Three pieces to Eternity

 

We sat in coach waiting for it to slow down, looked out at the passing scenery and wondered where we were now. Its been 6 months since we ran from the camp, I was tired and beaten by the road and there was nothing left in me for this journey. I looked at Buzz and he was still sleeping off the moonshine he had exchanged for the can of beans we got from the town we passed. I did not like booze and preferred not to be around it, my father got mean when he was drunk and so did my maa and when they both were flying and I was the one crashing with a belt. Told myself that I was leaving that world behind, I did but ended up in another that was like a reflection in a dirty mirror.

“My boy, you seem to want to find a home but cannot. Would you be interested in one where you finally stop running?” came a voice from the shadows. I looked around and tried to find the person speaking but could not see him. I thought we were alone in here, it seems I was mistaken so I placed my hand on the hilt of my knife. I crouched down to prepare for someone to jump me but there was only wind from outside. Then I saw him, a ratty old man walked into the light and he was smiling something mean. I crouched down further waiting for him to attack but he just stood there looking at me then turned to look at Buzz and his smile disappeared.

“I have an offer you would be interested in, for him there is no hope. The moonshine he took was laced with more than just alcohol, right now his body is shutting down organ by organ. I can offer you something more than just a home but a place to grow.”

“Why should I trust you old man?”

“Trust? Now my boy I don’t need trust, I need an able man to help me solve a problem.”

I looked at him sideways and saw that Buzz was not moving much now, he never really was a light sleeper but right now I could see he did not look so good. I owed him nothing but still he was with me for the past few weeks while we ran from the law. The undulating movement from the train made it look like he was dreaming of swimming in the river near his old town. I looked at the old man and he remained where he stood, I had to check on Buzz but I did not trust the man not to try something when I did. To my surprise he moved to the side and away from me and sat down leaning on the side of the coach. I took a step to check on Buzz while keeping one eye on him.

“The name is Felix, in case you are wondering. Felix Burman, I would elaborate more but I think until you are sure I am not the threat that is all I will say.”

I walked over to Buzz and shook him to see if he would wake, his head lolled to the side like he was out completely. I felt his pulse and realised he was long gone; I knelt down and shook my head. Stupid country moonshine, I lost the only person I trusted so far. I looked up at Felix and he was now smoking and blowing out smoke that was being pushed in by the passing wind. “What do you want Mr. Felix?” I asked as I stood up and walked over to him.

“Well I’ll be, chivalry still rides the trains. Felix will suffice, I never liked the mister part.”

“What do you want Felix?” I asked again.

He looked up at me with his smile and then slowly got up and dusted himself, he then looked out the door and walked to it and stood there letting the wind bathe his form. “I want a companion to join me on my grand adventure Justin Smith.”

“How did you…” the words died in my mouth as he turned and I saw the glowing red eyes looking at me.

“I knew the moment you entered this coach. See I am what you would call a restless spirit. I was on my way to collect a certain debt owed to me, thing is Justin, people like to make deals for their own gain. Only thing is that they don’t like it when the bill is due, I would like to collect but the person is woman who thinks she is the one who is the victim here.”

I wanted to jump out the running train rather than standing next to some sort of devil, but he was blocking the way now and I knew I could not fight something I had no knowledge about.

“Come now, I mean you no harm. Just a fair trade, you help me and I give you something you never would have gotten in this life. See the thing is that you were meant to die on this ride, what is stopping that is that is I will take you away from here before it does. Here in the great white south is that any black train hopper found will be shot on sight, I guess Buzz over there did not mention that. I guess he wanted the bounty for bringing you here. Times ticking Justin, take my hand and we will be off.”

I knew about the kill order for train hoppers, but I did not expect that Buzz would use me like that after all we went through. I had no choice now that I could see the lights of the town coming up, with the train slowing down there will be train marshals roaming the tracks looking for a black man lurking on the rails. I raised my right hand and before I could re-think Felix took it and all went black.

I woke up some time later with my head roaring in pain and my belly wanting to empty itself, I turned to my side to throw up but there was nothing to throw up. I tried getting up but was took weak and lay back down. Looking up I could see it was still night, I looked around the place and could now see that I was in some forest. There was no fire nor any source of light other than the moon, Felix was nowhere to be seen so I just closed my eyes and fell asleep again. I woke up to see it was daylight and still weak from whatever Felix did and tried to sit and check where I was, it was the swamp. I knew this place but now well enough, I had an aunt who lived in the southern swamps. I was hungry and thirsty but there was nothing I could help me with that, slowly I got up and tried to walk. The flies were buzzing around me and the heat was making it hard to breathe, I finally got up and tried to walk.

