"I must get my soul back from you; I am killing my flesh without it." ~Sylvia Plath
Novelly author & high school senior Mena Williams tells the story of Adelola, a young African woman who is stripped of her identity but forges a new one as the feared pirate captain of the sea.
TRIGGER WARNING: This story has references to sexual, physical, and emotional abuse.
I must get my soul back from you; I am killing my flesh without it. ~Sylvia Plath
Many legends will catch the common ear from time to time. This one will do the same. This legend is about a girl who saved many lives while striking fear into the hearts of others. Before, she became a symbol for everyone who laid eyes upon her. We start at the beginning of her story, on a ship heading for a place unknown, with everything she's held dear stripped away from her.
"Wake up, yuh insufferable monkeys!"
Adelola was awoken by the sound of yelling and kicking. She was reluctant to move, reluctant to have her bare body touch anyone next to her or touch the filth that suffocated her. She felt the rope chafe against her wrists and ankles as everybody around frantically tried to sit up. Earlier this voyage, three people next to Adelola had died, and their bodies were thrown into the ocean. She hoped that if she stayed still enough, her captors would think she was dead and throw her in the ocean as well. Adelola heard footsteps come closer; she held her breath and made her body go limp. The footsteps stopped,
"Ey, ey! I won't repeat it 'gain, git up!"
His steel-toed boot came into contact with her lower spine, but Adelola continued to stay limp. He then kicked her in the stomach, Adelola could feel her face numb, and her lungs tightened as they begged for air. He cursed under his breath.
"Ey Evan, I think we got 'nother dead one!"
"Ya sure?"
"I kicked 'er 'n she ain't move, she either dead 'er dumb."
"I swear to god, John, she better be fuckin' dumb.”
Adelola heard more footsteps, then felt ice cold water douse her face. Startled, she took in a large breath, the water flooding her airways. She coughed and gasped for air, but the air was rotten, and she gagged uncontrollably. She then felt a sharp pain come from her head; all the air she managed to get in her lungs was all let out in a scream. The man holding the water ladle pulled her up by her hair. "Shut up!" He slapped her with the ladle; Adelola fell silent and stared into the strange man's eyes. He placed the ladle under her chin and said in a low voice, "dey don't care how fuckin' battered yuh is, dey'll still pay are large price for your pretty face. So stay alive, ya dumb whore."
She spat in his face; he wiped the spit away with his sleeve, never breaking his gaze. "Ey John, I think dis negro jus earned herself a muzzle."
He put the ladle in his back pocket, then took an iron mask from John. He dropped Adelola to the floor and pinned her down. She could only move her head away as this stranger attempted to put a muzzle on her face. The man quickly got annoyed; he yelled, "stop movin'!" Once again, he grabbed her by the head and then slammed it on the ship's floor. The sudden movement caused everything to go blurry; her mind started to fog, suddenly, everything was dark.
Hours later, Adelola regained consciousness with the feeling of cold metal tightly pressing against her head. She attempted to remove the iron muzzle from her face, then she heard the all too familiar sound of heavy footsteps coming her way. The same large man towered over her in the dying light; she could see his grimacing smile.
"Don't try fightin' it now, jus sit still 'n be the good lil' monkey I know yuh can be."
Adelola glared at him; unable to fight back, she watched him walk away laughing into the darkness of the ship. Suddenly, the man's laughter turned to a muffled struggle. Adelola strained her eyes to see into the abyss and saw the silhouettes of about four men. She could only hear the sound of the floorboards creaking under their shoeless feet as the darkness of the ship enveloped them. Unbeknownst to her, while teasing the thought of death. Four others plotted their escape, deciding to execute it simultaneously, while everyone was amused by her weak attempt at disobeying directions.
Adelola heard the creaking of the door leading towards the top of the ship; the light from the sunset was enough for her to watch all four men leave to what she thought was freedom. The moment was brief, though, because gunshots rang out in the air right after they closed the door. The doors opened again. Another strange voice pierced through the silence.
"All of yuh lazy niggers! Get out now!"
A man held a lantern up to his face; wrinkles and veins engulfed the rest of his features. The rest of the crew, whom Adelola hadn't seen since she was forced aboard. Came down below and started yanking random people to their feet, ushering the large masses of people to the top of the ship.
The first thing Adelola was forced to see when she reached the deck wasn't the beautiful sunset reflecting off of the ocean's waves, but the sunset reflecting off the rapidly growing pool of blood forming at the bottom of the mast where the four men who'd been close to freedom but now on the brink of death were tied. Some of the crowd started crying, some fell to the floor in disbelief, others stood blankly, either too tired to fight or too tired to feel. The man with the lantern rushed onto the deck, furiously shoving the lantern into a crewmate's hand, yanking a whip from out of his pants and cracking it over their heads.
"We jus got bout a week left on dis ship n y'all niggers wanna start retaliatin', I swear to God if one of yuh niggers even think of doin' sometin' like dis again I'll kill all ya myself !"
He took in a few large breaths of the salty sea air, rubbing his hand through his beard as he paced the deck, the whip dragging behind him. He looked at the sunset, then looked at the crowd of confused and emotionless faces. He pointed towards the sunset, "Y'all monkeys see dat sun? Y'all gon watch me whip these here negros till it come back up! If one of yuh look away, I'll whip yuh too! Now sit down!”
The crowd sat down with the extra encouragement of the cracking whip above their heads and the crew pushing them harshly to the ground. Adelola wasn't in the front row, but she could still see the blood spray from their wounds as the whip gouged their flesh. When the crowd walked out onto the deck, Adelola was one of the ones who stared blankly as the outcome of the four men was presented. But now, as she waited with the rest for the sun to rise, she could feel her face become wet as tears uncontrollably fell from her eyes. She didn't understand why she started crying. She didn't know the men who were being whipped to death for their mutiny; she couldn't even recall a time when they'd made eye contact with each other. But the tears continued down her face, landing coldly on her bare thighs.
As the shadows of night surrounded the ship, the four men all finally went limp; their skin was swollen and ripped, their bodies were tinted red. Death befell all of them later that week, whether the lack of blood or infected wounds nobody could remember. During this trek, Adelola was tempted by death because it seemed pleasant. But now, that moment is forever burned into her brain. She realized that here, death would be gruesome and horrid. She realized that survival was the only thing that could set her free.
Jump to Chapter 2 in “The Untold History: Sea of Freedom” by Mena Williams.
The Read to Heal Podcast: Episode 2 | Mena Williams
Young author Mena Williams joins the Read to Heal Podcast to spill everything about her novella “The Untold History: Sea of Freedom” as well as lead courageous conversations on race in today’s education. Join in on this discussion as we travel through this untold story of freedom! You can access this novel in Novelly’s digital library full of stories written by young writers from our Rising Voices Collective.
Read high school student and Novelly intern Eric Lopez’s reflections on Mena’s story on the blog:
“Social media is where I began to see police brutality and discrimination over race highlighted the most. The news covered police brutality every now and then, but I noticed that they would typically represent people of color in a negative way. Witnessing those different aspects made me think about how the stories we are told in society shape how we view people.”
- Eric Lopez