My first reaction had been to get back out of the car as the officer pulled behind me, I couldn't give him an opportunity to shoot me as they had Twan, Martin was a heartless son of a bitch, I was certain he wouldn't play fair. Also I'd been paranoid ever since he'd stopped and was soaking wet still. The rain continued, as I drove I debated checking into a motel, I felt I would be safe but first wanted to go to the Pines Road home.
I knew it would bring back memories; I needed them.
Evil was surrounding me on all sides.
I'd passed several service cars but made sure to drive the speed limit, I needed no more obstacles to hinder me from making it to my destination. The fact that the excavation crew had been killed disturbed me, I wanted to know more and had texted Lawrence but hadn't gotten a response. I anticipated seeing my babies and would soon arrive at Pam's home, also I looked forward to speaking with her about Martin.
Their words, Martin was merciless and corrupt and Mama had once been on his team, I couldn't trust her. I'd knocked the stack of mail to the floor from the passenger seat, as I looked down I saw Trenton Jr had missed several appointments the mail from his pediatrician had accumulated. Among them was an envelope from Glaxo Smith Kline.
Reparations were due.
I'd placed the absence of my sons in the back of my mind and hadn't sensed any harm had come to them as it had Ayden, I yet had to get to the bottom of it, Kerri had called the police---
I remembered the Haitian housekeeper's claims.
The thoughts rushed through my mind swiftly, I knew Terrell was the cornerstone somehow as I revisited the timeline of events, he'd definitely brought the demon and Trenton had mentioned the photograph in Redd's phone; was it yet in evidence? Who found the body?
I couldn't stop visualizing Martin's home enveloped, the flames licking the expensive paintings---destroying his tabernacle. What I'd seen with my earthly eye had only been an illusion, I now knew things were not as they appeared to be and something controlled us all. I asked myself was I even fit for parenthood, Kerri wasn't. She couldn't handle the demon she saw in her own seed.
My Daddy was so fucked up in the head, his sanity had been gone for a long time and was imprisoned in a world between good and evil, I couldn't muster up hate for him and hated Sharon more, I blamed her for Boogie's death as well. The son that knew too much.
The prison call had come in, I ignored it while thinking I'd never felt hunger that extreme. Agitated when the phone rang again I looked and noticed my mother was now calling and debated hearing her bullshit. With repugnance I answered and noticed I could almost hear clearly again.
"Darling Hazel, Mama was thinking---I've not one photograph of u! When u were a child we thought---well nevermind, we should take family photos one day soon."
"Yes, u never allowed Kerri and I to take school pictures, I yet shy away from the camera. Besides I've cut my hair bald."
"Oh honey, your shenanigans---I've loved that about u since u were a child, u loved to hoax arou---"
"What do u want!?"
She was drunk.
"I just feel disconnected from u and, and Kerri---I, u know, your father's gone and I've been trying to do the right things in life...the alcohol, I've left it alone, I just want to mend our relationship, I won't be around forever---"
That was good to know.
"Hazel we moved here because strange things were happening in the home your father had years ago, he tried to keep us safe---u were safe at the hospital and I regretted giving birth to u for a long time but not selfishly. I'd prayed to God day in and day out, and had no choice but to seek ritualistic remedies. Martin had said to us for another soul to enter into the world one has to leave. That's how it works honey, that how it works. I hadn't asked for Kerri, but u were longed for. Your father and I had plans to be happy and pastor a church but we needed money--and, and I-- well u know, I only knew one person that had that kind of money, he'd given it me and we started our congregation. I was desperate for u but I blamed myself eventually for your condition.
After the ritual she said my womb had been blessed, I told your father we were pregnant, by then he was numb. There were 3 before u, but they just would not attach. I hated Louisa McNamara and saw how hurt your father would be when the miscarriages had occurred and wanted to get even. She'd said there would be 3 before u and it came to pass. Months had gone by after I finally conceived u, the pregnancy was normal to a certain extent, also we were more prosperous than we'd ever been. The hatred I'd developed toward Louisa and her husband had subsided, I thought I'd been bribed into laying down with them all.
Your grandmother warned me about Louisa, and told me about a woman who'd brought a child home whom she abandoned after she'd conceived her own, and because she had done so the family was cursed but it hadn't begun there. She went on to tell me how the boy could charm snakes and how she knew he was not of this realm, he lacked color and could only see in darkness but could command the serpents, they would gather around the child as he charmed them with his hands. She decided to leave him to die. She said long ago our ancestors would call on spirits and they'd begun to inhabit the land, the slaves felt God wasn't hearing their prayers since they couldn't escape slavery. They believed the souls and the blood could grant them their requests and would assemble under the trees to pray for vengeance to befall their adversaries but something horrendous had occurred to bring about their yearning for revenge. Her own Grandmother told her the story."
"Who was the child?"
"Nobody knew, she'd found him in a hotel room naked and had taken him home, nobody had even rented the room but it had been occupied. She kept him hid and had begun to notice things about him, she thought if she didn't give him nourishment he would die, she had been so wrong. Something was keeping him alive, moreover he began to mature at an excessive rate. She'd returned thinking he was dead but he waited for her with an apple in his hand, she wondered from whence it had come, the trees hadn't produced. Many came to believe Louisa had called upon the spirit of the boy who was born without pigment, he'd also been hid. She'd told your grandmother she had remedies to help her conceive but it had all been a hoax.
Your grandmother found her in the alley after she'd seen what happened and knew what her husband had done, but she said Louisa had brought something over him he couldn't control after she'd been raped. She'd watched them all have their way, and when she rescued her and brought her home she observed as her belly grew but knew beforehand. She said she couldn't leave her to die and Louisa kept it all a secret neither could make it known, instead she began to show her things and convinced her she was entitled to wealth, your grandmother indulged but later on saw the evil within.
