"Curtis, you up?"
"I don't wanna be."
"You know what I started thinking of?"
"What?"
"I've been here too damn long."
"You ain't wrong."
I lost count. Has it been five days? Dexter isn't back. I bit somebody and I feel refreshed when I should feel guilty.
He was just a kid. What the fuck is king trauma doing to me? One day I have to sneak around again. Curtis wanted to take over. I might have to start kissing ass. Rule one, you have to eat. If you don't eat, they feed you. Everything lowers your blood sugar and iron levels.
Rank is losing his damn mind. I just know he finna die. How the fuck a vamp lose so much nutrition he get delirious? That's scary.
"Hey Curtis…"
"Shut up."
"What are the symptoms of a Drunk vampire?"
"What?" he raises from the covers. "Nigga go to bed."
"You ain't worried?"
"i want to sleep!"
"Everybody thinking about Rank man." says a vampire towards the west wall. "That's the 16th vamp to go mad."
"That's the 26th for me." says a female.
"He came old. He about to die. Worst than that, he might eat himself and I've seen a bunch of niggas do that." says another nigga. "Hitchcock drunk his own blood. Youngins don't understand. It's more than just eating yo own. It fucks with the soul; that's an Abner episode."
"Can everybody go to bed!" Curtis begs. "Goddamn the last peaceful shit we got his rest."
"Nigga who restin?"
"I ain't rested. I ain't tired, I'm weak, that's two different things. Y'all remember Sabian?"
Lord have mercy…
"They want us to die in here. They making vamps drunk for something."
"Bitch, this a concentration camp."
"What's y'all names?" I ask. "Jesus fuck, it's sad up in here." Curtis cries. "My name Alaia Clay."
"Urick Goodlove."
"Max Lloyd."
"Nice to meet y'all…"
"What the fuck Magna!" Exclaims Curtis.
"Have y'all ever snuck around the house?" I ask.
"Snuck?" Alaia mused.
"You been walking around the camp?" denoted Urick.
"That's saying a lot." whispered Max. "Like what?" I inquire. "You ain't smart." Bitch nigga.
"Shut the fuck up!" Curtis urges. "Go to bed!"
"Curtis you just asked me what I wanted to do. Somebody has to think of leaving!"
"Then leave then, I said fuck it!"
"You a bitch, you know that?"
"I'd rather be a bitch then be buried with you. Do you hear yo self?"
"Nigga do you hear you?" I quiz him. "We need to get Rank and get out of here!"
"Fuck that old ass nigga. You save him!" he bosses. "Shit, the last thing I need is to get in trouble behind yo shit and die twice." he covers his face with the covers as he mumbles. "Get on my fucking nerves. I wanted the damn plantation."
"How we getting out?" Queried Alaia. "We got my brother out the bath." I say. "We almost got Dexter back." Curtis remarked. "But we left him save his family blood."
"Nigga, HUSH!"
"He hasn't woke up yet!"
"Y'all got a nigga out the bath?" lited Urick. "You lying."
"My sister had a second baptism." states Alaia. "She woke up and swore she was coming back. She put that on her soul."
"Well…" whispers Max. "I had four… maybe her soul weak."
"Fuck you."
"Amen." Max nods.
"If y'all got niggas out, where is they." doubts Urick.
"In the backyard. Near the memory."
"Aw, shit. I thought you was smart." he lays back down. "I thought Hitchcock was gon do it. Shit, he a king."
"Do you understand that to be a vampire King, you a prophet?" inclined Alaia. "Like a prophet of death?"
"I die everyday I'm here…" jest Urick. "But either way somebody gotta be fucking Moses."
"You mean Harriet Tubman." proposed Max. "Either way, I'm tired of this shit. What happened to the girl that got shot?"
"You know she dead." Urick huffed.
"Well, it was nice making friends for five seconds." expressed Alaia.
"Y'all is still talking!" raged Curtis.
"I would like to add, my name is Peter." says another from the far side of the room. "GODDAMN!" Curtis fumes.
"Curtis shut up! We need to think. Shit, fucking rank thinking about suicide."
"I hate to say it but you know why?"
"He depressed!"
"He Asian!"
"Lord have mercy…" Alaia murmured.
"Since y'all niggas talking, anybody wanna be my field trip partner?"
We were silent.
.
.
.
'
In the morning we sat down for breakfast we had broccoli stir fry with a side of mayo and cup of blood. "I am ready to die!" Curtis sung. "I think about death everyday… no no. I'm ready, I'm ready for the afterlife."
"Curtis shut up at the table!" I order. "At nothing I wouldn't do! To see the light!"
"Curtis!"
Ms. Simpson introduced us to Rosalind Saville. She's thrall of the Smiley household.She stod in a military jacket with a long black dress. Her hands behind her back and chin up. Her face was skinny and one eye a bright blue while the other was brown.
"My name is Lady Saville. I see over the Smiley Household. I take care of the vampires, teach them to not bite so they may be apart of society and regain what is left their humanity!"
Fuck you. Fuck you and them.
"You have been invited into the great Smiley house. You are guest and you must understand your limits. You are vampires. Most likely your body is not your own and any violations on this tour. You will be evicted from house and body." she paces back and forth.
"What?" I whisper. "Did she say, body eviction?" said Max. "I own my body. This is my body." shivered Alaia. "How do they evict the soul?" she looks at me. "You can't do that right? This is my body, my soul, I know my rights."
