The Curse of 1977 (Book 2)

Negril, Jamaica

"What can you hear, my boy?" Old man Sunta said into Cloyse's ear in a raspy, Jamaican dialect.

Cloyse, feeling completely restrained and helpless, heard everything, from the roaring waves of the sea that sounded as if he were right next to them, to his old friend, all the way to a wheezing grunt that seemingly surrounded him.

Cloyse struggled to move, but it felt as if his entire body was shut down. Just trying to wiggle one finger was like trying to sprout wings, it was virtually impossible.

"I...I cannot—

"Do not try and speak yet, just focus on trying to see." Sunta spoke softly into the young man's ears.

Cloyse did as he was told and bore down in the hopes of trying to revive his vision all over again. In fact, his eyes were wide open; it was just the blackness that appeared more like fog that kept him from seeing clearly.

"Dey gone...dey gone far away," the wheezing individual from somewhere within the area groaned.

"Be silent, devil!" Sunta scolded the man. "Now, continue to focus on what you want to see, my boy."

Cloyse squeezed and stretched until the blackness in front of him gradually formed into splotches.

"I can...I can see it." Cloyse fought to utter in his own broken English.

"Good, good, now keep on!" Sunta gleefully urged.

Cloyse kept stretching before even more forms began coming into sight. Before long, globs and splotches eventually turned into brightness. It was so bright in fact that Cloyse had to shut his eyes momentarily just to shield from the rays.

"Can you see now?" Sunta asked.

Cloyse ever so slightly nodded yes before going back to trying to twist his finger all over again. Much like before, attempting such a task was arduous, but the man kept at it until one moving finger turned into three, and after three, an entire right hand.

"You can move now?" Sunta sounded surprised.

"No good, boy, you be dead by sundown." The nearby groaning man uttered.

"Please, keep on! You are almost free!"

Cloyse persisted until he was able to fully operate his right hand. All of the sudden, the young man began to cry like a child. He wept so hard that his entire body began shaking inside the chair in which he was seated.

"God be praised, he is coming back!"

"God not here, God not here," the mysterious individual kept gasping in and out as though he were fighting

in his chair until it began to wobble back and forth. Eventually, the man ended up crashing onto the floor, with him still inside the seat. But to Cloyse, just feeling pain at that point, and after so

"Are you alright?" Sunta hurriedly aided the

Crawling about on the warm, gravely floor, Cloyse replied,

said as he hoisted

Cloyse felt all over his hairy face before inquiring, "How...how long have I been

"Three weeks,

Soon, the other man began making a sort of snoring racket before saying, "You be dead by de time

locked his hazy eyes upon the man who was seated across from him inside

his own chair and had his head down with his arms restrained with a rusty chain from the back. His torn and ragged pants looked as if he had worn the same clothing for years without ever changing. His emaciated, grey-haired, bare chest looked like he hadn't been nourished in ages. He appeared such a pathetic sight,

you

stood next to Cloyse. "Doi was returning to

"Who ya tink ya kill, fool," Doi questioned with his head still hung low. "I

"But you do know where my sister...is."

shook his head from side to side before saying, "Big sister not here. She gone,

that very second. His heart was beating so furiously, but the words he wanted

man's entire body before sitting back and breathlessly uttering,

saying dat, but he

Damerae

Right then, a sudden silence gripped the entire hut. The thundering waves from outside were the only things that

dey are." Cloyse said. "I saw

"It does not matter now." Sunta's voice shook. "Wherever dey are gone to, not even

"You know not about God." Doi grunted. "God not here no more, mon. Who won test de devil now dat he loose? Who won test de unknown devil now dat he loose?" Doi

at Doi for endless minutes before he glanced back at Sunta and groaned, "Dey are

"But where, mon?"

"Far north of

"Kingston, mon?"

Cloyse said. "I want my sister, old man!" he

sister, mon."

those words, Doi lifted his aged head to reveal a pair of white eyes and fangs before both Cloyse and Sunta. Before long, a sinister growl ran up and out of Doi's throat as his face began to stretch outwards forming what looked to

Still not at full strength, all Cloyse could do was try and scoot

At that very moment, however, Sunta, with a pointy stick in his right hand, approached Doi. He took the stick and struck it against the gravely floor before igniting Doi from his feet

was engulfed in flames as he roared and howled in agony. From there, Sunta grabbed a hold of Cloyse and dragged him out of the blazing hut and onto the sandy beach before both men limped as fast as they

"Look back no more, boy." Sunta helped a staggering Cloyse down the empty