Chapter 12

I remembered a story I heard about a woman who woke up inside her own coffin. She banged hard as she could, and briefly, a few funeral-goers deemed her a returned member of the undead. This was my undead moment, awakened in the dark, alive in my own coffin.

I vomited salt water inside the contraption that held me. Once again, blood washing in the water. However, it all splashed back in my face. The prison I was trapped in had encased me with less than a foot of room all the way around. I leaned back on the cold silver-plated thing surrounding me. Dressed in different clothes than what I remember. Loose fading gray sweatpants and a plain white shirt. I let my body rest, consciousness slowly slipping away. How lovely it felt, like ancestors calling you home. Whispering in a language that only the family knows.

SHINK!

Fluorescent light hit me first, second was nothing but a pair of eyes, both robotic and empty, staring back at me for eternity twice over. Checking up on their sheep, making sure I wasn't dead inside. A small slit in my spike-less iron maiden casing opened.

"Zeus, he's finally awakened," the other soldier said.

As he moved back, I saw what I believed to be a hive mind. The survivors sitting on the floor in a circle like dull Himalayan monks, wearing the same gray tattered clothing, shaved heads, numbers branded into the back of their necks. All connected by the wrist in a long chain-link. My stomach erupted when Aries came into view, I focused on her cute elf-like ears, now that her head was shaved and her hair couldn't hide them. More saltwater spewed out, and the small slit of light was slammed tight. Shrouding me in the darkness that I once called death. Zeus spoke to me through the cocooned walls.

"I will have to open this at some point. But you must know, we went through great lengths to keep you alive. I even went against the judgment of my counsel to pull you up with the net. We nursed you. Clothed your naked body. You were nearly dead for three days," he preached.

Three days What's the last thing I remember A fuzzy sight of water, sun, and blood. The boat must be equipped with fishing nets somewhere. If I can find a way to eradicate them, I may be able to escape again or release my soul to the sea. Whatever my thought, I believed him.

"You actually made it easier for the rest of the followers to fall in line. Well, mostly. No one wanted to end up where you were," he said.

My solitary cage, from the outside, I must look like a slave in an upright coffin. At least they got to move, even if was as a unit, bound by the long chain-link.

"You, Dimitri, will be the strongest of my followers. You actually attempted to flee. I must break you down tenfold for you to fall in line. But when I am done, you will prove to be my most righteous disciple," Zeus proclaimed.

The rhetoric of Egyptian gods and kings, Moors, and African diaspora floated through my prison and invaded my ears. I faded in and out, missing the point of the topics altogether, wondering if suicide was such a bad thing. Thinking how much force it would take to bang my head till I bled to death. How many blows would it take Wishing I could have Clara take me out with her not-so-secret double-barrel shotgun. Not realizing the sermon wasn't meant for me, it was for the followers, it was for Aries. In just three days, he had won their minds. Not to say that the talking points weren't necessary, me being the descendant of slaves, carrying on this torch of plantation mentality, affecting every fiber of my being, my reason for my reasons. But I can't focus on that, I don't give a shit. Right now, its life or death, I'll deal with my past later. Plus, there's a shakiness to my frame that I can't seem to control until I realized the boat was deep into the ocean. There was a steady groove, a heartbeat emanating from deep below, the sea introduced itself.

"Have you ever stopped to consider that YOU are the cause of all your pain, Dimitri That YOU are a ghost in this world because you refuse to live in it Preferring the role of the small man, the easy day-to-day, the cheapest slave to acquire" questioned Zeus.

I didn't respond, and in turn, he dug deeper.

"Number 4 says that you are a smart black man. She says, 'He doesn't see himself correctly,' would you agree Have you been viewing your life through an imaginary mirror"

SHINT!

The small slit opened, Zeus' eyes, full of piercing judgment, swaying his inquisitive nature to somehow connect with me. It wasn't that easy.

"You…you carved that message at 'A snail's pace.' I saw it!" I spewed back, surprised that more saltwater didn't rush from my lungs. How I wished it did, to spit in Zeus' face.

His mouth formed a widened smile too nefarious to contain good nature. A Cheshire cat smile. The sinister wheels in his brain began to slowly turn. I could almost see it through his skull.

"Did you feel it just now Have you ever been so passionate before in your entire life With any lover, family, enemy I'm only scratching the surface of a man whose fire burns deeply within. Soon as you become my son, I will show you how to control your soul, and that fire will be used as a weapon. Apollo, please hand me a small cup of water. You need to drink this Dimitri, you can't stay alive without some nourishment. However, solid food will be banned from you, for now."

About a minute later, a small paper cup was pushed into my face through the tiny slit. I experienced the first phase of cognitive dissonance. Half of me wanting to grab whoever's hand it was and pull it from the socket. The other half, my physical half, yearning for something in my stomach. I forgot in my minor tirade that I hadn't eaten in three days. Reluctantly, I pursed my lips to the brim of the cup, and the hand tilted for me to drink. My new life, an animal in a zoo, they took away my ability to feed myself.

The cold liquid felt like sex as it went down my throat. I cherished every drop like it was the first time I'd ever tasted water…even though it tasted metallic. Is this water It was too late, I consumed the whole cup. What did I just drink How long till I die of dehydration My gut felt emptier, and my pupils dilated.

In my abyss, a red laser-like line danced and swirled in front of me. I'm hallucinating again. Captivated, I stared intently as time slowed down to a halt. Isometric triangles began to form behind the steel slit. All the borders were red at first, then stark white as the shapes took life and pulsated with color bursting into brilliance. My eyes refused to close as the trip sprinted down the rabbit hole.

All the shapes slowly morphed into long, curling tentacles. An amphibious entity birthed before me. More limbs than a body, squirming in every direction. An ancient that sits on the ocean floor, devoid of structure and light. Close your eyes, close your eyes, spare yourself. The Great Old One appears. The hallucination began taking on monstrous forms as knots manifested in my stomach. Three emerald eyes carved into this newly designed and distorted image of an octopus face.

"You will die here!" a booming voice rang in the chamber of my eardrums.

Only I could hear it, an auditory hallucination. The laced liquid had its way with me. Then the appendages within imagined octopus' face took on a pattern of movement. Mimicking speech, and began speaking the words as the treacherous voice returned louder. It felt like my ears were going to explode.

"YOU WILL DIE HERE!"

In a shaky panic, I shut my eyes tightly, only to witness a sea of ruby red snakes in dark green water swirling into a concave of moonless-night. The snakes began combining into the shape of a small island with a gaping hole in the center. The vanishing point, the epicenter of the hallucination, the black hole, illuminated into a crimson hue, and the octopus's face pushed forward, closer, revealing to me that within the details of his head was naked human bodies. All of it stretched my psyche to no return. At that moment, I had given up on sanity and screamed incoherently in anguish and terror.

"Please!!!" I thought I yelled, but in reality, my words came out like an animal's cry, instinctual.

"Do you see my children Look at the top of his cage, the Egyptian man with the screaming face. Now listen to the inside of his heart! Does he not deserve my salvation"

In my now sickened soul, all I could muster from outside the door, while still weaving my web of madness, was a deep, low, monotonous chant from multiple people saying '…Yes'.

"Do you remember Bruce's nightmare The one thing he forgot was the monster."