Leave and get on the plane

You wait for the plane, bored and miserable. She was making so much sense until she started talking about witches and curses. You don't talk to anyone. As you think about her angrily, you can't stop thinking about how she touched you. You let her grab you, maybe because you're used to it. You're a lab subject now. A training dummy. Or maybe it's because you're weak. You can't assert yourself beyond being rude to others.

"Fuck" you say out loud. An old woman stares daggers at you. "Sorry".

Or maybe you're just lonely. After she left you, you degraded. Shitty breakfasts. Takeout for lunch and dinner. Half-assing everything. It was you who was rude to her, questioning her happiness as if it was some kind of parasite.

You look at the old woman. She's by herself. Black. Grey haired, glasses. She's still staring at you. You get up to talk to her.

"I'm sorry. That wasn't good of me."

"Just don't let it happen again."

You nod. After so much reflection, you're finally called on the plane. To your surprise, you're seated next to the old woman. She doesn't glare at you, but smiles. The two of you sit in silence. There's not many people on this flight, and most of the other seats are empty.

"Hey" you say.

"Hello young man" she says.

"I'm John.

"Very interesting. I am Adaku" she says, shaking your hand.

"I'm in a really bad spot right now. I had some negative thoughts, and so I swore. It was just reflexive."

"It's fine, dear. To tell you the truth, I also did so reflexively. There's not many people here anyways. I suppose you could have shouted it and it wouldn't be rude."

A stewardess gives the usual bored spiel, about emergency procedures and turning off your Playstation Portable so that it doesn't somehow cause the engines to fail. The plane starts to take off, and you both fasten your seatbelts.

"So why are you going to Abuja?"

She's quiet.

"To die."

"What?"

"I'm old. Older than you could know. And now, I see no point in prolonging my life. I was brought here on a **** ship, and did what I had to to survive. So many of my family has perished. So many people I've loved have died. Now, I'd like to travel back to my birthplace, as I'm released from this mortal coil."

There is pain in her voice. With each word you can feel the loss that she's experienced.

"That's impossible." you say.

She looks at you. She's being sincere.

"I met this other woman earlier, who started talking about witches and curses to me."

Adaku nods.

"They're not real" you say.

Adaku shakes her head.

"Not only have you met witches before, but you're under a powerful curse."

You stare at her. She grasps your hands. Despite her age, they're so smooth.

"To put it in terms you'll understand, you've been made into a powerful battery. You, by some strange fate have no true name, and your soul wanders so many realities. Well, not wander. It makes these realities."

She unbuttons your shirt, revealing a tattoo of Sans from Undertale. You do not stop her. She lightly touches it.

"You bear the marks of these different realities, but mentally, you're passive. You do not decide to save the world or it's people, but just let yourself move as if you're caught in a constantly splitting river."

"That's bullshit" you say.

"In this reality, you've escaped the witch who gave you this curse. She is no doubt, still hunting you."

You remember the nurse who masturbated you.

"So I'm a fucking battery? Like in that awful Matrix movie? By the way, I've edited the Matrix Quadrilogy so that it reflects the original script where humans are used as processors, not batteries."

"Think about it like this. You had this potential within you. Like an atom. The curse has created a way to channel this energy in a way it can easily be contained or consumed."

"How?"

"Your cum."

"Fuck."

Adaku looks at you.

"Sorry."

You consider what this means. Are you just a passenger in a boat without a rudder? Do you refuse to change the world?

"But I can change the world right? I'm like a god?"

Adaku shakes your head. "You are more like a tool. Consider witches like experts. Physicists, artisans. Those who know how to tap into your power and use it for their whims. Of course, not every witch will have the same ability."

"So then it doesn't matter what I do?"

"It does matter. Let me show you."

She touches you, grasping your arm and closing her eyes.

The two of you are transported to the South. A black **** is being whipped. He grits his teeth.

"He was a warrior, captured and sold. He did not give the bastards any satisfaction."

As the **** driver whips him, you notice the crowd of other slaves, as well as the armed whites. You focus on a woman.

"They tried to humiliate him. But he inspired us all."

