The New World: A Short Story

”Siyahamb’ ekukhanyen’ kwenkos; Syahamb’ ekukhanyen’ kwenkos’; Siyahamba ,hamba; siyahamba, hamba; siyahamba’ ekukhanyen’ kwenkos!”
My village and I love to sing and dance to this song. We sing praising the Lord around a huge fire. It is in the middle of night and we start heading back to our shacks when I start to hear a frantic voice that I recognize as my mother. “Achim! Achim!” she screams. I follow her voice all the way to the shore of Loango and I let out a blood-curling scream.

My mother is in a cart hog-tied, gagged, and blindfolded. Suddenly, all I see is blackness, and my feet leave the ground. I feel a sharp pain in my left flank as I am thrown into some kind of cart. It smells like urine and feces, and I can feel hands,
I learned that I am on a ship to the “New World.” I am able to see now because someone took off a bag that was blinding me. The conditions are horrible. The heat is unbearable and sickness is crawling all over the ship. People are sick from the angry sea and from the conditions we are forced to live in. The skin on my knees and elbows is mostly gone and I haven’t been offered food or water. My mother was separated from me and my father is gone. He was sickened with dysentery and was removed. I don’t know where he went , but he hasn't come back yet. Most nights seemed like they would never end because of the rough seas crashing on the hull. The cries of the women and children were more than I could bare. The door to the dingy place creaks open, and beams of sunlight burn my eyes. Interrupting my thoughts I was having of my
It’s pitch black outside and it is freezing cold. I’m hoping to make it to the shore by daybreak. I’m passing many farms. I have no idea what I will do once I get there. I am hoping to find other slaves that have escaped to help me. I am startled by a figure ahead of me. I know it must be a slave because I can see their skin color by the light of the night stars. I call out to them and then I realize it is my mother! She is alive! I thought I would never see her again. We hugged and sobbed briefly, but knew we needed to keep moving to escape this horror. We could smell the ocean air, we were getting closer. Just as our bloody feet hit the sand, a tight noose was thrown around my waist. My mother screamed, as they caught her as well. They beat my mother until she was unconscious. I believe she is dead. I rejoice loudly as she is no longer in pain and free from this living torment. The slave owners beat me until I no longer could see the light of the