The Voyage

1709
My journey through the Worst:
Day 1:
Just another day...


Everything in the village of Congo was normal.The rice smelled delicious,you could just see how much fun everyone was having.We were all family to one another,except for the rival tribe.Until one day,we were intruded by the European slave traders.They saw how we had many servants,usually prisoners or criminals,who did bad things.I have seen Arab traders,but never European.They called the prisoners "slaves".The thing is,they lived like any other person in the village.But that would soon change in North America.The European traders started sugar and tobacco plantations,and they wanted us to work the fields.They offered rum,tobacco,cloth,and other stuff in exchange for the slaves.The traders then offered guns to people,and everyone got scared.The king of Congo made war against neighbors and and sold people he captured to the slave traders.I was kidnapped while my parents were farming.I was terrified.My own people took me on a canoe.I was with about 7 other captured,confused faces.I knew they were as startled as me,but I knew I must have been more brave,because I kept calm.They took me really far,and the men that were rowing were of my own tribe.They went on as if they didn't even care.But the truth was,I could tell they must have been worried too,since I saw their legs shaking like a chihuahua.I was chained up in the rusty cuffs,connected to those others who were captured.They took me to a place where they traded us for the same things I saw them trading for the other slaves.I knew this would ed badly.They finally let us sleep,still chained together.I was restless.I couldn't stand it.I knew that we were going on something called a Middle Passage.I had about 6 hours of sleep,and I then figured out what a Middle Passage was.
Day 7:
The Middle Passage....


I was put in chains and had to walk hundreds of miles to the coast.The soles of my feet had so many blisters,they looked like bubble wrap.I watched as many people died off,like dinosaurs.I was one of the survivors,even though I was only 11.I was marked with branding irons,and was loaded onto a ship.It generally looked big,but with that many slaves,It was tiny.It took 5-12 weeks,and the trip was a bloody horror.I couldn't exercise,I was chained with this boy I really liked.Doesn't sound so bad,right?Well,I didn't think so.He died after he stopped breathing purposely.My only chance to escape was when they threw him overboard.I decided not to,since I witnessed many others try to,and they got caught.I couldn't sit or stand on the deck.I got more sores from lying on the rough floor boards.The boat was really overcrowded.There was not any room to sit nor stand.The only thing we could do was lay.Every now-and-then somebody tried to kill themselves.Further into the journey,there was more room,with all the slaves who died and went overboard.It still stunk,like dead farm animals.It stank so bad,my eyes would water,like when you chop onions..I closed my eyes,went to sleep,and I tried to obey everything the men told me to do.They knew they had to keep us alive,because if they lost us,they had to pay for it.We sailed overnight,and I got at least 12 hours of sleep.A couple of hours after I woke up, we hit land.
Day 11:
In North America....

Still in chains,I was taken to a place called a "scramble".I went on to a stage,and a man called out numbers,and another one held on to my wrist.After the man holding onto me gave the other man some money,he unchained me and told me my name was going to be Alexis.I really liked that name.He took me to a little cabin,where he said I will be living.I walked in,and he threw me down on a sack full of hay.
"This is your bed," he told me.I was confused,because there were about 5 other strangers there.By the way they were dressed,I could tell that they were sold at a scramble,too.I got very little to eat,and had a rough time sleeping.I woke up at early sunrise,and had to go to work in a cotton field.Many people "played dumb",but I just did as I was told.One man tried to escape,but an overseer caught him and whipped him.I noticed a mark on me,and my 'roommate' had the same one.It must have been from as soon as I got on land,somebody took a branding iron and stamped it on me.It felt very bumpy,and swollen.It was turning the color of a plum.Every day from then on was the same-2 meals a day,little sleep,and work all day long.I guess in North America,I didn't really have a family like back in West Africa.Anyway,I have to get back to the cotton field,I am done eating.I kept on sneezing from all the pollen and cotton.I see any slaves try to escape,but they get whipped,or even killed.My burn still hurts.I take cotton,ball it together,and take tree sap,and use it to paste around the edges of the cotton to my skin so it will heel.I also broke the stem of an aloe plant and put the sticky,gel-like substance on my skin before I put the cotton on.I hear talk that it helps you heel faster.I had to go to another scramble,and got sold to another women.I was happier,because she treated me better.I am now sound asleep in my cabin,but I hear the moans of slaves getting whipped.Even though my life is very rough,I am still lucky to be one of the survivors.