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  Inside the house, a pretty white woman was fixing herself a drink. She must have deemed our presence to be inconsequential, because her back remained turned to us even after we’d entered and closed the door. She simply stirred her drink gingerly with a long-handled silver spoon, and then drank it all down at once in a few gulps.

  “What are you doing here, Colette?” Julian asked.

  “Hello, Julian. I just stopped in for a cool drink before heading on up to the main house. I was sure you wouldn’t mind,” she said smoothly and with her back still turned to us.

  “As a matter of fact, I do mind. This is my house, Colette, and you can’t just happen by unannounced and let yourself in here. Now let yourself out,” he demanded with barely restrained anger.

  She spun around quickly, ready to spit back at him with the same fury, but she saw me first. She gasped, her face went snow white, and her eyes got big like she was surprised to see me. The glass in her hand dropped from her grip and shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces all over the wooden floor.

  Her trembling fingers rose to cover her lips, and her eyes had gone glassy with unshed tears. She looked at Julian incredulously and whispered, “What have you done?”

  Chapter Three

  “Get out of here, Colette. GO, NOW!” Julian yelled.

  She didn’t move quickly enough to satisfy him, so he charged over to where she was and grabbed her roughly by the arm. She squealed in protest, but it didn’t stop Julian from dragging her across the room. By the time they reached the door, Colette’s feet were scraping the floor behind her, and the heel on one of her shoes had come off. It tumbled over the wooden planks before coming to rest under the couch.

  Julian tossed Colette out the door, sending her stumbling down the porch stairs and onto the ground. Then, he just closed the door and walked away from it. He didn’t even look out the window to make sure she was alright.

  He said nothing for a long while. He went and sat down at a small round breakfast table, resting his head in his hands. I used the opportunity to take in my surroundings and maybe gain some insight to the man responsible for my captive state.

  The cottage was quaint and cozy, just one large room with a short section of wall separating a bed from the sitting area and kitchen. To my left, Julian sat at a two-seater table in the tiny kitchen area. The back wall of the kitchen boasted an ornate curio cabinet, filled with crystal glasses of various shapes and sizes, as well as fine porcelain plates, saucers, and cups. Below the glass door of the cabinet was a drawer, partially opened to reveal a gleaming set of silver cutlery and eating utensils.

  On my right, another wall housed a plush burgundy couch with two matching high-back sitting chairs on either side of it. A thin layer of dust lightly coated the fabric of all three, indicating that it had been a while since any of them had been used. Directly in front of me, a big, black, wood-burning stove was situated below a window on the wall opposite the front door. All the furnishings were set along the outer walls of the cottage, as most of the floor space was occupied by a throw rug on top of which sat a glass case filled with various decanters containing different liquors.

  There weren’t any photographs or niceties around. Overall, the house was rather tame and ineffectual – not like Julian, at all.

  Still with his back turned to me, he got up from the table and walked around the partition that separated his bed from the rest of the house. I heard what sounded like drawers sliding open and closed, then there was a sound like glass jars tinkering against each other. After a minute or two, Julian reappeared and started walking toward the table. He set a jar of ointment and a bottle of iodine on the table and pulled out a chair for him to sit in.

  “Take off your dress, Number 10,” he said without even looking at me. My apprehension increasing, I slowly pulled the dress up and over my head, leaving me completely naked before him.

  He dragged his fingers through the salve, gathering a healthy dollop on the tips. Slowly, he began to apply the cool, soothing jelly over the welt he’d made the night before with his bullwhip. His fingers trailed delicately over my collarbone, between the valley of my breasts, and down to my navel. Once he’d finished tending to the welt, he uncorked the bottle of iodine and tipped it, allowing a small drop of the deeply-red liquid to spill out onto his fingertip. He painted the medicine onto the corner of my mouth and gently blew air over it to lessen the sting.

