By now the squeak of the bed was easy to drone out alongside the grunts of the man above her. She avoided looking at him most times but this time, she allowed herself to look up at the man who plowed into her so hard it stung. The pain was greater at first but as time went along, it too became easy to drone out. Grace’s hair was starting to grey in some places, the strands still rich brown otherwise. Sweat beaded up on his forehead and slipped down the sides from his temples and his nose scrunched up as if he smelled something rancid. There on his chest laid a patch of hair, the same brown as his hair. She felt the urge to vomit and at that moment turned her eyes away. He had her wrists above her in an iron grip but soon let them go. Panting, he pulled out of her. 

    “Bend over.” He ordered watching as her face soon met the bedding rife with his stench. He chuckled some and laid a blow against one of her cheeks, making her bite the blankets. 

    “There ain’t nobody built like you I swear.” He said with another chuckle, slapping her other cheek. 

    “Saving you was one of the best things I’ve ever done.” She clenched her teeth as he took two fingers and opened her up, stretching her abused cavern even more. Ouch. 

    “You like when I fuck you hard huh? You’re throbbing.” No, she hated it. Hated every minute of it. 

    “It looks like a fish’s mouth when it gasps for air.” He commented with a grin, fingers leaving her. 

    “You’re too gotdamn stubborn to admit that you like it. But your pussy doesn’t lie.” He grunted as he slipped the head of his cock inside. 

    “See? It’s trying suck me in…dirty little nigger. You deserve to be fucked like the worthless slut you are.” His hand laid another slap to her already tender cheek. Grabbing hold of her waist, he began to pound into her, his grunts growing louder and more gruff. He was close. She’d made the mistake of requesting he not finish inside of her once and her reward had been being beaten almost half to death. Each time she prayed to God that she didn’t conceive. She’d been down this road before and had conceived twice. As a young girl of 13 and 15. The process of aborting the child had nearly ruined her. The pain had almost killed her. But she refused… she refused to birth a child only to have it suffer the same fate as she. To her surprise, he pulled out of her and released on her bottom, smearing the semen across her raw red cheeks. 

    “Bitch.” He laughed and his weight left the bed. He sighed with what sounded like contentment and she heard him get dressed. 

    “Clean yourself up and go downstairs. Tonight should be busy.” His heavy footfalls left the room and descended downward. Slowly, she lifted up from the blankets. Throat tight and eyes misty with tears, she began to get dressed. Though she was used to it by now…it never failed. Her eyes always filled with tears. She never shed them. Rather, she blinked them away and kept moving. She had no choice. She had to keep going. She had to keep surviving. At least that is what she kept telling herself. But the truth of the matter was that she didn’t know what was worse. Having to suffer this or being back on the plantation. It was no different. She’d risked her life to come all the way across the country to have the exact same thing happen to her. Perhaps she should have just ended it all back in the swamps. It would have been easier to let the crocodiles eat away at her flesh and bones than give access to the hounds. It would have been easier to let the dirty swamp take her up into the sky. 

*** 

    He had returned to the hut later than normal, his entire body in pain. It had not been his lucky day. He’d been picked out from amongst the merchants and forced to the railways to work. The back breaking process of laying the tracks, digging out the pathway in the dirt and blowing the mountains to bits had him sore beyond words. He’d seen the horrors that lied within the wake of the deceitful promise of rail work. He’d watched a man be crushed by the debris of the mountain. He’d watched another be blown apart of a faulty stick of dynamite.  The overseers didn’t think it necessary to feed them or hydrate them properly and because of that it made them weak. Those who collapsed he simply shot them in the head as though they were mere animals to be put down. 

    “Donghai?” 

    “I’ve laid supper there for you.” The man answered quietly in the dark and he swallowed his hunger down. 

    “I will go.” He didn’t need to explain where. 

    “Return speedily.” Is all he was given. His eyes could see perfectly in the night and he grabbed the small parcel of food. Closing the door behind him, he ate as he followed the path illuminated by the moon’s glow. 

