Echoes in the Bayou

by Dukes, Ursula

  I waited, eight long years in fact and when I thought that she was old enough to serve me without her mommas help I put my plan in motion. You see your daddy was away on one of his so called business trips and while he was gone I took it upon myself to get Leon, one of the field slaves to do a special job for me. I told him that if he would very discreetly get rid of Zelia that I would grant him his freedom along with some money to start a new life.

  Well of course he couldn’t refuse me so I told him exactly what to do. I told him that he needed to lure Zelia down to the bayou because Celeste was in danger and knowing that a mother wouldn’t desert her child I knew she would follow Leon into the bayou. Once he got her there he was to hit her on the back of her head, and then shove her into the murky waters of the bayou. And that's just what he did," she looked at Zelia with as much jealously now as she had centuries ago.

  "That not all you did, tell him da rest." Zelia spoke with such power and grit, Amelia began to tremble. "Son, when your daddy returned I simply told him that Leon had raped and killed Zelia and that he tried to have his way with me. Well, upon hearing this, your daddy became enraged and told his men to find Leon and bring him back to the house. Your daddy told me to go upstairs to my room and that’s what I did but I watched from the window. I watched your daddy drag Leon over to the big oak, he then told his men to gather up all the slaves and when they was all gathered round, your daddy commenced to beatin', and whippin Leon. But that wasn’t the worst of it, your daddy wanted to make an example out of him, he needed to show all the other nigga's that they was to keep their thangs in their britches and out of the women. He pulled down Leon's pants and cut off his penis right then and there, and by the time he stopped hollerin, most of the blood had left his body and your daddy had them dump his body in the bayou."

  By now Sinta, Magnus, Kelly, and Steve had made their way over to the back of the house and stood outside listening to all that was going on. Under Sinta's insistence Magnus stayed outside as a bystander, she told him that there was no need to interfere and that Ava was going to come out of it alright.

  "Momma I despise you," Will said and took hold of Celeste's hand. Ava slowly and carefully moved away from John DuPonte and stood alone in a corner of the kitchen.

  "Son, now I am still your momma, you show me some respect." She was growing weak now and Ava could see that she was losing her strength. She hoped that the evil women would disintegrate, but not yet as there was more of the story that needed to be told.

  "Will, my plan backfired because with Zelia out of the picture, your daddy took to catering upon Celeste, why that nigga whore had your daddy wrapped around her little finger. He even took to teaching her to read and write, he took to her as if she was his own child and I just couldn’t have that. But if there's one thing your momma is darling, it's patient and I waited and waited. But once I began to see that the older you got the more you took to Celeste, I devised another plan, but this time I was going to make sure that the only person who was going to get hurt was her."

  Amelia pointed a long, bony finger at Celeste and Will slapped his mother's hand away. "Don’t you even look at her you old bitty," Will cursed.

  "And now here is where we get to you," Zelia turned and looked at John DuPonte who had been standing in silence staring at Ava and Celeste. In the midst of all that was going on, John DuPonte had thought of nothing but himself and his selfish, fleshly needs. He wanted to take possession of either Ava or Celeste, it didn’t matter which one.

  "Your words mean nothing to me old woman," he said as he faced Zelia.

  "My words may mean nothing Mister DuPonte but my actions surely will. Baron Samedi is coming for you," she said with a satisfied grin.

  "Who is that?" Magnus whispered to Sinta.

  "Mister Magnus, now not da time to be askin a lot of questions but I tell you, Baron Samedi is the loa of death Mister Magnus, and he coming for your descendant. He gon' bring him back to da underworld." Magnus needed no further answers, once he heard the word underworld; he thought it best not to inquire about it anymore.

  Chapter Twenty

  When he heard this, John DuPonte let out a chuckle. "Old women, you don’t know what you're talking about."

