Bitamwa The Revenge of a Captured Slave

Bitamwa

The Revenge of a Captured Slave

Mark G Melvin

A Deranged Book by Twizted Yarnz

Summerlin, Las Vegas Nevada 89117

Dedicated to PG/My Family

This Book is a work of fiction. Names,characters,places,and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.　

Copyright © 2010 by Mark G Melvin

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

      In the year of eighteen-hundred and thirty-six,the slave

ship Queen Mary had just reached port in Norfolk Virginia. The African slaves that arrived,were of an unknown region. They were named Bitamwa after the deities,that they worshipped. Of these slaves,that had survived the passage,of the Atlantic,Manreeny Zoki was the most peculiar.
     A small round short docile man,very tacit,he mostly smiled. I found him intriguing,that a a captured man,torn from freedom,would be so happy. He carried a small knapsack of various objects, and the bones of what appeared to be a small animal. That day in the market,I purchased him and several others from his region,a total of five. We rode back back in my carriage,to my plantation,the Meyer Plantation. It was an all day carriage ride from the coast,back to Manassas.
     Teaching the slaves was an easy task, They called me David with enthusiasm. They were humble doing whatever I motioned them to do. The one thing that struck me most profoundly peculiar,is their fear of the Small Man. The much larger males,seemed to reverence him as their leader,maybe even a chief.
     The Bitamwan’s settled in very well. The Americanized Blacks steered clear of the Small One. All of my slaves respected me, my house, the plantation, and they served me well. I had gave them the best of the meat, and the first fruits of the crops. Even their quarters were well built and well insulated from the elements. My slaves worked a nine to six, five day work week. It was almost as if they loved me. Whipping never occurred on the Meyer Plantation. Should one of my slaves had been insubordinate,I sold them and their families to separate owner’s. The kind who gave much pleasure in providing their slave with ample amounts of misery,delighting in their doling of torments.
     My child Laura, beautiful, four years old, with deep ocean blue eyes,as my own, had solid blonde hair. All of the nanny’s adored her. They all raved how kind, and how thoughtful she was. My daughter Laura thought, that the slaves should be set free. She would sneak them extra food. Even caring for the Bitamwa women, when they had grown sick. She would sing to them and rub their feet, bringing them fresh oranges from the field. Even still, I was overly cautious of her around the slaves. Laura’s bedroom door had three deadbolt locks on it.
     On New Years night, I had heard a drum in the barn. Boom, boom, boom, boom, it was a steady single beat. The windows glowed from the fire, in the dead cold January night. The shadows of movement danced on the walls. I was too curious to see what the Africans were doing, that I had not put on my shoes.
     The closer my feet carried me to the slit in the barn door, the eerier I felt. My heart thumped with the beat of the drum. My nosed inched, closer, and closer to the barn door. Peeking my one eye in to view this horrid lunacy. They chanted Bitamwa in a low murmured whisper. What I saw not only amazed me, it also frightened me, but I knew in my heart, that I should dare not stop it.
     Of sheer curiosity, the very next day, I commanded the Small One, to be my personal servant. He spoke English well enough to talk to. When all of the chores were done for the day, I asked him to have a drink with me, on the front porch of the main house. We smoked our pipes as he stared directly into my eyes.
     The candle on the table between us glowed on his black skin, giving him an eerie presence, as the Small One was mostly silent. He seemed to study me, as if searching for weakness.
     He never disobeyed, he was always casual and respectful. Him being a leader in his people he knew well, how I wanted to be served. I decided to break the monotony of our mutual staring. When-

