Run

The leaves and twigs crunched beneath his feet as he ran. He had lost track of time but he was sure he was close. His whole body ached, but he was almost there. He had to be. He had worked too hard for this. He could not fail now.

He came to edge of the woods. Through the brush he could see the cabin. Inside that cabin was his freedom.

He approached the cabin cautiously. He put his hand on the latch and the door swung open slowly with a grating whine.

Empty.

It was empty.

Then he heard the stomping of horses. The yelps of bloodhounds. He glared into the empty cabin. He thought nothing.

They emerged from the woods and surrounded him. A voice penetrated the cold early morning air.

“Good for nothing niggers.”

The overseer called off the dogs and dismounted his horse as he took his whip off his belt. The two other mounted men watched smugly.

“Otis here told you he’d be waiting in there with the manumission papers you paid him for. You ain’t the first to fall for this. We gotta make sure you niggers know you belong to us. That is God’s will, boy.”

He continued to glare into the empty cabin.

The two others dismounted. They dragged him to a wide tree and tied his wrists around it and ripped off his shirt.

“Ten lashes now and ten lashes when we get back. Gotta make an example. Remind em no one can run.”

The crack of the whip echoed through the woods.

He did not make a sound.