Phantom

2

Seraphine was still thinking of a way to escape Mr King several weeks later. She had considered several schemes, several lies, but had to discard them all because they were unfeasible. There was no way off the farm,she was never sent to run any errands off the premises. Everyday, when she saw him, he was always looking at her like he wanted to undress her with his eyes. The looks he gave her told her louder that his words ever could, that he was waiting for the moment when he could have her body. It caused all the hairs on her arms to stand at attention. It just stoked the flames of her desire for escape.

One morning, there was a commotion outside that brought everyone in the house running out. When they got there, they found a boy slumped against a tree and one of the overseers hitting him with his fists. Turning to one of the people who had been there from the beginning, she asked what was happening.

'Jimmy was caught trying to escape with some things from the farm', the woman, whom Seraphine did not recognize, answered.

Seraphine turned back to the boy. Jimmy. He was unfamiliar, being a farm worker and her working in the house. But he had a handsome face and well arranged features, though he did not exactly look his best at the moment, with blood dripping from his nose and busted lip. By now, he had slumped to the ground, and the overseer was kicking him in the ribs. Seraphine winced with every pained sound Jimmy made. He looked like he'd gone through a lot with the overseer.

Looking toward the house, Seraphine could see Mr King and his children come towards them. Apparently the other staff had also seen him, because they all began to move backwards fast. As they passed, Mr King shot Seraphine a dirty look. His children didn't look at anyone, but the last boy, Eden, gave a smile to anyone whose eye he caught. He was the most different child in the household, all his siblings being varying levels of snobs. Seraphine always wondered about him, he almost seemed adopted but for the resemblance he bore to his father. That, however, was where all comparison ended. Her attention was brought back to the moment by the sound of a cracking whip and a cry of pain. Mr King had ordered Jimmy stripped and whipped.

Fifteen strokes later, Jimmy's back was a gory mass. Most of the female workers were I'm tears by the time it was over.

'Poor Jimmy,' said one of the weeping women.

Just then, Mr King ordered him tied to the tree. Then he said, 'now Jimmy, know that I hate to do this, but it is necessary to teach a lesson'.

Seraphine almost snorted,and apparently all the other workers shared the sentiment. His words meant exactly nothing to the workers, especially Seraphine. He seemed to do everything he did to bring pain and sadness. She recalled the merciless way he killed her parents and she felt her heart squeeze. It still hurt her like it was happening right in front her, though it had about a year now. Mr King was still talking.

'Now, to the rest of you, no one leaves here without my express permission. I will tolerate no lazy deserters.' Turning to the overseer, he said, 'bring me an ax.'

At that, Jimmy's eyes widened and he began to struggle violently. When the ax was brought, Mr King hefted it, turned to the workers and shouted, 'learn from this, all of you'. Then he turned around and, bringing the ax down sharply, hacked Jimmy's right leg off. Eden's voice was heard shouting 'no!'. Several women screamed, some fainted even. Seraphine just stared in horror. The stump of his leg was on the ground, oozing blood. The other half didn't seem much different, just that it was still attached to Jimmy. Jimmy however, wasn't moving anymore. He was either out cold or dead from the shock.

Mr King just handed the ax to the overseer and went back to his house. His children turned and followed him in, even though Eden looked like he was going to be violently sick, he looked more than a little green.

Some men then came and quickly untied Jimmy and took him to the crude infirmary. Seraphine already knew he wouldn't make it. She had never seen so much blood, except when her parents died. Thinking about it brought the pain back, acute as when it happened. She shook her head to dispel the dark thought and quietly turned to walk back to the house.

On getting to the kitchen door, she heard two voices;one belonged to Mrs Meadow, the other was unfamiliar, but Seraphine could tell it was a crying girl. She thought of walking in, but when they began to talk, she stopped just outside the door.

'Mrs Meadow, I can't lose him. He can't die, I love him, he can't..... '

Mrs Meadow calmly shushed her. 'No, dear, don't talk like that. He won't die. He's a strong young man, he'll pull through. '

The unfamiliar voice spoke again. 'Mrs Meadow, I can't lose him. We were planning to get married, to have children... I'm carrying his baby.'

There was silence for a while, during which Seraphine was sure Mrs Meadow had her mouth hanging open. Then she began to speak again.

'Summer, child, that was a stupid thing to do, it is wrong before God and man... '

Summer, thought Seraphine, unfamiliar name as well. But she didn't dwell on that thought very long because Summer burst out at thet moment.

'Don't tell me what is right or wrong. I love Jimmy, and he's going to live and we'll get married.' Just then the kitchen door burst open and Summer ran out, her face wet with tears. She barely paid attention to Seraphine on her headlong flight to wherever she was going. Seraphine looked after her for a few moments before she peered into the kitchen. Mrs Meadow sat in the rocking chair in the corner, tears running down her cheeks. Seraphine quietly stepped into the kitchen and walked to her. Then she put her arms around her. Mrs Meadow didn't even react to her arms around her, tears still running down her cheeks. Seraphine just held her quietly.

After a while of them in that position, Mrs Meadow stopped crying. She stood up slowly and turned to face Seraphine. She cupped her cheek and her hand, smiled a pained smile and left the kitchen.

Seraphine sat in the recently vacated rocking chair, thinking to herself. Summer was so devastated, and all because of the evil man they called their employer. Seraphine felt like with every day that passed, she hated Mr King more. She hated his evil-mindedness, his lack of sympathy for anyone, his perversion. Her mind went back to her parents and her body ran cold. She recalled the horrible way they had died;even murderers didn't deserve such a fate. Yet he had subjected them to that.

Above all, she hated that it seemed no one seemed powerful enough to check his evil. Apparently he had bought over the entire system, so they looked the other way when he did his evil. Seraphine wasn't sure, but she felt strongly that he was a smuggler. She had seen Jack Baines direct a van full of boxes to a never-used storage room. She didn't know what was in the boxes, but she knew it was something illegal. But what could she, or anyone for that matter, do to a man as powerful as Damon King?There wasn't much.

***

Jimmy died that evening. While Seraphine was very sad about it, she wasn't surprised. She looked around for Summer, but couldn't find her anywhere. She wanted to express her sadness at her loss, but apparently, Summer didn't want to be consoled.

Later, Summer was found hanging from a beam in the servants quarters. No one had been there as it was the middle of the day and there had been work to do. She apparently didn't want to stay without Jimmy, so she decided to die as well.

They were buried without any fuss, beside each other under a large oak on the border of the farm. Seraphine couldn't help but wonder how much they loved each other, for Summer to be willing to give up her life to follow him. She wondered if she'd find love like that in her lifetime. She wanted to, to find something that would drive her to extremes she never would have even attempted. But, even in wishing she would, she also knew she wouldn't, not as long as she was in this place.