     ” I saw you staring at my naked body the other night in the barn David.” He said, while puffing his pipe, the smoke blowing into his goatee mustache. Small One smiled displaying the gap between his top two teeth. He took off his straw hat, and gently placed it onto the table. Never once did he break the stare between himself an I.
     ” You want to know of me David. You want to know why the people serve me, with more reverence than yourself. I listened intently to his every word and cautiously observed his every movement.
     ” David you are now thirty-seven years of age.” Astounded I sat up in my chair, reaching for another drink. Gesturing to Small One if he had desired another. He graciously accepted. I got up and served my servant a drink.
     ” How do you?- ”
     ” David, I know about you…very, very well. In your younger days, you were a slave catcher in the Bitamwa Region. You were not as kind and nice as you are now. You see David, I know why you have three locks on your little girls door. ”
     ” You bastard ! How dare you speak to me-”
     ” Sit down David.” He said calmly, and I obliged him in my want and desire to know how this man knows me.
     ” In Africa on one of your adventurous journey’s you did a foul thing David. A very cruel an inhuman thing. Do you remember what that was David?”
     ” What?” I questioned in confusion.
     ” David.”
     ” Yes.”
     ” Have another drink.”
     ” I can barely stand now.” I said smiling.
     ” Yes I know this. ”
     ” I feel funny Small One.”
     ” Yes I know this as well, we have given you a mild relaxant, in your food.”
     ” A what ?!”
     ” That is what you saw in the barn the other night. The ceremony of stillness. This is what we do to relax and calm ourselves. It allows us to think more clearly, and remember facts, pleasures, and pains, from our past. Do not worry David, it will not harm you.” The Bitamwa people came strolling across the yard, and up the steps. They stood motionless as the light, of the candle shown the blackness of their faces. Small One gestured them over toward me with his eyes.
     ” Take him!”
     ” Wait a minute! I treat you people well! I treat you good! I treat you good!” They had bound me hand and foot, sliding a pole between, carrying me off on their shoulders, like conquered prey. As I was being carried off, I heard Small One order the women to retrieve my daughter. Her door was triple locked, yet I knew she had so much love for the women, that she would open the door. They placed me inside of the barn gagged and covered with blankets. Moments later, I had heard Laura’s voice in the barn. The nanny asked would she like some cocoa at the main house.
     I sat under the blankets listening for my daughter’s voice, or anyone’s voice. I was in darkness all alone. Not knowing what was to happen, at all. The blankets were quickly removed, and all five Bitamwa were but a few inches from my face. I was startled.
     “You may think us cruel David, but we are not. I had Laura brought in, to place your mind at ease. Yes David she is ok. Now-David- do you remember me? What did you do in Africa David?” Small One removed the gag from my mouth.
     ” I did not do anything! Let me go! Damn you!”
     ” No David it is not I that am Damned! David it is you! You who are damned! Very well have it your way David! We will work and do our duties, and tell people you have gone away on business. They will not suspect anything,because everything and everyone will carry on as usual.” Two days had went by,with no food and no water. Small One returned.
     ” Are you ready to confess David?”
     ” Hell no!” Small One left again, my bones were sore from hanging from the pole. I had soiled myself more than once. The next day came. Small One returned again.
     ” Are you ready to confess David?!”
     ” Hell no.” I screamed in tears! The next day came and the Small One came into the barn yet once again.
     ” David?” He asked nudging me to see if I were still yet alive.
     ” David? David?”
     ” Yes,yes!” I answered groggily.
     “Are you?”
     ” Please let me eat please?! Have mercy?! Let me eat and I will tell you everything!!!”
     ” David I intend to kill you David. If I were you I would consider this your last meal. You know you deserve it.” The Small One said candidly.
     ” Yes I know, thank you for being so kind about it,Small One thank you. Make my death quick.”
     ” I shall.” Small One gestured to the Bitamwa, and they brought in a pot full of chicken, rabbit, and turtle stew, with all the fixings. They all sat around me watching. I was to die anyway so it did not matter if the Bitamwa’s had poisoned me. I sopped up every last bite. I even drank down the juice. When I had completed the best meal of my life! Small One threw his knapsack at me.
     ” What’s this?”
     “A present for you David.” In an amongst the bones was a small bracelet. A child’s bracelet. I had seen it before. Dread struck my heart as if I knew, I had just purchased a one way ticket to hell. Small One could tell by the appearance of my face, that now I remembered. Tears flowed from the windows of my soul as never before. The memory of forgotten past, my mind has once again to endure. Chained to my heart, the indignities of vile have resurfaced to stare me again in the face. My past had come back to haunt me! Tears flowed, mucous drizzled past my lips my body shook, and quaked from crying.
    ” The baby!… The baby!” I screamed aloud in remembrance.
    ” What did you do?! David?! Small One stood breathing heavily in anger. I want to hear you say it!”
    ” I can not! I can not!” My feet recovered from the pole, and were now sturdy enough to run,and run they did! Right out of the front door and stopped immediately. When I turned to see if the Bitamwa would chase,there was no one there. Spooked, I stared upon the ground kneeling to the earth beneath my feet,grabbing the leaves and the grass. When I looked up all five Bitamwa where inches in front of me.
    ” Look at your hands David!”
    ” What was in that bag Small One?” I asked insistently.
    ” Look into the bag David!”
    ” I thought you were going to kill me!”
    ” It was not the physical death I was speaking of. It was the slow death on the inside. The death of living with yourself knowing.”
    ” Knowing what?!” I insisted.
    ” David, I was not captured in Africa, I walked up to the slave ships and volunteered, when I heard your name. It was told that you wanted slaves specifically from the people of my tribe. David the contents of the bag are the remains of my daughter,that you ate when you were twenty-seven, in Africa. You cooked her alive, and ate her right in front of me.” The Bitamwa began to fade away slowly right before my eyes.
    ” What are you Small One?!”
    ” We are the Bitamwa, the gods of our people.” I realized that now I must live with the memory of evil I had committed. I had to live with it everyday. Trapped in my own hell I had made for myself. The Bitamwa still could slightly be seen.
    ” Look at your hands David.” My hands were holding clumps of solid blond hair saturated in blood. I was resting in a pool of it.
    ” You liked eating little girls so well, we all thought,that you should have another, your own!!!