Hush

What is life without breathing? What does it feel like to live in death? I can’t describe that feeling. The only thing I can tell you is that the sound of death sounds like…..hush. Dead silence. No feeling. No sound. No heartbeat. No heart. That’s how I feel. No heart or sympathy for those who once owned me. That night, when my life was….taken. Hush.
That night the mist was as thick as the smoke of a burning building as the dog barked constantly. My brothers and sisters went into Master’s house as Master called me out to finish cleaning up the barn. As I swept up the manure from the horse’s  backside I could hear Master talking to his friends outside.
“Look Abe, either give me one of those nigger boys you have out here or I’ll skin you’re hind myself. You’re way overdue and I’m a itchin’ for a lynchin”.
“Look I got one of them outback, lynch im’ and be gone…”
“Lynch him”, that’s what Master said as the first raspy voice agreed and took a quick drag of his cigarette. Of course this was none of my business and so I just kept sweeping along as Master walked in the barn while his friends finished their moonshine.
“Isaac, hurry up and finish, we need the barn tonight”.
“Yes Mistah, I’m leaving right now.”
As I began to walk out Master looked at me in a drunken stare as he grunted. When I walked out I saw Master’s friends and then I quickly glanced at the moonlight mindin’ my business. I turned to Master’s house and as I took my step, shadows came in front of my face as I feel heavy breathing on the back of my neck. I hear a few grunts as I struggle to get loose, then total blackness. When I next open my eyes, I stared into the deep blackness bubbling within the wooden bucket, upside down.
“Dip him” the gray haired man with a red baseball cap said.
Then the lanky man to my left let go of the rope as I plunged head first into the burning black tar. My body boiled as my skin burned darker than the midnight sky. And then nothing. Hush.
“Pull em’ up” a raspy voice said as they raised me out of the bucket. “Wheeeeew, look at that face burn. That’s a face only a monkey could love”.
As the men took another drag on their cigarettes, Master looked at me in disgust, and that’s when I finally realized….I was ugly. After that, nothing but silence. Hush. Even as they beat me repeatedly I could hear nothing but silence and the crackling of their whips tearing at my skin. Hush. Nothing but silence as they spit on me. Hush. Even going as far as urinating all over me I could still hear nothing but..Hush.
“Alright, I’m tired. Let’s hang im”.
As they dragged my tarred body out into the crop fields, I still was unable to sense anything as they nailed me up, as if I was scarecrow. Then after setting my body on fire, they lynched my burning body and walked away. I felt nothing, and then I hear an angry voiced raised in a rage and then nothing. Hush.
I then wake up the next day as if nothing happened as I stared into the eyes of my brother who helped me down. That’s when I realized, I didn’t die, but vowed I would kill the men who did this to me and end this hatred against the motherland. I then sought out all the men from that night and hung them all in front of their front porches, marking each house in the blood of the lamb. I then joined the revolution as the motherland won her freedom. But the war wasn’t over as the Klan began to rise, once again stirring up my rage. I covered up my face in bandages and set out for retribution once more, hanging every single one of them, their faces staring blank, their eyes as wide as a squirrel, over and over and over again. I can’t get the images out of my head, spinning in silence when     I’m sleeping. When I awake, their screams haunting as their voices screech in a high pitch like a banshee screaming to the top of her lungs. AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! My mind finally goes blank as the burning sets flame again. Then the flashback stops. Then nothing but silence. Hush.