I snuck back to bed and brought the voodoo doll and zombie. Hitchcock woke up and strangely lacked a head. "What happened to you?" the zombie stopped to peer at him. Hitchcock waves his hands urgently. "are you awake?"
Our head snaps at Glean, he has a pistol and shots Hitchcock in the chest. "Glean!"
"Shut up!" he growls. "What are you doing?"
"I should ask you! He's head is gone--"
"Be quiet…" he sneers. "Where were you?"
"Why should I answer that!"
He aims the gun, I can't do anything if you snitch on me. "I don't even know what your doing."
"I want the house. With all the vamps, the zombies, everything."
"Why?"
"I'm my daddy's son!" he aims the gun at me. "Imma give my mama a body, my daddy a body, even aunt Chava and Shiloh. That's what I'm here for."
"Nigga put the gun down!" he shoots. The bullet lounges into the wall. "Glean!"
"I'm my daddy's oldest son…"
"Nigga, what you need?"
"The damn house!" he says in a harsh voice. "I hear my daddy calling me. I need to put these niggas out. Where yo granddaddy?"
"Dead!" What the fuck could he do to my grandfather. "What you want with him?"
"His body. Where he buried at?" he steps closer. "I don't know Glean!"
"Curtis! My name is Curtis!"
"Ok, look. I'll help, just tell me what to do?"
He breathes, "You serious?"
"For real, nigga's code…"
"Ain't no such thing as a nigga's code, bitch."
"I'll help either way."
He lowers the gun but keeps it close. "Let's go get Dexter."
.
.
.
We go out into the hall. Fredrick gestures to the bathrooms, "A public restroom in a house." he narrows his eyeless sockets at me. "Weird, no?"
"I guess…"
"The rooms back here..."
"Glean what are you--"
"I'll kill you…"
"Glean!"
"I'll fuck you up." he turns around. "When I was little I raped somebody. I thought Aleigha was a dope rapper because I'm young, dumb, and my daddy said if I love a nigga like that so much. I should learn how to fuck like him to."
"Nigga--"
"You have problems." Fredrick chimes in. "So what, you wanna take a house because your daddy psycho?"
"Do you wanna keep that hallow body, bitch! Be quiet!"
"Sorry fuck boy…" Fredrick's teeth clap against each other. "So like… you look like rot. Whose body is that?" I ask.
"Growdens'"
"How long has he been dead?"
"Shiiiiiiiit."
We go into the bathroom stalls and Curtis blows his breath at the end's wall. I know those double doors. "He's probably still soaking. We'll get him out early."
"So, you know about this? What are they doing?"
"Vampires drown in lean. Lean can make you have a seizure if you overdose on purple drink. This means the body is shaking the soul out. If the body shakes after three days you made it back." We pass the tubs and Curtis peers at one of them. "I didn't think they would put her in here."
It's Maria from the woods. I thought she burnt to death. "I didn't think they collected her body."
"What did you think?" Curtis glares at me.
"Vamps at dead until the soul gone." says Fredrick. "I mean, we basically believe in second chances. Like me, I got raped by yo grandpa and now I'm still alive."
"What about you and suicide."
"I don't talk to my baby mama but that's behind me now."
We move onward into the room with tubs. Goldielieve said July was in here. Curtis was to the middle row of tubs. I start looking for my brother. I know he can't hear me. I look towards the back wall of tubs. There's a body of a man in here with his eyes open. He looks bloated. How long was I in the tub? I didn't even even check to see if my fingers were wrinkled. "I got him!" notifies Curtis. I find July, he looks so peaceful.
What a sick form of beauty.
I raise him out of the bath. "What the fuck! Put him back!" I smack his face, wipe the water away and shake him. "July!"
Curtis speeds to me, he grabs my shoulder, "Leave him."
"Nigga don't march up to me. Before I kick yo tiny ass!" I shove him. "Juls!"
Is my brother dead…?
.
.
.
