“Let go of me, or you’ll wake with a case of the warts.”
The old man released his wife, and she took off toward the house as fast as her old legs could carry her. Upstairs, she found the man she despised most moaning in agony.
“Got in a fight with Jessop. Took a bullet to the gut,” said the foreman. “We got the bullet out. Save him.”
“I’ll do my best, but that’s a tough one,” she said, shaking her head. “I need hot water and clean rags. Lots of ‘em.”
The men nodded, leaving the old woman to do her magic. They all knew the old man was probably going to die, but they had to try.
“Help me, old woman.”
She smiled, nodding at him as she pulled back the makeshift dressings. He was bleeding like a stuffed pig. They’d hit somethin’ big in there, and she knew he wasn’t long for this world.
“You want me to help you?” she asked quietly.
“You know I do,” he mumbled. “Do it.”
“Set me and the others free if I do.”
“How dare you!” he said, attempting to scream. His voice was almost nothing.
“How dare me? How dare you? You’re nothin’ but an animal. Treatin’ people like dogs, killin’ ‘em for your own benefit and entertainment. You think I wasn’t watchin’ it all these years? You think I didn’t see it all? I saw everything,” she said, pressing on his abdomen. Blood gushed from the wound, and he didn’t even have the strength to cry out.
“You have caused generations of pain and agony for my people. The last straw was what you did to that boy, Grover. He didn’t deserve it.”
“Run-runaway,” he stammered.
“He was a runaway. Because he’s a man, not property. You’re gonna die. You’re gonna die, and I’m gonna make sure all your people feel the pain of what you’ve done.”
“N-no. No,” he pleaded as his last breaths rasped into the night air.
“I feel nothing for you or yours. You will feel this pain for eternity.”
“Help me, old woman.”
“I will help you. I will help you to hell.”
“I’ll kill you for this.”
“You’ve done enough killin’. You and yours will pay until the end of time. No angel will protect you, no devil will offer a deal. Generations of your seed will feel the evil you have created. No one can save your soul now.”
The sting of something coursing through his body had him gasping for air. As Melba heard the footsteps coming up the stairs, she grabbed some rags and pressed down on the wound as if to stifle the blood left in his body.
“Where have you been?” she shouted.
“I’m sorry. It took us a while,” said foreman, now followed by the old man’s son.
“It’s too bad. I can’t stop the bleedin’. I did what I could,” she said, shaking her head, pretending to wipe her eyes. The son stared at his father, his eyes still open, but the life gone from him.
He looked at the old woman and frowned, then at the foreman.
“Bury my father and kill the old woman. I want her gone.”
Melba stared at the man’s son and laughed, shaking her head.
“You’re too late. You and yours will be cursed for all eternity. I’m an old woman. Kill me. But the curse won’t die with me. You will never live a moment of peace.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
