Freedom

Chapter 6

It was midnight when I woke up. A sound woke me. But what was it? I got up from the bed of a safe house. When I walked into the next room I was horrified. A snake had gotten in from a hole in the wall. It had its fangs locked into a woman's neck. She was screaming in agonizing pain. I quickly looked for something to attack the snake. Instantly I noticed a loose peace of flooring and ripped it out of the ground. I whacked the snake repeatedly until it fell from the lady's neck. Even after I attacked it until it went back out of the house. I ran to her. She was bleeding everywhere. "Oh god no!" Her screams were deafening. "Please lord, let this woman live. Don't take this innocent lady from this beloved earth." I held her in my arms, she was dying and I could do nothing. The snakes venom was already too far in her. She was far from saving. I held her, I held on to what was left of her. She had died an unholy, unworthy death. No one deserves what had happened to her. "Damn you!", I screamed to no one. I turned and saw Frederick standing there, just watching what was going on. His eyes looked as though he were to cry at any moment. I don't blame him. I was already in tears. "She deserves a funeral. Not just a bury and walk away I mean bury, make a tombstone, and pray." And we did just that. We dug a grave, found a stone and carved in, "Here lies a woman who died an undeserving death. May she rest in peace.", and gave a prayer. We left her to an eternal rest. I left as a different man. And I would never be same...

Days had past since then. We found ourselves in a small village sneaking through farms, picking through the vegetables and fruits to see which were good for taking. Being raised on a plantation basically my whole life, I can see which ones to pick. Being in that field made me remember being there. I think Frederick was thinking of the same thing. We had taken what was ripe and went on our way. I had decided that we should rest for the night. We found an abandoned barn near the edge of the town. I used a couple hay bales for a bed. "Fredrick, I don't know how much longer I can take this."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean this journey. What if we should've stayed at the plantation? We might die out here. Look at all of the people we've seen die out here. That could've happened to either of us. I don't know if I can do this any more."

He looked at me as though I had taken the words out of his mouth. "I won't let you quit out of this. I'll be damned if I don't see you cross over to Canada. No matter what it takes, we'll get there."

For once in a long time I woke peacefully. I looked around puzzled. I think I was expecting something to pop out at me, but nothing happened. "Frederick?" I called out, hoping to here him respond. " I'm up here.", he called out. He came down from the 2nd floor of the barn and walked over towards me. "Peaceful around us for once.", I said in a sarcastic tone. We walked out to the village to see where to go from there. Frederick asked a man which way north was. My heart skipped a beat when he did cause I thought he would strike him. But the man just pointed in the direction. Frederick thanked him and once again we were off. Off to find our new home, if we could make it.