"ANYWAYS! So, My daddy finds a white man but he don't look like a white man. He even sounds like a white man."
"You're a latina…"
"His name is Ashkii!"
"Huh…?"
My dad had something to do with it? I wouldn't doubt it. All my memories come back when I fucking die! HOW FUCKING CONVENIENT.
My mother was hanging. But I saw her climb the rope? There was somebody in the backyard. The house was on fire. The white parade and the DOHRCC were surrounding the house.
Granddad got shot.
I think mama got down and they were firing at her. This big ass bulldog, no, Tibetan mastiff--granddaddy's dog.
There were two others… no… three. Ugh!
"So, your dead." says Thankful. "I'm dead."
"Now what?" it comes to me. "Oh! What about Dayshia?"
"Jose's daughter... she's like a crack baby or something. She got therapy and kept getting held back in school. She eventually dropped out like she was so bad, she technically dropped the second grade and never made it to fifth grade."
"Damn." that's retarded.
"Yeah, Dayshia is Jose's daughter and he thought he could take a vampire king's body." she states.
"What happened to Jose's original body?"
"I… don't remember." her soul dims. "I can't remember what happened to my dad. But I know Dayshia took my body."
"The thick ass latina?"
"Yes--EXCUSE ME!"
"I am… sorry."
"I weight a good one hundred and ninety five pounds!"
"I never said anything about your weight…"
"Well!" her soul glows brighter. She sighs, "I'm pretty… for a dark skin."
"Well now your depressing…"
"I'm Mexican and my daddy dark, it's just annoying… I don't hate Mexico. Papa does tho…"
That means racism. "But Thankful… I have like questions."
"Jose hates his daughter. He has two but one is just fat. That's what he told me. He can't stand Dayshia. I think her mother was named after the mountain. You know the heap?"
"Heap?" I've never heard Yo Gotithehm Ten called the Heap. It is a holy mountain. Witches go up there for rituals. "That's another name for it. It comes from the fact Aleigha, once upon a time ago, worked in a junk yard and he threw trash on Mable."
"Who the fuck is Mable?"
"Saint John's mama. She was like really high all the time and killed her kid in a bathroom. Then aleigha found out she shot his mother. So one day he raped her, which is odd…"
"My granddaddy ain't no rapist."
"He is tho…" her soul gets close to me. "Aleigha like choked her and shit. He dragged her body to the yard and buried her there."
"Liar…"
"WHAT!" her soul slides back. "Why would I lie? Aleigha is crazy, like he cut off her hands and feet and people said that his family came from the caribbean. Look! He started this shit!"
Not gonna lie, I'm irritated. "He did a spell and now we got a copy of a distorted memory and the antichrist is a hoe with a son so that…" she starts muttering to herself. "That makes Besujia… about 60…ish. She's a grandma… At the time, before the walk, he was like 42-ish."
"Thanks…"
"I HAVE POOR MEMORY!" her soul hops. "Aleigha is like really fucking mad and he started reading Shikki's made up bible plus voodoo and this got started!"
"Ok…" I will never in a million years lie on my mother. From what granddad and even my maternal Grandfather, Chere. Mama was fucked up… I was born in a grip. I wish I hadn't remembered that.
Ashkii kept getting kicked out the house. I don't think granddad would want anyone to remember. "Ok, ok… let's say this is about my granddad. Why would anyone go after him?"
"He's a rapist? He torturted the soul or something…" she mutters again. "I mean Shikki. Your mother's a cannibal."
"She's anemic…"
"She ate people while she was on the streets that's pretty fucking dark and Your grandfather ain't no better. I remember in church they said Aleigha was a straight murderer!"
"He's a gentle giant."
"He made people in prison wear dresses for him."
"Everybody gets raped in jail!"
"This isn't purely about jail tho! Like there is something wicked in your family! Following you or other."
Probably fucking Mable---
My soul hurts.
"July? Are you ok?" My soul dims and misshapes. "I feel sick..." My spirit is getting smaller. I feel burning inside. I want to scream. "July?"