Louisa knew she had plans to take her child and had to do something. See the land was cursed, a child had been killed long ago---they'd never seen an albino child and thought he was of Satan. The girl had birthed him, and hid his coming. She was warned, 'hide him' they said, his eyes skin and hair was colorless, he looked not of this world and was an awkward sight to behold. The master's wife would hear the child crying and demanded each woman slave be examined. When they had, Rosetta had given birth but would not tell of the child's whereabouts and could not feed him in fear of them following her. She loved her child but considered him to be a freak of nature. One night she'd ran from her quarters after a dream in search of him, she'd dreamt his eyes had been removed and his fingers and toes cut off. In the night she ran, and did not find her child where she'd left him, but saw the fresh dirt turned underneath the Cedar tree along with a trail of blood that led from the shed where he'd been kept, the slave master's wife watched from the window as she ran about the land ripping her clothes in grief. Many believed the young girl disappeared, some believed she would never die, she'd just shown up out of the blue. When the slave owner died, your great great grandmother inherited the land, his only child. Growing up I'd heard stories about the old orchard, your grandmother would recall how the ground would not produce because of the bodies that were scattered under the dirt. Rosetta had promised her child's return and said she'd conceived by the spirits, but they all thought she'd just gone mad. The land was evil from the the day the child disappeared, of Haitian descent she was in touch with darkness and promised her revenge. The male children were cursed and all had fallen victim one way or another."
Somehow I knew I could break the cycle.
"Martin had a fascination for the orchard, his mother had raised him there until he said he must go and be about his father's business at 12 years old. He would speak of the boy who had no color at all and could not see but said he had come from afar. He said he had given him the knowledge that was well beyond his years.
The trees had grown out of nowhere, initially there had just been one, but soon they covered the whole graveyard and produced the most beautiful apples which would wither after they were plucked. Life would quickly end as the slave owners wife's babies had, there had been three; the fourth she died in labor and he was cut out, but the child Travis lived but was adopted by a grape breeder at LaFitte vineyards who raised him as his own. Your grandmother eventually lost the land for not paying taxes they claimed, but she'd seen too much evil and was afraid of the trees and said they would burn, also that Louisa had brought it all there when she'd come but I knew better. What Martin had spoken of had been here since the beginning of time. She'd given birth to Elijah---but saw something attack him under the trees, and felt if she buried him under them as the slaves had their loved ones he would come back, born as a child again. Your grandmother knew what she had brought home long ago was evil, he lived in the dark and could not see in the light."
"What happened to him?"
"Not too sure. Martin had shown great interest in the child and never spoke of him outside of the orchard but said he would return, born as a child again and said his dominance would be more profound than before. He spake the prophecy and said it was written."
Louisa had called on his soul for years, he would be born of the children's children with a mark on his forehead blinded by light. I'd known they practiced various religions down south, some had even sold their souls to the devil himself. Martin's grandmother had come from Port Au Prince where they'd made a pact with the devil long ago for freedom, they'd thrown away the white man's God and evil had come. The demons they called upon were ones they knew existed---they all had been mentioned in the white man's Bible as well as their own.
Satan was among them, they said he would rule the land.
Mama explained how and why she sought out holiness, especially after Kerri was born. Martin had Daddy's church burned down, I remembered us leaving while it was yet smoldering, he was afraid he would come for us. She felt blameworthy and said she had been a pawn. I finally could hear sincereness in her voice. "With the devil u can't change your mind, accept his blessings without making offerings. I learned what we do affect generations to come, that's why the Bible mentions leaving an inheritance for your children's children for their prosperity but in darkness our children's children inherit darkness. Your Grandmother had sight, and never regretted losing the Orchard. The Ellis' eventually had taken over the property, a man had come once and asked for their daughter's hand whom he'd name the Orchard for but under the condition of her keeping her name. Soon they'd built a house which burned years later. Beforehand a man had come for his wife, he'd given him his daughter instead saying she was yet a virgin. LaDonna spoke of something heavy around her shoulders that she could not see. Your father said when she'd asked to be baptized he thought nothing of it until he'd seen the demons before his own eyes, there were many."
I was nearing Shreveport, it was 5:33 P.M., I told Mama I would call her back I had to soak in what she'd said but first I asked her about the slaves bible. She said they had context of their own that was given to them by the Devil.
"Honey, people take desperate measures when their prayers are not being answered as I had, your grandmother had said pay attention to the trees and not all fruit was good fruit. Demons don't die, they seek the susceptible. Unknowingly she'd promised the Devil her children's children, what the Haitians believed in was powerful because they remained united through adversity. Most of them were buried where the trees grew and they yet govern the land. Knowingly when the trees produce people still want their fruit but there is one they prey on, especially those who can't conceive ."
As I ended the call I yet wondered what had provoked Troy's immediate decisions, and considered everything I'd taken from Mama's words. Who had she laid down with? I yet wondered if Percy Givens was my father.
In denial I continued and looked forward to seeing my children. Had her children's children been sacrificed? I'd thought killing was normal, and no matter the circumstance, a mother knew her child. Had she honestly protected me by having me hospitalized, I'd only grown up to fall into their trap and Troy had led me right to them. I smirked at the thought while Lawrence's text message displayed across the screen. He'd agreed to take care of business, but I also asked him why he was at a hotel, it just seemed strange, I could hear a baby crying in the background and was confused. He explained a woman had delivered a child to his wife and said it belonged to him, a woman she didn't recognize. She wrote down the license plate number and it had come back to a woman he tracked down who said a someone had paid her a thousand dollars to take the baby to its father, a woman she'd never seen.