The Roman Empire in 2024

          I wake up slowly. My head is throbbing with pain, and all the noise around is not helping. Wait a minute… Just a second ago I was jumping into the water at the lake, and no one but my family and Greyson was there, and they are not this loud.

          My name is Jade, and my family and I, along with my best friend Greyson, were all having a barbeque on our boat at the lake by our house. I had finished my food already and wanted to be the first one to jump in the water. I dove in, not realizing this was the shallow section of the lake. I hit my head on a rock, and I couldn’t remember the rest. Now I wake up and I have no idea where in the world I am!

           I open my eyes and see lots of feet, some clean, some dirty, but all wearing woven sandals and walking around, and some are facing towards me. Through all the noise, I can make out a man speaking. He was saying:

          “Wake up, girl! Wake up, I say!”

          Actually, I am not that much of a girl, I’m 13. I shake myself awake and look up. There I see a kind-looking man knelt down. He is smiling. I look above him and see about 40 people staring down at me, from all different angles. Then the man shouts excitedly:

          “The girl in strange clothing awoke!!”

          Then everybody started cheering and passing the word. The man picks me up. “Make way!! She needs to get to the healer now!!!” He swiftly walks, shoving his way through the crowd.

         I am so tired, but I can’t sleep with all of this noise around me. Then I hear someone:

          “She is hurt badly. Lay your eyes upon the blood”

          I manage to turn my head to see the ground as we were walking, and I see blood dripping from the back of my head. A lot of blood too.

          We arrive at the doctor’s “office”, but it looks more like a mud house, and there is no glass for the windows, just square openings in the walls. All of the other buildings were like this. Another man comes into the room who must be the doctor, and I’m laid down on a bed, but it isn’t soft like I had been expecting. They place a rough, sewn blanket on me and talk for a little bit, but I couldn’t hear much.

          “Oh Alexander, dear Alexander, what have you done this time?

          “She was nearly deceased on the road.”

          I have no idea what he is talking about. Road? The ground was made of stone and clay, not pavement. Where am I and who are these people?!

          Also, everyone’s custumes are very strange. The doctor, the man, and everyone else are wearing what looks like white sheets wrapped around their bodies. There is only one place and one time where people wear those, and that is Ancient Rome, but that is crazy. How could I be in Ancient Rome? I am getting tired, and there isn’t much noise now, so I decided to set the matter aside and sleep. 

          The next morning I awake feeling refreshed and my head no longer hurts. I am not in the bed I was laid down in yesterday though. I am in a very comfortable bed, which feels amazing. I sit up and look around. The room is beautiful. I hear a knock at the door and it opens, and a woman wearing poorer clothes greets me.

          “Arise and quickly, for Master wants to see you. My name is Aemilia. Up now! I haven’t all day to wait for you to get out of your bed… What is your name?”

          “Jade.” I say.

          I don’t like her very much, so I will not try to be as nice to her.

          “Now Jane, I work for Master, and he told me to raise you.” said Aemilia.

          “It’s Jade, like the stone.”

          “Well, I care not about your name. Here are your clothes, Now arise and put them on.” Aemilia pulls out a piece of clothing from something like a dresser. It is kind of like a sheet, like what the men were wearing yesterday, but it is more feminine. I put it on with much trouble, but finally succeed, and Aemilia shows me the way downstairs after fixing my hair and giving me some sandals. I also wash and scrub myself down before putting on my clothes.

          When I get downstairs I find the man that had helped me, Alexander, I think, a woman who must be his wife, a baby boy, and a little girl or perhaps seven.

          “Beautiful, well done Aemilia,” says Alexander.

          “Thank you Master.” answers Aemilia. She walks upstairs to do more chores. Now Alexander walks towards me and says:

          “My name is Alexander, and this is my wife, Julia, my daughter Livia, and my son Felix. According to Aemilia, your name is Jade, am I right?”

          “Yes Sir, my name is Jade.”

          “Why were you on the road yesterday? I obviously know what had happened, but I do not want to tell him, so I say: “I did not know where my parents were, and I was looking for them when I tripped and fell and hit my head. You must have found me after some time.”

          “Interesting, and you still don’t know where your parents are?” Alexander asks.

          “No Sir.” I reply. My parents tell me to always be polite, so I am. “Well, if you agree with my idea, you will stay with us until we find them.” I did not want to ask, for fear of them thinking that I am stupid or something, but I had too.

          “Where am I exactly?” I ask, embarrassed.

          “Why Rome of course, and what mean your mouth when you speak?” said Julia, probably because she thinks I am stupid. Rome? Ancient Rome?! That’s ridiculous! Deep down though, I know it’s true.

          “Right, how silly of me to doubt it, and my mouth sounds strange for I am very scared,” I say in my most Ancient Roman style, trying to make it sound like I knew the whole time.

          “Are those the only clothes that cover you?” said Alexander, trying to stop the conversation from continuing. “They are.” I say.

          After walking around through Rome for a while, I drop some of my clothes. As I bend down to pick them up I realize I cannot find Alexander and his family anywhere in this crowd. All of a sudden, someone grabs me from behind, covering my mouth. They turn me around and I see that there were two of them, and one says:

          “She’ll do, let’s go.” And they leave with me. The next thing I know I am tied up onto a wooden plank standing up, and there is an auction going on. Everyone is trying to buy me. Finally, I’m sold to a man and his wife. I am brought to their house and given to the 10 year old girl as her slave. She is not nice like I thought she would be, not nice at all. Even if I make the tiniest mistake, or even no mistake at all, she will still whip me. I do not even know how she knows how to use a whip, but her parents seem to be fine with it.

          This little girl cannot do anything, so I have to do everything for her. It is horrible. I have so many bruises and whip lashes on my back that I can barely do anything anymore. I have been here for weeks now, and I am starting to think that I am never going to get home, and I am never going to see my parents again, or my sister, or brothers, or Greyson. All I ever want now is to see my mother again, and my father. But now, I will never see either of them again.

          One day, the family decides to take a vacation somewhere, they never tell me where, but they take me with them, probably to take care of that horrible, helpless, little girl.

          On the vacation, I mess up making her bed by accidentally leaving a wrinkle in the bed. This family is rich, and if they look lazy in any way, they are mad. I stood there outside ready to feel the pain of the whip, when I saw it, a lake! I think for a second, I came here by jumping into a lake, maybe I can go back by jumping into a lake.

          I know what I have to do, so I do it. I start to run as fast as I can toward the lake. I can hear that dreadful girl screaming at the top of her lungs. I do not care what she says, I keep running. Finally, I reach the side of the lake and dive in.

          I wake up slowly. My head is throbbing with pain, and all the noise around is not helping. But this time, I am not on the ground, I am in a modern day hospital bed rolling to a room. My family and Greyson are all there right by me. I ask what happened, and they tell me that I dove into the lake and hit my head, and now I am in the hospital, and that everything will be okay. I know it will. If Ancient Romans can fix me, surely 2024 doctors can do the same!