slashed him across the face. A’shai cried out in pain as the right side of his face split open like the red sea. Blood began to flow out of the wound and A’shai held his face as his own blood crept between his fingers.
“Take him downstairs!” Ms. Beth ordered as she walked towards Liberty and grabbed her hand. Liberty cried hysterically as she reached for A’shai. The soldiers pulled him down the stairs, and A’shai began to scream for Liberty.
“Liberty!” he yelled as he reached for her. However, the men overpowered him and forced A’shai into the bottom deck where the others were. The soldier pushed A’shai down to the bottom of the ship and what A’shai saw blew his mind. It was total chaos. Three-dozen boys and girls were cramped under the ship, and a foul stench filled the air as A’shai looked around. He tried to run back up the stairs to exit, but the guards had closed the doors and padlocked them shut. No matter how much he kicked at the wooden door, it wouldn’t budge and his frustration took over as he thought of what may be happening to Liberty.
A’shai cried as his young mind tried to take in what was happening to him. The sounds of the others’ cries and sniffles overwhelmed the room. Ms. Beth and her traffickers preyed on the weak and homeless in third world countries, assuming no one would look for them, which worked in her favor. A’shai would soon be trafficked through Mexico and that’s where his fate would be decided. He called for Liberty as blood continued to drip from his face. Rather than feeling sorry for himself, he worried about her.
“Liberty!!!” he yelled at the top of his lungs as he dropped to his knees.
A’shai’s stomach rumbled as he clenched it tightly. He sat balled in the corner as he sniffled, wiping his runny nose with his hand. It had been three days and he had yet to receive any food. The damp, dark deck was full of feces and vomit from the severe conditions. The first couple of days A’shai heard children crying and begging for mercy but the cries eventually turned into moans and grumbles. The swaying of the ship only added to the torture as they waited to reach their destination. A’shai regretted betraying his father and replayed the scenario in his head a thousand times, wishing he would have thought of a better way to save Liberty than the one he opted for. A’shai wondered what Liberty was going through just a deck above him. For some reason, he felt like Liberty’s protector. Their souls connected and it was something that his young mind couldn’t fully understand. He just knew for sure that he was supposed to keep her safe. It killed him inside that he was no longer able to. Although A’shai rarely thought about his deceased mother, his mind began to think about her. He saw an image of her when he closed his eyes and her beautiful face was smiling, which gave A’shai a brief moment of happiness. A’shai felt that he would die soon, so his short life was flashing before him. Liberty and his mother had the same skin tone, same smile, and the same piercing eyes. A’shai’s mother died five years earlier of malaria and ever since then it was only A’shai and his disciplinarian father.
Weak and parched from extreme thirst, A’shai mustered what strength he had left and got on his knees. He put both hands together. “Please God, help us. Help us get out of this bad place. Please watch over Liberty and keep her safe. Amen,” A’shai whispered as he looked up at the white light.
“Everybody out!” a guard yelled as he stood in the door, blocking the light. That’s when A’shai realized that he wasn’t dying, but the soldier had opened the door letting in sunlight. The soldier had a gun in hand as he barked orders telling everyone to hurry up. It was as if he was a sheepherder and the children were his cattle. Everybody scrambled to get to the door as the soldier stood by handing out bread as each person exited. A’shai was the last one in line to exit, and the soldier focused on him. It was the same soldier that slashed his face. The soldier smiled as he saw A’shai walk slowly while gripping his stomach in agony. A’shai’s face had bloodstains on it, and the wound had slightly scabbed over.
“Your big mouth isn’t so big now, huh?” the soldier said as he dropped the last piece of bread on the floor. He wanted to humiliate A’shai and let him know who was boss. A’shai looked at the soldier and then at the piece of bread on the floor. He wanted to step over the bread and keep walking to hold onto his dignity, but the hunger pains wouldn’t allow him to. A’shai slowly bent down and began to gobble up the bread, stuffing the whole slice into his mouth. The soldier put his hand on his slight gut and began to laugh at A’shai’s animalistic actions. Although A’shai was not in a position to say anything, he vowed that he would get revenge if the opportunity ever presented itself.