Thing is we don't have rights.
"All vamps will be given a special DOHRCC pass. You are not ill but the first checkpoint is registration." she announces. "They're going to make us sign up?" mutters Urick. "Shit we got white vamps and asians. There's a mexican over there--"
"It doesn't matter!" Why the fuck he pointing at random people?
"You are dangerous." Seville speaks loudly. "Vampires should not be the way you are. Blood is fine but to disturb the soul and body outside the grave is treacherous."
"Treacherous my ass!" yells somebody. Alaia looks back, "Is that Hughes?"
"Yo bitch ass treacherous! Looking like a fucking mushroom in that fit!"
"Huey! SHHHH!" she warns in a hushed tone. "Talking about niggas is treacherous! Fuck you white bi--" A gun fires off. A woman screams, she bolts out the line and not soon after she's down too. "Nigga that's two people!" Curtis stresses. "I'm about to shit on myself!"
"Nigga hush!"
Seville holds up her gun. "This is magic."
I hope I make it. I hope I wake up tomorrow. I hope I get nasty food. I hope I get a chance to piss. I wanna breathe tomorrow.
"This gun aims at your soul. The body is vacant!"
"What the fuck!"
"That nigga ain't even do nun!"
And two rounds blast off. What the fuck is wrong with her?
"Be silent! Be ready to take your DOHRCC cards and get registered. You will be handcuffed by hand and teeth."
What…
We prepared to board the bus. A few guards come out carrying baskets behind them with magic. The brace, handcuff, they have for vamps looks like a nuzzle or head gear. Near the mouth are two or more pockets where the teeth are screwed in. I already heard somebody yelp. It hurts.
"Nigga this a lot for a vampire!"
"We niggas. Creatures. It's the name."
"This is hatred!" Curtis yells. "I'm getting my teeth cuffed!"
"Curtis shut up!" We both look back, it's Dexter. "Dex?"
"Go!"
We're pushed forward, as we get to the bus. The headgear goes on. Mine is different. It has a hood that is zipped first. "Why?"
"You're about to crack." says the guard putting on the gear. I am? My teeth go into the pockets. He screws them on tightly. My jaw hurts. My mouth is constantly open. "Go on the bus."
At least I can see. I go to the way back of the bus and sit near the window. I watch as other get their gear put up. One woman screams, she's japanese. "I can't understand you!"
"FUCK! Can you hear that!"
"Watch your mouth!"
Curtis takes a seat next to me and I see Dexter about to get his gear. "He came out the bath?"
"He wasn't at breakfast." says Curtis.
"Maybe he just got out."
"Is that your soul or…"
"Nigga…"
"Sorry."
Dexter ends up boarding another bus. Once everything is done and loaded, the bus pulls off. I hate to admit it but I feel like a kid in school while also feeling like prisoner. I can't even bite with this one my head.
"Can anybody talk?" I hear a vamp on the bus. "Bruh, who been to the house before?"
"We got to get registered first."
"But who been to the house! What is we doing? Is we finna work?"
"I don't wanna get registered."
"My body is mine. I'm an obayifo but I'm not a victim!"
But we are?
.
.
.
What part of the Ghytto is this? I didn't know nor remember a downtown area like this except for the Vybe. "My mouth is dry…"
"Cough…"
"I can't…"
Seville gives a tour of the area outside the windows. "This isn't the Vybe." No shit. "This is Massah Fields."
Massa what?
"It was cultivated by Noboedy Growden. He remembered a city like this. He's been through body after body hoping to make a world with him in it."
So what the nigga wanna be God. "Did you know that white slave owners acted as God to African slaves."
"I'm not saying false tides on anything right now. But get this. America can say slavery was bad but also say that Harriet saved us all so…"
"A master ain't shit if a nigga think."
"There is an Asian on this bus…" noted Curtis. "This is wild."
But it isn't even the bare minimum. It's just a connection. But why include everyone?
"If you look to your right window you can see the Bloody Mary Camp for vampires that is no longer being used." shouts Ms. Simpson. She is still alive.
She is still here.
"The Bloody Mary camp was once use to beat the souls of slaves. At the time, it held 300 Britons, 20 Arabs, and 13 Indians. Some say that the late Changangy was one. If you ask why, it is because out of 300 white meats, there were 277 left and one missing Indians."
Bullshit a fucking sucked the blood off that many people. "It was only until, 1899 was stem cells discovered. If you don't know about project grow, here is a belief understanding. A president died in 1899 and Vice President Sydney Growden took his place. But Sydney was caught smuggling people from Puerto Rico and operating a concentration camp. That Camp was Ano de Agua."
"Esto es tan jodido!"
"Y'all got fucking problems doing this shit!"
"What's so scary about vampires? Y'all mad because white folk can't live as long?" I lifted my head high. What is the problem? "Shut your souls up." Seville's head turns 360. "I can do what I please. Black, Asian, or other. It doesn't matter to me. Growden is black. Half white or not."
"Bullshit!" retorts a nigga in front. "What nigga finna do this to his own?"
"Don't you butcher your people enough everyday?" Seville snickers. "I hate black people but you're useful. And if anybody talk, I'll put you in the bottle, just like jinn…" she turns her whole body round. "So who's last name is Muhammad."
Nobody answers.