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

continued to writhe about in his chair until it began to wobble back and forth. Eventually, the man ended up crashing onto

"Are you alright?" Sunta

Crawling about on the warm,

"Careful." Sunta said as he hoisted both Cloyse and his chair right back

Cloyse felt all over his hairy

"Three weeks, I am

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

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

It was a fully bearded, black man who was sitting in 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, but inside Cloyse's heart, only disdain seized him. There

"Where did you capture

Sunta walked around and stood next to Cloyse. "Doi was returning to de world when I found him. It was quite simple

kill, fool," Doi questioned with his

"But you do know where my

from side to side before saying,

Cloyse stopped breathing at that very second. His heart was beating so furiously, but the

Cloyse ever so diligently studied the old man's entire body before sitting

saying dat, but he is an old fool!"

"No, no, Arthur, Akoni and Damerae are

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

dey are." Cloyse said. "I saw

voice shook. "Wherever dey are gone to, not even God in

not about God." Doi grunted. "God not here no more, mon. Who won test de devil

minutes before he

"But where, mon?"

"Far north of

"Kingston, mon?"

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

big sister, mon." Doi shook his head. "No...I

Cloyse and Sunta.

Still not at full strength, all Cloyse could do was try and scoot backwards, away from the oncoming demon that

that very moment, however, Sunta, with a pointy stick in his right hand, approached Doi. He took the stick and

immediately the old, beastly man 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 could away from the

Sunta helped a staggering Cloyse down the

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