Alone in the West

By Skylar T., 

Ages 9-12 Winner

Fall 2023 Writing Contest

Prompt #5 - Two Lost Sisters

Note: The judge chose this story as the winner. I thought it was an interesting choice, since I had just read a history story for children about the slave trade in Virginia in 1619, where slave traders stole children right off the streets of London, England, and transported them to be sold as slaves to Virginia tobacco planters. I had no idea. So, this story is not as far-fetched as we modern Americans might think. Things like this really did happen, right here in America (and it's still happening now). 

Melanie’s eyes popped open. She looked around her. Where was she? Melanie’s memory raced back. The house, Mom, Dad? Where was Maria?

Melanie recalled the night before. It still sent shivers down her spine. There were wild men who rode into their town on horseback with flaming torches in their hands. She remembered the terror in peoples’ voices as they screamed for their lives.

Then the men started throwing torches on the houses, including hers. She recollected mom lifting her and Maria on their family horse. Her mom was hitting the hindquarters of the horse while yelling at her, “Don’t stop! Keep going and…”

Suddenly, the men ran out and grabbed Mom. Their family’s horse ran away from town.

Then Maria’s face popped into Melanie’s head. Melanie sat up and looked around. Her younger sister was fast asleep, right beside her, sucking her thumb. Maria was only five years old. Melanie was eleven.

Melanie looked up at her and her sister’s only possession, their beautiful horse. She was eating some grass about twenty-two feet away from where they slept. She started thinking about their horse to go save mom and find dad. Dad had gone to another town for supplies when their town was attacked.

Her little sister’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Melanie, what’s for breakfast?” Maria whispered.

Melanie hadn’t thought about breakfast yet. She looked down at her little sister. Maria’s eyes pleaded at her. Melanie thought of something to say, “Maria.”

Maria answered, “Yes, Melanie?”

“We have no food, but I bet if we go back to town, they will have some.”

Maria shrugged and climbed on their horse.

After an hour of running on the horse, they reached their little town. Melanie gasped. She heard Melanie whimper.

Their town was abandoned.

The fire had ruined the houses. They had black smears all over them. Their horse started backing up. Melanie finally found her words. She cried, “Let’s get out of here!”

“Not so fast, Missy!” rumbled a rough voice.

Melanie heard Maria scream. She turned her head to see a mean-looking man holding her sister tight. “Hey! Let my sister go!” Melanie yelled, “Or I’ll, I’ll, I’ll…”

Just then something hit Melanie’s head and she fell off their horse. The last thing she heard was, “Melanie, no!”

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Melanie woke up and tried to sit up, but a sharp headache made her lay back down. She heard her sister whimpering next to her. Then a huge crack of a whip filled the room.

Melanie shot back straight against the wall. Maria clung to her sister in fear.

“Hello,” growled the cruel voice from earlier as he stepped out from the shadows. “I see you slaves have woken up,” he said with a smirk on his face.

“We’re not slaves and we never will be!” Melanie yowled.

“Hey girl, you got an attitude. I know a slave job that deals with that.”

Maria whimpered.

“What would that be?” Melanie questioned.

He answered, “Picking beans.”

Melanie’s heart skipped a beat. She had heard about slaves breaking their backs from leaning over and picking beans all day.

“No!” Maria screamed.

“Do we have another volunteer?”

Maria’s eyes dropped to the ground.

“I didn’t think so. I want you to go to the house to make the beds.” the gruff man said. He pointed to Melanie and said, “You run off now to do your jobs before I bring out the whip.”

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That night Melanie’s back ached, like 100 pounds were on it. She had worked all day picking beans. She crawled into bed and then thought about something. She hadn’t talked to God in a long time.

Melanie prayed, “Dear Jesus, You are great. I pray for my sister and my parents, wherever they are. I pray You will help us find a way to escape. Amen.”

She glanced over at Maria ,fast asleep. Then something caught her eyes. It was a piece of something sticking out from underneath the rug.

Melanie sat straight up. Could it be a secret door? She got down on the floor and lifted the rug. It was just an old sign that said Old Mill Farm. Melanie was disappointed. She was hoping to escape. She looked out the window and an idea floated into her head. A smile crept on her face and she knew her idea was good.
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Melanie woke up. She realized she had fallen asleep by the window. She looked outside. “Oh good,” she thought to herself. Her plan would still work.

She walked over to the bed and began to rub Maria gently.

Maria grunted and rolled over.

Melanie sighed and began to shake Maria.

“Uh, ten more minutes,” Maria grunted.

“Maria, I know how to escape,” Melanie whispered.

Maria’s eyes popped open and she shot up. “Well, what are we waiting for?”

“You, apparently.”

Maria giggled. She wasn’t listening and was dancing around loudly.

Melanie finally got Maria to be quiet. Then as carefully as possible, she opened the window timidly and climbed out. She reached into the window, took out Maria and softly placed her on the ground. Melanie grabbed Maria’s hand and they started running to the stables.

Melanie glanced over the stalls trying to find their precious Gypsy Cob horse. She told Maria, “Stay right here.” Melanie hurried to the tack room to grab a saddle and reins.

On Melanie’s way back to Maria, she looked out the door to see where the moon was in the sky. By the position of the moon, she could tell it was about 4:30 AM. If they were going to make it out safely, she was going to have to hurry up the plan.

When Melanie got back to Maria, she tacked up their horse. She hoisted Maria onto the saddle, grabbed the reins, and led the horse toward a tall hedge by the bean sprouts. When they were behind the hedge, she lifted Maria off of the horse and tied the horse’s reins to a branch of the hedge. Melanie crouched on the ground and signaled Maria to do the same.

