The Slave

The Slave

Written and Submitted by Muhammad Shahir

(This is NOT based on a true story)

My face was planted on the dirty, dark brown mud. I felt myself slipping away from consciousness. My eye-lids felt like 15 pound weights, an unstoppable force trying to force my eyes shut. I restrained my eyes. My ruined, scratched hands were tied behind my whipped back. I was on the verge of closing my eyes, when he woke me up. He looked me dead in the eye, disgusted. WHIP! A sharp, stinging pain enters my back, as if someone just pulled off all the hairs on my back. I wince, holding back my agonizing screams. ‘’What is wrong with you…’’ I mumble, coughing in between. After about another 15 minutes of whips, he lets me go. I don’t know how I didn’t pass out. My grasp on the world was shaky and corrupted. 2 big, buff men haul me up by my wrists and drag my soon-to-be-dead body and throw me into a cell. The last thing I see is the 2 buff men bringing a slave out and whipping him. 

…

I wake up, looking around frantically and hit the air with my fists. Once I realize nothing was there, I cool down. “Just a dream.. Just a dream..” I say breaking a sweat. I look around the cell one more time, and it hits me that I have been sleeping for a long time. I only usually get to sleep for 45 - 1 hour in the morning. “Huh… Weird…” I say in a puzzled tone. I look around one more time. Maybe I should try the cell door.. I think.

I get up, and I immediately scream. I fall down, still screaming. I look at my leg, and see something implanted on it. It was a bug, but it didn't look like any bug I’ve ever seen. But then again, I’ve hardly seen the outside world.. This could've been a normal bug. I look at it one more time. It hadn’t bit me yet. It had just pinch me with its teeth, not digging it into my skin. It had 8 thin, long creepy looking legs. It was pitch black, as if it was dunked in ink. Except for its back. It had some red marking on it. It looked like a red hourglass. My eyes go wide. I know what this is. It was a Black window. “The sight of the red hourglass markings on their abdomen is enough to send even the bravest of people scampering away with fear. But while the markings on the underside of deadly female black widow spiders can help us identify them easily..” My older brother said once. I look down at my leg. It was still there.  I try not to panic and look around for a solution. There was nothing around me that could help. I could just slap it away, or squish it with my hands. I go with the second option. I raise my scrawny hand, very slowly. My hand was just above the black widow now. I looked at it, wondering how on earth I’m doing this. SQUASH!! I slap it down. Blue blood starts oozing from it, and I gag. I look at my hand. Blue blood was splattered all over it. I get up, and this time it doesn’t hurt. The Black widow falls on the ground, lifeless. I walk to the gate and to my delight, it's unlocked. I open it up. I look around. I see no one. It was about midnight. Where was everyone? I look around again. “Hello? Anybody there?” No response. I walk to another cell, and see no one there. Had they escaped without me? Did they move to another base camp and left me here to rot? That was likely; I was the most hated slave. But then again, I did work the hardest out of all the slaves. “Hmm…” I mumble, pondering what could’ve happened. Then, out of the blue, someone screams. I get startled and look at the direction it came from. This was my only hope. I sprint toward the sound. I hear it again. I look up. There was a giant wall blocking my way. You see, my base camp is like a prison. But without a cafeteria and all the luxuries. I try to climb it up. No use. I look at where The Man’s office is. It was open! I run through, and see another door open. It was the door out of this place! I ran out. I run, run run, like I’ve never before. I realize something though. What about the other slaves? I look back. I didn’t want to go back. So I kept on running. 

…

The slave, also known as Leo Duke, met a couple of slaves on the way. Together, they helped more slaves and kept on getting popular. Soon, almost every slave camp was destroyed and every slave there was set free. Leo Duke. Everyone loved him. He was kind hearted and a good man. It was a great day when slavery was gone. Black people were set free, and they had their rights. Everyone liked Leo. He knew everyone. Every slave in Canada was set free, and those who committed their crimes were let go, but if they made the same mistake again, they would have consequences. Everyone started a new generation of love and peace. Nobody was anyone's slave again. Leo went down in history, and is still known today. There is a statue of him in Guelph, Canada. That's where it all started. Some say that Leo went to a different country in search of helping more slaves. Others say that he stayed in Canada and lived a peaceful life. Nobody will ever know. 

Nobody is different from one another. It doesn't matter about your color, race, or religion. Everybody is perfect the way they are. 

“If slavery isn’t wrong, then nothing is.”

• Abraham Lincoln