1794 (A Frazel AU)

Cloud of Death

*The song is from Sarafina, a movie about a young girl living in a time of segregation.

Then everybody dies. At least that's how Frank felt.

He could finally understand one reason masters don't get attached to their slaves. Seemingly, they all die and are replaced, like some toy a kid keeps losing and the parents keeps replacing it. In the last three months Frank was on the plantation, he witnessed the deaths of about twenty slaves. Some dies from the poor conditions like Tristian. Others tried to run away and was caught and killed. Most of them, however, committed suicide. And, now permanently scarred for life, Frank witnessed two of them.

Kiki, one of the slaves brought in for housework, was the first one. She tried to fit in with the house slaves as best as she could, but at night she tried to escape. Mars dragged Frank in pursuit, but in the end she hid behind a tree, tied a rope to a branch and killed herself by snapping her neck instantly. Frank was in charge of getting rid of the body. He humbly buried her instead and cried all night for her. By morning there was a new slave to replace her named Annie.

The next one was a lot more traumatizing, and it was his father's fault.

The day started normally. Frank woke up early, did rounds with Mars then had breakfast. After breakfast, he wandered around aimlessly, bored out of his mind. He couldn't talk to Bianca, Pluto sent her off with her friends to get her out of the house. Nico locked himself in his room all day, away from everyone. The only person left was Hazel, who wouldn't give him the time of day. She would pretend to be working, or hide from him. When he was able to talk to her, he had to drag her into a closet.

He was finally tired of chasing her down, so he went upstairs and passed Proserpina's room. The door was ajar and, out of boredom and curiosity, he peeped in.

The room is dark, musty and uncomfortable. The only source of light was a sliver of sunlight, peaking from behind the closed curtains. Heat swallowed the room like an awful blanket. Proserpina looked like a corpse, and for a moment Frank thought she was dead. Her thin and slowly deteriorating frame barely rose up and down. Sweat poured from her like rivers, and a slave was tending to her by placing a cool towel on her head and giving her water. Finally, Frank realized it was Hazel.

"Psst!", he called.

Hazel flew back five feet looking frightened, like someone randomly screamed die.

"Mista Frank! What you doin' here?"

"I was looking for you all day."

"I busy."

"Even when you were hiding from me?"

Guilt washed over the slave's face. "I can't...I can't speak with you."

Frank walked in, over to her. "Why not?"

Hazel looked uncomfortable, like she did some thing wrong. Confused, Frank looked to the side her, on the bedside table. There was the water jug, the glass and some white powder.

"What's the white powder for?", Frank asked, dipping his index finger into it and smelling it. Then he pulled it back and stared at his finger. "Warfarin? What the hell are you doing with rat poison?"

"Shh", Hazel shushed him. "I...I wanted to finish what Zia started."

Immediately, she wanted to slap herself. She just admitted, to the master's nephew no less, that she was slowly killing the mistress. She looked down at her feet, an awful feeling filling her chest. For some reason,Hazel wasn't worried about her attempted murder, or her punishment once master found out.

She was worried about Frank's reaction.

She didn't want him to think of her as a horrible person, or a freak, or a monster. That's why she feared telling him. Because, as much as Hazel would hate to admit it, she admired Frank's kindness and respect. And she didn't want to lose that.