Maria questioned, “Why aren’t we running away? Why are we behind this weird bush?”

Melanie remarked, “First of all, it’s called a hedge. Second of all, we are going to trick them into thinking we ran away.”

Maria asked, “What if we get caught doing…?”

Before Maria could finish, there was a big bellowing scream that came from the house. Melanie thought to herself, “Oh no, they found out that we left the room.”

Maria whimpered and scooted close to Melanie.

Then they heard an ear-piercing bark, “Get the horses, saddle them up! The new slaves have escaped!”

The door slammed and at least fifteen men ran out to get horses.

Just then, Melanie and Maria’s horse began to neigh softly.

Melanie jumped in panic and hushed the horse.

She was too late.

One of the men turned around and stared at the hedge. It felt like he could see them right through the hedge. The man took a match out of his pocket and lit it. He lit his lantern and held it up to the hedge.

This didn’t look like a nice man. He looked mean; meaner than the man who caught them. He was broad and strong. She was afraid they wouldn’t be able to get away from him if he saw them.

“They’re behind the hedge!” the man yelled boisterously,

A hand grabbed Melanie from behind. She wanted to scream but she didn’t. A lean boy, who looked like he was about fourteen, motioned her and Maria to follow him.

Melanie, for some reason, trusted the boy. She grabbed Maria’s hand and the horse’s reins and began to follow this bold boy. She could still hear the men in the distance as they followed the long and winding path.

The boy was going through it like a ninja. He was slipping through brush and climbing over huge boulders like he had done this a million times.

Melanie, Maria, and the horse were having a harder time. It seemed like the boy had to stop every two minutes to let them catch up.

After a few miles, they reached a clearing with a small cabin and a barn. Melanie could see a wheat field in the distance. When they reached the porch of the small cabin, she collapsed on a wooden chair in exhaustion and began to take long, deep breaths.

Maria curled up by her and started to fall asleep. The boy grabbed their horse’s reins and led their horse off to the barn.

When the boy got back, he opened his mouth to speak but the door flung open and an angry woman stepped out. She began to howl at the boy, “I told you to be home by 11PM! I almost called for the sheriff!”

Then she glanced over and saw Melanie and Maria staring at her. Her eyes softened. She inquired, “Who are these, Freddie?”

He clarified, “Momma, God told me to stay out. When I was walking home, I heard a man yelling. I went over to see what was happening. Then I saw these two slave girls hiding behind the hedge of Mr. and Mrs. White’s house.”

“I always thought slavery was no good!” grumbled the lady. She picked up Maria, who was almost asleep. She motioned Melanie and Freddie to follow her into the house.

The house was just one big room. The lady put Maria into one of the beds. She instantly fell asleep. The lady asked Melanie, “Where are you from?”

Melanie remarked, “Our town was invaded and destroyed. Our mom told us to leave. When we returned to our town the next morning, Mr. White caught us and made us slaves.”

The lady shook her head and replied, “So, where’s your mother and father?”

Melanie explained where their mom and dad were. The lady told Melanie to take a nap. Melanie saw the lady pull Freddie over to a corner and whispered something in his ear. Freddie nodded and quietly went out the door.

The next thing Melanie knew, she smelled something delicious. She saw the lady stirring a pot of stew. She didn’t see Freddie. She saw Maria on the floor playing with a straw doll.

The lady looked over at Melanie and said, “I see you’re awake. Would you like some stew?”

“Yes, thank you, Mrs…?”

“It’s Mrs. Barnes.” said the lady as she brought Melanie a bowl of stew.

After Melanie finished her bowl of stew, she declared, “Now how are we going to find Mom and Dad?”

Maria’s tiny voice popped up, “I know where momma is.”

“You know where momma is?” Melanie said in an astonished voice, “Where?”

“I saw her. She was in the White’s house cleaning dishes. She didn’t see me though,” Maria answered.

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” Melanie asked.

Maria remarked, “I don’t know. I just didn’t.”

Melanie remembered that Maria was only five years old and sighed. “We’ve got to go back and get her!”

Mrs. Barnes gasped. “No, you can’t, it’s too dangerous!”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Barnes, but we have to!” Melanie announced. She grabbed Maria’s hand and stomped out the door. She felt bad for how she treated Mrs. Barnes, after she had been so kind to them, but there was no time to explain.

She found their horse still tacked up. She and Maria got on the horse. They followed the long, twisting path until she found the hedge they hid behind the day before.

Melanie saw the kitchen maids lined up getting water from the well for the White family. Her mom was in the line. She whispered something into Maria’s ear.

Maria walked up to her mom and said, “The Whites need you for some important family business.”

Their mom just stared down at her for a minute. She followed Maria to the hedge. When she saw Melanie, she started crying. She hugged Melanie and Maria. Then they heard the clip-clopping of hooves.

Melanie was afraid that they might get caught. When she saw the horsemen, she was relieved. She ran to give her dad a big hug.

Freddie smiled. He watched the excitement of the family reunion.

Melanie looked up to see Freddie smiling at their family. She said, “Thank you, Freddie, for finding my dad.”

Freddie answered, “You’re welcome. You folks don’t have anywhere to go, do you?”

“No, not since our house and our town were burned down.”

Freddie replied, “Mom has a little unoccupied house by a lake a few miles away, if you want to live there awhile?”

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There was a happy bustle through the small family as they followed Freddie through the woods and past streams. After a few miles, Freddie said, “We’re here!”

The family peeked through some bushes in the woods. They gasped when they saw a little house with a tiny porch by a lake that shimmered in the afternoon sun.

As the sun set over the lake, Melanie’s family was grateful for a new home and a heavenly father like God to show them the way.

Illustrated by the author . . .