I wondered to myself, could this world be saved from death? I learned the terrors in life at an early age, but I was also given the power to combat them. Power is a strange thing, a beautiful thing even. For it is too often that we will not act unless we have power. It is and always been my inherent belief that action comes first. The means to carry out that action can come later.
I was cold and hungry when Father James Rubicume Connery found me; a condition that I had long forgotten. It was by a shallow creek that he had found me, asleep and bruised. I remembered escaping the clutches of my master as he bludgeoned me with a flail. My people, my kind, had been slaves since the Crusades of King Richard III, but I was the first to escape and live to tell the tale.
They fed us as one would feed animals, broke us as one would break a horse, and neutered us as one neutered cattle. We were hated and they made sure that we knew that fact. But why? I asked myself. There were many possible reasons for this, but I could never get an exact answer. My people were different physically in comparison to the Scottish and the English. We had no pupils and we were, on average, much taller. But should this be a justifiable reason for the crimes committed against my people? I thought about this constantly as they forced me to work incessantly on the plantations. I was born a slave and had never known what freedom was, but I wanted to find out.
So I ran into the darkness. Night encompassed the land and I ran towards the gate. My master, Henry Mason, was coincidentally by the gate and shattered my kneecaps. The pain was unspeakable for a boy of only 9 years old. Before Master Mason could extinguish what little life I had, one of my fellow slaves took his club and bashed his head with it. More men came to see what all the noise was, but I was already crawling on my belly, hoping to be saved by the darkness. They never found me in the darkness and I passed out by a creek with no idea how far I had crawled. Every now and then, I would awake for just a few seconds and find myself tied to a wooden board of sorts, moving up a hill.
When I came to completely, I was on a soft mattress. The first thing that I noticed was my legs. I couldn't move them at all, and when I tried, it felt like they were being crushed from the inside out. I fell to the floor and closed my eyes, wondering if I was in heaven. I felt strong hands lifting me up and placing me back into the bed. I opened my eyes and saw a man wearing garments resembling that of a monk's. He had a beard encompassing the entirety of his jaw and shining aquamarines for eyes. We made eye contact and his blue eyes were burned into my memory. It was my first time seeing such eyes that were kind, but at the same time filled with regret. His gaze made me feel convicted, as though I had committed a grave error. They were filled with a cold sense of pity that made me feel as though I should be dead. Finally, he spoke. His first words to me explained why he had such a countenance upon his aged visage; a single observation that explained my very presence.
"You're a slave, aren't you?" he said softly. His voice mirrored the wrinkles on his face. They sounded like a man who had gone through many tribulations and walked too far on his path. He had a voice that was fragile, like a bauble that would shatter any moment. I nodded in response to his question. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my knee; the man pressed down on it with his hand.
"Wrong answer. If you are a slave, who then is your master?" he asked. He released his hand. "You're free. Cherish this feeling. Many of your people do not have the privilege that is liberty. I am Father James Rubicume Connery. You may call me Father James. From this day on, your name will be Jon Connery." he said. He had shocked me when he referred to my people as people and not my kind. This was uncommon.
He reached out his hand and helped me up. Father James handed me a set of crutches and helped me walk with them. We walked to a long wooden table and he gave me soup made from milk, cheese, potatoes and mushrooms. Once I finished my meal, I went outside and felt the sunlight shining on my face. It was the first time that the sunlight didn't burn.It was the first time that I ate without being afraid of expelling diarrhea. It was the first time that I slept without fear of the master coming to condition me. It was the first time I had lived.
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