Safe Haven

Run. I need to run. Just keep running. I can’t look back. I have to run. I want to stop. Alic told me to run. I can’t stop. Should I look back? No. Alic told me not to look back. I need to keep running. I need to get to the safe house. My breath comes quicker as I run for my life.
The screams of a child echo through the woods around me. The screams were never ending making the forest seem eerie in a way it wasn’t like before. The shadows grow longer and the sky grows darker. The stars seem to die away as the child screams for their life. The screams grew quieter as I ran further and further into the woods.
A loud boom thundered through the forest and the screams slowly diminish. The only noise that remains in the forest was the faint hollow screams that are slowly disappearing. The thundering boom and slowly disappearing screams send me back to the comfort of my thoughts. The only thoughts that my mind can think of are of a memory about my mamma.
Mamma use to work in the fields while I was still young enough to work inside, She was a little slow because of her age. I was doing my normal routine of fetching water for The Master’s noon meal. I had to walk around the outside of the house to the well that was out by the fields. I was slowly walking up the hill making my way to the well where I could see out past the fields to the woods. The woods seemed to be magical in a way where it could seem like a sanctuary of sorts. I was almost to the top when I heard a blood curdling scream. I jumped in fright as I ran the rest of the way up the hill to see what was going on. I knew I shouldn't, The Master could have caught me sneaking around. He could have punished me for not following orders.
I made to the top of the hill and looked down towards the field to see what was going on. What lay before me was nothing that I could have expected. Mamma was kneeling on the ground, face stained with tears, as the master stood behind her. His favorite whip in hand lashing at Mamma’s back, each stroke making its own mark. The Master yelled one cruel thing after another telling her how worthless she was. Mamma looked up at the clear blue sky as if to pray to someone to save her from the unbearable pain.
I couldn't stand the sight of Mamma being punished, so I looked past her to see Alic in the sea of black watching things unfold. Alic was shouting, “Le’ my mamma goes I’ll take ‘er place.”
He kept trying to fight off the white men who held him still. He broke free of the white men only to find that The Master had pulled out a gun and held it to Mamma’s head. The gun made an ear shattering boom as Mamma fell towards the ground finally finding the peace she was looking for.
A chorus of barking ricochets off of the trees propelling me back to the present. The dogs’ barking sends the forest into a chaotic mess of sound making it nearly impossible to figure out where they are. One man shouts, “We found that niggers trail!”
I can only run as fast and as far as I can. Alic once told me what to do if they sent dogs after me. He said "Kaya find water and run through it. If it’s a stream go the opposite direction it’s going." I run further into the forest losing my direction. I am only thinking about one thing, find water. I know if I find water I can get away from the dogs. Water, I have to find water.
The dog’s barking intensifies drowning out any other sound.