"I only anoint the only."
Hebrew
I've been keeping an eye on this purple shrub all night.
"It's just a shrub. Nothing weird," I say to myself.
My dumb ass really sittin here waiting for a damn bush to turn into a person. Fuck am I on?
It's dark but the moon is so bright it lights up the whole swamp. I watch people light small candles and set them on the ground. Others beat on drums and dance around. Others sprinkle white stuff on the ground, making shapes; smiles litter their faces.
It's actually...
"Beautiful," flies outa my mouth.
It's not scary at all. Coulda fooled me at first; I hope it stays like this.
"Hey hey!" Old man Yozin hops around happily hand to hand with another elder.
Old happy mufuckas.
I smile.
Hold up?
I notice an old woman come from the swamp.
"Woah!"
She brave as shit. A gator coulda ate her ass.
She comes into view with a big snake around her shoulders.
Oh shit. Let me move out the way...
I sit down on a huge log and watch in shock and awe.
I mean I am from the south. I'm not stupid, but-
"Hi," I hear a small voice.
I look over at the little boy standing beside me.
"I want you to have my beads? Do you accept?" He holds them out to me.
"Um... sure?" I smile.
"I only anoint the only," he smiles; I notice his missing teeth.
The only?
He holds them closer to me to accept. I study his features.
Well? He's a lil kid. I can't say no.
I lower my head for him; he puts the necklace around my neck, gives me a hug, then runs away to play.
"Congratulations," the kids he joins wave at me.
"Thank you. I'm new," I put my hands together and bow towards them.
"We know," the little boy says.
Hm? They're so welcoming.
More kids run by with their arms spread out.
"I'm an airplane!" A girl smiles.
"I'm Ahleek's mystical butterfly," the boy with the missing teeth twirls around.
I instantly get goose bumps. I get visions of the butterfly that was resurrected in this same swamp.
"Ahleek?" I mumble.
Someone clears their throat beside me. I almost fall over.
"He he he he," Yozin laughs.
Head ass man.
His eyes light up when he sees the beads the boy left on my neck.
"Oh wow," his eyebrows raise.
I feel on the rock in the middle.
"Oh yeah. A lil boy just gave me this. It's kinda ight for real for real. I like it," I look down at it then back at him.
He has a smile on his face.
"What?" I laugh.
"Hm," he looks at the crowd.
It's not a weird or creepy look he kinda seems-
Satisfied.
"Yozin what you smokin on friend? You seem very content," I ask happily.
"I had a feelin and I was right. I'm proud of myself..." he trails off.
I look at him with a confused expression.
Well I'm glad I was wrong about him and this swamp. I'm not tryna die.
"... I gotta feelin ima be proud of you too," he says.
It catches me off guard, but I still respond.
"Oh... well I appreciate it O. G."
"Yozin! It's time," the same boy who gave me his beads hands him a bowl.
A woman in a turban comes up to me and kneels.
"You must wash your hands," the boy says.
"Oh... okay," I dip my hands in the water.
"Remove your shoes," the woman says.
"Uh... okay," I take my shoes off.
Socks finna be soggy as a bitch.
Yozin dips a hand in his bowl and starts spreading something on my shirt.
"Woah. I- this a white shirt. I ain trippin but dayum," I start clownin.
I look down.
It's purple.
"This is made of his leaves and berries. Only the ones that have fallen... for he has given them to us," he smears some on my face.
"What?" my heart starts racing.
They ignore my question and continue to-
Bless me?
"Wait... yall bugging right?" I look at them like they're tweaking.
I'm tweaking.
I laugh a lil bit.
This can't be real.
I put my hand in my hair.
Hebrew you goin crazy and you just need to understand that. You lost the love of your life and you went mad, that's all. At least you're not joker mad.
Regardless... I'm tweaking. A nigga ill.
"I like it," the boy says.
I'm just depressed. I just need some ass or sumn... goddamn.
"Me too," Yozin says.
I grab Yozin's arm.
"Is this real?" I ask, gettin kinda scared.
The crowds' singing gets louder and for some reason a woman catches my eye. She dances around the symbols on the grown really low with so much fluidness in her body.
The others' movements get like hers.
Yozin puts his hand on my hand. I let him go. He starts laying his hands on others, leaving purple as he goes by.
"Ahleek? Is that your name," I lose control of my body and stand.
Who... what am I speaking to?
The drums get louder and the moon doesn't seem as big and bright anymore.
Or at least not as bright as the glow coming from this shrub.
"The bush... it's glowin," I say as I fall under a trance more and more.
Everything slows down so much I can see streaks of what's going on.
Is it just me?
The feds finna lock my ass up I know it.
I take slow steps towards it.
I want to stop my body, but it has a mind of it's own.
"I-" I try to speak, but shut up when knowing drops down on me.
It's him.
He begins to manifest back and forth from nature to human. I watch him dance with fluidity, like water.
No, like a snake... like the wind... it's indescribable.
My chest swells with energy. He spins with his eyes closed, stopping every once in a while to angle his torso and his limbs gracefully.
He's beautiful. He's tribal.
I put my hand on my chest to calm it down.
The crowd starts throwing different things within the lines they drew. Iridescent mist comes from his beautiful body.
I look at the drawn lines before me and decide to step within them. He Immediately stops dancing and goes completely still while looking dead at me.
"Ah," I hold my chest.
My breaths get shallow.
"Who are you? What are you?" I ask as best as I can.
People around us continue.
The lil boy runs up to us; as soon as he steps in the lines he turns into a butterfly right before my eyes.
I back away and end up falling.
"Who? What are you?" I move my legs to push myself away from him.
I grab my chest, trying to control my breathing, but failing to do so. He walks towards me and leans over my body.
Fuck my chest. I can't take this. A nigga finna die.
My blinks get slow. I start hearing my heart beat slow down. Euphoria takes over my senses like I did a foreign drug.
"I feel you," I can barely say.
"I am Ahleek. I am everything."
Oh so. I'm really nervous because I love this, but I'm sure this is very "abnormal" to you guys. Ik I'ma get a lot of backlash but fook it. I'm so happy I could kiss one of y'all (over 18 of course)
Heyyyy. 2024 Jada here. I'm super excited. How are yall?