The Slave's Promise: A Minifiction Series: Chapter 2

 The Slave's Promise: A Minifiction Series: Chapter 2

We reached a high wall. He stopped and leaned on it and looked at me with an odd light in his eyes. His face was brightly hallowed by the moonlight. I found myself touching his face, and he kissed me on my cheek. I closed my eyes. 

I woke to the sound of a heavy chain and strained breathing. I was standing near the same wall with my ears pressed against the wall. Then I realised the sound was coming from inside the wall. I was no longer myself as I found tears running from my eyes, and a piercing sorrow travelled through my body convulsively. In a last attempt to take control of myself, I tried to think about what was happening. Then, I lost myself to a stranger within me. I was pushed into the role of an observer, and the stranger was me. 

I saw a white man with a hat on his head coming closer. “Please, please, let him live,” I pleaded with him. “Come to my house, we will discuss that,” said the man, and he walked away. I ran behind him, and soon we reached a huge house. African slaves were moving around in the house doing the chores. 

I followed the man into a room. Without a word, he took hold of me violently. I realised that he was trying to rape me. I kicked and bit him and, somehow loosening his grip, ran outside and ran back to the wall. “I pressed my face against the wall and cried aloud, “Oh my love, my love..” I could still hear the breathing from inside, but the chains had gone silent. I closed my eyes to listen. 

The next thing I remember is waking up near the wicket gate of Uncle Fred’s house. My clothes were torn, and there were scratches on my face when I entered the house and checked myself in the mirror. A debilitating tiredness caught hold of me, and I fell upon the bed and slept till morning without dreams or waking once. 

I was shattered by the previous night, but I could not clearly tell if it was a dream or real. Somehow, I got up from bed and went to Uncle Fred. His fever was gone, and he was in a joyous mood. But when he saw me, he squinted thoughtfully. I signed his hospital discharge papers, bought the medicines that doctors prescribed, and we left for home. 

The packing was almost done. As night approached, a fear began to haunt me. I went to sleep early as I had not fully recovered from the tiredness. One moment, I was lying awake in bed, and next, I was in that forlorn street in the moonlight. 

I was walking with him. His left hand held me close to his body. We reached the seashore. The moonlight painted the sea black gold. A sailing ship was anchored on the shore. We climbed up onto it. We walked through a corridor inside and reached a cabin. There was a bed stand and a table upon which was a Bible, a notebook, a candle burning, and an inkpot. We lay down on the bed in an embrace. Then, through the cracks of the wooden walls of the cabin, water began gushing in. The ship was flooding and sinking. Soon, the room was full of water, and we were submerged. I saw his kind eyes looking at me with immense love. Then we drowned. 

I woke up with my entire body aching. I felt my lungs bursting open with excruciating pain. I was shrieking and shivering. Uncle Fred and his maid ran into the room and switched the lights on. After having one look at me, he said, “Enough!” Then he ran from the room. The maid ran behind him. When the sensation I was going through subsided, I tried to find him. Both of them were not inside the house. I went outside and, with great apprehension, stepped out. Beyond the compound wall, I heard him talk to the maid, “Come, hurry..” he was saying. 

I followed them quietly. Briskly, they crossed some side avenues and reached a small stone structure that looked like a wayside worship stone. Uncle Fred lit a candle before the stone on the pavement. “Take me, please spare her,” he said in an audible murmur. The maid stood silently beside him. Then everything went dark. 

When I woke up in my bed late. The morning had already turned warm. When I went to the kitchen, everything looked like a normal day. 

 

Uncle Fred asked about the truck I had arranged to shift his things to the village. He had no trace of recognition on his face of the previous day's happenings. Something so strange happened, and why does he look so oblivious to all that? Was I dreaming it all? 

I told him I had arranged for the truck to come early the next morning. Travel arrangements were also made for the maid to travel with us. She had no close relatives and had been with the family for 20 years.

I decided that I would find out what was happening to me. Following the previous day’s vague memories, I reached the stone structure where Uncle Fred had lit a candle. Two local men stood near it, talking about their fishing boat.

I asked them what the stone was for. They told me the story of the black slave, an astonishing story of a man and a myth. I will tell you the story in a moment. Let me take a breath before I tell you the story because this tale could be as much about him as about me! Things are now clearer for me, but not consoling or less frightening. 

(To be continued…) 

               

Read chapter 1 here- https://www.brokenbangles.com/2024/10/the-slaves-promise-mini-fiction-series.html