“Is everything ready yet?” A young man asked in sloppy Spanish.
He was very tall and thin with crooked teeth that were too big for his mouth. Hecarried a large brown bag that was sluggishly thrown over his shoulder.
“No,” the boy holding the machete snapped.
“We still have a lot more work to do, and if you did not call me, I will still be outhere chopping fucking sugarcane.”
The crooked tooth boy shrugged his shoulders and carelessly threw down theoversized bag.
“Be careful with that,” the other boy snarled. “Sorry,” he replied defensively andwalked away.
The young boy warily discarded his machete and then began to rummage through thebag. He eyes widened with pleasure as his hands examined its contents. What’s inside Ithought to myself? I began to shiver, so I tucked my legs into my chest and wrapped myarms around my body for warmth. I watched the sun get overtaken by darkness. A sneakyfull-faced moon arose to take its place; it shone smugly, as adorning stars sprinkledthemselves around it. Below, a bewitching fire danced to the sound of hypnotic drums; atotal of sixteen boys banged on instruments while chanting the ancient ritual.
The crooked tooth boy had the brown bag in his hand and began to pluck out iscontents. Another unidentified boy pulled out a white cock from a brown bag. The cocksquirmed in his embrace as he held it up high in his attempts to brandish this wonderfulgift to the Gods. In one sudden movement, the boy slit the cock’s throat and began topour its fresh blood over the contents. The boys began to chant in unison, performing aharmonies dance where they moved their arms in legs in complete accord. Suddenly, theboy who was cutting the sugarcane emerged. His head was freshly shaven and colorfullydecorated. Even from the distance that I was sitting in, I could see the tribal marks thatwere proudly displayed on his face. He walked into the ritual with his head held high.Three measly beads dangled loosely from his bare chest and a small cloth covered hisgroin.
His lips began to move and his voice vibrated throughout the fields. He began todance. At first, his movements were jerky, but in unison to the rhythms of the ceremony.But as the drums became louder and the chants became stronger, his movements becamemore erratic. He began to violently move around and stomp his feet with intense vigor.His mouth moved quickly, almost too quickly for the words to come out.
They became so jumbled that he began to cry out in frustration, and his body beganto go shake as he fought to control his sudden hysteria. The other boys soon followed suitand began to dance around the flames, fervently beating their drums and banging theirinstruments; their voices were all in disarray as they struggled to keep up with the chants.
Then, Nelly, that is when it happened, the shadows came. At first, they appeared aslifeless figures. They were simply shapeless balls of energy. But on that night, I watchedin horror as they began to take their form. They appeared, one by one. They took theirplaces by each man and their forms began to take shape in the night. They wore theancient garb of the Congo. They conversed in an unidentified language and then began towalk about, examining the rituals, almost as if they were deciding on which one of theboys they wanted to mount first. I watched in disbelief as the shadows began to take overthe souls of the worshippers.
They rushed into their bodies without notice, and in a flash of an eye they mergedwith their flesh and overtook their souls. The worshipers seemed to have transformed.They began to joyfully dance around, grabbing each other’s hands and waving them highin the air.
There was a loud crash as large ripples of thunder pierced through the air. Fatraindrops began to fall from the sky. There was a huge surge of wind, and with that camea stampede of African and Taino slaves. I got up and ran as fast as I could. I was way tooscared to look back. I ran through the darkness. When I was about forty feet away, Istumbled over a fallen tree. I fell down hard into a barren garden with black soil. Istruggled to move my feet to get back up again, when I felt something slither across myhand. A snake, I gasped in horror and began to claw my way through the fields. I couldhear screams and gunshots blaring off in the distance.
The visions in my head began to sizzle and pop like sticks of dynamite. There was ahuge flash of light and then a horrific sight of a plantation owner being dragged from hisbed and beaten with a flat edge hammer. There was another flash. It was a woman, andshe had woken up in the middle of the night to see someone standing over her. It was herslave girl, with her eyes rolling and her soul possessed. She stood over her in a dressstained in blood, and she raised her sharpened knife. She began to plunge the knife intoher chest over and over again. My heart was pounding; my body jerked from the impactof the stabs. The pain pierced through my body like sharp daggers.
My arms and legs felt like they weighed a ton each. I struggled to move them as Icontinued my spider crawl through the field. I could feel the dirt under my fingernails.My knees and elbows were badly bruised. And my face was wet and moldy from themixture of dirt and sweat. After only a few short paces, I collapsed, exhausted from myretreat. Right before I shut my eyes. I saw another flash followed by a vision of lifelessbodies hanging like extra branches on a tree. Was that my fate? Was that how thing weregoing to end for me?
My eyes popped open, and my body jolted out
