A Memory of Bill

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.

A Long Time Ago, Not so Long Short Story

A Long Time Ago, Not so Long

Short Story

By: Gustavo Calvo

(I will correct it later)

A long time ago there was this young guy, he lived between two lives, one live was to please his family and the other one was to be free; that young guy eventually moved countries and tried to live his life to the fullest but he couldn’t escape from his past. There were always the voices in his head of self-hate and from his ancestors that bounded him. During that flight when he was arriving in the new land he didn’t feel scared.

Then he got lost in a Wonderland, so many years of abuse paid a toll on his mind and his body, where he grew twice in size and shrink a fourth of his height. It was a trip without a white rabbit but with so many queens of heart. He had so many friends, and he forgot about them.

No matter what, the monsters that grew in his head overcame his memories and the memories became shadows of what they were, so many times that guy spoke with a younger friend; his friend was a red war eagle who lived in the north, a talented eagle with his brother a fox bring happiness to the world, they always make other smiles and so to the young guy.

The guy knew he wasn’t going to be there for a while, he was lost in a Wonderland that four Alice’s controlled the Kingdoms, each Kingdom held a memory and eventually the guy became a shadow of his own self, he kept asking his friends to not forget about him, even if he got lost in the Wonderland because eventually he wanted to find himself and find them again.

The four Alice’s didn’t got much of the guy’s memories, he gave one to each friend on the distant land and ask them “if you forgive me, that’s fine, sometimes we are destined to forget the people who become shadows of the realm” The guy kept talking with his friends, but slowly one by one they started to forget him, slowly he was becoming a shadow, a shadow trapped on his room, a shadow that only existed to be a servant.

Time passed by and the guy isolated himself from the world, only the red eagle was the one behind; his brother forgot about him, the others from the tribe of the guy forgot about him too. The eagle could barely remember him, as he was fading, the guy only was appearing to say hello on rare occasions, he was becoming faster and faster a shadow.

Until one day the guy finally stopped being himself and became a persona of who he was, a memory, a walking memento that was there to serve and only existed for that purpose. He kept muttering “please don’t forget me, please I don’t want to fade away, my heart is with you, even the Alice’s couldn’t take me fully”

A long time ago, not so long ago, where his memories got fragmented because there was no purpose for him he found; the four Alice’s eventually one by one started breaking their seals over a 9 year period but the guy was lost and he woke, he saw himself as a human, he was on a world that he didn’t recognized, it was a cold room along with other men, it wasn’t a prison but it was some sort of a retention center.

“I wanted to die” he muttered while being on the couch, he realized he wasn’t in his fantasy world but instead he knew he lost his mind, he knew the years of abuse paid a toll on him and eventually he found himself with his worse that we has going to become a shadow for all eternity. A long time ago, he spoke with the eagle and the fox, he wasn’t even sure what was real and not, but that conversation he remembered “I hope I can day I can go and visit, I am proud of you; I have no clue what will happen with me, but even if you and the rest forget me, I can come back as a new friend and we can build fresh memories”

Eventually the guy became friends with a bunny, a duck, the father time, a dragon, a snow leopard, just to name a few, he became friends with the King of Avalon, and a demi guy with the spirit of a musicians of the rocks. The memories were still spaced on the four Kingdoms that the Alice owned inside his mind, but at least he was not trapped in that nightmare that almost costed his life.

New memories were formed, and old ones triggered by music came back, but the guy couldn’t still remember but at the end he let them go the ones he couldn’t make come back; old friends became new and it was like starting over again.

When the Big Sister Comes Down to Visit

I am not correcting or doing anything with the grammar, I is lazy on that level. Thank you. Also this a draft that I need to develop further.

When the Big Sister Comes Down to Visit

By:

Gustavo Calvo

There was these rumors, an online rumor like so many about this Facebook group that was handled by a mysterious figure, that went by The Sister. Nobody was aware who she looked in real life, only a small group of people knew her and were part of her apostles, but overall the sister’s main goal was to keep her political movement that had no name but rather it was there, she was gathering followers just by “supporting them” as no one could live without the Sister.