“Finally, if I had known you really had nothing to eat before the ride then I would have tried something different to get us off the train. Anyway, you are up. Here eat this.”

Felix offered something to me, how he snuck up like that I did not know but I was glad for the food and the water bottle he offered. I sat back down and tore through the bread and gulped down the water, it felt like days since I had something to eat. As I ate I could see that Felix was staring at something in the distance, I followed his line of sight only to see more trees and nothing else. The swamp on this place was dry, I wanted to know where we were but that kept to myself.

When I was done, I put away the tattered paper and the held on the bottle as I got up, there was some water still inside and I needed it. I then looked at what Felix was looking at now saw it was a run-down house sitting in the middle of a shallow lake. Waving away the flies and I tried to get a better look but was interrupted by Felix who placed a hand on my shoulder.

“You my companion will have to go to that house and knock on the front door and ask for Ms. Marie Basset. She owes me three pieces of silver and you will bring them to me.”

“That’s it?”

Felix smiled, “indeed that is it. Don’t be fooled though, those three pieces are worth more to her than you think.”

I started walking to the house and as I got close I could feel an energy of some type pushing me away. I was like wall of wind trying to push me back, only thing was that the air was still, and the heat was almost unbearable. Standing at the edge of the water I knew better than to step inside, gators in this part of the swamp were patient hunters looking for a fool to step into their world. I began to walk around to see if there was a path or some sort of trunk I could use to cross over. The smell of the swamp is something that sticks to the inside of your nose and it never lets go, the smell of rotting vegetation mixed with the stink of death made me want to leave this place. I finally saw something, a sort of raft that was left near a dead tree, I got close and saw it was still floating.

Placing a foot on it to test if it still held, put more and more weight on it to confirm it was good. I then looked for something to help me move forward and get to the house. I did not like this but knew that I had made a deal and now I needed to deliver. Those red eyes haunted me and I knew that death was the only outcome if I tried to run. I found a long branch that looked strong enough and got onto the raft and tried to push off and towards the house. Making my way to the house, it was an old place and from where I stood I could see many of the boards outside were rotting and almost falling off. The windows were dark, there was a porch that had seen better days.

The house was once white but now with all the rot it wore the shades of Brown and black, the roof still stood but by what miracle I could not say. I then noticed that there were no sounds around me, I was so focused on getting to the house that I did not notice that the place was dead. The swamp below me has no life, I could not see fish not could see any telltale movement of gators lurking in the green abyss. I did not like this place and the trees around did not make it any better, they looked like old people leering at me. Slowly I pushed my way to the edge of that island, I looked up at the house and felt like something was watching me from the inside.

I walked up to the door and as I was about to know the door swung inwards revealing the dark interior. I looked inside and saw the old furniture, there wasn’t anyone inside. I called out but there was no answer, I did not want to step in so I stood there calling out for Marie Basset. “Stop your hollering boy and come in, you know better than to disturb an old lady like that. Your mama… wait… you come from a bad home didn’t you. Ahahah” she continued laughing at this. She emerged from a door that looked to be the kitchen.

Leaning in a walking stick she walked into the living room and stood in front of a chair and sat down, I realised that she was blind when I saw the white eyes. I waved my hands to confirm but she retorted “I may look blind boy but I can see better than you, no stop your fooling and come in.”

I stepped into the house and closed the door behind me, the room was immediately returned to shadow and I was the blind one now. As my eyes adjusted to the low light I could make out sofa across Marie and stood next to it. I waited for the old lady to give me permission to sit and she nodded, I then took a seat and waited for her to speak.

“I guess you are here for the 3 coins, Burman sent you am I right?”

I nodded then remembered her blindness and replied that I was.

Marie nodded to my reply and spoke, “those coins are my wards, they are keeping trapped here. You take them will finally release me but be warned young one, they might bind themselves to you. Burman is just a collector but even he might just change his mind about them.”

“Who is Felix Burman, mam. I mean I only just met him and..”

“Hush now, he chose you because you were close to dying. Know this boy that this world contains more than just angels and demons. There are things that even the angels avoid at all costs. Burman is one of them, I was given these here coins many years ago and even though I did not want them I knew they needed me. Before I hand them I need to tell you where they came from. What’s your name?”

“Justin Smith mam, I am…”

“No need, your past is your own here. I am old but there are things I have seen that are older and here in the swamp your past means nothing. So are you ready to hear them stories?”

