Chapter 5 - The Slave Lord

The Slave Lord " Punish us? Who will punish us?" She asked. " The men." the lady replied simply. They don't like it when we disturb." " Who are they? What men? " She asked further with eyebrows scrunched in a display of the heightened rate of confusion showing on her small beautiful face. " The slave lord" the lady finally says even though the word sounded too heavy for her. " Slave lord?" " Yes. It's the man who gets slaves and take them off to other kingdoms, far away from their hometown" " Wait what?" Marilyn wasn't sure she was hearing all she just said clearly. So If she heard right, what this lady was trying to tell her was that she had been captured by some slave lord. What in the world? " I think there's a mix up here. I was sent on an errand to get medicine for my father. I am not supposed to be here" " None of us are supposed to be here," the girl said simply. She sighed in utter despondency as she recalled her own sad tale too. The naive young girl must have not known that she was sold off as a slave. " Do you know who sold you off?" She asked Marilyn but this only added to the bewildered look she wore at the moment. " No, nobody sold me...I mean.... I" she didn't even understand because it still seemed like a dream to her. " Then how did you get into his hands? I'm sure it was the huge guy that brought you here" " Yes. I remember now" Marilyn said as she frowned her face in anger as she recalled what happened that evening. How could she ever forget the huge fool that had spiky hair, pierced ears and ugly looking crooked nose. " He was huge and stood very tall. He claimed to be a local doctor who owned a medicine store." She narrated to the girl who listened with rapt attention. " I don't even know his name, I only know that my stepmother told me to get medicines from his store for my sick father." " Your stepmother said that?" the lady asked her to get a grasp of her sad situation that was very similar to hers. " Yes. My stepmother and....my father...I don't even know how he is doing now... he's very sick. I should be home right now with his medicines, not on some ship sailing to God knows where" The other young lady shakes her head in pity for the girl who had joined their unfortunate lot. She might not know judging from her naivety and cluelessness but one thing was certain, and it was that the newest addition to the slaves was sold by her stepmother. She thought of telling it to her but she felt that she would be heartbroken so she kept mum. She was going to find out anyway as time went on. " Is there a way we can get out of here, I mean.... ESCAPE?" Marilyn asked but the girl whose name she didn't know told her it was impossible. " But there should be a way somehow" she said as she walked to the door again to turn the knob. The door was not opening at all. " It's locked and there's no way we can actually escape right now" she told the frantic girl who was struggling hard with the door. " Why? There should be a way" Marilyn said with hope " Well, tell me which way that will be....?We are probably in the middle of a large ocean right now. How are you going to escape except you drown" Marilyn's hand dropped from the door knob as she realised that. Turning to face the girl, she slid downwards to the ground with her back to the locked door. She hugged her legs close to her chest and rested her chin on her knees as she stared into the darkness that laid in the corner of the room. It was morning and Marilyn woke up to the sound of cleaning going on. She rubbed her eyes and checked around the room to see a girl sweeping the tiny enclosed place. If she hadn't gotten a better view of the place last night as a result of the darkness and poorly dimmed light, she could see the whole place clearly now as it was day. She had slept on the ground surprisingly and the last thing she remembered was being lost in her memories before she fell asleep. It was funny how she was able to sleep when she was uncertain and unsure of what was going to happen to her from now. Maybe she slept off because she had been very tired from the strenuous activities she got involved in yesterday. After she had returned from the labouring site, she did the house chores, was cooking and had left for the market before the whole situation turned awry. She wondered how they must be feeling back home, especially little Mille who was expecting her to return with the stick doll she had promised and her father also, if he had woken up, he would definitely ask about her. That was if he woke up as she had failed to get him the medicine he needed for his illness which had grown worse. " You are awake" the other lady she met yesterday said as she turned to face Marilyn. She was stunned when her face fell on the young girl who had just woken up. She was a very beautiful girl and the golden strands of blonde on her head made her face stand out with her sky blue eyes scanning the whole area. She wondered how a very beautiful girl like her could be so unlucky. " Good morning" Marilyn greeted her and stood up from her lying position on the ground. "Morning," the girl replied. " I am Flora," she said after realising that they hadn't even caught each other's name yesterday. " Marilyn" she said and stretched forth her hands for a hand shake.