Summer Letters to Sally

Letter Four

Hello Sally,

The Scarlett Plantation House is much prettier at night and it's even more beautiful close-up. The new route we made brought us to the gate of the Plantation House and we got to touch the rusted wrought iron and feel the rich ocean breeze that comes from the left. The most magnificent part of getting to the top of firefly lane though was the breath-taking view, I saw everything from there and I was only at the gate of the Plantation House.

I saw everything just from standing there, I saw the ocean, I saw all the rivers that run through the land, I saw the lakes, I saw every little junction and I saw everyone's house. Not only that but, I saw the reason they named this part of town firefly lane; it is not because fireflies litter the lane. But because from here you get to see every firefly in town.

Standing there that night was the most beautiful night of my life, Amanda's hand had subconsciously found my own and we stared down on the town that call us home; the moon winked at us in approval, and the stars rejoiced for our love.

Hand in hand we stood there, the world falling silent around us as we took in the picturesque view not worrying about a single thing in the world. In that moment, I wanted to ask her to marry me again but I didn't want to ruin the moment, plus I haven't even asked her to be my girlfriend. As we stood there though, I realized that whatever love is, this is what it must feel like. And no matter what happens I will never leave her side. I may be only nine but I know what I want and I'm not in the habit of changing my mind.

Though we had a wonderful time admiring the view, I'm afraid that's all we got to do. Being mesmerised by the beauty of our surroundings we completely forgot the mission that we were on. But apparently, the man lurking in the bushes knew the mission well and he did not want us to succeed.

His voice was gruff and scarier than any other I've ever heard before; he sprung upon us out of nowhere and if I wasn't holding onto her, Amanda would've rolled down the lane.

The words the man had said grounded me and sent my head spinning; he said "this is my family's house; it does not belong to you. Do not come back here or I will kill you" I did not have time to look at his face because the moment I got a look at the dirty white skin peeping out from under the tattered blue flannel a shot ran through the air.

I did not have time to think of myself or what the man's face looked like or the beautiful view we were enjoying just seconds ago. The moment the shot pierced my ears I tugged Amanda's hand and I ran straight back to the entrance of our lane; the only time I looked back was to ensure that Joseph and Liam were following.

When we got to our street we took a moment to calm ourselves and discuss what had happened. Liam said he saw his face and I was right he is a white man. My great grandparents -may their souls rest in peace- told me that only a few white persons stayed here after slavery was abolished. They said the few that remained got married to black folks and lived out the rest of their days trying to make up for the wrong they had done our people.

But the Scarlett family still believed they were too good for our kind, they lived here, they spoke to the blacks whenever they absolutely needed to but they still saw themselves as superior. So much so that they decided it was best to keep their blood "true and pure" sisters married brothers, cousins married cousins, uncles married nieces, and aunts married nephews.

My grandfather told me that it didn't take long for the entire family to start dying from all sorts of diseases and after they all died only one remained.

Conner Scarlett.

He was the youngest of the bloodline, his parents were also the last ones in the family to die. When they died he disappeared, nobody has seen him in years; an entire decade to be exact.

Liam says he has the nose of a hawk and eyes as empty as a dead man's. He's very thin and tall as well. Joseph says the man's cheeks are so hollow one could plant several rows of yam in them.

The community believes Conner is dead, they have not seen the man in an entire decade so they believe the Scarlett house to be haunted. Conner is the so-called devil that has this entire community on its toes.

The devil that sleeps by day and protects its home by night. The devil none of my friends nor I fear. The devil who's home my friends and I will invade at sunset the day after tomorrow.

I will let you know how it goes,

With love,

Theodore.

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a/n: thank you for reading❤️