Facing Death

Shivering in the blasting cold night, the words fear and death invaded my soul and lamentably waited for the deathblow. The darkness of the lemon orchard under the full moon hidden behind long, high parallels of cloud was accelerating my fear and advancing the idea of `suddenly disappearing` in my mind. I had never thought of death before. The rows of lemon tree standing like elite soldiers made me feel like an enemy soldier captured in war and was being taken to be executed by guillotine. A shotgun was targeted towards my head which made my eyes and legs become paralysed; thus I could not feel or sense anything. My eyes looking blindly and my legs walking briskly with the question” will I die” stuck on my mind like a tick attaches into skin.

I was roused up from my bed earlier without knowing what was going on. They did not let me wear any clothes or even tie my shoes. I was forced to get out from the safety of my home and walk for obviously something diabolical in that Icy cold weather. My body froze and turned into an ice cube and all my nerve cells which existed on my legs were dying. As we were walking in the lemon orchard I felt my rage boiling and intimidated. This was further reinforced by the leader of the group hitting my back and shouting at me to answer his question ‘Are you cold hotnot’. My fear became stubbornness, which refused me to answer.

The men were walking rapidly and they ferociously lugging me around me in the mud and they had tied my hands very tightly with rope and I felt excruciating pain in my arms, I felt if I was holding a cactus with long sharp needles which buried in my skin. Every minute the sound of “creek, creek, creek” was building up the pressure within the white men. Each ‘creek’ made them...

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...rsh whisper, as if anticipating the cruelty to come. There is a sharp chill in the air, like a slap in the face and the crickets had increased their tempo of ‘creek’creek’creek’ like a heart thumping. The moon has come out between the clouds and spread a light, as if preparing its stage for a play. All the elements of nature have prepared themselves. All that is left for me to be ready for the one sided battle between the white men and the black man.

I know that in a short time, I will be facing death. Probably I will die but if I survive I will leave this place but I will always fight for my rights and for the rights of all the black people. If I die and I am given a chance at reincarnation, I want to be born in black again and I will do everything possible to change the inequality between the white and black men. For now, all I can do is close my eyes and pray.