I spoke my agreement and she sat back and began.

“The first coin belonged to a girl I met at a fair. Her name was Angela Williams, a sad little thing. She worked for her father in his hotel kitchen and cleaning rooms, there was also the side things she had to do to keep him happy. Her life was made worse when her mother died when she was just 12-year-old. Her father seeing it as an opportunity to earn some extra, rented her out to travellers looking for a night with an addition to the room.”

“One night while the girl was bent over a bed earning the extra money her father, a traveller walked into the hotel looking for some food and a room. Her father smiled at the extra money that night would bring and  warmly welcomed him, that man was no ordinary man. He was a soldier possessed by a wandering spirit, they like to posses people who have lost their way in sadness of their own existence. Money was exchanged and the soldier received his food and he ate, Angela walked into the room with the coin she was given and caught the eye of the soldier. The father saw this and told her to clean her self up seeing how the soldier was eyeing her. The spirit within the soldier saw something that it could not ignore, a light surrounded by shadow. Finishing the meal the soldier asked for Angela and took her to the room he was given, there she was about to undress and the soldier refused.”

Marie cleared her throat and picked a small snuff box and placed a pinch of the powder into her mouth. She coughed after and spat out the phlegm into pot that sat next to her foot.

“Angela became confused by this and asked if he will be paying her. The soldier removed the silver coin and gave it her, he said that it belonged to her now and she was free. This confused Angela as she had never been given payment before she had opened her legs. She was 17 then and all she knew was how men were the worst kind of people, and she had met them all. Men of religion or soldiers, there was nothing stopping a man from his carnal instinct. This was different and unexpected, she looked at the coin and asked what it was for, the soldier told her that she was now free to leave this place and her father had no power over her. She did not believe the man but as she tried to protest the man began to dry up like a lump of clay and crumble before her very eyes. She saw that he was smiling like he had finally finished his journey. She ran from the room as the body crumbled and when she went to her father she saw to her horror that he was slumped over the counter, there were men across from him that had their faces covered. Robbers had killed him and would do the same to her so she ran from the hotel. Into the streets she ran calling for the police but no one looked at her, it were as if she was invisible to the world. Looking back to the hotel she saw it go up in flames, then she looked down at the silver coin and realised that it was given to her as a blessing of life. Accepting the coin now she set forth to find a place for herself and after many years of searching she found me and gave it to me. She never found happiness in her long journey, even though it was a free life, a sad little thing she was. When she gave it to me I saw the light in her eye finally free to leave this broken world.”

Marie finished that story and held out her hand, in it was a coin that I picked and held up. It was old from how worn it look in the little light, I tried to see the details but could not in the fading light. Marie got up and rummaged in a desk that was set next to a door that I surmised to be a room. From it she took a candle that she lit and placed on a table that sat between the both of us. I could now see the details on the coin, it held an engraving of a young woman smiling and looking to the right of the coin. On the other side was an image of a sun, there were no writings on the coin. I placed the coin in my breast pocket and sat back to wait for the next tale. Marie smiled at me and I felt like I was looking back at my old aunt who gave me only love when I visited her.

“She was a good woman, your aunt, made sure you slept with a full belly. Being a mother in this place made you tough but it also gave you the gift of understanding when someone was not at the best inside. I see you were given the same life as Angela, even though you had the worst parents you still are more civil than they would have ever been in their lives. I have seen so many but there are very few like your aunt that lived to care so much.”

I did not know what to say but I felt the tears come down my cheeks, aunt Samantha was the only one who taught me to be a good person and how to live like a good person in this world of pain. I grieved for her everyday and still do, kindness is not a gift but the light we all walk under. It’s just that sometimes there will be a cloud to cover it but its up to us to wait for it pass and the light to return. I wanted to ask how she knew of my aunt but remained silent.

“This here second coin belonged to an old man I met at a funeral. It was his funeral and was full of happiness to see that those he helped without asking for anything in return had come. They were there not only to give their last respects but also return the gift of kindness, they were his children and he their father, uncle and brother. Martin Wilkes, a widower who saw orphans as he salvation. At his time orphans were treated like commodities by people to trade for things that money could not buy, children were treated like slaves to perform chores people did not want or care to do themselves. Martin took them in and gave them a home and education they would use to make their lives better and for others in their lives. Even when society shunned him for not following the real religion he chose to march on, many times his house was burned down by people who did not want him, he rebuilt and continued.”

