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!!!