  He returned the jars to where he’d pulled them from and rinsed his hands in a basin set up next to the bed. He still hadn’t made any eye contact with me since we’d encountered Colette, and I wished I’d been able to say why that was. He pulled a ladle from the drawer of silverware and a glass from the curio and then went outside without a word. By the time I’d put on my dress, he’d returned with a tall glass of cool, fresh water which he handed over to me before pouring himself a glass of bourbon. He consumed the entirety of the liquid in one gulp.

  “You’d better get going. Vivian will make trouble for you if you don’t get back there pretty soon. Drink the water, then leave and go back to the barn. Speak to no one on your way back. Tell no one what happened here, today.” Without another word, Julian went back outside, slamming the door shut behind him.

  I didn’t know what to think. Julian’s switch in demeanor since the morning had my thoughts and emotions all jumbled. Under the pavilion and there in his home, he’d not been the same man I’d encountered the previous night. Overnight, he’d transformed into something human. I didn’t need to trust him, but I did want to be able to. Maybe if he knew I trusted him, he wouldn’t do anything to destroy that; then, I’d be a little safer.

  Deciding the argument in my head was going nowhere, I picked up the glass of water and took a tentative sniff. It smelled alright to me, so I took a small sip. I felt the cool, clear liquid slide past my throat and travel down to my belly. Satisfied that the water was safe to drink, I drank the rest of it slowly, savoring the refreshment. Once I finished the water, I peeked out of the window, looking for any sign of where Julian had gone. He wasn’t anywhere in sight, and as much as I wanted to see him again before going back to Vivian and the girls, I figured it best to just head on out. It was a full mile back to the barn, and I needed to get going if I wanted to eat lunch.

  I stepped out of the cottage and onto the porch. I looked around to see if I could see Julian anywhere, but there was no trace of him. By then, the sun was high in the sky, providing no angle for shadows to be formed. I looked at the road that would lead me back to the barn and in the distance I saw the heat waves bouncing off the beaten path. I set out at a moderate pace, and within ten minutes I was nearly back at the barn.

  I was rounding the curve that would take me to the courtyard when I heard rustling coming from the cane fields to my left. At first, it didn’t scare me. I figured the noise to be from a dog or something of the like, as it wasn’t uncommon for the domesticated animals to roam about the property. I quickened my step anyway, and as I did, the noises coming from the field became louder and more erratic.

  The rustling turned into swishing and snapping sounds as the stalks bent and broke. Spotting the barn in the distance, I broke into a full sprint and didn’t stop until I had to bang on the door to be let inside. Vivian unlatched the door, and upon seeing my panicked state she pulled me hastily inside. She secured the door behind me and spun around to face me, a look of shock and confusion on her face.

  “I’m fine…I’m alright…” I managed to say despite panting for air with my hands resting on my knees.

  Vivian was still standing over by the door, looking at me with suspicion and disdain evident in her eyes. I knew she wanted to know about what’d happened after she left Julian and me alone, but I wasn’t inclined to placate her. She didn’t press the issue, and instead suggested I go and bathe. She told me where the pond was, and I wasted no time getting out of there and down to the water. Given our living conditions, I was prepared to bathe myself in water that was used for animals. I’d
been wrong to assume that, however, and the pond was actually quite lovely and serene.

  It was situated about 30 yards away from the back of the barn. The ground had been hollowed out into a bowl shape about 40 or 50 feet across. Tall, thin reeds surrounded it, affording a little bit of privacy. The water was clear and undisturbed, with tiny dragonflies darting to and fro over the surface. Looking to make sure no one was around to see me naked, I slowly pulled off my dress and walked down the slope.

  The water was surprisingly warm, and its liquid caress worked to soothe my tired, aching muscles. I leaned back, pulling my legs and torso up to the surface while extending my arms out to either side of me. Allowing the water to bear all my weight, I floated there with my ears below the surface, the muffled beating of my heart the only sound I could hear. I closed my eyes, and the pulsing rhythm drummed me to a quiet place, where we could be alone; just my thoughts and me.

