KASAO

9

KASAO WOKE UP with a start. Her head ached so badly, her wrists hurt and had swollen from the tight rope. She could feel stones piercing her skin and she realized she was lying on the bare floor.
She felt someone shake her and she opened her eyes fully.
She didn't know where she was at first until the whole memory came back with a force and she made a painful noise.
She pulled her tied wrists and felt for her mama's necklace. Thankfully, it was still in her cloth.
Still lying on the floor, she looked around her and noticed she was in the middle of a thick bush. As she made to lift her head to see clearly, a face popped in her vision and she opened her mouth to scream.

"Shhh" The man raised his tied wrists and placed a finger on his lips.

Understanding hit Kasao. He was also a slave.
She tried to sit up with her hands and feet tied. She scratched her back on the bare floor as she pushed herself to a sitting position. It was a hard task.

"Where..." Kasao began but the man made another hushing sound, looking around them frantically.
It was then that Kasao noticed bodies around them. They were all slaves too. If counted, they'd be more than fifty. Her eyes burned with tears as it dawned on her that she was a slave.

"Where are we?" Kasao whispered this time as she adjusted her sitting position.

"No one knows" The man stated dryly.

Kasao took a look at the man sitting close to her. He was a fine man but thin from starvation. He wasn't so much older than she was. She wondered how long he had been a slave.

"They had planned to sell you to Pito if you don't wake up when they return so I tried my best to wake you up" The man smiled at her.

"Thank you" Kasao said sheepishly. She knew she sleeps like a log of wood. It was something not even her papa could correct.
Kasao made to ask who Pito was but the man moved away from her and looked into the bush at the other side.

"Ah, this one is awake" A very huge man walked into the clearing where the slaves were kept and stopped directly in front of Kasao, hitting her foot as he stopped.
Kasao cowered from the man and he gave a satisfied smile.

"You are seventy nine. Do not forget your number. That is what you shall be called from now" The man looked at the other slaves and after what felt like ages to the slaves, he stormed off and they all felt relieved.

Her slave friend shifted back to her and whispered "That is one of our owners. Never forget your number"
The way he said 'owners' irritated Kasao but she didn't say.

"What's your number?" She asked instead.

"Twelve. We are numbered in the order we came"

She looked at the man with pity. He must have been here for long. She wondered how he became a slave.

"What is your name?" She asked him with a smile. A friend would be useful in a place like this.

The man opened his mouth to speak and then he paused, waited for a while and before Kasao knew it, he was already away from her and she knew their buyers were coming so she sat back.

The subject of name never came up between them so she kept calling him twelve and he called her seventy nine.