"I can't…"
"Your losing your glow…" she starts to quiver. "WAIT HOLD ON! FOLLOW ME!" she gets behind me and pushes my soul forward. "I know about the well! I die so much, I'm basically it's number 1." That's sad.
I don't where were going, I'm so focused on fire. We go through a big green field, fly into a mirror out a different side, hover over some rocks in a pond. Back on the grass and make several turns, go up a mountain. Then she's like, oops wrong turn. "It's another mountain."
So then we go back down the mountain, go into the woods, jump over a fence and go up a hill. There are souls already there and I'm in pain. "Uh… where did I want to take you?"
"Thank!" I shout. "What the hell…ugh…" I though the grass. "I can't… are you changing?"
"July stay up." she circles me in a panic. "July!"
"I can't get up… ugh…"
I feel so weak…
"What's going on over here?" Is that my mama's voice?" I can glimpse at the souls around me through my own. This burning is making it hard to talk.
"Help him!"
"Oh dear lord... poor baby must be drunk…"
"Are y'all niggas blind, stupid, or forgetful! Shikki, Aleigha!"
"My Juls?" Is that my mama? "July! Baby! Get a grip on yourself!"
.
.
.
"And spread the leaves."
"Grandma…"
"He'll be fine. If it's the last thing I do… I'm not gonna yell but I'm fucking mad."
"The last thing I need to see today is my grandson dying twice…"
"His soul is tainted."
"Not my July! I raised my kids right! My baby doesn't even do liquor!"
"Calm down Shikki… next we need some water from the tree and a few rocks."
"What are we doing?"
"Doing a ritual to refresh the soul. I'm still not gonna yell. But somebody has to die. Like today."
"Keep going Honey."
"I would guess Changany but the bastard is here."
"I hate you."
"Marvelous…"
The world is getting brighter, I can hear again. "July baby! You ain't gone!" Mama?
"Alright everyone step back. Aleigha you throw the flame." The cyan sky on the bridge is blurry. Am I fading? "Stay up! Stay up!" I can here my mother. Next I see a dim orange color that gets more vivid. I don't feel sick.
I hear something melodic and the color dies down. "My baby!" My mother tackles me. Her soul is small, the size of a peddle. "Mama?"
"Oh--this? It's nothing I'm exhaused but now I have all the energy!" she cheers. "Get the energy to grow the fuck up."
Is that granddaddy?
"Daddy can you hush!" Mama retorts. "Goddamn…"
"Don't you start getting' wise with me, I still got power."
"Of gas and recreation…" she snorts.
"Mama… your dead?"
"Technically I'm on break." she says. "The last place you were and still are is in a factory in the Ghytto."
"Aleigha you started this shit!" a soul calls out. "Seign, don't yell at my daddy like that…" my mother pleads. "Fuck him!"
"Now wait just a damn mintue, Honey's son isn't to blame for everything. Because what about your brother Seign?"
"You that like I ain't related to you!What I'm saying is this man's trauma is all over the place and he can't remember shit!"
"Because I got shot in the head!" Aleigha yells, his soul glows red. "Seign I dare you to make a nigga mad today."
"And what? You finna rape a nigga's soul?"
"If I found the body--"
"STOP!" my mama intervenes. "Goddamn, we ain'r like this has a family. Daddy you never yell at my husband."
"Bitch…" he says. "Your bitch."
"I fucking hate yo ass--I don't even know where the relationship went--"
"WHERE IN THE FUCK WERE YOU WHEN SHIKKI WENT TO PROTEST!"
"I TOLD YOU I GOT KIDNAPPED!"
Aleigha wanders, "Kidnap, kidnap, kidnap--everybody got kidnapped. Well, yo brother killed me and my grandson…"
"You have my fucking condolences. Now yo ass is here!"
"Why in the hell would yo brother be working with a white nigga?"
"Lord help me--" Seign groans as he hovers away from the family. "Seign!" Aleigha calls.
"Leave me the fuck alone!"