*** 

    She waved a hand in front of his face, blew on him and poked his forehead. Nothing responded except a deep snore. He’d been drinking all night and now he’d passed out in a drunken sleep. Good then she’d be quick. She’d been to the town square more times than not and had seen piers there though they had never ventured towards them. Taking a quiet breath, she made sure the door closed behind her. When she was sure that she was enough away from the inn, she took off running, finally allowing all the tears of the past five months to fall. Tonight would be the night she finally met her lost children. Her parents. All those who had been taken from her and those she’d been forced to sacrifice. She’d make it right with them all. 

*** 

    The slick coolness of the water against his skin sent a rush of euphoria through him and he closed his eyes, allowing the current to pull him in whatever way it desired. Taking a deep breath, he slowed his pace, eying where they had previously had luck finding fish. With a forceful beat of his fins he descended, catching a couple in his hand. Plump, he was pleased to see that it appeared they were eating well. A good meal for a later date. Sticking his sharp nails into them, he brought them to the surface, watching as they fought to breath, eventually growing limp. Eying where he’d laid out netting, the fish plopped wetly against the wet sand. With no haste spared, once again he dived underneath the surface, intent on bringing plenty as thanks for all Donghai had done. After a while, he’d gathered up enough to cook and dry and he allowed himself the reward of a free swim. In the water, his body did not know hurt. It did not know fatigue. He felt as though he could swim forever and be content. The thought made him laugh. What a falsehood. What shit. 

    He’d learned long ago to never trust what he felt when he swam. Every bit of contentment and pleasure could be deceiving. At the end of the day, he was what he was. A cursed being. Having dived deep under, enough to glide among the reefs and coral, he surfaced. Far out, he could see just enough of the shore line to know it. Leaning to float on his back, he looked up at the stars. It was quiet and the night was crystal clear but for a moment it sounded like one was crying. 

    Closing his eyes, he let it drift away as did the waves. So did his heart cry also. But then again…there it was. Opening his eyes, he swallowed. At first he thought he had imagined it. The sound of weeping. But as he dipped beneath and surfaced again, he heard it once more. The sound of it sent a stabbing pain right to his heart. To whom did the somber sound of suffering and anguish belong to? Sinking below the surface, he gave his fins a hard beat and soon he inched closer to shore.             

    There stood a woman, dark in color, cheeks shiny with tears. He was far enough away that he couldn’t quite make out all of her features yet. The woman sobbed as she lifted small dark hands to her hair. Taking it loose, she sniffed as she continued to stare out at the waves rolling in. His breath caught in his throat as she slowly began to undress, peeling her garments away from her with ease… with care. 

    Leaning her head back, she looked up into the sky but for a moment. He dashed underwater and hid behind a cluster of small rocks, closer to where she was. She began to walk towards the quiet lulling waves, eyes now filled with a sad resignation. He curiously watched as the water began to rise from her ankles to her knees. Dark eyes roamed the naked flesh of the woman also…curiously. It resembled a black pearl; smooth, silky and intoxicating. She possessed a small heart shaped face, high but round cheeks and a pair of delicate lips, full and inviting. Pert conical breasts, dark nipples and a small waist. Small endearing pudge of a stomach and thick thighs.  

     She was beautiful… in a way he’d never before seen. What disturbed him was how there seemed to be deep lashes marring the otherwise satiny flesh. They littered across her thighs in mismatched lengths and depth, deep black from scarring. Eyes lifted to her face now as the water drew up around her waist. So, she was to end her life on this night. The hell she called a human life had been too much for her to bear. Lifting fingers out to grasp onto the warm slippery rocks, he watched as she took a breath and slowly allowed the sea to claim her. Her thick coily hair was the last to disappear and for a moment he watched air bubbles rise to the top. 

    Gripping the rocks, he turned and prepared to swim off when he was stopped by that deep sharp pain. Clutching his chest, he tightened his jaw and eyed the spot where she’d went down. He didn’t understand why he felt the need to save her but damn it all his fins started to beat and he sunk below the surface, swimming towards her rapidly drowning body.