Swing Low: Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

Since I'm able to track my podcast downloads, I've noticed that nobody has really cared to listen to them. So effective immediately, I'm going to quit recording them. Since time is so precious to me right now, I consider this a good thing.

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Installment #16 of:Sing Low: The Hangman of the WoodsBy B.C. Crow (Chapter 15I’ve seen the good and the evil. The difference can be the light of day or darkness of a cloudy night. Most of us never see the full depth of either, because we live in our gray shelters with our own artificial fluorescent lights. There is danger in ignorance. Yet most of us prefer to live with our eyes only half open. I don’t know if we’re afraid of being wrong, or afraid of having more accountability. Either way, I know that evil has real power. Because of this, God must be real, too, with real power. Evil cannot exist without righteousness. And if this is the case, do we really have to wonder who will eventually triumph? Why, then, do most of us sit on the fence, trying not to offend either force?In the darkness, I could see an enormous yellow-and-black-striped snake. Its jaws unhinged and a gaping mouth with dripping fangs scooped up my feet. My legs were wet with warm reptilian saliva as my waist moved closer and closer to its hollow eyes. I tried to scream my protest, but the only sound was the wet suction of my body entering its mouth. Its neck bulged and my chest scraped past its scaly lips, into that balmy neck.Its mouth clamped shut around my neck, and my head, the only part of me not yet swallowed, stared into its eternal eyes. I could see fire in those glassy balls. The monster seemed to smile before opening its mouth one last time. I felt the snake’s muscles contract as its squeeze pushed me further into its stomach. Its mouth closed, plunging me into darkness.I was slipping and sliding down the inside of the snake when I awoke with a jump and a yelp. My arms and legs spasmed up wildly before I came to my senses. I was lying down on a wooden plank bed. My clothes were missing and I was covered in a stinking paste of mud, blood, animal guts, and who knows what else. I looked around and, for a second, I thought I saw the snake’s firelit eye again. I drew a sharp, painful gasp. The eye was just a round metal teakettle, reflecting the fire that burned below it in a small rock hearth. With a chilled shake, I exhaled.Nobody was in the room with me. I couldn’t remember how I’d come to be like this. I certainly hadn’t smothered myself in this tarlike substance. At least the witch had the decency to leave my undergarment on. Remarkably, I felt much better. I don’t know how long I’d slept. Some of my muscles were still a little stiff. But even that may have just come from lying on the hard, flat plank of wood. If it weren’t for the fact that I looked like the Creature from the Black Lagoon, I might get up and continue my way home.My stomach grumbled, and I realized I was famished. No, I wouldn’t get very far at all. I needed to get cleaned up and get a good meal. Lifting myself off the wooden bed, I stood. My head spun with unexpected dizziness. I had to sit again and focus on my breathing. I was alive, though weak.A sheet of canvas ruffled to the side of the doorway and the witch entered the room. Around her neck she wore a necklace of teeth. Bracelets of bird beaks made a dull clicking noise as she raised a hand to grab my jaw. Staring deep into my eyes, she first turned my head left, then right. “You owe me. I save you life, you lucky I here. Dat bite nough to keell el’phant.”“Who are you?”“I is you savior, dat’s who I is.” She walked over to the kettle of hot water, and poured it into a large bowl. Dipping an old torn rag into the steaming bowl, she wiped my skin clean of the black goo. Each time the scalding rag touched me, I flinched. How could she keep dipping her own fingers in that bowl and not recoil from the heat?As she cleaned, she pulled off an occasional black rock, inspected it, then dropped it to the bottom of the water bowl. The rocks weren’t the only thing besides black paste that were stuck on me. Giant leeches, the size of my fingers, were also attached all over my body. She delicately cleaned around these bloodsucking creatures, then pulled out a sharp knife.She noticed my wide, horrified eyes. “Hush. I is not tryin’ hurt you.” She laid the edge of the blade flat on my chest and shaved the first leech right off. A small bead of blood lifted from my skin as she continued to scrape off more of the black slugs.My face and legs were next to be cleaned. The water wasn’t as hot by this time, but that made the stinking tar-like grime harder to remove. The whole process took about half an hour. All of it was done in near silence. Not complete silence. I may have whimpered a little. She kept giving satisfied grunts, especially whenever she’d remove an especially fat leech.When finished, she left the room for a minute. I used the time to pull on my clothes. I’d just woken up, but I felt so tired and weak, I could scarcely stand and put on my pants at the same time. I hoped she’d removed all those nasty leeches as I pulled my shirt over my head. That was when I noticed: My head was bald. She’d shaved my head while I was asleep. This was too weird. When she came back in, she gave me a plate of eggs, overcooked strips of goat meat, and milk.