Running From Slavery
The slaves were hard at work in the large fields.
They were burning with sunlight and steaming with sweat on their backs.
They kept working, to stay alive.
Louise Sunbell, age 12, was one of the few
white people working. She hated it. She was the daughter of
the owners. She was treated unfairly, like the slaves were.
Louise considered herself a slave because she was treated like one and
did all the same work they did. She was put out on the fields to
work and watch the slaves. They were her friends. She didn't
boss them around, she helped them. She hated to see her friends have
to work in the fields and be burned from the sun, and dirty from the soil.
She had friends in the field, but wasn't allowed to talk to them while
at work. She wasn't allowed to talk to them ever!
Louise pushed her shovel hatefully into the
soil. She missed being free and being able to talk to her friends,
but now she couldn't. She'd be in danger if she did.
The evening soon became night. The air
was cooling off and Louise was more tired than the day before. The
owners of the farm came out onto the field to tell the slaves to finish
eating their piece of fruit and go to bed. Louise was sick of the
sound of hearing the owners treat them like animals. Louise skipped
her dinner that night and went to the barn hungry.
Louise tumbled into the hay stack (her bed).
Louise was holding her anger inside herself. She hated them, but
she liked her friends. Louise had an idea! She would run away!
"Brilliant," she said craftily. Soon
the whole state of Georgia was asleep, all except for Louise Sunbell.
When Louise was sure everyone was asleep, she
jumped off her high stack of hay. Louise silently tiptoed over to
Aira's bed (her best friend) and silently shook her awake. Aira was
frightened when she woke up.
"Louise?" Aira said.
"Shhhh! Don't wake anyone else up!" exclaimed
Louise in a whisper. "I have an idea! Let's run away from this
place! From slavery."
"I don't know about this, Louise. We
could be in trouble! We could die!" Aira said, frightened.
Just then, Peter, Thomas, Anna and Emma woke
up gloomily from the loud noise Aira made when she talked.
"What's going on?" Emma said.
"Yah, what's all that noise?" Peter whispered
sleepily.
"Sorry, guys. I was just talking to Aira,
because I had an idea!"
Just then, they all heard the front door open
from the house.
"They're coming," Aira said, frightened and
started backing away to her hay stack.
"Everyone back to your beds!" Peter exclaimed
softly. They all scrambled back to their beds. Just when the
door opened, Mary James (the owner of the farm) stepped into the barn and
looked around. She shined a lamp into Louise's face.
"Everyone's asleep!" Mary shouted back to the
barn. Then she left. Louise and all her other friends opened
their eyes.
"That was close," said Emma. Louise wiped
the sweat off her face.
Peter leaned on his elbow lazily and whispered,
"I think we should run away."
"I don't think we should," exclaimed Anna.
"Listen! Do you guys want to be stuck
here your whole life or be free?" They all looked at each other and
then looked at Louise.
"Ok. Let's try it," they said.
"Ok. Everyone gather your belongings
and meet Emma and me by the door."
Soon everyone was gathered around the door.
They were all a little frightened and a little excited. Louise pulled
out a map she was given at school before she was a slave.
Louise pointed to a spot on the map.
"Here we are now," Louise dragged her finger
across the map to a different place.
"Here's where we want to be."
Emma gasped. "That's a long way to walk."
"With Louise as our leader, we'll make it,"
said Peter. Louise looked up, then smiled at Peter. Peter was
ten years old, and was the bravest ten year old Louise had ever laid her
eyes on. She looked back at the map. Louise approached the
door of the barn.
"Remember, if you see the owners, hide!"
She reached and pushed the brown wooden old door open.
"We will run; we will run fast, very fast.
RUN!"
Louise took off running to the opposite side
of the yard from the barn. Louise dove behind a bush. Louise
looked at the rest of the slaves sternly. She looked at the house where
Mary and her husband lived. She glanced back at Emma, Anna, Thomas,
Peter and Aira. She waved at them and they darted toward her and
the green bush. They reached the bush without being caught by the
strict old Mary. The ground was muddy and dirty. The sky was
black and the moon was a highlight in the air. Louise held Peter's
hand, considering he was the youngest of the pack of six.
"Looks like we're going to have to climb the
fence. Emma, come here." Emma walked over. "Help me lift
Peter up over the fence."
Emma and Louise held their dirty hands together
so Peter could step on them and climb over. Peter had a hard time.
On his first and second try, he fell to the ground and started crying.
Louise told him to try one more time. He did. Louise
quickly grabbed his waist so he wouldn't fall, then she threw him over
the fence in a way he would land on his feet. Aira went over next.
She struggled to get over the wooden fence. Louise gave her a little
push over.
Soon they were all over the tall wooden old
fence that surrounded the farm and gardens. The slaves (soon no longer
to be slaves) were running down the dirt pathway through the woods that
surrounded the farm. They were heading to what is now known as Wyoming.
They kept walking along the path, and soon
eh sun was coming up. The kids were tired and wrapped all around
with sweat. The sun kept getting brighter and brighter. It
was going to be a hot day.
"I need a break! I'm tired and hot, mostly
hungry!" whined Peter.
"We can't stop! We need to keep going!"
declared Louise.