  "You took advantage of and murdered the woman I love!" Will shouted at him and in a stealth move landed his fist against John's chest. While to two began to brawl, Ava had managed to sneak her way over to the door and was pulled out of it by Sinta and Magnus. "Ava are you alright?" He asked. She put a finger up to her mouth signaling him to be quiet. "Yes," she said with a weak smile.

  In an instant the scene in the kitchen turned spiritually frenzied. Will and John were fighting to the death and while chairs, tables, and anything that wasn’t adhered to the floor was being tossed around, Zelia held onto her daughter tight. But she kept a close eye on Amelia, just in case she decided to disappear. Zelia knew that Baron Samedi was on his way and when he arrived, he would finish what Amelia and John had started only he would finish it with just the two of them.

  Magnus turned around and peered into the darkness, something seemed very wrong. Sensing a nearby presence, they all turned around and saw the shadow of a man rounding the corner of the house. He was wearing a top hat, black tuxedo, dark glasses, and cotton plugs clung to his nostrils. He resembled that of a corpse dressed and prepared for burial in the Haitian style. He had a white skull for a face and nodded at them as he made his way into the kitchen. The astounded emotions coming from the group silenced them all momentarily. It was like seeing the grim reaper, they had all hoped that by remaining silent, that it would somehow make them invisible. "He's not here for us," Magnus whispered and let out a heavy sigh.

  Amelia let out a horrific scream when she saw Baron Samedi standing in the doorway, she tried with all her might to exit the kitchen but her legs were frozen with fear along with the rest of her body. She knew what awaited her in the underworld, an eternity of repetition. Will had John DuPonte right where he wanted him, on the floor and when he saw the Baron he took his hands off of John and raised them in surrender.

  "You belong with her," Baron Samedi said, his voice sounding nasally. Will slowly bowed his head to Baron Samedi and made his way over to Celeste and Zelia. Without so much as another word, he held out his arms as if he was about to take flight and with ethereal hands took hold of Amelia and John. Neither one could move as his grip was death, and they knew that this time, there would be no resisting.

  At that moment John DuPonte saw himself being prodded and assaulted by the demons of hell. He saw sunken, bloody holes where eyes should have been, long and sharp fanglike teeth replaced genitals. Horrific, terrifying screams came from the darkest recesses of his soul and he begged the Baron for mercy. The Baron merely let out a deep sinister chortle as he pulled Amelia in closer.

  She saw that not only was there repetition, but there was to be darkness all around her. She could hear what sounded like hounds, howling for her, pouncing on her, suffocating, and holding her head down as she drowned. And as if he'd had enough of displaying the forewarning, Baron Samedi scooped them forcefully into his arms, dove up into the air and into the night. Ava swore she saw wraithlike wings sprout out of his back as he headed towards the bayou, the shrieks of John and Amelia being drowned out by the flapping of the wings.

  When she peeked into the kitchen she saw that Will, Celeste and Zelia were still there, they were huddled together and it looked as if they were saying goodbye. After hugging and kissing her daughter, Zelia turned towards the group standing in the doorway and offered her thanks. She thanked them for not giving up and told them that the hard part was over and that the big house would now and forever be free of Amelia and John.

  Ava fought hard to hang on, she felt weak and drained. And she knew that at any moment she was going to pass out. She was unable to get her breathing under control and there was tightness in her chest and she fought hard to smile. Zelia looked at her as if she knew her secret and whispered in her ear, "Yo
u gon' be alright Miss Ava, your heart is weak now but you gon' be alright." After one more glance at her daughter, Zelia too disappeared into the night.

  Will and Celeste were next, Celeste went over to Ava and held her in a warm embrace. When they separated, she placed her hand over Ava's heart. "Your soul was once my soul, and we forever will be one." The tears began to flow down Ava's face, they were tears of pain, sorrow, joy, and happiness. Never before had she known a love so strong could exist but it did and it existed between Will and Celeste. She was so incredibly happy for them.

