Listening to Hallelujah like an idiot bc whenever I hear the song I cry. OH WELL

I warn you all now. The word "Negro" comes up in this story at least once or twice. Please keep in mind that this was a project for my history class, and my teacher wanted us to keep the time age and some smaller details (like racism) as accurate as possible. I had to restrain myself from deleting that word multiple times to complete this. I hope you enjoy, and here is Mishaps!

Aquamarine

"ALL SLAVES TO THE MESS HALL NOW!!" I shoot up out of my tiny cot and after slipping on my charred shoes, dash out to the mess hall across the property. Being the only girl slave has it's perks, I get my own slave house.

"I gathered you all here today because there has been big news. As you know, the Union won the Civil War. Meaning slavery is no more." I look at the male slaves and see them all with blank expressions.

"Sir, does this mean... We're free?"

"Yes, Blue. You all are free. All twenty-five of you." The guys celebrate wildly while my thoughts kick in.

Where will we go?

No job.

No money.

No food.

No family.

Nothing...

The master's wife, Mrs. Hannel, must have seen my expression because she hugged me tight.

"You can stay with us if you like." I nod gratefully and squeeze Mrs. Hannel back. Her and I have been like mother and daughter since I got here. She saw I was a wreck from... 'it'... and helped me make it through. Don't get me wrong, Mr. Hannel is nice too, but Mrs. Hannel is an angel.

Maybe Florida won't be so bad after this...

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Ziggy

"Did you hear!!?" My best friend Logan jumps on me on my bed as I draw on my first piece of paper for the week.

"Logan! Stop god darn it you messed me up!"

"Slaves are freed!" The blonde shouts. I immediately toss the drawing supplies to the side and tackle him.

"You're kidding!!" Logan violently shakes his head with a grin on his face. I hug him tightly and we fall onto his bed.

Sure, Logan and I were never slaves, but we both despise slavery. We moved to the Union to help win the Civil War. Now, our dreams come true... Hopefully.

"Logan, this is amazing!" My best friend squeezes me tighter and I blush furiously. Okay, so maaayyybe I like men. Oops... Not.

"Wait! Where do we go? Father... I mean Luke... Surely won't let us stay with him. Besides, we live in Mississippi!" I speak up after letting my crush out from the embrace. Logan holds up a map of our country and points to a weird looking shape on the very left end.

"We're going to California."

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Adamaris

I walk out of my old slave cabin in Missippi, small bag with necessities in hand. The song I always sang while working in the fields plays through my head as I walk down streets filled with bodies.

When I got the news today
I didn't know what to say
So I just hung up the phone

Coffins line the sidewalk from the outside, a truck heaving a couple away.

I took a walk to clear my head
This is where the walking led
Can't believe you're really gone

My family was taken away from me, just like every other slave. We have nobody by blood anymore. Well, I know I don't.

Don't feel like going home

There is no home. My master was killed so I have nowhere to go anymore. I'm lost in this big world, and nobody would want to hear me.

So I'm gonna sit right here
On the edge of this pier
And watch the sunset disappear
And drink a beer

Beer is for the rich. It helps remove the pain from anything horrible that has happened in your life, or makes the rainbows brighter. It's either you want to live or die in this world, survive or wither away. No in between.

Funny how the good ones go
Too soon, but the good Lord knows
The reasons why, I guess

Nobody knows about what I do. What the master did to me when I made one wrong move. I have no friends, no family, not even an ally.

Sometimes a greater plan
Is kinda hard to understand
Right now it don't make sense

Plan? Yeah right, I have no plan. I made to come up with one, but Master found out when he saw it in my journal one day and he used the whip on my about a hundred times and chained me to a pipe in the house for about a week with no food. Yes, I educated myself. Deal with it.

I can't make it all make sense

Why? Why did this all happen? Why do I have to be the victim of all this? Why do the freedmen get called names and beaten around like some rock in the dirt?

Why?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Urania

When life gets tough, get tougher. Right?

Wrong.

I lay in the now bloody dirt of Mississippi, clutching my side in pain.