Jax Smith wanted to know more about the Sister but there was not too much information online about her whereabouts or if it was real, a real person. The only thing they knew it was Sister had adepts everywhere and her Facebook page reached around 600,000 individuals but not many people knew her at all, not even the members of the Apostles.

Jax was curious as they traveled to New York City to try to find information of the Sister, she was revered as a religious figure also because everyone who fall under her charm couldn’t say the opposite about her, as her followers would dox anyone who dared to defy her.

They were sitting on a park in the middle of the Bronx, after spending a week in the city they were feeling helpless to know if the clues they got were right, getting an interview with the Big Sister would mean to win a Pulitzer as her was a charismatic person that out of nowhere moved the masses so much, then they reach a point that they knew finding here was going to be an impossible task so they started writing the article while waiting in the airport.

She is a mystery, almost as if George Wells created her; there is nowhere to be found her but people seem to adore her, everyone know her and she goes by the name Sabrina, rumor was that she lived in the Bronx but on a honest level as a journalist I should had checked my sources, yet the experience of chasing a person that probably doesn’t exist is fascinating, but who created Big Sister?

The honest answer is “I do not know”, could be a character created from a viral campaign by any politician but she doesn’t really support any, but rather she doesn’t support any campaigns, she is just there creating bliss to her followers. Not even a Google Reverse Image Search could give any results, the only information was that she hated the Republican Party.

So who she is?.,,

“She is someone real” Said a voice behind Jax, “Who is that?” They replied. “My name is Dominique Sabrina Hildedottir” Said the voice who was somewhat raspy and gravely “or you can call me Sabrina” Jax was impressed, but at the same time they were scared of somewhat taller and bigger than they.

“Are you real?” They ask. “Yes, and I heard you been looking for me, so I decided to come up, also I have to say close your laptop and only put your phone on record, I am willing to concede you an interview but I do not want to be video recorded, please do not try anything stupid I am not alone as my inner circle is here with me”

“I do not see them” They said. “They are here Jax, they been already following you for at least two hours, your plane won’t go out yet so we can sit at Starbucks and you can buy me a drink”

“Deal”

The two of them started to walk, Jax was kind of scared as he really didn’t spoke to many people about what they were looking for, but also, they were fascinated by how unique Sabrina was. Not many people they knew who could exert  influences were trans or at least non-binary and Sabrina was one of them, one of they, she was tall, around 6’3, her hair was short and curly and her voice was extremely raspy as if she smoked a lot daily. They wanted to ask a lot of questions, but the time was limited.

When they finally sat down, they realized them weren’t alone, some of the people around them when they was waiting followed them, “it was her inner circle” they thought before sitting down with the Frappuccinos and bagels, they were studying her and the more they analyzed her, they fear her, it wasn’t a normal fear, Sabrina was someone who accrued so much power and yet she seemed to be ordinary as any other person, yet they know she wasn’t alone as there were at least 20 people who were escorting her.

“How did you thought about the Big Sister?...”

“Sorry for the interruption, but that has been on the works for a while, it started with a group from different parts of the world, science communicators, we all need it a voice of representation but also they were vulnerable, they were lost so we decided to form an experiment, we created a character, we started to create groups and then it just expanded, we are like a legion and I am the savior”

“I am curious, what is the ultimate end?”

“Jax, to create a new form of power, you haven’t realized it? I thought you were smart, I guess intel on you was wrong, maybe you are just a lucky person”

“She didn’t called me he or she, she knows my pronouns, this is creepy” They thought. “Why? What is the ultimate power?”

“To enable a counsel of science, to create an hegemony where perfection will truly exist…”

“She is lying” They thought.

“Tell me the truth” They said.

“I would have to kill you, my followers are willing to die for me and if I tell you the truth you will don’t come alive”

“Why?”

“Is for a greater good Jax…”

“Then I rather die”

“ I want to become a figure who is worshipped, the savior of the helpless, the ones who will me as a mother of all”

“Fuck you”

Sabrina made a hand gestured and someone not far away shoot at Jax point blank, but they didn’t die without sending the voice file of their phone to their editor. It was a start to throw the cult of the Big Sister into the fire.