The Handmaid: A Short Story

The light would mean a new beginning which would mean freedom, a regain of my identity, and being allowed to think again. My mind would be released from the weight and pressure of being a handmaid, always living by someone else's command. Two figures shroud in black cloth swiftly carried me into the black van and tossed me into the back where they had soon joined me. The driver was not masked like the two others, he was a young man, maybe early twenties, very handsome, blonde hair and blue eyes from what I could see through the rear-view mirror. We drove for quite some time in silence before we reached the first checkpoint.

“God, I hate those things” said the chauffeur, lightheartedly. This statement broke the still tension. As the black

Through the towering metal fence with barbed wire spiraled around the top I see many of the black vans that looked exactly like the vehicle that transported me to this dreary place and guardians that are scanning this camp. This is not a safe place, I think to myself and my breathing begins to speed up. We cross the main border defenses and I look around, the atmosphere is very somber. I see many women standing, sitting, and sleeping on mucky dirt. These women look bruised and battered and all of their hair is sheared off. There are a couple poorly built huts scattered on this pig-pen like ground and very seldom trees. I can only imagine what is in the inside of these huts, no, I do not want to plant those images in my head. I can feel Luke’s grip on my upper arm tighten and it makes me cringe. He has become stronger, I can feel it in his hands. He seems all too familiar with using his rigid grip upon women. I wonder what he has been doing with this tight grip of his. He walks me up to a group on silent women and gives me a shove into the

I stumbled and fell and turned to ask him what is going on but he had already closed the gate and walked away. The other women looked up but only two made eye contact with me and they were both unfamiliar faces. I got to get a closer look at these women and they looked very old and frail. I now understand that this is where the infertile women go. This is the place where the eyes escort the unwomen to die. I have now become an unwoman. The fog in my brain lifts and the confusion settles out. i am now an unwoman and I am here to die. Luke was captured and trained to become an eye of Gilead and carry on the powers of executing and punishing the punishable. From what it seems he has been trained to forget all about his past life with me and with Pam. He put his life and his safety and protection above mine, this makes me sort of happy. How could I be so sincere to someone who was just so cold to me? I am tired and cold, I scavenge for the softest spot of dirt that I could find and is not occupied and lay down and drift off to a better world in my