Janae could see Charles in the distance, with a whip in his hand. Even from the distance they were at, they still narrowed their eyes at each other. Charles' was filled with malice.
Charles started laughing as if he had gone mad. "You must think I'm stupid Janae. You won't get out of this one, so get your ass in the damn fields!" He took Janae by the forearm and dragged her roughly to the field. "Let go, I can walk!" She shouted at him. It didn't stop him at all, as if what she said made him pick up his pace.
When they got to the field, he threw her out towards it. "You will pick the tobacco with these niggers and if I catch you slackin' I'll whip you myself!" Charles stormed away back down the road to the house. A man overwatched everyone to make sure they were picking the tobacco or cotton.
All the slaves stared at Janae, some with hate in their eyes others with sadness. "Hey come with me." A girl stood over Janae trying to help her up. When Janae was on her feet, she realized the girl was a mulatto. "Hey. I'm Jewel." Jewel didn't have a southern drawl like everyone else. She had sounded much more proper than them.
"Um..Hey I'm Janae." Jewel smiled softly. "Come with me if you want to know what to do." Janae followed Jewel to the middle of the field. "Okay, you see this basket? Just pick the cotton off of the plant and..put it in the basket." She then showed her how to pick tobacco too. "Okay your turn." Janae tugged on the cotton plant, realizing how tough it was. Using more force she pulled it hard and finally got it off. "I got it!" Janae smiled but Jewel didn't.
"You cut yourself Janae. Let me see it." Janae looked at her finger. She watched as the blood seeped into the cotton slowly. Jewel wrapped it with a piece of cloth. "That should stop it for now."
As they picked cotton they talked. "Where are you from? You don't sound southern." "I'm from Boston. My father sold me to a man who brought me to Georgia a year ago, then I was sold to Master Joseph as a trade." "Why would your daddy sell you?"
"He was getting sick and I had to go....by the way, I've been wanting to ask you something but I wasn't sure if it was appropriate."
"Go on." Jewel hesitated. "Are you that mulatto girl everybody is talking about who's been with the master's sons?" Janae blushed out of embarrassment.
"What? No of course not!"
"I'm sorry. They are just rumors after all."
Charles came back later, walking through the field. "Janae! Janae!!"
Janae didn't move but continually talked. Charles came up to her and grabbed her by her forearm again. "Janae get over-Who are you?" He stared at Jewel in confusion. Jewel looked a little like Janae except the fact Jewel had shoulder length Black curls and much tanner skin. She had resembled Lily too except Lily had wavy hair that was to her waist from her Native blood.
"Jewel..Master Charles..." "I've never seen you round these parts...Get back to work this doesn't concern you." Charles dragged Janae inside the house. She was dragged so fast, she was barely walking and couldn't even look at Lily or Abigail. "Charlie..." Charles stopped for a moment but then decided to ignore Janae and keep walking.
He brung her up the stairs to her old room and had his way with her like he always does except this time in the middle of kissing her he stopped and walked out. Janae was confused. She didn't want this but she noticed he was acting weird and the best thing to do would be to stay there. She sat on the bed for about an hour until Charles busted the door open with a bottle in his hand.
He started laughing hysterically. "You...are the devil.." He pointed at Janae, his finger slowly shifting past her.
He had smelled of strong alcohol. "Ya wanna know how?....Cause you seduce me then just...laugh at me...?" He layed on the bed, narrowing his eyes at Janae. His head was on the bed post and one of his legs were slightly bent. He pulled Janae forcibly to him and layed her head on his chest.
"You..have been seducing me since we were children...clearly devil's work. Who seduces a mere child?!" He twirled her golden curls around his finger. "Yet you were always with Nicholas...and I..had to learn.."
"They say the drunk ones are always the truthful ones..." Janae muttered. Charles forced her to where she was sitting on him with a leg on both sides of him. "You're so beautiful...Why does Nick get to have you?" There was hurt in his unsteady eyes that Janae couldn't pass...To know he was always feeling this way had made her feel bad.
He looked away from her. "Charlie..I'm sorry." She touched his face. "Don't feel sorry for me.." Janae sighed and decided to forget about all that happened before. She moved his Blonde hair out of his face and kissed him gently undoing her dress for him.
By the next day, Janae spent it with Lady Ida, her daugher Tammy, her son Max, and Jewel. Janae quickly became close with all of them, even Bernard and Otis. "Where did you go with Master Charles the other day?" Jewel asked. "...Um..I don't want to talk about it.." Lady Ida knew everything, like always. "Don't feel sorry for him. He's back to his old ways now so don't expect kindness anymore."
Janae thought back on what had happened that night for the whole day. Janae spent the night in Lady Ida's house. While she was sleeping she had felt someone pick her up and take her away. She was too tired to even open her eyes enough. The person put her in a different little shack and let her rest peacefully. When she awakened, she saw a suprising face that was stuck in her memory sitting against the wall in a daze.
"Jason.."
"Jason...Is that you?" Janae rubbed her eyes to make sure she really saw him.
"Sorry if this was sudden." She got up and went to hug him
"N-No, it's fine. You look different Jason...In a good way." It was true. He was much more muscular and taller and more handsome than before. He had an afro of Dark Brown curls now, but his skin was still a perfect caramel color.
"Thank you, Lady Ida made me a changed man." He stood up.
"Let's go...I don't want to worry her." He grabbed Janae's hand and went to Lady Ida's shack.