“Eat. Get you strong. I serve you now, but you is soon to serve me. You be workin’ hard to please me.”I ate the eggs and meat with my fingers. The food was nothing special, but such was my hunger that I would have inhaled it in a single bite. Only guilt slowed my pace. Guilt at letting myself be so vulnerable that I'd eat from a witch’s plate. For all I knew she had some other cruel poison or potion that would help enslave me to her will.After drinking the whole glass of milk, I felt remarkably better. I stood and didn’t feel like tumbling to the ground. Slowly I made my way to the canvas flap. Parting it I looked outside to where a fire was burning. The lady was there, quietly chanting something I could not understand. In one hand she held a soft, hand-sewn doll with short black hair. My hair? She then took one of the leeches and squeezed it like a tube of toothpaste, its bloody black pulp got smeared all over the doll. Then she took another leech and squeezed all its juices between her teeth. I cringed.Licking her lips at what had to be the most disturbing meal I’d ever witnessed, she took one last living leech. Together with the two dead and flattened leeches she held them over the fire. All three burst into flames. The fire licked all around her fingers but she didn’t seem to care. Nor did the fire appear to hurt her.“It is done.” She smiled with wicked mirth as she turned to face me. I don’t know how, but she knew that I’d been watching her the whole time.“What is done?”“You know.”At the same time three leech bitten scabs started to heat up. The burning entered my bones, then followed them to my back where it ran up and down my spine. My stomach nearly crawled out of my throat. I knew. Sick with shaking dread, I knew.She took the doll and bent its knees. Involuntarily, I collapsed to my own knees. “Me owns you now,” she said. “You be doin’ what me tells you do, for now and always.”There on my knees, I emptied my belly of the eggs and meat and milk of my recent meal. I wasn't just terrified, I was violated in the most evil way I could image. My very body was no longer mine. I could feel the thick tendrils of evil, weaving their searing strands around my bones. Invisible strings tied me to this witch like a puppet for her to perform her darkest pleasures. This was the end of Iddo. I could hardly imagine what she'd want of me. I wanted to die before I had a chance to find out. But even that choice was out of my reach to control.The horror of my predicament was short lived. Being a slave to a witch was nothing like I'd thought. The first month passed. I did everything from taking care of her animals to chopping wood. Contrary to what I would've guessed a witch to prefer, she was a stickler for cleanliness. In fact, she was more concerned with cleanliness than even my own mother.My mother. I should have been home weeks ago. I knew she couldn’t help me. Not here. What was she thinking right now? She knew I was supposed to come home for the summer break, but if I was late, what could she do other than place a call to the college? They wouldn't know anything and they certainly wouldn't send any search parties into the woods.Today I was dusting. Dust was never present here. I think some magic spell kept it away. But every minute I wasn't busy chopping wood or fixing meals, I was supposed to be dusting. And spiders—if I found a single spider, no matter the size, I was to smash it to a pulp and add its gooey remains to the other invaders of her territory that she kept ringed around her home. These creepy bugs, like dust, seemed repelled by that ring of dried remains. Still, a spider or two would occasionally find its way past that mystical circle. Probably by floating over it on a strand of silk. “Scustin’ creatures,” she called them.Rarely did she openly display her religion. Aside from the doll which bound me to her and that healing she’d first performed on me, she never did anything within my sight or hearing. I think she was afraid that I'd learn something that I could use against her.Aside from her unusual jewelry, she seemed pretty normal. Well, hermitic and demanding, but not supernaturally weird. Even her speech wasn’t all that different from some people I knew. They were usually older than this woman, but they had learned English, if only out of necessity. Many of them resented that their native tongue was disappearing from our culture altogether.I wanted desperately to get away from this place. But every so often, more at the beginning than later, this self-pronounced Laidy of the Woods, or Laidy for short, would jab her doll with a needle, or flick it with her finger. One flick felt like being slapped in the face by a heavy door. The needle, oooh the needle! Imagine being impaled by a fence post. Just