Running, that's what you remember. From the monsters under your bed, from the spirits in the halls, from the demons that lurk in the unknown. It scares you, but who can you tell? No one believes you, not your parents, not your friends, heck, sometimes you didn't believe what you could see. But they're real, and everyone knows it. They all fear it, they fear the fuku of our world.
It first started when you were young, too young to remember it clearly, but you know it was definitely there. A creature consisting of shadows, blurring in and out of the wall, approaching you in your crib. It was massive, it was all black, and it was reaching a large, black, pointed finger right over to your face. You were scared, and did what any child would do, you cried, you wailed, and the creature slightly recoiled as if shocked by your reaction. But proceeded to reach out to you, but instead of harming you, it placed its finger on your lips, hushing you. You could have sworn it smiled at you, but your mother can lumbering into your room and the creature was gone.
It wasn't until you were 5 that you learned what it was called, El Cuco, no one knew what he looked like, it punishes bad children. "But mama, he not mean, he fwendly!" In your childish innocence you told your mother about your encounter with El Cuco.
"Mija, he's not real, just a story." She said sympathetically. You couldn't help but frown, it seemed so real, but little did you know, El Cuco wouldn't be the only thing you would see.
The next time you saw something, you were in the 5th grade. You were coloring a picture when she appeared, she flew past your school window on a broomstick, like the ones used to clean up. She saw you staring at her, and came back around again. This time she was hovering in front of the window, but that was when the sister came over.
"What are you drawing little ----?"
"My family" you said, not wanting to take your eyes off of the strange woman outside the window.
"What are you looking at?" she questioned.
"There's someone out there..." came your reply. The woman waved at you, and you waved back. The sister looked at you, then to where you were looking, then back at you.
"There's no one there." she said soothingly.
"But there is!" You protested looking the sister right in the face. Some of the other kids started snickering, others looked out the window, but none could see her. La Bruja, just smirked and hopped back on her broomstick and flew off, you didn't see her again for many months, but she returned, they always checked on their new play thing.
Years passed, and more and more of them showed up, some were large, others were small, some were well known, others were not known at all, but you knew all of them, and they all knew who you were. They were the fuku's of the dominican, they were the myths and the legends, and despite everyone knowing about them, no one believed you. Not your parents, not your friends, sometimes not even you believed what you saw! But they were real, and they never left you alone.
Fast forward to when you're 20, and you're walking alone in the woods. At least you would be alone if La Ciguapa wasn't following you. But you didn't care, where you were going, there would be more than just her with you. After years of the teasing, the laughter, the therapists, and literally everyone (yes even your own parents) seeing you as a mental freak! You've had enough and you let them be your friends, they understand you, they see you, and you see them. They know you're not crazy, and you know they aren't all monsters, they do what they gotta do to survive, what's so bad about that?
Once you reach your secret oasis you can already see many fuku's are gathered playing in the water hunting some prey animals, or just laying in the cool shade of the willow tree that sat by the stream.
"Hola mis amigos, how have you been?" They all respond with various grunts, growls, and murmurs. You take a seat under the willow's branches, right next to Un Baca, it wags its tail happily as you stroke its head. As the wind swished and swayed the branches of the willow tree, a tune came to your mind. You were not unfamiliar with this, in fact, it was the tune of your favorite song. And as you start to hum and sing its lyrics, the creatures of myths and legends draw closer to hum and enjoy the song.
They send me away, to find them a fortune
a chest filled with diamonds and gold~
The house was awake,
with shadows and monsters,
the hallways, they echoed and groaned.
I sat alone in bed 'til the morning
I'm crying, "They're coming for me!"
And I tried to hold these secrets inside me,
my minds like a deadly disease...
I'm bigger than my body!
I'm colder than this home~!
I'm meaner than my demons!
I'm bigger than these bones~!
And all the kids cried out "Please stop you're scaring me!"
I can't help this awful energy!
Gosh-darn right, you should be scared of me!
Who is in control~?
I paced around for hours on empty,
I jumped at the slightest of sounds.
And I couldn't stand the person inside me,
I turned all the mirrors around.
I'm bigger than my body!
I'm colder than this home~!
I'm meaner than my demons!
I'm bigger than these bones~!
And all the kids cried out "Please stop your scaring me!"
