These idiots took long enough to realize that I can't understand what they want from me when they ask. I got plenty beat up before I even started any sort of agriculture or whatever the heck you what it call this slave work.

I was angry enough at myself and the slave owners that I think they were satisfied enough with me as a slave. I pounded the cocoa beans into basically dust.

With the feeling of blood staining there inside of my shirt, I'm pushed back into the shack. Ayana's mother is already there when Ebele and I are thrown back in. We must've spend almost twenty hours out there. I'm exhausted and night has fallen again.

Ayana's mother is crying again.

"What did they send her to do?" I ask Ebele.

She shakes her head. "I don't know, but I can guess."

I feel gross. Maybe it's a selfish desire but I've never wanted a shower so much in my entire life. My thick mane was in a thousand literal knots.

"I can't stay here," I mumble.

"Hmm?" Ebele asks.

I scratch my head and look at the walls that hold us hostage.

"Ebele, do you think the men ever leave this but unguarded?" I ask.

She shrugs and starts crawling towards Ayana's mother. Then something clicks inside her and she turns toward me sharply.

"You no can escape, Odette. You try, they kill you."

I suck in my breath. "I have to try."

She shakes her head and bites her lip but says nothing.

"I will try to get you two out also," I say.

She shakes her head again. "But how?" she whispers.

I look at the walls again. I go up to the edge of the hit and poke at the wall. Poorly made. Literally mud and bricks...

"Maybe..." I mumble.

I start gently pushing at the large stones that make up the wall. They all seem surprisingly stuck in place- except for one.

"Bingo."

I feel Ebele get closer to me and watch me as I slowly push the boulder. Gently, slowly, praying the whole thing doesn't collapse because this rock is missing.

Suddenly, it's out. There's a hole, twice as big as my head in the back of the hut. I grin from ear to to ear, but yeh frown. That was too easy. There must be guards keeping watch in front.

I look at the hole. Then I strain my ears for any conversation or other noise indicating that we are not alone. Faint laughter reaches my ears. I look back through the hole. I have to take my chances. I have to find where they're keeping Chris and Ayana so we can somehow bust out of here together.

I turn to Ebele. "I'm going to look for my friend and her daughter,"
I say slowly, nodding to Ayana's mother.

She shakes her head. "Too dangerous, too dangerous, mustn't go!"

I ignore her pleading and continue. "I promise I'll be back. And if I don't come back... It means I'm dead," I say bluntly. "But I'd rather die trying my best to get you all out then giving in to all of this... Injustice."

Ebele has begun to shake violently.

I feel my features soften and I wrap her in a hug. I turn her to Ayana's mother, her thin form lying still on the ground.

I furrow my eyebrows.

"Take care of her for me," I say to Ebele. "I'm worried about her."

Then I let go of her and turn to the hole in the wall. Carefully, I lift on foot, then the next through it and push my way out.

"If you hear a knock from this side of the wall, it means I'm back," I say, tapping lightly on a rock. "You hear that?"

Ebele bends down so I can see her through the wall, and nods.

I nod back and push the rock back into place before she can protest anymore.

The sound of the soldiers conversations are more clear now. I barely dare to breath. I think that maybe I should wait back here for a while, hoping the guards will take the liberty of sleeping sometime...

After about ten minutes, the conversation dies down. Mother Nature sends clouds over the moon and the dark night is now darker.

I take a deep breath, say an urgent prayer and run directly away from the slave owners. I'll run away from them and then head parallel to them...

Somehow, I'm finding Chris and Ayana.

I have to.