Negro

Two white boys around my age come up to me with sad expressions on my face.

They just pity you. They're going to shoot you.

I brace myself for the blow, but open my eyes after a minute or two to see one of the two boys kneeling in front of me.

"Are you in pain?" He asks in a soft voice. I nod very lightly and the other boy sits down, the one kneeling now sitting too.

"My name is Logan," the one who just sat down said "and this is Ziggy." Logan points to the boy who was kneeling.

"Why are you helping me?" I ask, my voice hoarse.

"Don't worry, we won't hurt you. Promise. We are one hundred percent against slavery and want to help you. Please... Let us." Logan says. He stands up and holds his hand out to me. I start to crawl back but I can see the pain in their eyes.

"Please. We want to help." Weirdly, I trust these two strangers. I take Logan's help and with the help of Ziggy too, get up on my feet.

Logan wraps one of my arms around his neck and Ziggy does the same to my other arm, before walking me to a nearby bench.

Ziggy pulls out what appears to be medical supplies and starts to clean my cuts while Logan lets me squeeze his hand whenever it stings.

"What's your name?" Ziggy asks as he finishes wrapping my ribcage. Thank god I cut my dress so my ribcage shows or else it would have been really embarrassing.

"Urania."

Nobody was this nice in Louisiana...

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Aquamarine

I hear screams come from the parlor downstairs whilst singing a little. I immediately dash downstairs to see Mr. and Mrs. Hannel getting arrested.

"Let them go, please!!" I yell to the officers.

"They were holding you captive! You need to leave!" One of the officers shout, holding Mrs. Hannel.

"No, I wanted to stay! Please!" I beg. Mrs. Hannel smirks and I raise an eyebrow at her.

"They're right. We were using you anyways. We were using you as a slave regardless. You're a worthless negro who should just die in a-"

CRACK

The only sound heard after. My hand throbs and a red mark appears on Mrs. Hannel's cheek.

"Take her away." The officer holding her nods and walks her outside and I look to Mr. Hannel.

"You too?"

"She murdered slaves in front of me if I didn't agree to use you if tis happened. I'm so sorry Aqua. Take my money, food, anything you can carry. Go to California. You will be safe there. Forget about me. I'll be fine. You are a daughter to me." I turn to the officer holding him and shake my head quick.

"Let him go for a moment please to say goodbye." The officer does so and Mr. Hannel rushes up to me, holding me in a warm embrace.

"I love you Aquamarine Olusola." I squeeze my once master tightly before pulling away.

"I love you too Mr. Hannel. Divorce that little-"

"Okay okay I will." He chuckles at me before I turn to the officer.

"He's safe. Please let him be."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive, Sir." The officer waves at us before walking outside and I hear their car drive away.

"Blue, listen to me. I know that all of your family was... Yeah... But I need you to move on. It's been a couple weeks since slavery was abolished. Go grab at least two hundred dollars from my safe, all of my wife's clothes you fit into, some food and anything else you may need. I will get you a truck that will drive you to California. My son has been wanting to go there so I will have him drive you. Okay?"

Tears brim my eyes as I nod and rush upstairs to grab everything Mr. Hannel says, along with paper, pens, envelopes, stamps, medical supplies, and a picture of my family.

After packing everything in the steamer trunk Mr. Hannel gave me, we wait outside for his son.

Where did I go wrong?

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Logan

"Guys... What's that?" I hear Urania question. I stop in my tracks to face the girl and tilt my head in confusion.

"What's-" A bush near us rustles and I turn to look in it's direction.

"What the..." Making my way towards it, a blur rushes from behind the bush and to the left of me.

"Hey! Wait!" I dash after the blur, leaving Ziggy and Urania behind.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adamaris

Walking up the dirt trail, a song my master would always sing springs into my head.

There's a long black train coming down the line
Feeding off the souls that are lost and crying

Most whites that hear about us freedmen dying say it's music to their ears. But when we hear a white dies, or anyone really, we have a moment of silence for them and keep them in our thoughts and prayers.

