It had been a whole week since we had been caught, I knew that because I kept track how many times I saw the moon up. I was really starting to miss home I wondered if my family were looking for me but there was a part of me that thought they didn’t care about me. I hated the fact that I was so far away from them, I missed everything the smell of mum’s cooking, the breeze in my hair, the feeling of the sand running between my toes, the sound of music and singing along and I even missed school. There were my friends, who I missed hanging out with down at the beach one day we found a big plank of wood and decided to carve it into something we could sit on in the sea, little did we know then that we had made the first surf board. . As much as I missed them I was glad they weren’t going through this.
I thought I had it bad at home having to help my parents out on the field but that was nothing compared to the work I had to do on the ship. We were woke up early, I was never sure exactly what time but I knew it was early. It was weird and uncomfortable to come from the darkness of the cabin to the bright blue sky and yellow sun. We were all given dirty white rags to wear but some people had different shades of blood splattered on theirs bright red, dark red and dark brown. Everyone was given separate jobs to do, mine and Rhonda’s ( my mums old friend) was to clean the deck floor. We were always watched to make sure we did it to their standards.
If you did by any chance make a mistake their was a series of different punishments you would have been given. They ranged from one whip to whipped to death. Some even got thrown into the ocean with heavy rocks tied on to their chains to weigh them down. I got whipped once it was one of the worst experiences of my life. The same man would always do the whipping. He was a white man who had a long dirty brown beard. I only ever saw him wear his vile red scarf, dark navy jacket and repulsive cream trousers. He used a long, strong dark brown whip to hit his prisoners with. We seemed to get food when it was hottest so it must have been midday. All you got was a handful of warm mashed potatoes and some other mushed vegetables. For dinner we each got a small slightly heated piece of cheap meat and a ladle of water. We had hardly any energy and we were always thirsty.
There was quite a few who I made friends with but there was just one woman and she was great it was Rhonda. She was an average height and always looked like a proper lady even in her situation. She was one of those people who could melt the heart of any one even the strongest of criminals. But don’t get me wrong she wasn’t a softie no not one bit of her, she could be tough when she needed to be. She was like my mother always there when I needed her. Especially at night, while I was trying not to think about what tomorrow would bring. Night was when everyone changed even the toughest cried when the lights went out and away from the sailors. She made me feel like there was hope and to never stop believing that we would get out. Until one night when all of that changed.
It was really late and everyone was sleep and me and Rhonda were supposed to as well but we couldn’t sleep. We heard a bit of commotion outside the door and it sounded like drunks. Then the door was opened and we stood out like a deer stuck In headlights. It all happened so fast Rhonda pushed me down to the ground and told me to keep quiet. A dirty looking old white man undid Rhonda’s chains and dragged her out screaming( that image I will never get out my head, she looked so scared) and I never saw her again. No one knows what happened to her. She would always have a part of in my soul.
Ever since then I had lost all faith, I felt like it should have been me but I understood why she had to do it. I really wanted to get back at the sailors. So me and my other friends decided to form a form a small group at night, at first we just made fun of the sailors. We nicknamed them “the Little Devils” and the ship “the Devil’s ship”. When the adults found out they wanted to join and get the Little devils back for all the pain they had caused. I wasn’t the only person who lost someone close and that really helped me get over Rhonda. The next day when we were all just doing the usual we saw a ship and all of us thought it was going to be are way out, as it came closer we discovered…” explained Amelia.
“Jenny, ah well I never get to finish that story, night pet” said Amelia.