“Children from every skin, belief and age found a home with him. He gave them something they never thought they would get, there were those who took kindness as a weakness and stole from him. Still he continued his mission to give them a better life. Martin had no kin of his own so, he found his own to clothe and provide for, the children worked with him to build and provide for themselves. When his time came Martin was not sad but happy that he lived it the best way he knew and wanted. The children he nurtured grew to be better than the people who shunned them and built better lives than those who cursed them. At his funeral he stood over his old frail body and wondered how small he looked in that wooden coffin, I met him when they lowered him next to his wife. Martin gave me his coin and asked if there is a place for him and I replied that for a life like his there is always a place.”

Marie was crying now and held out a shaky hand to me, it contained another coin. I was beginning to understand what these coins were but kept that to myself until I had all of them. I tried to take a drink from my bottle but it was empty now. Marie got up and walked to the kitchen and returned with a bottle which looked like wine. I was about to refuse when she offered it, “boy this is no alcohol, this here is nectar from the forest. I know you are clean from the poisons that took your parents but it does not mean that you cannot accept an old lady’s offer.”

I took the bottle from her and placed it on the table and she gave me a glass to drink from. I poured myself a half glass and looked at the red liquid, it smelled of berries and more. Taking a sip I felt my insides warm as the liquid went down and I felt like the weight of my life lift for a moment. “That is the last of its kind, people have forgotten how to make it now. I remember because I was taught by my nan, oh those old days when people worked together to build homes and communities.” Marie smiled and laughed as she spoke, then she looked up and cried. She called for her old family and asked why they left her and lowered he head and covered it with her palms. I sat in silence watching her not knowing what to say. Finally she wiped her tears and continued.

“The last coin isn’t mine but from a woman who lived through a war that was not hers nor those who fought it. Florence was the wife of a soldier who fought in the war of greed and freedom. One side wanted the old and sick ways of life to keep people under their heels and work them to death while the other wanted freedom and equality for all. They lived in the land that would be the battlefield, her husband was a good man lived by a simple understand that in treating people with respect would give him more than he gave. They had no children of their own since fate had decided she could no conceive and he not give. Still they saw love in each other and lived the way they wanted, during the war their home became a ward for the wounded. Florence would clean and treat the soldiers wounded in the battles, she did not see who they were nor where they came from, to her all men were equal and in that she saved many. Her husband died fighting in battle and she mourned his passing, he was buried in their garden as she would one day. As the war continued on, her house saw more wounded pass its threshold. She treated as best as she could and helped many get back up to defend their beliefs.”

“One day the war ended and soon she found the house empty, no more wounded to care for. The emptiness brought the sadness she was holding in her back to the light and she mourned her love even more. She would spend her days sitting next to his grave cleaning it and talking to him, soldiers and their families would come to thank her and give her what they could. Smiling and thanking them for their offers Florence would see some of her husband in their eyes, that gave her strength to live on. I met her when my journey led me through her house, there she sat next to her love’s grave. Singing the song of redemption to him, smiling like a young lover. I told her it was a beautiful song and she laughed saying that it was the only one she still remembered. She was now old and frail, not able to walk properly but still managed to walk to him every day. I stood there as she spoke to him and I saw the love that never faded shine bright in her eyes. She gave me this coin and after that lay down on the grave and took one last breath next to the only one who mattered to her.”

“By now you may understand that these coins belonged to people who lived under the light even though their worlds were filled with shadows. Evil is of our making but when we see only good then we will only find peace in all we do. You are the same Justin, I give you the final coin knowing that my journey ends here. Felix as you might think is not evil but rather the balance that this world needs to keep it from burning.”

I took the coin from her offering hand and as I did she began to crumble to dust right in front of me. My eyes grew wide seeing her fade but saw the smile she held, I knew that she was waiting for me. The second coin held the faces of many children, this last one was that of a flower. I sat there for a while in that house and waited for the sun to rise, tears from the stories ran down my face but they were from happiness not sadness. I remembered my aunt and her food, her lessons on how to be a good person and the songs she sang when cooking. Those songs made the food taste better but the blessings that were sprinkled on the food filled my stomach even now.

With light of the sun shining through the cracks in the windows I got up and left the house, outside the lake was gone and I could walk to where I came from. There I turned to look at the house one last time as it too crumbled. I walked to where I left Felix and there he stood with a big smile on his face.

“You found something there didn’t you boy?” I nodded and he turned to walk, before he did Felix asked me to join him.

“They belong to you now, I care not for such trinkets. Only thing is that you will have to walk on this land and soon find more out there, keep them safe and you will find peace in knowing you are holding the best things this world ever had.