“That’s right! Eat off the floor, you filth, and come to the deck when you’re finished. We are almost to our destination,” the guard said as he left A’shai there kneeling on the floor.
The bright lights nearly blinded Liberty as she stood in line to exit the boat and go onto the dock. Ms. Beth had kept her along with ten other girls on the upper deck in a dark room for the entire trip, giving them food every six hours. Liberty had cried so much that she had red marks beneath her swollen eyes. The soldiers hurried them off the ship at gunpoint. They had already explained to them before they opened the door that if they tried to run they would be shot. All of the young children were petrified, so running was not an option. Liberty looked for A’shai but his group had already been escorted to the warehouse where the kids were housed.
Ms. Beth shook the hand of El Garza, an overweight Mexican man. Then she accepted the bag with about six million pesos inside of it, which was about half a million dollars in American currency. She smiled knowing that she had enough to return to the States and relax off the money she had just made. She looked at what she did as nothing more than a job. She left her feelings and morals at home while she stole unknowing victims from their native third world countries.
The children were herded into a factory where the immigrants were kept. Liberty looked frantically for A’shai as she entered the gigantic, open-spaced building that had cots set up everywhere. It was full of people of different ethnicities. The loud chatter from everyone was overwhelming as Liberty timidly looked around. The armed men closed the door, leaving them in the warehouse amongst the pandemonium. Young Mexican guards walked around with guns to keep everyone in order.
“Liberty!” a familiar voice yelled, catching her attention. She looked around and saw A’shai heading her way. She hurried to him, and they hugged once they got close.
“Shai, I’m scared,” she said as she broke down crying.
“I will protect you. I promise,” A’shai stated as he hugged her tightly. He guided Liberty over to a less crowded corner and they sat down while holding each other wondering what was to come next. Their lives had taken an unexpected turn for the worse in such a short time and the only thing they had was each other. They both knew that things would never be the same again.
A’shai and Liberty had been at the factory for more than two weeks where they both were quickly put to work. They found out that they would be expected to help cultivate the cocaine fields. A’shai stayed close to Liberty as much as he could. He tried to protect her, not only from the Mexican drug cartel that ran the fields, but also the other trafficked prisoners who were hostile about the scarce food. A’shai remembered the day so vividly when Liberty was ripped away from him and their lives took two totally different paths.
Young Mexican boys, members of the infamous Garza drug cartels, patrolled the fields with shotguns in hand as they made sure the field workers were working and not horse playing. A’shai was side by side with Liberty as they held their individual sacks and stuffed them with coca leaves. The Mexican drug cartel used these leaves to produce grade A cocaine that would eventually be smuggled into the U.S. for wholesale. The hot sun beamed down on the workers as they toiled for hours under the tyrannous, watchful eyes of the armed cartel members. The coca leaves grew wildly and were limitless, and the cartel took full advantage. A’shai and Liberty worked frantically so that they could fill up their sacks. The rule was: no full sack… no food, so the children and women had to work quickly because they only had about an hour before the sun went down.
“Shai, I feel like I’m about to pass out. I’m hungry, and I can’t do this much longer,” Liberty whispered as she bent down to snap off a leaf.
“Okay, listen. Just walk next to me, and I will fill your bag up,” A’shai said as he noticed that Liberty’s bag wasn’t nearly as full as his own. He began to work overtime as he stuffed Liberty’s bag as well as his own. After half an hour of hard work, he had finally gotten Liberty’s bag nearly full. He sweated profusely but it was all worth it for A’shai. He just wanted to help and protect Liberty.
As they made their way down the row of leaves, a young boy of Haitian descent eased up on them. Neither A’shai nor Liberty ever saw it coming. The boy snatched Liberty’s bag out of her hand while dropping his own half