"You just come and pick her up without any words?" Lady Ida smiled sitting in her rocking chair on the porch.
"I came back to make sure you weren't too worried. I also wanted to thank you....For everything you've done for me."
"Don't thank me. Thank them." Lady Ida referred to the spirits.
She got up from her chair and gestured for them to come with her. "Come, I have something important to tell you Janae." Jason and Janae headed inside.
"What's wrong?" Janae noticed the concern on Lady Ida's face.
"It's about Charles..They tell me that he is a father." Lady Ida looked down unable to make eye contact with Jason and Janae.
Jason and Janae looked at each other in surprise. "What do you mean? By whom?" Janae asked with concern in her voice. She prayed that it wasn't by her.
"Sarah." Her prayers were answered and a quick sigh of relief came from her mouth.
"Don't be so happy Janae. You have more problems than you think."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean Charles most likely won't be happy about this considering he was never really in love with her. He was in love with you Janae. As sick and twisted as he is, I would be cautious of him trying to hurt that child."
Janae was disgusted at the fact that he would want to hurt his own child. She knew he was evil but didn't think he would go that far.
"What do I have to do with this?" Janae asked.
"You have to make sure Sarah doesn't tell him or you can try talking him through it maybe?"
"I'll make sure Sarah doesn't tell him, but how will I do that if she resents me and won't let me anywhere near the house?"
"Persuasion my dear..." Lady Ida smirked with her dark eyes sparkling in the little moonlight that came through the window.
Janae had no idea what she was doing. All she had to was show Charles kindness and convince him into letting her be a servant again.
"If he even tries to hurt you, I'll be there before you can blink! so help me God I'll kill him, even if I'll die in the end." Jason said kissing Janae goodbye.
She smiled sadly, "I'll be fine Jason don't worry yourself too much."
He smiled back at her, their hands intertwined. " I wish I could remember the first day. First hour, first moment of your meeting me. If bright or dim the season, it might be summer or winter for aught I can say. So unrecorded did it slip away, so blind was I to see and to foresee, so dull to mark the budding of my tree. That would not blossom yet for many a May."
Janae's eyes widened. The only person she heard ever make poetic remarks was Nicholas. "That was beautiful. I didn't know you were such a poet."
"Oh no, I'm not. I read it in a book of poetry Lady Ida had. Didn't it sound great?" Janae playfully hit his arm with a laugh.
"Well then, I must go." There laughter became sadness, and for a quick moment he thought he would never see the sparkle in her eyes again. There hands slowly broke away.
"I love you." Jason's unreadable expression held pain underneath and so did Janae's. "And I love you Jason."
As she walked away she kept reminding herself to not look back. Tears filled her eyes until they overflooded and came down violently. She had just reunited with him and now they had to separate once more.
As she came to the front door of the house, her bravery immediately turned into fear. She wiped her tears in hope that Charles wouldn't be able to see her off guard. She knew Sarah had left earlier in the day and Charles was the only one there besides the servants. She held on to the little amount of bravery and used it to knock on the door.
As she waited she could hear familiar voices and footsteps that came from women's heels. The door slowly opened and a dark skinned, middle aged woman answered the door. It was Abigail.
Abigail's eyes were wide and tears filled her eyes. She gave Janae a big hug, like one only a mother could give. "I'm glad to see you." She whispered to Janae. "Glad to see you too."
"Who is it Abby!" Charles' loud deep voice went through the house. Abigail quickly got off of Janae. Charles came and pushed Abigail behind him to see who was at the door.
"What in the hell-" His voice gradually grew loud and anger was taking over. Janae went through with the plan.
"Charles, wait.... please, may I please be in the House again? I'll do anything you ask of me!" Janae made her face as innocent as possible. Charles thought about all the things that would happen if he let her in again, but he didn't care. It relaxed his nerves slightly that he could see her whenever without much suspicion.
He grabbed her arm roughly and pushed her into the home, slamming the door behind him. "I swear Janae if you do anything to try me, you'll strongly regret it! Abby, take Janae and get her dressed properly. I will not have anyone in my house looking like the niggers in the fields!"
Abigail quickly took Janae to get her cleaned up. She washed her and gave her a clean light blue dress to put on. Lily came in the room surprised to see Janae, but not as surprised as Janae expected her to be.
"You're back....Great.." Lily hugged Janae awkwardly then stood to the side. "Lily, come comb through Janae's hair. I'll be back in a minute."
Lily went over and combed through Janae's hair quietly. Janae looked at Lily through the mirror in front of her. "You've changed." Janae furrowed her eyebrows.
Lily looked up quickly then back down. "What do you mean?"
"You're more quiet now. You used to be so sprightly."
Lily gave a little smile. "Well Maybe I have been-" She dropped the comb. "Sorry." She bent down to get it. As she bent down Janae noticed her sleeve coming up revealing Blue and Red bruises on her arm.
"Lily what is that?"
She quickly came back to her feet. "What?"
"Are those bruises on your arm?" Janae quickly stood and looked Lily in her eyes with concern.
"What are you talking about? You're talkin' crazy."
Janae roughly grabbed her arm and pulled her sleeve up. Large bruises were on her arms
"I fell." Lily yanked her arm away from Janae, quickly pulling the sleeve down.
"Did Charles do this to you?!" Janae shouted, Lily hushed her hoping that he couldn't hear her loud yelling.
"Just know it's very difficult to be you, Janae." Lily showed both of her arms revealing bruises everywhere.