Aleigha looks at… wait… grandpa? "Chere!"
"I don't know…I thought Shikki got him off of drugs…" grandpa sulks. "My son wouldn't shoot me."
"I honestly don't agree with it either. Who would have something against Chere?"
"It doesn't make any sense to have the whole damn family on the bridge. This shit is foul." Aleigha thunders. "My goddamn grandson faded on me, my fucking daughter is trying to hold her body--yo fucking son lost his damn mind--"
"Aleigha calm down!"
"I WANNA KILL SOMEBODY! THEY LYNCHED MY BBAY AGAIN. AND YOU WANT ME TO SIT STILL--"
"HUSH!" A dragon smacks Aleigha's soul to the side. His soul shapes into a red werewolf. "I don't care what I got going on with your mother, but your not finna be disrespectful."
Aleigha roars and runs off.
My soul vibrates. "Magna?" I'm still, I hear a prayer… what is he doing?
.
.
.
"Nigga don't march up to me. Before I kick yo tiny ass!" I shove him. "Juls!"
My brother isn't dead, right?
I take him out the bathtub. Do I give him CPR? Who the fuck fills a bath with lean? How long was in there? "Juls!" His skin is dim. I check his fingers, they're wrinkly.
I'm not letting him go yet. I put July over my shoulder. "What the hell are you--"
"DON'T ASK ME WHAT!" this newfound surge of energy. My eyes are pink, I can feel the heat behind them.
.
.
.
What is he doing?
"July baby, your too still. Wiggle or something" my mother frets. "Don't cut your fucking arm!" I scream aloud.
"I have arms… who doesn't have arms?" Grandpa Chere comes to my side. "Magna! H-He's carrying me to the backyard!"
"You can see your brother?"
"I don't know what he's doing!" I can see a screen in front of me. Magna waits for another to unlock the back door. They hurry outside, up a set of stairs and past a strange garden.
"What is happening?"
"Iarius!" my mother exclaims. "You got that spell?"
"What spell? Why don't you ask my brother, or fucking--"
"Spare me the crocodile shit, Iarius."
"Where's my uncle, did y'all finally get a divorce?"
"Goddamn it, do you know the spell to get off the bridge?"
"I know it--" another soul, his mother rams his soul. "THEN GET IT!"
"MAMA!"
"I don't give a shit! Something is happening to Shikki's son on the ground. Juls almost fucking died and here you are crying about pussy that don't want you!"
"I have the damn spell! But..."
"But what!" she yells. "Iarius this isn't the fucking time!"
"Goddamn it mama, listen!"
"This family is segregated…" states the oldest, Warr.
"I don't know where our bodies are, We can get on the ground but you can't touch anything!" says Iarius. "We'll be ghost."
"Then get some bodies." Chere moves to Iarius. "It's not that hard."
"I can tell you that the shit is evil! Growden bulit a plantation in Locucts. It's half a dozen vamps or more on the bitch and actin' out of pocket as hell. They drowned July in lean."
"WHAT!" all except me sound off. "I'm dead."
"But you floatin' baby!" My mma bumps her soul against mine. "That's evil as hell, they're drowning bodies in lean to kill the soul."
"Wanna hear something worse?"
"What?"
"They took the souls out of some using a homemade ritual. It's called the pump." states Iarius. "These bitches is sucking the soul out of vamps and turning them into zombies…"
"That don't make no fucking sense, if I find my fingers and toes--"
"Oh shut up Chain…" breathes Hannielle. "We can't do anything now. The Lyons had a way back, Child's still holding herself together, and hopefully my ratchet ass son gets his shit together."
"He's putting me down in the garden!" I shout. "NO, NO, NO!"
Chere throws in questions,"Juls! What is the garden?"
"It's white flowers with four petals and a big white bulb!"
Hannielle gasps. "July, honey..."
"He's taking the bulb off the flower!"
"Honey, we have got to stop that boy!
Hannielle's soul dims, "July just lost his body."