"Please don't kill them, I beg of you," I said, "I will do anything you want me to do, just don't hurt them. Please take me with you instead." I pleaded with the bloodthirsty man who held a sword to my father's head.
"If you don't stop talking this instant, I will have your head rolling at my feet," said the man.
"It's not as if you have a choice either," he snarled. "You shall be taken a slave and sold to the arena. Let's see how your never-ending blabbing will stop those lions from tearing you limb to limb."
"Please," I kept whispering as he killed my father. I covered my younger sister's face as he did it. "It's not as if she hasn't seen enough bloodshed, but our father's own will be too much for her, too much for us."
My father was everything to me. We didn't have the luxury that other people have, but we were content with our village, which has now been destroyed by these animals. He made sure we got everything we ever wanted and never made us lack anything ever since our mother died while giving birth to Julie, my younger sister. But now he's taken away from us, the only person who has ever shown me true love. Oh! I have never felt so helpless in my entire life.
"Stand up, you fool," I was jolted from my reverie by the man's kick. "It's time for our journey. I have got slaves to sell." My sister, I said, "I have to take my sister with me."
"No!" I screamed as he chopped my sister's head off. "Julie,Julie," I kept saying as the man dragged me with him. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that my sister is dead. I vowed to protect her, to care for her, but I failed. I failed our parents, I failed Julie, I failed myself.
"Why did you kill her?" she will be valuable to us, one of the men said, pointing to our house. "The girl is young and skinny. I bet she will not make half of the journey before she will give in to the cold and infections of the road. She will only slow us down."
" This one," the man said, shoving me, "will bring us a tangible sum of money. That girl in there was not useful, so I did us a favor by eliminating her."
My sister is useful, I kept saying in my mind. She was useful; she was everything to me. She was the only family I ever had, and now she has been taken away from me, and I'm to be sold to a wicked emperor, as my father tales of slaves went.
The fate of people taken as captives is not an easy one. If one is lucky, one can be bought by the royal family or by a worthy merchant, which rarely happens. One can also be taken to a foreign land, which is a journey of no return. These people are never heard of again. But the commonest one that awaits captives is being sold to the ruthless emperor, "who enjoyed feeding slaves he bought to his babies, as he fondly called the beasts."
This death has not only proved traumatizing but also slow and painful, as one will watch as the lions dig their sharp teeth into any part of the body they pounce on. This was the fate that awaits many, if not all of us, has it has been rumored that the emperor is so generous with money, and that is what these bandits that destroyed our home are after the most.
We were all chained together, a total of 40 people, and made to walk out of our home. A home which has now been reduced to ruins, as the stench of dead people filled the air. Bodies were scattered all over the ground. It pains me to know that these bodies will never be buried, as they will be food to the dreadful vultures.
As we got to the border of our village, it finally dawned on me that I have lost everything that matters to me here, everyone that I have ever cared about, and that no matter what the future holds, a part of me has died with this place.
"My friends, all of them except one, were dead. A quick glance around, and I saw her at the front of the line. I haven't had a chance to talk to her since we were attacked, but I felt relieved that she was safe. Likewise, me and everyone here; she too has lost her family and not only her family, she lost herself too. Her cheerful side is now replaced with a stony, cold side.
"Halt!" said the man who killed my family, whose name I have found out to be Gerald. "We are going to stop here and rest for the night before continuing our journey tomorrow. We have bread and water, which will be shared among you all."
"Take, or are you not hungry?" asked a lanky-looking boy who I reasoned was around my age, which kept me wondering how he was part of these beasts that held us captive.
"I guess you are not hungry then," he said as he set to move to the next person.
"No, I said, as I pulled his shirt. I need water, please. I pleaded with tears in my eyes, as my throat is now parched, and I couldn't swallow my spit any longer."
He looked at me for a brief second, then left. I was scared, thinking I had sent him away with my request and now I wouldn't even have bread either. I had begun losing hope when I saw him coming with a jug in his hands. Oh! I couldn't hide the smile that crept up to my face as I collected the jug from him and drowned its contents.
I had never known I would get excited at the sight of water as I have today, not to talk of relishing it as it went down my throat. I felt like a child once again.
"Erm, Erm," he coughs, "you know I am still here." He said that was when I looked up at him; I had entirely forgotten that he was there. My entire focus was on the water that I had now finished drinking.
"Here is your bread," he said, giving me three loaves. "But you have to hide two of them. Don't let anyone see it with you or else you will be punished. Everyone was given one loaf of bread each."
" Thank you," I mouthed, as I hid the bread in my gown.
"I'm called Max," he said. What about you?"
"Sandra," I replied.
" Nice to meet you, Sandra," he said, as he walked away.
" Nice to meet you too," I said when he was far gone.
As I lay down to sleep, I replayed my conversation with Max. I think I saw something move in his eyes, like compassion, but it was gone as fast as it came. Or maybe it was just my imagination playing tricks on me. A guy like Max will be anything but compassionate. That was the last thing I said to myself before I drifted to sleep.