A Slave's Journey by Nefeli

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Eventually, we were dragged onto the mighty vessel. Fear flooded my whole body as the crew stared at us with an evil grin. While being chained to the other slaves, we were told to wait until we were ordered to head below deck. The nerves I felt when one of the crew came and whipped the slave next to me. I was petrified. I felt sorry for the poor prisoners being whipped and yelling in pain. It was brutal. The heat of the African sun was unbearable. We had no shade or water and I was so thirsty! After a very long period of time, we were ordered to head below deck. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like chained to a rotten, wooden post.

Heading from the heat of the African sun, to the damp and stinky hold I almost fainted because of the heat. As I walked slowly into the dark and musty hull, I could smell human waste and vomit. Everywhere I looked, I could see people crying and also being whipped. The cries and the smell made me feel sick. It was the worst experience of my life, or so I thought. Once in position, we were chained to our posts with tight steel manacles. The chains rubbed my skin red raw and it stung so bad, I was about to cry. Wearily, I closed my eyes as the nasty crew extinguished the lamps for bed. Then we were plunged into total darkness.

However, sleep would not come. The awful sound of people crying and moaning was unbearable and so was the smell. It was impossible to sleep because of the super loud noise the crew were making. They were dancing and singing to an awful tune that echoed around the gloomy hull of the ship. My whole body ached and the horrific aroma was still overpowering and making me feel even more sick. After a long time, my eyes adjusted to the darkness but that didn’t do me any good. Now I couldn’t just hear the poor passengers groaning, I could also see them! I felt so, so sorry for them but also for myself. Eventually, the wooden goliath set sail. For the first time I realised that I had to leave my beautiful homeland behind and that there was no way back. At last, I fell asleep


Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 23, 2020 at 12:38 PM

    Nefeli, such powerful writing, really well done. You have shown such a good understanding of the horrors of slavery.
    Mr Goodhand.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 4, 2020 at 8:06 PM

    Such wonderful writing Nefeli! Well done! So proud of you!

    ReplyDelete

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