I can't help this awful energy!
Gosh-darn right you should be scared of me!
Who is in control~?
I'm well acquainted with villains that live in my bed.
They beg me to write them
so they'll never die when I dead.
And I've grown familiar, with villains that live in my head.
They beg me to write them
so I'll never die when I'm dead~...
I'm bigger than my body!
I'm colder than this home~!
I'm meaner than my demons!
I'm bigger than these bones~!
And all the kids cried out "Please stop you're scaring me!"
I can't help this awful energy!
Gosh-darn right you should be scared of me!
And all the kids cried out "Please stop you're scaring me!"
I can't help this awful energy!
Gosh-darn right you should be scared of me!
Who is in control~! (if you wanna listen to the song, its up above)
As you finish the song, you open your eyes and see all of the creatures gathered around you. They make you feel welcome, they understand your pain, but it seemed as though they knew something you didn't.
This is how you lived your life, you woke up in your little shack of a house, dressed, and entered the village. You do your best to ignore the stares and whispers, as you make your way out of the village and towards the woods where your friends of myth are waiting.
"Where do you think you're going?" a rough voice inquires from behind you. You know that voice, and you know that question, it's the same one he asks every time you try to leave.
"You know where I'm going. You know what I do, you all do, and yet you don't believe it." You say with a disappointed shake of your head, never once did you turn around to face the man. This same old routine, this town, these people, you just couldn't stand them! They believe in the fuku's, they do zafa's to counteract and prevent them, yet the one fuku that lets you see all their fuku's and zafa's, and they don't believe you! It's unfavorable! They should know your pain with this fuku, but they don't help, they make it worse, perhaps they deserve all the fuku's they get.
Not wanting to stay any longer, you start walking again. But the old man wasn't done, he stepped right in front of you, forcing you to look into his ancient eyes.
"Now wait just a minute-!" he started, you knew he was about to lecture you, so you tune out his voice, a nifty trick you picked up after all the years of torment and bullying. But since he's rambling, you noticed that he's gotten older, his once lush golden brown hair, has thinned and turned an ash gray. He's also a lot shorter from what you remember, also a bit plumper, like an avocado fruit. His arms, with their sagging skin and flesh where there once were ripe muscles, flailed around as he tried to get through to your head, and his legs, well surprisingly, the only thing that changed about his legs, is that they're slightly shorter than when he was in his prime. "ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!" He screamed.
"No I wasn't, I don't need your lectures." You deadpan. "What I need, is your understanding, and for you to stop criticizing me, just believe me, ... papí." This was your last plea to him, hoping it wouldn't fall on deaf ears. But much to your dismay, all he did was shake his head, and look at you with those eyes full of pain and pity.
"---- you need to stop. It will consume you." now this caught your attention, never once had he acknowledged your fuku, or zafa, you still had no idea what exactly It was. "If you must speak about it, speak to a zafa." You were shocked, never in a million years had you expected him to say this. And as he slouched back to his house, you realized this encounter had left you with questions, why now? What did he mean by 'It will consume you?' Where do you find a zafa? Which one do you talk to? And as your mind swam with these questions, you failed to hear his last words to you "before you leave us forever mi ----."
You couldn't shake his words, even after you met with all the others, you felt wrong, you felt, well, you couldn't quite name it, but you didn't like it. It wasn't until late that evening that you returned to your "home." Much to your surprise El Cuco was waiting for you, and with him was the same Bruja with Un Baca riding on her shoulder, and peeking through the window was La Ciguapa. All of your closest myth friends were gathered together at your house, and you were worried. This had never happened before, and you haven seen El Cuco since you were a kid, and La Ciguapa hates being near people. You just stood there, staring at them expectantly, waiting for something to happen, for someone to do something. It was La Bruja who spoke up first.
"Something is wrong," her bubbly voice began, she was being cautious, as if afraid of something. "Speak with us," she seemed to have gotten over her fear, and La Ciguapa continued,
"follow us."
"Be with us, we will never hurt you" El Cuco finished. Now you understood, they wanted you to do something. In the past others have tried to entice you to go with them, but it was for malicious intent, so you always refused. But this was different, these 4 would never hurt you, but they were acting strange, almost desperate. Something was off and you knew it.