The forest became more gnarled each step they
took. The air became colder, because the trees were covering the
bright sun. Suddenly Emma stopped.
"Are we going the right way?"
"Positive," said Louise. She took out
her map and unfolded a piece of paper. She pointed to a spot a little
above where she pointed before, when they left. It was close to evening,
and they were closer to the end of the woods. The moss on the ground
had a sweet smell and the giant trees were as beautiful as a golden field
covered in snow. Louise's thin bony legs hit the moss softly as they
continued to walk through the night.
In the pitch black the kids were holding hands
to stay together so they wouldn't get lost. Emma yelled. She
yelled loudly.
"A light! A light ahead!" She pointed to a
light in a house near where they were. Emma started running towards
the light mindlessly.
"No, Emma," Louise thought so strongly, her
mind almost spoke for her. She started running, but no. She
couldn't leave the others behind. But not for long! They started
running after her.
"Oh well, I guess they can come," said Louise
to herself while running towards the house.
"Emma! No!" yelled Aira and Thomas. Emma
got there. She opened the door to the barn, and slipped inside.
"No Emma! No Emma!" yelled Louise, twice in
a row.
"Something tells me I'll have to go get her!
I'll risk my life to save my friend," she thought deeply, almost letting
tears roll down her cheeks.
She shuffled her stiff feet and bolted forward
toward the barn house, purposely leaving the others behind. Louise
kept running, slamming her feet into the frosted ground. Tripping
and getting back up from the rough ground, she reached the fence, leaping
over it in one large jump. Louise hid behind a thorny bush.
She waited about six minutes until all the lights were off, and everyone
was asleep in the house.
She bolted yet again to the barn house, burning
off her fury at Emma for running off like that. Louise slammed the
doors open, hitting the walls of the barn. It was loud, very loud.
The lights shot on at the owner's house. Louise's heart was pounding
heavily in her weak chest. She heard footsteps on the crunching frosted
grass. She had to warn Emma!
Disappearing from the doorway inside, she looked
for Emma furiously whipping her head in every which way. Emma was
huddled in a corner by a stack of hay.
"We have to get out of here, Emma. You
were foolish to just run off that way.." Then there were people standing
at the doorway, all of a sudden they came out of nowhere. They were
the owners! Louise gulped.
"Stay low," whispered Louise.
"No one's here, Mary," shouted the man, turning
his head to a woman standing twenty yards behind him. Soon he left
and Louise heard a door slam shut and saw the lights turn off. Emma
groaned,
"Thanks."
"Let's go," said Louise.
As Emma and Louise jumped over the fence, they
saw Peter's scared face waiting for them.
"Come on guys. Let's go."
They slept for thirteen hours and started in
the early cold morning off on their journey. They walked for days.
They walked for nights. They walked for hours. They walked
for minutes. It soon became night after thirty-two days of straight walking
towards their destination. Wyoming.
The next morning, the sun rose over the mountains,
and was soon smiling over the golden fields. They arose sleepily
and chilled to the bone. Louise looked at her friends and smiled.
Louise's smile soon became a frown. She had a feeling something was
wrong. Peter was gone. Soon all the kids realized the same
thing.
Aira started crying. Sobs fell down her
swollen cheeks.
"It's o.k. We all feel the same way,"
Louise said, comforting. "The only thing we can do is keep walking
and look for him."
Aira looked up at Louise with her large green
eyes, which made Louise's stomach lurch for some reason. They walked
for twenty three more days. Louise spotted a patch of small shaped
rectangles. Buildings. Wyoming.
"Look!" shouted Thomas with all his might,
while pointing to a small sign off to the left of them. It read,
They shouted and wept, hugging each other!
All except for Aira and Louise. They missed Peter. Suddenly,
Louise heard footsteps running down the path through the woods. Louise
was scared, her heart pounding in her chest.
"Everyone! Hide!"
Everyone dove into the bushes except Aira.
She was too sad to think. The footsteps came closer and closer, faster
and faster. Soon the kids hiding in the bushes heard a shrill.
"Peter! I can't believe it was you!
I was so worried!" Louise came hobbling out of the bushes.
She saw the small face and the large shoes of Peter. It was him.
"Peter!" She hugged him and kissed him
on the head.
"Come on guys! Let's go to town."
They hopped and skipped to the dirt road leading to the town. Crossing
the street was a young girl around Louise's age.
"Hi," said the girl in excitement. "I'm
Amanda."
"Hi, I'm Louise and this is Aira, Peter, Thomas,
Emma and Anna." She pointed to the five kids standing beside her.
They waved to Amanda with excitement. Louise looked at Amanda and
then back to the excited faces of the five kids.
"Amanda, can I talk to you for a second?" Louise
said seriously.
"Sure." Louise took Amanda's hand and
walked over behind a tree.
"What are they saying?" asked Peter.
"I don't know," said Peter curiously.
Louise and Amanda came back side by side.
"You guys," said Louise wiping her eyes, "you
are going to have to go with Amanda and stay with her. I have to
go back to Georgia to rescue other innocent slaves."
Louise hugged Peter because he was crying.
"Bye, Louise," said Emma, while looking down
at the ground. "Will we ever see you again?"
"Of course you will."
The groups parted. Peter looked back
over his shoulder and saw Louise disappear into the horizon.
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