  "Until we meet again beautiful lady," Will said and kissed her hand. He then turned to Magnus, "Thank you for everything." And shook his hand heartily. The familiar scent of gardenias returned and a loon bird sang quietly in the night, calling them home.

  "They gone now Miss Ava, they at peace and they together. You and Mister Magnus did it!" The old woman shouted with joy.

  Magnus picked up the old woman and kissed her on the cheek. "It's finally over," he said to his friends. "Now Ava, I think we need to…" that was all she heard before she succumbed to the pain.

  "Well good morning," a voice said as she opened her eyes.

  "Where am I?" Ava asked. For a minute she thought she was in limbo but after what happened last night came flooding back into her mind, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Breathe, feels good to breathe," she mumbled.

  "I imagine that it does chère," the nurse smiled at her.

  "They brought you in last night claiming that you passed out and was gasping for air. Turns out you needed some oxygen, but now that your awake we're going to keep you here for a few days and run some tests on you, just to make sure that everything's okay Miss Montgomery."

  Ava nodded her head, for whatever reason, she was glad to be out of that house even if it meant spending time in the hospital, at the moment anyplace was better than the Montieu Plantation.

  "Where's Sinta?" Ava asked when her friends were allowed in the room.

  "She's back at the house, she couldn’t come for obvious reasons," Magnus told her.

  "I know that, I just wondered if she was going to up and disappear too," she snapped at him.

  "Ava what is it?" Magnus could hear the anger in her voice.

  "Nothing, it's nothing, I'm just tired is all," she managed a weak grin.

  "I know you are sweetheart and when we get home I intend on taking excellent care of you." Magnus squeezed her hand.

  "About that," she said. "The doctor might want to hold me longer than expected and if he does, I want you to go home Magnus, I want you to go home and finish your book. All of what's happened has put a hold on our lives and its time now that we get back in the swing of things. Besides, I could use a little one on one time with myself she told them. "Kelly, I hope that you understand."

  Kelly walked over to the bed and held her hand. "Of course I understand Ava, you've been through a lot, and you need your rest."

  Magnus stood up, he looked hurt. But at the moment she didn’t care, she was drained, emotionally and physically. After saying goodbye to Kelly and Steve and thanking them for all their help, she found herself alone with Magnus.

  "Ava I don’t understand how you could want to go through this alone," he said. He was referring to the list of tests that the doctor had lined up for her.

  She didn’t want to lie to the man she loved, nor did she want to sugarcoat anything. That wasn’t how she started a relationship, not now, not ever. "Magnus, I want to tell you something," she said and patted her bedside. When he sat down she told him that she had no desire what so ever to return to the big house. She told him that she felt as if something died inside of her and she no longer wished to be in that house.

  "Then I'll put it up for sale and we'll find someplace else to live," he said reassuringly.

  But he wasn’t getting it. "Magnus, I'm not even sure that I want to settle here in Louisiana anymore, everything that's happened has left a bitter taste in my mouth and I'm not sure that moving somewhere else in Louisiana will get rid of it."

  She could feel him tense up now. "So what are you saying Ava, you want to move somewhere alone, is that what you're saying?"

  "What I'm saying is that I'm not sure I want to live down South anymore, I feel like all of this has drained me Magnus, this is your deal and your dream, not mine. I'm twenty eight years old for god sake, I want to do something with the rest of my life, not just sit and watch you write. No matter how much I love watching you work, it's not satisfying for me." She could see the hurt in his eyes and wondered what he was thinking. "Magnus, I know that I was sent here to do a job and well it's obvious that other factors got in the way of that but because of those other factors, I now want no part of staging, renovating, redecorating Montieu Plantation. I'm done, I want to move on. You wouldn’t know this, but I've been looking at properties up North."

  "North? You mean you want to move to Arkansas?" He asked confused. "You've never mentioned Arkansas before."

  She couldn’t help but smile at his sensibility. "No Magnus when I say North, I don’t mean Arkansas I mean North, way up North, like Vermont or Maine, New England."

