HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO SEEK JUSTICE? BELOW ARE THREE TWISTED TALES THAT EXPLORE THE THEME OF ATONEMENT. ENJOY.
Atonement
LUCY
Mary doesn’t talk much to the people in her neighborhood.
They are nosy and don’t honestly care about her problems.
But they know how to act as if they do just to get the scoop.
Instead, she calls on Jack Daniels to ease the pain.
As the liquor travels through her veins, she swears she can talk to angels.
The neighbors laugh—calling her the block’s drunk!
But this angel has a name—Lucy.
Always arriving at the perfect time.
In the nighttime, Lucy’s angelic wings beam.
Mary and Lucy met on the playground back in 1968.
Appearing the morning after daddy’s friend ripped her favorite underwear apart.
That’s when Lucy taught Mary how to heal.
One day, as Mary lay in her bed, daddy’s friend came back.
One swift slice from a knife was all it took to make it all better.
The blade pierced the flesh of daddy’s friend, giving him something to feel just like he gave her.
Shaking her hips to Mojo Queen by Ike & Tina Turner, Mary watched as Lucy extracted his blood.
Fingers moved with precision as Mary smiled.
It was so long ago but was the beginning of a lifelong pact.
From then on, Mary introduced every man who broke her heart to Lucy.
Sacrifices to keep the thirst quenched.
Pursing her lips together with each sip of Jack Daniels.
Lucy is the angel Mary speaks to.
NM
Jake
Jake was the neighborhood bully.
The hell he inflicted on others was intoxicating.
Every time he kicked, punched, or slapped another kid, it made him feel like he could take on the world.
Nobody knew that he was passing off the beatings his mother gave him.
At night when he sat alone in his room, tears rolled down his cheeks, creating a flood of hate and resentment.
Jake’s daddy kept his face buried between Janice’s thighs, so he was never around to keep him safe.
Janice lived around the corner, and she made sure everyone knew that Jake’s daddy was hers.
That little boy missed spending summer days hooping at the park.
He missed his daddy teaching him how to change a flat tire and then taking him for cheeseburger baskets at Kitty’s Diner.
He missed the way his mother used to smile at him and ask how his day was.
Once his daddy left, she hissed about how much Jake looked just like that bastard who left for Janice.
He had the handprint across his face to prove it.
Poor boy, he never stood a chance.
Watching his mother’s lifeless body lay in the street as the nosy neighbor’s cameras flashed.
In a fit of rage, Jake had grabbed his daddy’s pistol.
The one with the gold handle that he loved so much but forgot to take with him.
His fingers gripped and pulled the trigger chasing his mother out of the house, each bullet entered his mother’s back, a pure feeling of ecstasy overcame him.
On that day, Jake stood up to his bully.
NM
Miss Caroline, won’t you be mine?
Miss Caroline knew how to drive a man insane.
Those full lips mounted on that chocolate skin could drive even the strong, silent type to commit crimes he was sure he’d never do.
Something told me to keep on walking by that night.
But her beauty was too regal not to introduce me.
I’ll never forget the date—June 7th, 1905...my birthday.
The fellas and I went down to New Orleans, Louisiana, to celebrate.
My best friend Freddy always raved about the beauty of Southern Creole women.
How their curves put the girls up north to shame.
Them light brown eyes will take your soul if you let them, he’d say.
Yeah, I had to see for myself, and that’s when I met Miss Caroline.
The way her hips swayed as she walked down the French Quarter had me in a daze.
The moonshine I had been consuming gave me some courage, and so I walked up to her.
That night we made love.
I never experienced a woman who could move like her.
I don’t know if it was the magic of the city or her witchcraft, but it was intoxicating.
Arching her back as she danced on top of me, taking in every inch.
I was hers that night and vowed to be hers for eternity.
Miss Caroline had other plans.
She played me for a goop.
She was on the make the whole time.
Tales of other men who traveled from other towns for a taste.
Some even said her nectar complimented their morning beignets.
She lived on the menus of many—including mine.
So letting her go was not an option.
She never responded to my letters, so I packed a few bottles of rum for the offering and took a trip.
Papa Legba met me for a drink at the crossroads and told me that I could have whatever I wanted.
I just had to sign over my soul.
To live forever with Miss Caroline by my side was the wish.
She said that she would never forgive me for holding her hostage.
That I took away her free will to die.
It was only a good time for her that night.
A birthday present from Freddy and that’s all.
That was seeing my face for eternity was torture.
One day she will see how much I can make her happy.
On that day, I will break her chains and let her roam free.
But until then, she belongs to me.
NM