You watch as the slaves attack the whites. Caught by surprise, the whites fall. The slaves seize their arms, and beat them. The **** driver holding the whip is held back the woman, who grabs his pistol from his hip and now holds it to his temple.

"He was the owner." Adaku says, as you watch this unfold.

The man who was whipped, the warrior is unchained, and walks to the man, who begs and cries for his life. The man who had ****, murdered and tortured countless black people without hesitation shows his true self. Getting on his hands and knees, he starts kissing the ****'s feet. Mumbling, praying, begging. The white man speaks more like an animal than a human being.

With stoic grace, the warrior looks down on the man.

"I am a warrior. I do not bother myself with killing such lowly animals."

The white man, shocked looks up at him. Speechless.

"You will suffer in the worst hells for this life. As you meet Satan, he will send you naked through the freezing wastes, as wind cuts through your skin. The blood will freeze. Your hands, that you use to cover your blubbering face will become stumps. As you keep moving forward, lost, alone and in search of any warmth, any rock to hide under from the cold and the wind, you will be frozen, just like your thousands of cuts. Unmoving, your eyelids frozen open, you can only stare until your body is broken into unrecognizable shards."

The young woman smiles as the warrior speaks.

"Please..." the owner says, softly. Like a child unwilling to take his punishment. The other whites, lying on the ground, but left alive watch.

"Your shards will be gathered by the wind, as blind imps crudely stitch them together. Your misshapen form will be sent to march through blistering heat. Once again, you are alone. But as you march thirsty, boiling water will rise from the ground. You push your deformed face into this liquid, feeling as it burns your wounds and throat. And then you will only taste bitter ash. As your feet and legs burn, you will run desperately, and the only higher ground will be a thorned mountain of knives and glass shards. Flying imps wait, with whips in their hands."

"I..."

"These are only the first two hells. I will not waste my life reciting your infinite punishment."

"Stop this African voodoo. Christ protects us" one of the **** drivers says.

The warrior smiles, and approaches the **** driver. "The god that you **** us to kneel, submit and pray to, came and spoke to me. I was angered, at how his servants could act so cruelly. He explained that your retribution would be much worse. There is no flame that burns as hot as in hell."

You notice the woman move her hand, and a glowing wreath appears around the warrior's brow.

The beaten whites look in amazement. They bow and start praying, crossing themselves.

"Whites are a suspicious group of savages. No offense."

"None taken." you say.

"God told me that you can be forgiven for your sins, that in his infinite mercy, have been given a chance to redeem yourself."

"Tell us, o saviour" the **** driver says.

"Gather up all the arms you can. Begin training your slaves in secret, as you beg for their forgiveness. We have a holy war to wage."

You smile, but you notice that Adaku doesn't. Then it hits you. They lost.

You open your eyes in the plane.

"You were the young woman. The one who cast the wreath."

"We were so brave. We fought to the last. Some of us managed to escape, and helped others to flee in our raids."

There is pain in her expression.

"All our actions matter. Each decision is important. Even though we didn't win, we didn't create the reality that we wanted, we helped accelerate the civil war, the emancipation proclamation. Even though slavery still exists under the 13th amendment, our leaders such as Huey Newton, Black Lives Matter organizers and Martin Luther King Jr. are assassinated, and we are oppressed. It is not as horrific as it once was."

"What are you telling me?"

"Mind your actions carefully. You do not have to give into the current."

You pause.

"But... you have told me that you wish to die. Is that not giving into fate?"

Adaku looks at you, surprised. You hold her hand.

"Do not go gently into that good night."

She smiles and laughs. She cackles. You can't help but smile, but pull it back in.

"I have not felt a tenth as much pain as you. But you have the ability to change things as well. And with your guidance, I can make a bigger difference. Please."

She nods, you can see in her eyes that she's calculating.

"You wish to be my apprentice?"

"If men can become witches."

"They cannot, but if you are truly dedicated to justice and liberation, then I will teach you."

She smiles.

"I'm also going to need to make use of your mana."

You blush.

"I-"

She casts some kind of spell, and the air between you and the walkway shimmers.

"Illusion magic. They won't see us."