“Come back here, you slave!” angrily barked Matthew, the slave master’s servant. The headstrong slave he was sprinting after, Abigail, had attempted to escape Master Perry’s plantation multiple times but each time she was caught and unmercifully beaten. But Abigail was trying one more time.

“I’lI surely be killed if I get caught!” she panicked. Her pursuer was getting closer, his warm breath seemingly snaking down her back.

“I will-Ahh!” Matthew cried in horror and pain, as a large, light brown snake sunk its venomous teeth into his ankle and slithered away into the forest.

“Now’s my chance!” exclaimed Abigail as she darted through the dark forest, barefoot, across rotting logs, deep puddles, and fallen-down trees. She ignored the small thorns that stabbed her feet. She just kept running until she was completely out of breath. Abigail finally plopped down on a tree stump. She looked up at the stars and named the constellations in the night sky. After a little while, she got up and started walking north, letting the stars guide her onward to freedom.

********

Traveling north to Pennsylvania, she hid in safe houses, part of the Underground Railroad. It had been exhausting and oftentimes discouraging but rewarding. As Abigail was strolling in the streets of southern Pennsylvania, she noticed a colorful building with a rough, worn cross on the entrance door. She took out a hand-drawn picture of a building that a widow had given her at the first safe house. “Looks just like the picture! Abigail announced to herself. She walked inside and accidentally ran into a seemingly rich lady.

“Humph!” huffed the woman in disgust. “You servant girls should watch where you are going! Next time I see your face, I will call the police!” And with that, she strutted out the door, mumbling something about the atrocity that a probable servant girl had bumped into her. Abigail hung her head in embarrassment and stared at the floor.

But then she reassured herself by saying,”Even though in this society I am considered an outcast, I am a princess!” With this thought in mind, she confidently marched over to the pale green desk in the corner of the room. She explained her situation to the kind lady there named Marie. Marie then gave Abigail an envelope with a bit of cash and a card with a room number on it. Then Marie said with a bright smile on her face, “Congratulations, Abigail, you’re free.”