Rails of sin, only evil remains
Watch out brother for that long black train

All our lives, we've been shown evil people. Masters, visitors, parents, anyone. I have never trusted a person ever again since I met Master. He did bad things to me.

Look to the heavens, you can look to the skies
You can find redemption staring back into your eyes
There is protection and there's peace the same
Burning your ticket for that long black train

My ticket for pain was burnt up a long time ago. So many tickets have been used, none of them I have wanted but was forced to use.

All of the sudden, I hear someone running in the forest and another person running after them yelling "Wait! Please, come back!"

I didn't know what sparked my interest, but I slung my cloth made travel pack around my neck and shoulder and bolted in the direction of the sounds.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

(right before the running)

Aquamarine

The carriage tumbles all over the place, sending me around the inside. Blood spraying the walls. Pain slashing throughout my body. Cracks and snaps echoing through the air.

And then...

It all stops.

I climb out through a door window to find that I'm in the middle of a forest. Great...

I grab my trunk and pull out some small yet filling foods, two changes of clothes, water canteens, and the medical kit.

"Guys, what was that?" I hear a female voice echo through the forest. I sling my pouch around my neck and bolt in a random direction.

Only to tumble into a bush, making it rustle. Nice going Aqua.

I hear footsteps making their way towards the bush. 

SHOOTTHINKAQUATHINK

My first thought – Run. 

So that's what I did. I bolted to the right, dashed past the carriage wreck and deeper into the woods.

But the footsteps followed me.

And then another pair started following me.

Add two more to that problem.

I'm dead.

I run to a tree and jump into it, climbing it at a decently fast pace. Once about halfway up, I start to make my way forwards by the thick branches of the oak trees.

The one thing I didn't think about when I started going from tree to tree that happened.

I fell out of a tree.

So I ran. I ran until I tripped on a giant tree root. Which was enough for the footsteps to reach me.

"Why are you running from us?" I hear a male voice. MALE!!?!?

"Logan, calm down. She's fine."

"She could have died from the fall of that tree!"

"What was the carriage wreck from?"

"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!!!!"

I turn my head to see a girl about my age, a bag like mine and a dirty dress.

"What's your name?" She asks me, kneeling down near me. I back up a bit and I think she sees my fear.

"My name is Adamaris Maldonado."

"I'm Logan Hoying." The male voice from before speaks up.

"Urania Kaplan at your service!" The girl from before speaks in a bubbly voice.

"Ziggy Grassi." Another male says.

"I... I'm Aqua... Aquamarine Olusola."

"Are there any songs you like to sing Aqua?" Urania asks.

"Yeah.... My master sang it to me when I was little after my parents were...."

"Your parents were what?" Ziggy asks, sitting beside me.

"After my parents were killed right in front of my very eyes." Ziggy's eyes widen along with Urania's, Logan gasps and Adamaris hugs me tightly.

"My parents abused me for not 'working hard enough.' So I was given to a very nice master who didn't hurt me, but he was murdered." I can see straight through her lies.

"Your master hurt you badly when you made one wrong move." She hugs me tighter and soon enough Urania joins in.

"Some full grown white men beat me in the dirt. Logan and Ziggy patched me up." She smiles sweetly at us and we all sit back on the ground.

"So Aqua, what's the song called?" Ziggy asks.

"I think he called it 'Wagon Wheel'. I can try to remember the words." I rack through my brain and remember how to start the song.

Heading down south to the land of the pines
I'm thumbing my way into North Caroline
Staring down the road, and
Pray to god I see headlights
I made it down the coast in seventeen hours
Picking me a bouquet of dogwood flowers
And I'm a-hopin' for Raleigh
I can see my baby tonight

At this point, I've started pounding on the tree root I tripped over. Logan started making this 'dmm' sound and Adamaris is going 'ahhh ahhhhh ah aha ah'. Urania started making weird sounds in a really deep voice and Ziggy starts to sing with Logan

So rock me Momma, like a wagon wheel
Rock me Momma, any way you feel
Heyyy, Momma rock me
Rock me Momma, like the wind and the rain
Rock me Momma, like a southbound train
Heyyy, Momma rock me

That's all I can remember, but apparently Ziggy has other ideas and starts to make his own words up so I just sing with Logan

Running up the cold up in New England
I was born to be a fiddler in an old time string band
My baby plays the guitar, I pick a banjo now

Adamaris starts singing with Ziggy, making something I like to call harmony.

