Mama, this girl stepped out of place and sassed me," says Travis.

"Is that so?" asks Mistress.

She grabs Claire bringing Claire to her.

"I rescued you from nothing and this is how you thank me by sassing my son?!" says Mistress.

Claire rolls her eyes as she thinks about her mistress "rescuing" her. She remembers it just as well as she remembers the day that she meet her ten year old son after school.

Flashback:

Claire was five years old in a ditch where her mother left her. Her mother was a runaway slave, she hid me down there to keep her safe. It was winter, she was shivering in the rags she was in.

"Oh you poor baby, it is too bad isn't it?" says the girl.

Claire looks up to see a woman in her twenties that was pale with sparkling green eyes. She is in a pink dress with a parasol in her hands, she outstretches her hand to Claire who shutters away from her outstretched hand.

"I'm waiting for my mama!" says Claire.

The girl looks at her sadly nodding her head she leaves. She doesn't return for several hours before coming back with a blanket and food. Claire slowly comes out as she is starving and cold. She can't help but accept this woman's kindness despite what her mother said about trusting others.

"What is your name?" asks the girl.

"..Claire."

The girl thinks for a minute than frowns remembering that there was a runaway slave from her boyfriend and father of her child's plantation that was captured earlier that day.

"Your mother is not coming back baby come on," says the girl.

"How do you know that?" asks Claire, in disbelief.

"Because I know she was captured, come on," says the girl.

"Are you taking me to my Mama?" asks Claire, sadly.

The girl remembered her boyfriends sad words about if the mother doesn't reveal where the child was what would happen to her. The woman decided to keep her safe as one of her own, a gift to her boyfriend if that was possible. What she didn't expect was what Claire would be her future husbands' sex toy. She brought Claire home giving her fresh clothes to wear. They both didn't know what would happen to her as soon as she was gave to the boyfriend as a gift a few days later.

End of Flashback:

Claire spits on the Mistress earning her a smack on the mouth then brought to the kitchen where she is smacked again with a heavy iron.

"You should have left me in that gutter!" yells out Claire.

"As soon as your master is done with you you are going to wish that I did!" yells Mistress back.

"What is going on here?!" calls Master.

They all look in that direction of the Master, Claire hides a shutter. She is 17 now but these years of torment still haunt her to this day.