The Way



What had she done to deserve such inhumane treatment? All of the locals knew, and of course agreed to her punishment; But everyone from other cities and towns questioned as to why she was punished in such a brutal way.



In Massachusetts, we still go by the old ways; meaning Puritanism. We keep it hushed because we know how many people disagree with it. Now it's not all of Massachusetts, just a few selective towns the have a mass majority that still agree, and believe in that way. Salem, is a big reason as to why our joyful state is like this. I am one of the lucky ones; who happened to be so blessed to come from the famous, Salem, Massachusetts. My sister, the one who was punished, wasn't an awful person, or a sinner by any means, she was just.. different than us.


You see, Sarah was always extremely opinionated, and of course in a town where our religion and beliefs go against just that. Sarah was always looked down upon; she never really came out and said just how opinionated she was until...well, we'll get to that later. Sarah was only seventeen, she was very smart too. She had a lot of.. wisdom you may say. When I talked to her it was as though it was to someone far beyond her years. That's what I always admired about her; that, and her strength. It wasn't easy being the two daughters of a sinner.



Our father, Henry, resulted to alcoholism when I was just five years old, that would of made Sarah about eight, I think. Well, He was a farmer and of course the drought came, and after the drought he seemed so unmotivated.. for anything really. Even being a father seemed like a task to him. Anyway, alcoholism began the lashings toward my mom, which pushed her away, as it would anyone. That's when he met that harlot of a women, Sheryl. That tart, tore apart our family, the reason why my father was hung. They don't take kindly to adultery in Salem, or in the Puritan community at that. I always admired Sarah for being so strong during that time, I wish I could have been like her.



So you're probably wondering, What had she done to deserve such inhumane treatment? Well, as I mentioned Sarah was opinionated, she went against everything puritanism stood for, mainly because of our father. So what the deal was, is that Sarah was in school, they told her to take out her bible, she said, “For what? To read the lies that the people of this town force us to believe, to make me as narrow-minded as you all are?” Now, going against puritanism was wrong, I remember how the gauged a hot awl through many peoples tongue if you spoke against the religion. Sarah however finished that sentence by saying, “I love God, but I cannot, the angels in heaven possess me not to do so, Should I go against God's angels and go along with you? I cannot..” At the time people saw that last part as a sign that she was good and did not believe that the way our kind was, was wrong.


About a month later, the church had heard about this from the towns hearsay, which only caused more trouble. They questioned and questioned Sarah thinking she had been in cahoots with the devil, thinking she was a sinner just like our father. I remember going to visit Sarah, they locked her up in a barn; chained to the wall, with only hay to keep her warm, she said she hadn't eaten in four days. You could tell that it was the truth, her eyes sunken in with dark purple circles under them, as if she hadn't slept in months, Her lips palm, chapped, and shivering from the frost beginning to appear in the corners of the barn. I touched her arm, looking for a hug, but all I received was groan from the bruise that quickly appeared after I had touched her. Mom said she lacked vitamin K, the vitamin that stops blood from clotting. After a couple weeks we came back to visit her, she had starved to death.

Sarah wasn't a bad person or have bad intentions, I don't know what she had done so wrong to deserve such inhumane punishment.