the memory of it makes me tremble. I wondered if the hangman was out there somewhere. Did even he dare venture near these witches? I dreamed of him coming in with that thick righteous rope of his to sever the grasp that Laidy held on my soul. I don't know when I started thinking of his rope as righteous, but if this was hell, I'd happily live in his paradise.That was dangerous thinking though. It brought back memories of Midnight. With every memory of the hangman, or every comparison I made of a girl, my thoughts always came back to her. Even if I did love her, which I didn't, I was never going to see her again.Occasionally, when Laidy wasn’t in easy view of me, I’d get the idea to run. Then, as if she had magically read my mind, I’d feel my sides pinch in, as if a giant had taken hold of me with two massive fingers. I could almost imagine her holding my doll and playing with it like a little child. “Me owns you for always,” she’d say.One morning after I’d woken up, I set to work making her breakfast. I felt different that morning. It wasn’t just that my arm had fallen asleep. Laidy had fallen asleep on my doll’s arm again. No, I was feeling frustrated and rebellious. I wanted to see my mother. If I remained here, slave to the cleanest witch in the world, I'd scream till my throat bled. And yes, I wanted to go back to school. Laidy might be able to smother my hot head with just the threat of her sewing needle, but I was determined that she wouldn’t see my hate for her. I had to get that doll away from her.I watched her finish her porridge, waiting for any opportunity. Then it happened. As if Providence had opened a way, she stood to take a walk in the woods. The doll fell from her lap onto the ground. I felt the fall like one who wakes from a fall in a dream. I also felt the slap of the earth. My whole body jolted. But it was over in an instant, just a dream. In the seconds following, I bent over and picked up the doll.“Give me here, boy,” Laidy warned, stretching her arm out.“I will not be controlled by you anymore. I have the doll now and I’m leaving.”My heart froze as she laughed with a wicked smile. “You think me needs a doll? You see me drink black blood of sucker yes. We three be one.”Then, to my horror, she lifted her finger to her mouth and clamped her yellow teeth so hard that her finger snapped in two places. I knew this because my finger suddenly broke in two places also. I screamed in pain. She screamed in exultation.I clutched my finger, a useless attempt to ebb the pain. Then I watched in horror, as she grabbed her broken finger with her other hand and commenced churning and grinding the broken pieces of her own bone together in a circular pattern.I howled and recoiled, falling to the ground. I wanted to bury my hand in the earth. I wanted to cut it off. The grinding shot lightning bolts of pain up my whole arm. Even my teeth ached with each gyration.When she finally let up, my jaw ached and I could just make out the taste of sweet copper in my mouth. My teeth had been clenched so tight with the pain that that my gums had bled. My teeth would be fine, but I would never forget the feeling of my finger as its bones were intentionally grated together.When her shadow crossed over mine, I looked into her eyes. They were both hard and soft, like that of a dark souled parent, disappointed for having to discipline a child. She held out her hand and I passed the doll up to her. She clenched it tight in her fist; my sides ached with the squeeze. But her broken finger was miraculously whole again. I looked at my own finger, expecting it to be good again. But no, mine truly was broken. Somehow hers had healed, and mine had been the one that broke for real. I even had teeth marks in my skin. It was exactly as if she’d bitten my finger, not hers.“Dis pain is much worse when done it dis way. You learn. You be mine for always, boy.”That night I could barely sleep. I had nightmares of the most morbid self-mutilating tortures that Laidy could do and physically transfer to me. The whole while I could see her grinning and laughing, with her own blood dripping from her mouth. I imagined the blood changing to mine, not the normal red, but that same black ooze she’d sucked from the leech after healing me of the snake bite. I could feel it dripping around her teeth as she laughed at my agony. Then I finally fell asleep.I would have expected nightmares, but that’s not what happened. In my dreams, I was filled with light. I re-experienced my day back in journalism prep and how I’d seen some peers chanting and piercing their tongues. The memory of my epiphany at the time resonated in my mind. If evil has power, then the Devil is real. If the Devil is real, then God must be real, too. And if God is real, then he too must have power. Not just any power, but power over evil.I woke early. My mind was at peace. I examined my finger. It was still broken. Somehow the pain was less. The swelling had gone down in the last couple hours of sleep. I took it for a sign that my dream was telling me a truth that I needed to heed. Sitting up, I struggled to firm up