Amongst the Willows

All I can hear is the rustling of the wind. Filling the frightful night with howls from the rising voices of the leaves in their attempts to whisper reassurances my way. I have been unable to sleep for what seems like hours now.  Crackling sounds of twigs reaching my ears, stirring hunger inside of me but I continue to fight the urge to hunt for a meal. I shall lay here on the damp ground with only the moonlight seeping from the treetops to help me see. I must remain hidden, for they might still be searching for me.

I have been on the run since my village was plundered to the ground by the white snakes. They raided and destroyed our beautiful pup tents. Turning ablaze our treasured items and leaving all of our lives to burn along with them. They stole our tribesmen and killed our women and mislaid our children to die. I couldn’t see what had remained but their rampage had left I, a young woman with her younger brothers to care for. Crowe and Buck and I fled for our lives, remaining silent and quick like E-tsi warned us to do. I could still hear the hissing of their weapons ringing in my ears, echoing behind us. Scaring Crowe so much so that he fell to the ground cowering and crying. A scream so horrid and unnatural escaped his lips. He grew gravely ill soon after by an unknown sickness that I knew no cure of. Ice cold sweats and violent shivers erupted through his body that I had no other option but to stay close to water to keep him hydrated.

By the river is where they found us, they looked like husky white bears with heavy black stakes they filled with black burning sand. Shouting at us with an unrecognizable tongue, screaming words such as, “Found them!” “Savages!” one of them harshly grabbed me by my hair and began to stroke my chin. As I cried out, my brothers and I cowered in fear from these giant men. They rushed us into the woods where their fellow men were moving. They had along with them animals and furs. We were pushed along with them in the grueling hot hours of the day, men jeering and staring at us throughout the long journey. They had captured other nearby tribesmen as well and we were all huddled together like cattle. It was a day’s past before we reached their camp and I was startled to see how quickly they were progressing. They were building tents and had fires burning all along their boundaries. Anger had begun to grow inside of me. They looked too comfortable among our mother’s bountiful land, with now only her skin and bones left to rot in the bloody hands of these greedy men. 

I was suddenly pushed on to my knees. I was presented to a white man that the men called out to as “Dan Soto”. That is when I realized, I was being offered to this man as some sort of fruit, just such as if I would before too, offer my grandmother her favorite fruit from the nearby forest. A voice within me began to scream. I was going to be picked from my tree, stripped of my leaves and blossoming buds for this man to devour. My heart dropped when that sudden truth had invaded my body. I looked frantically for my brothers for aid, turning left and right but they were nowhere to be found! I persisted trying to search for them. “V-gi-ne-li!” “V-gi-ne-li!” I yelled! Resisting the men’s hold on me as I began to scream louder and louder when I was unexpectedly struck on the crown of my head with a blow so sharp blood started running down my face. 

I awoke smothered in sweat and heavy cloths. Bruises covered my golden skin, my bones ached and my head was too heavy for me to sit up. I was to stay there for days stripped of my dignity watching only as I was consumed daily by an insatiable man.  As these horrible events unraveled before me, I began to study my jailer and the prison around me. I soon discovered how arrogant and shameless this man was. He was a foolish man who thought very lowly of his surroundings, he would often sleep soundly alongside of me without any men by his side and his knives propped along his tent.

This seeping anger inside of me had now decayed my insides. The thought of my family and village had become gray clouds hovering above me, storming in my mind. I wanted to scream and fill the skies with my sorrow forever more. When would this suffering end?  Why had these men been sent to steal us away and kill our families?  They treated and slaughtered us like animals with their weapons. Breaking our bones and burning our bodies. If only there was a way to get out of here and look for my brothers. A distant glittering light caught my eye. Suddenly the wildness in my heart reacted for me, I saw myself grab the weapon on the bedside, sitting there eagerly waiting for its next kill. I wrangled on top of him and I swiftly ran the knife across his throat. The restless slurs of his snoring were quickly engulfed with blood. I was motionless. His incessant heavy coughing soon caused a cacophony of cries to pass all around me. Their loving man had died such as all of mine had.