  My whole life had been a balancing act on the fine line between life and death, and now that I’d seen a different facet of Julian, I teetered on the edge of sanity as well. There wasn’t anything that I’d ever had control of; not the loss of my family; not when I ate, drank, or slept; not what I wore; not even my own name. I felt tears stinging the outer corners of my eyes, and they slid down the side of my face and disappeared below the surface of the water.

  I inhaled all the air my lungs could hold, rolled over onto my belly, and dipped below the surface on a slow descent to the bottom. The water near the floor of the pond was murkier, and it stung my eyes. Little rocks and debris scratched against them, so I closed them and continued blindly to the bottom. I reached it, allowing my fingers to rake through the mud as I swam my way further and further away from the banks. If I could make it to the deepest part of the pond, then just maybe I’d run out of breath before I could swim back to the surface.

  My lungs started to burn, so I expelled a little bit of air through my nose. The bubbles tickled my cheeks as they streamed by it, causing me to snuff out a laugh and expel even more air. It wasn’t long before my lungs were nearly empty. I looked up toward the surface and got scared when I assessed the distance - it was a good 30 feet to the surface. There wasn’t any way for me to make it back up before I ran out of air, leaving me with a choice to make; I could either try to make it up before my lungs were completely empty, or I could just wait at the bottom for blackness to engulf me.

  My decision was reached quickly. I bent my knees, and planted both my hands and feet solidly in the mud. A second later, I pushed up and exploded off the pond’s bottom. I shot up through the water at a pretty good pace for about 20 feet, but going so long without oxygen had me feeling lightheaded and fuzzy around the edges. I looked up to the surface and watched it get further and further away as I sank back down to the bottom. My eyes closed of their own accord just before I felt something grab me by the elbow and pull me upwards.

  When my face emerged from the water, my mouth opened wide enough to make my jaw pop. I sucked in the biggest breath of air that I’d ever inhaled and began gasping, coughing, and wheezing in tandem. My head was leaned back against something hard, but yielding. Something else thick and rigid wrapped around my body - right under my bust - and it wasn’t until I reached my hand up to touch it that I realized it was an arm. I lifted my head to look at the sinewy, golden-brown arm. It was littered with scars. Some of them were big and raised – others were just barely visible. Most notably, the bicep had a patch of raised skin in the shape of a ‘D’ on it. I wrapped my fingers around the wrist and held on while I was swum back toward the banks.

  When we finally reached the more shallow water, I was hoisted up and over a broad shoulder, my hair dripping its water back into the pond. Once we’d made it out of the water, I was lowered and laid down gently on the banks. My eyes fluttered open and closed for a few moments as I blinked away the rest of the debris. A worried face came into focus, and I reached up and placed my hand on the cheek. It was wet, and its stubble tickled my palm as the man I’d first seen under the pavilion that morning smiled down at me.

  He sat me upright and dried me with a shirt that’d been hanging on a reed. I wasn’t at all ashamed of my nakedness as he inspected my body, his honey-brown eyes looking over every inch of me without lingering anywhere.

  “You weren’t hurt, were you?” he asked with accented speech – it sounded like a combination of English and French.

  “No, I’m fine.”

  “What were you doing?”

  “Bathing…” I said questioningly.

  “At the bottom of the pond, you were bathing?” One of his eyebrows arched up in disbelief as he looked me in the eyes, waiting to see if I’d tell him another lie.

  I couldn’t. I didn’t want to. The man had just saved my life, and I owed it to him to be honest. Since I wasn’t ready to do that, I just didn’t say anything at all. Instead I looked down at my pruned fingers, pretending to pick at my fingernails. He didn’t press me to talk about what’d happened. He just handed me my dress.

  “Here - put this on, and get back up to the barn before Eli or Lucas catches you out here and makes an example of you.” His voice was deep and raspy, and the sense of urgency in it was not lost on me. I wondered who Eli and Lucas were, but I would have to wait until a better time to find out.

