A Long Road to Heaven

Anisa shivered, despite the hot air around her. It was dry and hard to breathe, unlike the humidity she had grown used to. She thought about her nights on the ship, the crowding around her as she struggled to breathe in the stench. She had been forced to watch her own father die slowly as boils erupted on him and his skin became sticky and hot with fever, while all the white men did was laugh bitterly. She promised herself that would be the last time she’d ever cry.