During her short life, she had been exposed to different factors that had attempted against her body; however, she had never lost her beauty. Her skin was colored on an exquisite tone of dark brown and her long black hair was always tied up in a neat way. Due to the poor rations of food on slaves table and the hard work she did on the field, Makenna was an extremely thin young girl. It was as if her legs couldn’t maintain the weight of her tiny body.
Although she was born in America and her biological father was her own master, Makenna’s life was always everything but a fairytale. She had been toiling on the plantation since she could remember. Every day, before dawn, she had to be collecting crops. She had to do all the things she was asked to do and making mistakes was not a possibility, so she had been taught to be efficient and to do everything in the correct way.
One night, when Makenna was returning from the field, she could distinguish the figure of the master talking with a strange man in the distance. Although she had been taught to be discreet, she couldn’t help being curious and getting closer the men. She hid behind some tobacco plants in order to not be seen. They were apparently making a negotiation. The master said ‘only her, and the price is the same as an adult. She is hard-working despite her age. You won’t regret’ Makenna started worrying about her destiny, ‘same as an adult’ meant they were talking about a child, and there were not many children on the plantation. And boys were out of the question because he had said “her”. She tried to turn her body slowly towards the barrack, but she accidentally stepped on a branch and made noise. Both men directed their gazes at her. Makenna started running, forgetting any discretion, towards the barrack.
The following day, Makenna wasn’t awakened by the domestic servant who always awoke all the slaves. When she got up, she realized that everyone had already gone to the field, including her mother. Without suspecting why she had been left alone, Makenna decided to join the rest later, and to enjoy that imaginary freedom for a while. Her only dream was to be free and at that moment she could feel how it would be. But her blissful moment didn’t last much. She was lying on the grass, staring at the blue sky when suddenly the master appeared over her.
Eight months later, Makenna was working on someone else’s house. She had been separated from her mother after fourteen years of living by her side. The last time she saw her was the morning before the episode of that cold night returning from the field. In spite of the fact she was still a slave and had to do always what her masters said, she was better there than in the plantation. Here she worked as a domestic servant and started eating a bit more. The family that owned her was composed by the master, his wife and his daughter. They treated Makenna in a way she had never been treated. They were polite and kind to her, which felt great. Makenna started, not to enjoy it, but not to bother working.
It was an autumn day. Makenna got into Lady Elizabeth’s bedroom to clean it up as every morning. When she came in, she saw the most beautiful dress she had ever seen lying on the bed. She got completely amazed with it, and she couldn’t help trying it on. It was just a dress but it felt very different from wearing the pieces of clothes she was used to wear. She felt like a princess. Like a free princess. She decided to go for a walk all over the house. The whole family had gone to town, so she thought she was alone. But she was not. Another servant saw her and betrayed her as soon as the masters arrived.
Of course Makenna was punished. She was taken to a barrack where she was raped by different white men. Then, they whipped her in every single part of her delicate and fragile body till she got unconscious. When she awoke, she couldn’t realize that she was not sleeping anymore because the whipping had blinded her. She began crying desperately but no one came to aid her. Makenna managed herself to stand up and find the way out the barrack. After all that, she just wanted to run away, and so she did. She started running towards the field, fast as her legs allowed her to. Due to the deplorable condition in which she was, she couldn’t reach so far.
Having no more energy, Makenna fell to the ground. She didn’t know where exactly she was and she was in a huge pain, but those things didn’t matter anymore. She lay facing the sky and tried to remove from her mind any memory that could disturb that peaceful moment. Her mother was beside her, singing a lullaby, and they were both wearing beautiful dresses. The pain gradually disappeared. Makenna was finally happy. Makenna was finally free.
