A Brief History of Benin by Orlan
A Slave's Journey by Lotte
At last, we were half dragged onto a mammoth vessel bigger than any spindly canoe I had ever seen back at my home in Africa. I could feel the slaves I was chained to trembling as a stiff leather whip cracked my back until I was blue with bruises. I saw my mother looking agonised from the deck of a neighbouring ship. That was the last time I ever saw her. As the dirty iron chains rubbed my sin red raw, a cockroach crawled over my sore bare feet. Dust and dirt infected my deep wounds but I remembered being whipped and promptly shut my mouth. The evil crew screamed at us in a rough tongue I did not understand. A few of the more fluent adults started up our tribal dance and I joined in proudly until I realised the crew’s smiles were actually sneers. I shut my aching eyes tight to block out the terrible suffering around me but the smells and sounds of torment roared on inside my head like a night mare, as finally the shout came to head below deck. M0ving from the sweltering heat to the di
Fantastic writing Orlan. Well done!
ReplyDeleteMr Goodhand