On the swamp

The heat was unbearable, the kind that seems to go right through you. She looked around at the thick slimy green water. Her dress was sticking to her body outlining her female form. God, I wish a breeze would come by, she thought. The leaves in the trees were motionless, and the moss hung low and was as knotted and as gray as an old man's beard.

The sweat was running down her bow onto her nose then dropping down between her blossoms. It seem she had been sitting on the raft for hours. The shadows of the trees were stretching across the swamp.

"I was a dang fool to hit at that gator with my only paddle," she said aloud to no one.

The gator must've thought so too since he bite down on it and pulled it right out of her hands.

The light was fading fast, now the trees were beginning to look like creatures of the swamp. Soon the sounds of insects could be heard; the air was filled with the buzzing of mosquitoes. In minutes her skin was covered by bites. She tried to cover herself, it wasn't long before her sobs could be heard over the buzzing of the insects.

Then she saw something, or was she just seeing things. There it was again, a light passing through the trees. But who would be strolling in the swamps at night? It must be the trackers looking for her. Fear creep up from the pit of her belly. If they found her she would be beaten or worst.

A run away slave paid a heavy price if they was caught.

In the shop

The door creaked as it was open then it hit the bell hanging just behind it. She stepped through the beaded curtain. Another mark, another dollar to take, she thought. She stared at the pale young man as he stood before her. Even before he spoke she saw the shadow of death behind him.

"Someone has placed a bad mojo on you honey child," she said. "I see death has its cold grasp on you. You have come just in time for me to save you," she told him.

The man sat down as she throw some powder into the flame of the candle on the table. The flame shot up lighting the dark room. The woman sang a chant and shook a rattle around his head. She was just about to say the darkness had passed when she saw his face.

The darkness was really there. He had crossed someone very powerful.

On the swamp

The voice seem to come at her from every direction.

"Little missy, be not afraid of me, I be not a hunter of run-a-ways, you're safe, no one shall ever harm you again. This here land be mine and no one dares enter my woods without my leave." The voice was old and crackling sounding.

"Come child, come to Mama Shargo," it ordered.

The boat started to drift toward the land and voice. Then she saw the boat was going against the current. Her mind was racing with fear. The woman held the lamp up and it casted a yellow light. The boat seem to be pulled by an unknown force to it. She was now able to see the figural at the edge of the water. The light was able to show the outlines of the old black face.

"Come child, I be waiting for you," she said as she began walking away.

In the shop

It had been years since she had seen real magic, and this curse was a strong one.

"You have cross a great power; it won't be easy to break the spell, but if I fail your life shall be forfeit," she told him.

"Hey, I don't really believe in this mambo jumbo stuff," he said.

"I mean I was just a ordinary man, then one day the shit hit the fan. Everything started going wrong. Then I was told to come here," the man cried out as he held his face in his hands.

On the swamp

The old woman led her to the shack. It was a strange looking place, with dried herbs, roots, dried parts of animals, and insects. Then it dawn on her. This woman is a witch she thought.

Without turning around, the old woman said, "I be not no witch, child; I be a queen, a Voodoo Queen!"

Then she started to laugh again. "Be not afraid, I wait for many years, now you are here."

"What do you want of me?" she asked nervously.

"I dreamt of you child, nightly for one hundred years, I do, and now you come to me," she said.

"You have dream of me for a hundred years? Why? What do you want of me?" she again asked.

"Child, I teach you, soon you fear no one; they fear you."

In the shop

For years she had gone through the motions. A mark had come in, she did her little dance, then took their money. It was a living, she thought. And she didn't feel any remorse by taking their hard earn money. If they were fools to freely give it away, she'll take it. Now however, she looked at one doomed by real magic.

In another life she could have fell for him, but now he had death staring him in the eyes. It had been so long, could she still do it? Had she lost her powers?

"Be not afraid," she said, "I will protect you."

She hoped she sounded more confident then she felt. She couldn't explain it but she wanted to save this young man. But how could she and who place the curse on him in the first place and why?

On the swamp

"Why my child, I teach you; for you be chosen before your mama be born. You'll be great in power. One day you will be Queen like me," the old witch told her.

If others had talked like this she would have thought they would have been crazy. But this old woman was pure power and it wasn't wise to cross her.

"But Mama, I have done no magic and I don't have power like you do," she pleaded.

"Child, you be great in power, and one day you know power greater then I can teach you," she said and began to laugh again.

In the shop

"I will try to help you, but I have to know who put a curse on you and why?" she asked the young man.

"That's just it I was sitting in my office and this woman I had never seen walked in said something throw some powder on me and left," he answered her. "After that bad luck started following me around then I got a note that said to come here because you was the only one who could save me. I thought you might have been the one that done this to me. Now I don't know what to do," he said as he buried his face once more in his hands crying.

For years her heart had became harden to the outside world, but now she felt something. She took the man in her arms. It felt strange holding another person. How many years had it been, the years just melted into each other. But she had to admit, it did feel good.