Oh, north country winters keep a-getting me down
Lost my money playing poker so I had to leave town
But I ain't turning back to living that old life no more

Logan and I jump into the next part, me still banging on the tree root and Urania still making those weird low sounds.

So rock me Momma, like a wagon wheel
Rock me Momma, any way you feel
Heyyy, Momma rock me
Rock me Momma, like the wind and the rain
Rock me Momma, like a southbound train
Heyyy, Momma rock me

At this point, I started making a drum sound with my mouth somehow. Everybody found something to make a sound so we started using those and just jamming out. Urania takes the next part and kills it.

Walkin' to the south out of Roanoke
Caught a trucker out of Philly, had a nice long talk
But he's a-heading west of Cumberland Gap
To Johnson City, Tennessee

I gotta get a move on before the sun

I hear my baby calling my name and I know

She's the only one
And if I die in Raleigh, at least I will die free

We all join in for the last part, me singing some different words or pitches at times.

So rock me Momma, like a wagon wheel
Rock me Momma any way you feel
Heyyy, Momma rock me
Oh, rock me Momma, like the wind and the rain

Rock me Momma, like a southbound train
Heyyy, Momma rock me

We repeat these lyrics with everyone getting a small part of their own for about a minute. At the end, we all end up singing two words and holding it for a couple seconds. It was then that I knew I found some amazing friends.

Rock me

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Ziggy

Urania and Adamaris went to go help Aqua find some stuff from the carriage wreck so it was just me and Logan. Now or never

"Hey Logan?" My best friend turns his gaze towards me and somehow I got the courage to do it.

I

Kissed

Logan

Hoying

And let me tell you, I felt like I could fly like a bird.

"I really like you Logan."

"I really like you too, Ziggy. But it's illegal to be dating someone who is the same gender as you."

"Then we keep it hidden. Only tell Aqua Urania and Adamaris. Please?" Logan looks at me with a sparkle in his eyes.

"Of course."

We kissed once more, the whole world disappearing around us.

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Mitch

"So our ancestors from the Post Civil War Era created A Capella?" Scott asks in disbelief.

"Yeah, kinda." Kevin reassures with a big grin on his face.

"That's so cool!!" Kirstie and Avi yell at the same time.

Jeremy. Kirstie's husband, walks in to take her home. Once they leave Avi and Kevin set out too.

"Well, even our ancestors were gay like us." Scott chuckles at his own sentence.

"Yeah. And I wouldn't want it any other way." I kiss my husband softly, eternally grateful that nothing between those five from many years ago was a mishap.*

OKay, let me explain some things super duper quick before you click out.

Aquamarine – Beryl Gemstone
Adamaris – Graceful and noble
Logan – From a small hill

Urania – Divine
Ziggy – Victorious 

Aquamarine is Kevin's ancestor
Adamaris is Kirstie's ancestor

Logan is Scott's ancestor
Urania is Avi's ancestor
Ziggy is Mitch's ancestor 

Songs used in this story:
Drink A Beer - Luke Bryan

https://youtu.be/trlIQcdi2QI

Long Black Train - Josh Turner

https://youtu.be/SZtwxc423jg

Wagon Wheel - Darius Rucker

https://youtu.be/W1L1cDUZArE

I used country songs because they seemed much more fitting for the mood. This takes place back in the late 1800's, right before 16th President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, so that's why I never mentioned it. The Civil War was won by the Union (North) and the two boys who were beating up Urania were Confederate. (South) 

So what did you guys think? Did you like it? Please let me know if I should do something like this again soon, greatly appreciated! I may do a small sequel but most likely not.

I love y'all so much and I'll see you soon!

~Geeky