  I moved quickly to pull my dress back on. I pulled it over my head and then made ready to stand up. His held his hand out for me to take, and I used it for leverage to pull myself up off the ground. I pulled my dress down over my buttocks and straightened its collar. I rose up on tip-toe and kissed his stubbly cheek lightly.

  “Thank you…for saving me, I mean” I said.

  “You’re welcome. Now get yourself back up the hill. Go on, now!”

  I scaled the slope in a few quick steps. I made it to the top and turned around to ask my rescuer his name, but he’d already disappeared up the opposite slope and into the cane field. I heard the stalks bristle and crack as he made his hurried retreat. Once I couldn’t hear him anymore, I walked back to the barn to get ready to go to supper.

  Chapter Four

  For the next few months, life at the Devereaux Plantation was predictable and mundane. The girls and I had settled into a routine, but were growing increasingly restless as winter and the opening of the manor drew near. We spent all day in the barn, except for the times we were let out to bathe and eat. The nights had turned cold and difficult to sleep through. Our bodies thinned as a result of our restrictive diets and inactivity. It was such a miserable existence, but I wouldn’t have taken anything in trade to have to be in the position of the other slaves.

  Compared to the other slaves on the plantation, we girls out in the barn had it good. Yes, we were treated badly and forced to sit and strip stalks of sugarcane until our fingers were raw and bleeding. Our daily quota was ever-increasing, and it was not uncommon for us to miss our mark, resulting in punishments that ranged from food deprivation to more workload. Julian was scarcely seen, and Vivian had begun to spend more time with his older, twin brothers – Eli and Lucas.

  The first time I ever saw them was as I was peeking through a hole in the wall of the barn. It was cold and still very early in the morning – the sun had barely broken the horizon. All was still and quiet outside except for the commotion going on out in the courtyard. Lucas was dragging a dark-skinned field slave, by her hair, over toward a wooden bench situated in front of a set of stocks. Her knees skipped in the dirt as she struggled to stay on her feet, and he was having quite a time trying to keep her upright.

  They trudged along for several yards before reaching the weathered bench and once there, her arms were forced into the groove of the stocks, and then the top was slammed down over them, securing her in place. Her ankles were then tethered together under the bench with a set of leg irons, leaving her completely immobilized and helpless. Almost too quickly to see, Lucas pulled a hunting knife from a sheath belted to boot, and the woman’s dress was cut from her body.

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nbsp; Right about that time, Eli was making his way across the courtyard. He was staggering about with his pants partially unfastened and his shirt unbuttoned – he was drunk. The brothers met up, and they spoke a few inaudible words for a moment before both retrieving bullwhips from their hip belts. The twin evils exchanged looks and nods and let their whips snake out over their heads before snapping them simultaneously over the bound woman’s back.

  Her first wailing cry sent a wave of sickness over me, and I barely made it over to my privy hole before my stomach was emptied of its contents. I stayed bent over that hole for the duration of her lashing, and even when there was nothing left in my stomach to come out, bouts of dry heaving continued to rack my body. Crack, after crack, after crack of their whips sliced through the morning air for minutes on end. Then there was silence.

  I mustered the strength I needed to crawl back over to my peep hole and look out. I saw Eli and Lucas, both breathing heavily with their whips resting at their feet. The woman wasn’t screaming anymore - she was hardly breathing, in fact.

  “Please just leave her,” I whispered. But that didn’t happen at all – not by any stretch of the imagination.

  Eli got sick on the side of the woman’s face and then urinated on her to wash it off. Meanwhile, Lucas was making his way over to where a fire was burning in a pit. From a wire rack next to it, he grabbed a long, textile glove and slid it over his hand. He reached his covered hand down into the mouth of the pit and pulled out a branding iron, still glowing red-hot from the fire. Hastily, he made his way over to where the woman was restrained, and without pause he applied the heated metal to her flesh repeatedly until the iron went cold and black.