Journal 80

It felt like we had been in this cell for days even though it had been only a few hours. We were all stressed, angry, and tearful at times. We kept trying to reassure each other that our loved ones and friends weren’t dead.  My head ran through possible scenarios for our capture. I kept trying to think positive thoughts, but my mind kept wandering back to the awful possibility that our friends weren’t as lucky as we were.  I was afraid that they were dead back at the campsite. Then, suddenly I pictured Aleece in that cabin all alone with no one there to help her. I sat down and cried.

He wasn’t at all what I thought our captor would look like. I was expecting someone big and ugly, with a nasty black smile. He wasn’t like that at all. He walked into the room nicely dressed, confident and handsome. He was holding a tray of food. The first thing he said was “Good morning, ladies. My name is Mathias. Welcome to Alexandria City and sorry about the accommodation.”

We started yelling at him all at once. Why are we here? Where are our friends? He told us to relax, he could only answer us one at a time. He pointed to me, so I asked my question. Where is Aleece? He looked a little confused. She’s a baby, blond hair, wearing a pink dress.

Mathias looked at me with those big brown eyes and that shiny white smile. “Oh right …I’m selling her to the Shakers. Don’t worry, she is going to a wonderful gang. They don’t believe in sex, and they can’t have children of their own. So, they buy orphans.”

I tried to reach through the bars to ring his neck, but my arms were too short. “She is not an orphan. She belongs to me.”

“Not anymore. I’m getting a good price for her.” He assured me that Aleece would lead a wonderful life, have plenty of food, schooling, and an excellent religious upbringing.

Then (and he said this with a smile) that we were being sold to a gang that needed women. He said I would have plenty of opportunity to have more children.

Hemy went ballistic then. She said it was illegal to buy and sell people and she said she already had a husband. Mathias played dumb. He said he didn’t know anything about Matt, Jonas, Tony, Sheriff Pete, Joshua or Runt.  He said he had advertised for women. Little Aleece was a bonus. Oh, and he said that it wasn’t illegal to buy and sell people in Alexandria City.  Apparently, the slave trade is alive and well in this part of the country.

I begged to see Aleece. I promised Mathias that I would do anything, he asked if I could just see her for a moment. He smiled that smile and said “NO,” but he did say that if I could get my buyer to pay for Aleece I could have her back.