"I would, but it's late, mortals need sleep you know." You couldn't help but notice the sorrow that befell all their features, what in the world is going on? "I'll come first light, before the people wake, no teasing, just us." This seemed to satisfy them, as La Bruja, her pet Baca and La Ciguapa left your home to do what they usually do. But El Cuco remained.You didn't understand why he was still here, but a part of you was glad he was here. Then he moved, a black long tendril, his arm, was stretching out towards you. But not in a hostile way, the motion, his hesitant speed at which he was reaching for was, familiar. It was the same gesture he did when you first met him. His limb split out into smaller, slimmer black fingers, outstretched, reaching towards you. But before he fully closed the gap, he stopped, as if waiting for permission, you could feel your eyes start to moisten, and a smile creep its way across your lips. He took the hint and his shadowy hand cupped your cheek, whipping away a stray tear that fell loose from your eye. It was a simple gesture, but his touch was so soft, and it was full of love that it brought even more tears cascading down like waterfalls. The moment didn't end like you thought it would, instead when you suddenly feel the rest of his slender shadowy arms wrap around you, pulling you close, into a warm, which is surprising for a shadow, embrace, the loving reunion continued until your well of tears ran dry. Even though he didn't speak, you could feel his emotions, he was happy to see you, and even happier that you remembered who he was, and wasn't scared of him. You two stayed together in the small home, chatting, although you did all the talking, making up for lost time. You talked and joked until you passed right out, completely unaware of the emanate danger you were in.
Smoke filled your lungs as you awoke choking. You quickly sat up, being wide awake, you fast realize what's going on. Your house was on fire. Scrambling to your feet you bolt for your door, trying to pry it open, but it wouldn't budge. You could hear voices, shouts of victory and rage, it was the villagers. Turns out they had had enough of your "nonsense" enough of you scaring their children, of you constantly talking to yourself. They saw you as an insane person, a freak of nature that deserved nothing short of life in hell. They had come to purge the stain on their village, their living fuku, they had come to kill you. As the hungry flames continued to consume your home, you realized why your friends showed up together, trying to get you to flee. Why your father told you to leave, to get your fuku purged. You could feel your blood begin to boil, but not from the flames, but from the anger you felt. Anger towards the villagers, anger towards your father, anger towards the flames and your tiny house consuming you, bringing a pitiful end for you. You didn't want to die, you wanted to live, to prove them all wrong. You wanted to show them, make them feel your pain and suffering. It wasn't fair you were the only one with this heavy burden, it wasn't fair you lived in pain, it wasn't fair how they hated you, when there are much worse fuku's out in the world, fuku's that would end whole generations of families! It wasn't fair, wasn't right, all these truths fueled your anger, and the flames. While you were realizing all of the horrible things done to you, all the injustices, you didn't notice the fire began to sway and move in response to your anger. Until it was a column of flames, bursting through the roof, encasing the entire house in an inferno pillar.
And emerging from those flames wasn't human, they had long multi-colored hair, the top being as black as night,half way down it fading to a bright sun gold. They were tall, but very thin, almost sickly thin, but radiated with life and death. Their toes and fingers had pointed nails the color of red blood. But their skin, it was a hazelnut brown, with patches of darker black on their back. When they touched the ground, the pillar of flames came around the person and became their clothing, long sleeves of bright reds and orange, flowing down to their waist where a black belt tied it off, before becoming yellow pants that stopped a bit above the ankles, speckled red. Then they opened their eyes, and it was your eyes all the people saw. You had become a being of power, and they were about to feel your wrath.
"You have scorned me, and shunned me when all I did was speak the truth. But you preferred to live a lie," you began, your ears pointed up, and your eyes filled with fiery rage. "Yo soy Verda Anwir!" And with those final words, all who wronged you got their fuku, and you disappeared into the night. You joined your friends of myths and legends, you truly were one of them now.
It has been centuries since your conversion from a dominican with a fuku, to a being of myth. Those who find you, find truth, those who seek you, become liars. If you are lied to, they receive a fuku of lies, if one speaks truth to you, they receive protection through a zafa. Because you had neither a fuku nor a zafa, you had power, a power that others feared, a power that made you different. Now you make others feel the pain you once felt, because you were the truth and the lie, you were, Verda Anwir!
¡THE END!