  "Oh."

  His head was turned and she moved so that she could face him. "Magnus, it's just an idea but I am guessing from the look on your face that you wouldn’t be willing to come with me."

  He shook his head. "Ava, my parents are here, I've got friends here. And as soon as the book is released Steve and I are heading out on a book tour. Just the southern states, but if it takes off like we think it will who knows what'll happen next, there might be more states added on, I can't move that far away Ava I'm sorry. What is that you want to do there anyway?" He asked, she could hear the cynicism in his voice.

  She couldn’t help but feel insulted by his show of arrogance. "You're not the only one who wants something out of life Magnus. I want to buy an antique store, an authentic antique store. I want to own it, run it, have a couple employees working side by side with me and live my life, that’s what I want to do. You know how much I love antiques and I do have a knack for reading people and knowing what they want and there is one place in Vermont that seems ideal.

  The owners have had it for sale for a while, they are planning on moving to Florida, and the best part is that along with the shop is a gorgeous Victorian home…"

  Magnus held up his hand stopping her. "Well it looks to me like you've got your mind made up already Ava," he said. His voice was distant now and he was trying hard to block out what it was she was trying to say.

  "No, my mind isn’t made up yet Magnus, I just wanted to know what you thought and where you stand with the whole situation. Look, I understand where you're coming from I do, if I had a family I wouldn’t be so quick to want to leave them but I don’t and I really think that I need to pursue this Magnus. There is no denying that we both love one another but it isn’t the right time that's all. We want different things out of life right now and if we look at it that way then the both of us will be okay."

  "Don’t give me the let's just be friends speech, we're a little too old for that," he said through gritted teeth.

  "Magnus, I'm not giving you the let's just be friends speech but I am telling you that we were brought together to reunite Will and Celeste, we accomplished that and maybe now, it's time for the both of us to move on. Yes I would very much like for us to remain friends, but I'll understand if you want to sever all ties and call it quits. You go your way and I'll go mine, no qualms and no worries." He knew that doing that was out of the question, Ava was the first woman to whom he had confessed his love and he wanted nothing more than to see her succeed.

  "I love you Ava," he said and held her in his arms. "I love you too Magnus."

  "Well maybe it's for the best buddy; I mean the two of you did just go through some major supernatural shit. It's no wonder she wants to move on." Steve and Magnus sat in an outdoor café, eating lunch.

  "I understand that she's been through a lot but Vermont? I mean m
on dieu, she might as well have said Alaska, it's at the other end of the world."

  "Okay now you're over exaggerating and I've heard some wonderful things about New England so if she wants to go, let her go Magnus. You know, there's this mode of transportation called an airplane that lots of folks seem to have taken very kindly to so maybe you should think about that before you knock New England okay?" He said with sarcasm.

  "I'm not knocking New England Steve, all I'm trying to say is that It hurts and I'm going to miss her, that's all."

  "I know it hurts buddy but all I'm trying to say is that you can see her anytime you want and I think you should spend every moment with her until she leaves. Stay at a hotel, hell you guys can stay at our place. Just make it memorable, so that the both of you will have something to cherish besides ghosts and goblins."

  "You're right Steve, for the first time in a long time you're actually right," he winked at his friend.

  Sinta was forced to linger around the plantation for several days after the ambulance came and rushed Ava to the hospital. She had been unable to go visit her now, but thanks to Magnus, she knew that Ava would be alright. When he told her about Ava's plans, Sinta let out a bellowing chuckle for she knew that Ava was restless and that once the curse was lifted and Will and Celeste reunited she would want to move on. No matter how much she loved him, Ava wanted to spread her wings just as much as he did Sinta told him, and he understood.

  The bayou had reformed back to its original beauty and she once again marveled at the sounds. A loon bird called out in the distance and the giant oak that was now surrounded by gardenias, courtesy of Magnus, stood like a statue guarding them.