Mamma was prayin and cryin the whole time. It was cause’a me Massa got mad. I put um in that water. But even in the water I was holdin on ta Mamma and she was holdin me. I remember it gettin real dark and tryin ta hold my breath. But I can’t hold it foreva.”
The moment of death is when the unclean spirit takes over the body. I reach for my sword but…
“You have a heartbeat. You’re alive.”
“Yesum.”
“How?”
“Down in that water, it was gettin real dark, but I could see my Mamma face. She look at me and smile and I hear her voice clear as day. She say ta me, ‘Live’. I felt different after that. Didn’t need ta breathe no more. But I couldn’t swim. I see the sun come up, and it go down. Come up and go down, come up and go down. Then I hear Mamma say again, ‘Live’. So I swim, and I pull. Brought everybody up with me. Them chains. They wasn’t heavy after that. Nobody else woke up, so I let them all go back in the river.”
“These chains on you now. You can break them?”
“Yesum.”
“Why don’t you”
“Tired. Tired from cryin. Tired from runnin. Tired from killin.”
“Who did you kill?”
“Everybody I could get hands on. Couldn’t find Massa, but Massa found me. Massa and them boys tried ta take my head, but it broke the blade. They brung me here and this where I been a long time.”
One of the gifts of Iago’s bloodline is to see, and to know. Every now and then I am able to tap into that gift. If she is telling the truth, I will glean it. But if this is a lie or a trick of some sort, then then my doors will be open to darkness.
This is a risk, but I cannot proceed without knowing what it is I’ve walked into.
“Take my hand.
The chains rattle as she struggles to lift.
I reach down and grab her hand and am filled with regret!!!
The darkness of her skin is spilling onto me like molasses seeping up my arm and covering me!
I try to pull away, but it is too late, we are locked together!
My mind is flooded with pain.
ASH 9/17 
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