Character Sketch 2

Once again this will also become more but for now a taste

I stay where I am silently crying, waiting for when it will stop. I think to myself how I came to be in this situation. My papa was a freed man, but had no money. So he had sold me to this family being assured that they would treat me well and take care of me. Foolish man. He should have known that you can’t sell a black girl to anyone. No one is kind to their slaves, papa should have known that. I bet he was just glad to be rid of me. More tears fall to the floor at the anger I had towards papa.

            I was so stuck in my thoughts that I had not realized when the lashings had stopped. I get up silently with my head held low and shuffle off to the servant’s quarters. Once I am outside I fall to the ground. The pain is too great. I sit there for a moment until it eases enough for me to walk. I should be used to master’s temper by now. Anything you do wrong you get a lashing. I get up slowly and keep heading to the quarters. I stop in front of the shack we all call a home. It is meant to fit only a small family at best but we all stay here. Theres at least fifteen of us I think, I always lose count. I enter and head straight for the bed.

            Jonah, a bear of a man with hands as rough as sandpaper stops me. He grabs me and turns me around to look at the new lashings I had received just moments ago. He takes in a sharp inhale and sits me down gently on a bed. “Stay here Eliza, I’ll try and find some salve Old Mary may have whipped up and some bandages. These are probably the worst ones I have seen on you yet.” He walks away.

“Thank you Jonah.” I silently whisper.

He grunts and goes off to find Old Mary and her magical salve. While waiting I look across the room at the one lone mirror we all had in this shack. I see me reflecting in it. My once beautiful short cut black hair is now matted, my brown eyes that shone with such ferocity look dull and worn. My face looks dirty and worn from all the work I did today. My clothes resemble nothing but rags. I’ve lost so much weight that I look like a stalk of corn. I was ten when papa sold me, now I am fourteen but look older due to the conditions I am in. I turn away from the image that is not who I was.

            Jonah comes back and begins applying the salve as gently as he can. “Eliza, I have no idea what you did to anger master but try not to ok? A beautiful girl like you shouldn’t have to go through this.” He says.

“I try but the soup pot was so hot, I accidentally dropped it and slipped. I tried to apologize to master but he just got angrier.” I say, as a sob escapes my lips.

“Hush, we will have none of that. You be strong ok?” Jonah says as he applies the bandages to my back.

I nod and thank him when he is done. “One day soon, I will get us out of here.” Jonah promises.