I still reminisce on the day I became a vampire, it feels like it was only a few weeks past, but the weeks number in the thousands and the years in the hundreds. 1756.. the leather whip cracked my flesh open as I hung tied in between two wooden poles in the front yard of the plantation surrounded by a crowd of eager eyes that watched my agony and torment. As my nerves rattled with pain at each crack of the whip, the pain was followed by the sudden cool of red blood on my skin that dried quickly from the heat of the sun, its rays beating on my dark skin with an intensity that the whip couldn't match. "That’s right niggger! " I’m a give you something to remember today you fucking coon!" the fat pale faced man named jebediah behind me yelled. His speech slurred from the whiskey he had drunk prior to this, and his mouth dripping with black liquid from the thick wad of tobacco in between his gums. ”you black ape mouthed dirt stained bastard what makes you think you can put your black paws on me!?"He roared and cracked the whip again. The reason for my torment today was an incident that took place.
Earlier that morning in the plantation fields, I and the rest of broken blacks that unwillingly tithed there day away slaving in the fields were continuously picking the cotton as usual. As I labored away bent over cotton bushes with a giant sack of it slung over my shoulder I heard a scream and looked up. Jebebdiah had been in the middle of beating a pregnant woman during our labor that couldn't work the same pace as the other slaves because of the weight in her stomach. while all the other niggers continued picking cotton trying to ignore the woman’s screams and the other slave drivers watched there corners I couldn't bear the sight of this crime anymore. I let the sack of cotton that I had had slung over my shoulder for the last 6 hours drop to the ground and dashed towards Jebediah. As he raised the whip to bring it down one more time to the woman’s body who cowered in the dirt body covered with dust in terror I grabbed his arm that was raised in the air before he could bring it down. He turned around and looked at me in shock and anger. ”Get your hands off of me you nigger!" he said and then tried to push me away I grabbed him by both arms and let him feel the full level of my strength that along with natural strength of my people was honed from the hours of labor I constantly endured. As the look in his eyes shifted from anger to fear I lifted him in the air and then slammed him on the ground with full force. Before I was given more time to inflict more revenge on the woman’s behalf. Rifles and machetes were drawn and pointed at me, The slave drivers holding them ordering me to stop....fours hours laters I was being beat as a public show for all to see . I whipped my head back in agony brought it back down slowly gazing in the eyes of my spectators a mix of broken negroes and rich whites, staring at me with pure enjoyment. The white people there present I hated with a passion that ached in my heart and burned in my spirit as they jeered and pointed at me in amusement, pale faces creased with amusement at my agony., but the negroes I hated no less. As they watched me, people if not from my own tribe at least of my same color watching me suffer hanging from ropes, skin bleeding and burning yet none took action to help. regardless of the fact they outnumbered these pale faced creatures by one hundred even. But in between pauses that the whips stroke found home in my flesh I had flashes of memory to my old life a place far under the beating sun. Young boys dueled each other with spears and dagger in anticipation of the day they would hunt and provide the food for the families. In the middle of the memory I was brought back to reality as I felt the crack whip on my back again, the pain made me burn with anger as I remembered the first day I saw them, the big canoes, docked at one of my favorite beaches to play at as a child, but it had now had become of place nostalgia and horror. I remembered the stir of worry and confusion that the message from the intertribal herald caused about the strange foreigners, he remembered the warning from the elders about how the chalk skinned people from across the big river had enslaved and captured and took them over the big river for a life of endless labor. That same day I had planned to go to that beach and make a necklace, a beautiful girl in my village of 19 with a beautiful almond shaped eyes and a body that was the talk of the village from miles away. In the midst of the pain he closed his eyes in memory of her smile, in the music of her laugher and warmth of her touch, So many other village boys desired her from there and from others, but in me it was obvious she found what she wanted. For a second I felt the pride in my chest hidden under the veal of my captivity rise at thought of her admiration for me, she loved the sound of my deep melodic voice that had made me a famous orator at storytelling and a speaker. She loved the way my body felt at her touch, muscles smooth and sinewy but toned and strong from days and nights running through the jungles and fields head in the clouds as was my past time. That day I had planned to get her pearls and shells from the ocean make a beautiful necklace to propose to her with and despite what any man said I was not going to let some foreigner fire