"Did you really try to run?" Aril presses a wet rag against my shoulder. I'm tired of this shit. "You're lucky to be here."
"Zoey ran off…" I told him. They sent me to my room and shot me. What did Zoey tell me?
"Is that your daughter? You had her young?"
"No. I just met this child--There is a child on the loose and you ain't concern?"
"I don't know her…" he says calmly. "Aril, you have to help me save her--get her back."
"I'm not." he stops nursing my wounds. "I'm not falling for that shit again."
"I'm not trying to trick you--" he cover my mouth with his hand. "Hush." he looks at the door. "Don't act crazy."
My mind is just… Zoey ran off. She said she saw a man in the thicket. She said something about a crucifix. "Aril…" he moves his hand. "Do you know anything about a cross?"
He grabs a needle beside me on a nightstand. "crucifixion," he says. He starts sowing my wound in my shoulder. "yeah--ow!"
"Not sorry."
"Why are you so mean!"
"I hear you. A child ran off, let her."
"Aril--"
"There is nothing your black ass can do for that devil child. Do you know about Idols? Idolatry is a sin and Growden believes in God but he also believes that God doesn't have a body."
"What…"
"I know…" he finishes and slaps my back. "Nigga!"
"Amen." he sits beside me. "Zoey-Rose is a child of an Idol. She isn't going to die anytime soon."
"But she's a baby!"
"She's fucking grown. We can play the whole, the world relies on a child's shoulders all day but I'm not going to lie."
I just look at him and his chocolate skin. "We have a fucking vampiric antichrist. Do you know the start of life begins in the womb? Jeremiah 1:5."
"I don't think that's the verse!"
"Then you tell me," he purses his lips. "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed…" he says. "Now, you tell me your definition."
"Ok…" I sit with my hands in my lap. "Firstly, if Mable is the antichrist and we use the word appointed. There is no physical God."
"Bye." he gets up and walks to the door. "Aril."
"Bye."
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you! The realm acts on prayers!"
"What are you saying?" Why am I speaking in jumbles? "I'm saying the word appointed!"
"Ok."
"HE, the non psychical God, appointed. Which means he picked somebody."
"Mokiri?"
Why am I sweating. I clap my hands… Zoey ran off. "I asked…" I gasp. "the crux…" I can't breathe.
Aril comes back to me, "What's wrong with you?" he shakes me. "Mokiri?"
"He's…" It's so hot… flames come out of my mouth. "Sinner?" his eyes expand. "The cross… in--" my throat is on fire. I fling the cover over my legs and push Aril out the way. "Mokiri, what's wrong with your shadow?"
The glass cracks on the windows. The bed breaks, standing on one leg. I can't breathe.
"Mokiri." the room is spinning. "Mokiri." I can't hear.
"Aril…" flames burst from my mouth. I only see fire.
SILENT! DRUNK!
I know I'm screaming. I can't even hear me.
.
.
.
That was one hell of an afternoon.
The clouds are out today. It's peaceful. The grass under me, I sit up and I see the river and me with Zoey. Wait.
Am I dead?
Oh fuck me…
"And?" I look to the left. "And?"
"Um…"
"And?"
His skin like charcoal, hair like onyx, stiff as a tree and teeth of razors. "And?"
I get up slowly from the grass. "Who are you?"
"Finish. You think you know the bible…"
"I…" What is happening. "Who told you?"
"Nobody--"
"My brother? His nephew?" he cocks his head. "The mother, the aunt, maybe the uncle… who's growing?"
I'm confused. "As am I."
"Just answer my question."
"somebody. Maybe Elsewhere."
"Elsewhere?"
"Ellie Growden. My father is an atheist but something about that damn black bible," he looks in distance. "I'm dead. I'll keep saying that. This isn't my body."
"I'm not asking again."
"Don't. This isn't my body." he says. "I'm Elsewhere 'Ellie' Growden.My father is racist, my father is an atheist and have right to believe you might be a prophet."
"Spare me."
"I should and shouldn't. Your Yawa's daughter and all prophets die young. Jesus was like… 17… 19 when he died. Cause according to the ghetto, you get your wisdom in your teens. Because you feel pain at that age."
"I'm not a prophet."
"Your soul is burning. This isn't Aleigha."
"Is it… Growden?"
"Which?"
"I don't--"
"Mahlon Growden is the oldest. This voodoo, these vampires, this… african bloodline is too rich. And not be african that's fucking wild."
"Whose body is that?"
"Mums."
The wind blows. "I called you. I'll put you back and this trick doesn't work on everybody. They just dead."
"Get to the damn point!"
"This family is ugly. A long time ago. As the realm is stuck in the time of 2012 when it happened. Shikki Bibilio was kidnapped for a child porno. Believe it or not a brother of mine did it. She was strong… she escaped and got kidnapped again. Aleigha has secrets and being a big rapper black dude. It was wild to find out that find survived a horrible plane crash. There was news that Dynasty had got shot during a flight to a concert. To cut the story bite size, the nigga is a vampire and knows how to live longer. However he gives the credit to his daughter."
"Is this really about Shikki?"
"Half ass… the girl is strong and can't die. She was lynched and made a sex slave. Her eyes spooned out, a lady and a fucking dike took turns trying to turn a six year old gay. Towards the end of it all, they put that baby in the woods and gave the father a ransom note. He finds his beloved baby half dead and ready to go. But she doesn't."
What?
"The Growden family is a bunch of nasty ass niggas." he smiles. "I mean this is, once again, a lot to cover up the fact they raped a child because of a family member in prison."
"What member?"
"Mable is adopted and Chava is a sister but also Alexis's mama nobody talks about because she killed her sister and the bitch fights everyday to reclaim a life even at the torture of other people because her sister is a pain in the … ASS!"
"What the fuck is the goal?"
"Zoey-Rose is the product of unholy experiment. Shikki is keeping her damn mind together even while being tortured. Zoey is a monster… she didn't run. She was summoned."
"But…" she like my sister now. "You have to get off the plantation. But I need a little memory…"
"Are you helping me?"
"I'm sick of my family… we murdered a little girl because Aleigha burned our estate down over a gambling debt." says Elsewhere. He looks off in the distance. "He had just found out. And we tried to make him think he killed his own daughter."
"You started the confusion--"
"KEYWORDS!: he shouts. "Appointed."
"Keywords?"
"That's the past. Know find out who did what." he bust into flames and vanishes.