my resolve. Already the impact of my epiphany was fading. I knew that if I didn’t act soon, my newfound faith would abandon me all together. But how to act?I could take the wood axe and drive it into Laidy's chest when she wasn't expecting it. No, I was no killer. I don't think I could even kill a dog, let alone a human. Not even if that human was some wicked hag that had no qualms about hurting me. Besides, even if I did work up the will to slam that chopping wedge into her chest, like my finger, she'd probably laugh it off, and I'd be the one with the hole in my heart. There was really only one thing I could think to do.I would do it. I took one last look at my finger, a twinge of fear curled in my gut. Then I pushed the feeling away. It’s funny how even when evil is so evident, faith in a more powerful being of righteousness can seem more daunting. I had to keep reassuring myself as I got dressed and gathered my few belongings. I made one last meal for Laidy of the Woods, picking up my money clip that was stashed in her room as I delivered her food. She would have seen me reach for it if she was looking. But she was seated at an odd angle, and couldn’t have seen what I’d taken.“You not be thinkin’ to take me doll today, boy?”“No, you can keep the doll. It’s not important to me anymore.”She eyed me suspiciously as I left the room.After exiting, I walked and didn’t stop. Even after I heard her shriek, I didn’t turn back. My mind was focused on hope and the power of Him to deliver me. Even when she sent her snakes after me, I kept walking. The slithering serpents barred my way as they had done the first time, no doubt intending to bite me and force me back to the witch. But my faith rendered the voodoo ineffective. Even my finger was whole again. I wondered if Laidy’s shriek had been because her magic wasn’t working, or because my broken finger had transferred back to her.In any case, I just lifted my eyes to the tree's canopy and let the morning heat fill my heart. I walked right through the snakes, not caring where my feet landed. I had tapped into the merciful power of the Almighty. He protected me from the poisonous fangs of the Laidy’s reptiles.In my mind, I thought on everything I'd ever been told. There was truth in what people preached about witches. The Believers on the other hand, they were different. I had just defeated the power of this witch. Was the ability to do this, the same power that Believers relied upon? Duy had admitted that some of his people really did have miraculous powers. He'd refused to demonstrate. I almost think he couldn't show me, even if he wanted to.What I was feeling right now, it felt so pure and good. Duy had been experimenting with his freedom. He was away from his family, and subsequently anyone that would disapprove of his actions. He was testing a life of deeds that were in conflict with his people—with his god.I leaped over a log and stretched out my arms. For the first time in a good long month, I felt so alive and free. Free from the clutches of evil. Free from the fog that filled my mind, not just from this last month, but for most all my life. I almost felt like skipping and jumping. So I did, at least for a minute. Eventually this strength and power left as did my breath.As I tried to avoid wheezing, I felt as though I understood the fierce rivalry between the witches and Believers. Witches would use the power of the devil. Believers, well, I know evil can't defeat evil. Plus, what I felt was definitely not evil. If anyone could tell the difference, I could. Evil was in the power of Laidy. Evil was the motivation that led men to dispose of their babies in the woods. Evil was in so much of daily life. But there was good in the world too.Even the hangman, by comparison, was good. In his own way, he waged a one-man war against the bad that invaded his realm. Despite Duy's weak resolve to follow his own beliefs, he wasn’t a bad guy either. At least I didn't believe he was. His choices were increasingly leading him in that direction though.Unfortunately, even though I'd already made some progress this year, changing my perspective on the Believers would be challenging. I had some real truths to work out for myself. I wasn't ready to run out and join their ranks. But there are powers in this world that go beyond normal reasoning. I knew this now. Because of this, I had to figure out how they all fit together. If they indeed were attributed to God, then perhaps there was life after death also. If that is the case, then I would be supremely stupid not to search for a better understanding.I had time though. I didn't want to procrastinate for too long, lest I lose my zeal. But for now, I was free. I knew for sure the source of my freedom and I would treasure that miracle forever.Click here to read Chapter 16Copyright 2017: While I encourage you to share this link with your friends and family, please keep in mind that this is copyrighted material. Under no circumstances do you have the right to re-publish any or part of this content without specific written permission from BC Crow and Blue House Publishing.