A Memory of Bill
By: Gus Calvo
It was again 3:00 AM when I had to go to work, times working in that supermarket chain proven to be weird because after many years of thinking of undiagnosed schizophrenia with the help of my doctor and counselor, they realized I wasn’t. The hour of the witch still creeps me out, because is when there is a time in the day where everything from the other world becomes visible to anyone who is not with the blood of the witches.
As I walked inside my shift, I couldn’t stop thinking about the hour of the witch, it happens several times on the world, but is limited to the time zones, the problem was within every hour there was a chance a hellmouth would open, and that’s what happened in Florida, the biggest one opened in the Everglades a few years ago, a second one on Key West and a Third on Lettuce Park in Tampa which wasn’t far away from the supermarket I was going in.
A week before, July something of course, Bill died; he was one of the coworkers who was next in the meat department, he was horrible but dying in such a way it was bad still. I couldn’t stop thinking about him and that maybe his spirit was stuck still with us, but as I was walking down, I realized I wasn’t alone in the plaza.
The plaza was big, but it was mostly the supermarket and just a few business that surround it, it was not far from Lettuce Park, only five minutes north the road in the boulevard; the supermarket was in the center and in the sides were a few business including a bank and some bars that would cater the suburb the plaza was located in. There was no human near me, but I could see them perfectly, the shadow people was gathering around, I was thinking about going back to the car and get out.
I was already half the way in the plaza, and I just need it to ring the bell and I would at least be with other humans, but the problem was if there was a cluster of Shadows then no matter how many we were we would be death. I couldn’t keep walking any longer, the Shadow People were going inside the store, I knew I wasn’t going to go in because they only appear whenever a tragedy happens or they were going to take a soul with them, to a destiny that wasn’t heaven, limbo or hell.
Some of my elder relatives said that it was in my blood, the blood of the afro indigenous from the Caribbean who were blessed by Busiraco over the centuries, they say in our blood we could contact the world of the spirits but also other ones that were linked to ours, think some sort of a shaman or a mystic but in my case my knowledge of the forbidden lore was minimal except I knew it involved my stability on my mental health.
“I shouldn’t had come today” I said to myself, I just stood in the parking lot looking at the Shadows go inside the store, but also I noticed I wasn’t alone, behind me there was the Hat Man, at least one of the many. They were the leaders of the Shadow People, they had more power than the clusters but they were also sentient and they spoke the human languages from the areas they appear, they were terrifying and paralyze me from head to toes.
His hand was so cold, he was blocking me to keep moving just by touching my shoulder.
“Is always one of you, who can see us, is fine, there is nothing much you can do until we claim you, just like we claim the others of your kin”
“Did you guys claim Bill?” I could only ask.
“No, he wasn’t one of you, he was just an accident that happened and we devour him whenever his soul came back to the place he felt some happiness”
“You are monsters”
As soon I blinked, they were gone. I walked slowly to the store again, only to realize they were back on the corners, far away from any human who was walking, for some reason they feared or at least when there wasn’t a Hat Man there, they hated the scent of humans, they just lurk in the places where they don’t have to deal with more than two people.
I wonder if the Hat Men could control them. I was not even sure, as I walked inside the store, some of the grocery clerk that was already in but I still had ten more minutes before my shift, so while I was walking I realized I wasn’t alone on my side, I saw the shadow of Bill, he was there in the corner of the seafood station, he was there in between the door that connected the meat department and the little inside cooler.
“Why you can’t go?” I ask him, even if I knew I wasn’t expecting an answer.
“I want to know if my wife would be OK?” He asked me to my surprise.
“She will, she will move on and will live with one of you nephews”
“What about seafood?”
“Will be fine too Bill, people come and go, the question I have for you, are you going to be OK?”
“I do not know Tim, I do not know” He said those words as he faded in to the nothingness.
