An elderly woman from a small Caribbean island trades her daughter to a wealthy man for riches.
The daughter, Isabella, is now forced to leave the Caribbean to Europe-betrothed to a cruel older man she refuses to spend the rest of her life with.
A...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
By the time we arrived to his destination the sun was setting.
I sat with my legs crossed away from James as he smoked a cigar on the other side of the vehicle. I stopped crying but my lashes were wet, my nose was still runny and my face was still pink.
The carriage door opened, James stepped out and began walking towards the doc leaving me behind and alone in the vehicle. I thought for a moment this was my chance to bolt and run away but the entire place was surround by dirty men who looked like that worked for him.
The driver, also the same man who grabbed me from before- grabbed my bruised forearm again and lead me to the doc.
"James." I call out, hoping my finace would help me. He turns around, looks at me up and down with a face of disgust, making me feel worse.
"Get her on the ship. We leave at dawn." He says with no emotion.
"James, please." My voice cracks- The unnamed man forcefully pulls me up the wooden boarding plank as I continue to look back at James hoping he'll have some compassion or sympathy.
He does nothing of the sort and begins discussing with the men at the loading station.
Once I enter the ship I earn a few glances from the crew but nothing more. The ugly man continues to pull me painfully down the stairs of the ship, below the deck.
We walk down the creaking wooden steps. It's dark and dusty down here, with only a few melting candles on the wall barley lighting up the path.
When we get below deck, away from everyone else I start so kick and struggle again, attempting to break free once more now that no one's around.
Only this time he doesn't hold back and uses more force. He grabs the back of my neck while also pulling my dark curls and shoves my body down.
I grab his wrist, trying to loosen his grip but he swings me against the wall.
I kick him in his gut, following with a satisfying groan of pain. I throw unaimed swings at him multiple times, he winces at each hook but continues to pull me.
His grip loosens for a moment, I take the opportunity to break loose and punch him right in his face. He grunts in agony and places his hand on his nose then shoves me back.
I land on the cold wooden floor, earning a few splinters. Looking up I brush my hair back to find him closing a metal gate in front of me while covering his bloody nose.
I get up and reach the metal poles, shaking them aggressively, pushing and pulling as they rattle loudly but stay shut.
"Fucking bitch." He curses at me lowly while wiping away the blood from his face and wiping it on the wall.
He turns his back towards me and begins walking away. "Hey! Please! Wait!" I yell while shaking the gate.
He blows out the candles, the only light source down here. In an instant the room goes pitch black and I'm surrounded by nothingness.
I sit in darkness and silence.
James seemed very different in front of my mother. More of a gentleman. The moment we stepped into his escort his demener completely changed and it struck fear.
I'd already made up my mind: I'm not going to live with that man for the rest of my life.
I'm not going to live like this for the rest of my life.