sticks stop me from marriage. “nigger slash! nigger slash! nigger! nigger your cuts is gettin bigger !” The whipman yelled in glee after each hit. Wow, he is really enjoying this I must have hit him. Pretty hard I thought to myself in my weariness. "Alright there jebadiah stop! i think that he learned his lesson! he might be rebellious nigger but he's still one of the best workers we got. " I heard the plantation master say. "Are you sure?!" jebadiah roared back, I want to make sure that nigger knows. What’s waiting for him if he gets cocky again! "As they talked I looked in the direction where heard the plantation masters voice coming from. There he stood to my left staring at me with that fucking superior grin on his face, knowing that if he wanted two words could decide my fate. I looked at area surrounded by other slave drivers with whips on their hips, but in the midst of them was a figure who caught my eye particularly. Dressed in a black suit like the rich Europeans wore who visited the plantation every once in a while next to the master stood a figure who I wasn't familiar with and stood out to me as different for some reason. The whole yard was full of new faces. But this one, this one was different, he was a white man like all of them but different. He wore a thick wide brimmed hat with drapes that hung over his head and neck, and gloves that covered his hands. When I look back on it now I don't know how I never noticed this odd masked man amidst my captors and fellow slaves. The figures head wasn't tilted towards me or even facing my direction,... but I could feel his eyes boring into me from behind the curtain-like folds that hung from his hat, I felt a chill creep up my spine that the hot sun bearing on my back couldn't suppress, I didn't know what it was, but I sensed that this man , if it could be that was not of the human world. "Hey nigger, look at me!! "the whip man in front of me yelled And before I could turn my head I felt the whip come across my chest. I bowed my head from the hurt and lifted it again looking at the whip man with murder, He was a short fat white man with a bald spot in his hidden by a wide brimmed hat like the one worn by the strange man I saw there. "Alright nigger you ready to behave? “he yelled, in silence I met his gaze with mine, fury burrowing inside me. I wasn't going to give this fat short fuck the pleasure he wanted, if he had to kill me then I would except it kindly rather than endure this torment. "Apologize. boy! ! Look at me in the eye and say, I'm sorry good kind sir I won’t disobey again and apologize to Jesus for outstepping your boundaries as a nigger!" Then at the moment I heard the voice, Your agony can be ceased. I snapped my head up and looked back and forth startled. "now look ! you done went and beat the sense out the poor nigger!" I heard one of the white spectators say Now that I think about it I was surrounded by about a hundred humans at the time so I could have settled with the idea of the voice coming from one of them, it could have been anybody talking but it felt like the voice was coming from right next to me.. or right inside of me I can save you if you want I stopped my gaze on the stranger I noticed earlier and felt a deep rooted feeling telling me that the voice was coming from him. Yes the voice is me, and I am giving you the offer to live and act out your revenge on the people who did this to you, but it will come at a price. “what price?” I muttered aloud weakly. " see now he's talking to himself and shit! I tell you I think you done broke the poor nigger! "Another spectator jeered from my right. That doesn't matter now, what matters is there is man in front of you with a whip in one hand and a pistol in the other that is on the verge of killing you, do you accept or not? I closed my eyes for two seconds. My father had always warned me about accepting gifts or offers from people with hidden agendas. but all I knew was at that moment I wanted nothing else more than to live, and if that include being able to exact vengeance on my captors in this hellhole of a country , I would be honored. and inhaled deeply. “You heard me the first time nigger! Apologize!! Oh maybe you can’t understand, how about I say it and baboon language.” he then went to curl his short pudgy arms to his sides in arches, walking around in circles making ape noises, the crowd broke into laughter at the man’s retarded imitation. While he walked in circles I gathered all the saliva I had left in my mouth, as soon he got near enough to where I knew I wouldn't miss I spit a long disgusting spittle that landed right on top of his forehead . The laughing crowd lost all humor at that moment, dead silence the man stopped, he touched his forehead with his hand and then brought the palm in front of his face slowly, then looked back me. I looked at him and grinned widely, looking into his eyes I told him “fuck you." then lifted my head towards the direction peculiar stranger standing in the backyard “I accept” I said softly. The silence that followed felt eternal. The fat slave driver wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt, spit a gulp of tobacco juice at my feet and dropped the whip & wrong answer nigger &and pulled out a black and small revolver from behind his belt and aimed it my chest and cocked the trigger.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |