I have given up all hope. I have no use in living anymore. I have knowledge that may help you have a better fate then I. It starts many years ago, but I will spare you the details. All you need to know is that my people and I were kidnapped and sold. During all of this my family was taken from me. White men took my wife and children and I couldn’t do anything to save them. I was taken by another group of white men and they put me to work in a large field with many others of my kind. We worked from morning to night with very few breaks and very little water. When the day was over we were sent to our small cabin that was made for five or six people, but they managed to fit ten of us in. For dinner we were given a small bowl of soup and a glass of water. When it rained we would gather around our one small window, all of us trying to get a drink.

After many years in this hell, with the thought of my family always there I hatched a plan. I would run away from this place and locate my family. We would live together and be happy again. I asked some of the other slaves to join me, but there hope was gone. So I waited for the right moment to make my escape, and finally the night came. Most of the guards were at the lord’s house having a party, so it would be easy to get away unseen. I waited for a long time before I slipped out of the door. Then I slowly walked outside, crouching as low as I could. I stayed in the shadows and I was doing everything I could not to make a sound. I was getting closer to the woods at the edge of the property. If I made it there they wouldn’t have a chance of catching me. I was about two-hundred feet away from the woods when I heard someone yell. Then I sprinted, not worried about being seen anymore. I ignored my exhausted body and bleeding feet. The only thing that kept me going was adrenaline and the hope that I held so dear. Then there was a loud crack and my back began to sting. I ignored it. There was another crack and I found myself on the ground. I tried to get back up, but my leg wouldn’t allow it. I looked down to see a red gash on my calf that was beginning to leak blood. Then the guards reached me and started to beat me. Although I didn’t feel anything. I was somewhere deep within myself, a place of sadness and false hope.

They put me in the middle of the estate, so heavily chained I couldn’t move. I was an example to the others. The monsters had taken my home, my family and now they had taken the only think I had left… my hope. So I tell this story in the hope that you will one day hear it. If you are still free and you see the white men coming, run and don’t stop running.