The Red Prick

By: Jahzi Tomlin

I don’t remember exactly how old I was, maybe twelve or thirteen, but I do remember the heat. It was hot and blistering. Haiti always felt louder and more lively than anywhere else, like everything was alive and talking at once. That day it happened we went to the market just me and my cousin we were weaving through people and stands packed tight together. There were piles of spices, bright fabrics, food I couldn’t even name, and women calling out prices over each other all at the same time.

At first, it felt normal, very fun, and my heart was beating in my ears from the loudness of it all. My cousin kept joking around, grabbing random things, and pretending to bargain like he knew what he was doing. I remember laughing, trying not to look like a tourist, even though he definitely wasn't, but I obviously was.

Then we ended up at this one booth. It didn’t fit with the others. When we got close to it, the vibe completely changed. Everything else was colourful and busy, but this one felt quiet. The table was covered in strange herbs, dried things tied together and jars filled with cloudy liquid. Some of them had things floating inside, like small animals or pieces of them. There were also tiny heads like shrunken heads sitting in a row. I couldn’t stop staring at them even though I really wanted to look away. The atmosphere of it all felt heavy and crushing, but also like a force pulling your eyes in.

The man behind the table didn’t say much at first. He just watched us. I remember feeling uncomfortable, like we shouldn’t be there, and that it was dangerous, but my cousin stepped closer anyway. He always acted brave, even when he probably shouldn’t, and he loved to shove it in my face. He picked up one of the jars, squinting at it, and laughed like it was no big deal. That’s when it happened. The vendor moved fast like a leaf in a tornado. So fast I almost didn’t see it. He reached out and pricked my cousin’s arm with something thin and red like a needle. My cousin flinched and dropped the jar. I said, “What did you do?” but the man just smiled like nothing had happened.

My cousin looked at his arm, rubbed it and shrugged like nothing happened. He told me I was overreacting and that I needed to relax. For a second, it really did seem like nothing, and I felt like I was overreacting and that maybe I did need to chill. We walked away back into the noise of the market, and I tried to forget about it, but something felt off.

At first, nothing happened. Then little things started to happen. My cousin got quiet, which wasn’t normal for him since he was talking every second of the day. Then he started scratching his arm where he'd been pricked, not like a normal scratch, but as if he were digging for something and couldn’t stop. I asked him if he was okay, and he just shook his head like he didn’t want to talk– like something was holding him back from talking.

Then everything took a huge turn. He started yelling, like, full-on screaming out of nowhere. People turned immediately. He knocked over a stack of boxes beside us, sending things crashing to the ground. I stopped walking and turned back to see my sweet cousin causing absolute chaos, and I just watched it happen because I didn’t understand what was happening.

“I feel them under my skin”, he kept yelling, and then he screamed, “I’m going to kill everyone!”

He started clawing at his skin as if something were crawling beneath it. People backed away, forming a circle around us. I could hear them whispering words like “demons” and “witchcraft.”

I felt embarrassed at first, like everyone was staring at us and looking down on us instead of helping. I kept telling him to stop grabbing his arms and trying to calm him down. I yelled at him,  “Yo, relax! You’re fine!” I said even though I didn’t believe it and I was on the verge of freaking out as much as he was.

He shoved me off. Then he grabbed something. I don’t even know it was some kind of tool or stick, and I started swinging it around while laughing. It didn’t sound like him at all; it literally sounded like a demon on a killing spree.

That’s when I got scared, and my chest started to feel tight, and I felt like I couldn't think straight. I stepped back and called my uncle. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped my phone. I don’t even remember what I said, just that I needed him to come now. He said he would meet me at the entrance, which you had to take a short trail through the forest to reach. We started to walk. At this point, my cousin had passed out, and I had to drag him through the trail to the entrance. At the edge of the market near the trees, I thought I saw movement. Figures that looked like people but not really. Their skin looked gray like ash and they were just standing there watching. At this point I'm terrified my legs feel weak, and I just want to curl up in a ball and hide, but that wasn't possible. The ash people started whispering and circling us. I saw the reflection of the moonlight on the weapons they were holding. It looked like metal, but I couldn't tell. Within minutes, they surrounded us, and I thought that was the end. They were grabbing at us but keeping their distance and hissing. At one point, they got hold of me, but I was little, so all I could do was kick and yell. At the last moment, when I thought I was done for, I saw my uncle holding a machete and the other elders holding bats and stuff. The ash people fled, and to this day, I'm grateful my family showed up.

After all the commotion, they grabbed my cousin, and at this point, he was back awake and was yelling.  While he was still yelling and fighting,  we dragged him to the car. The whole ride home he didn’t stop. He was screaming, threatening us and saying things that didn’t even make sense. Then he looked right at me and said, “I’ll kill you first.” Hearing that from someone I considered my other half didn’t feel real; it felt sickening and hurtful.

When we got home, everything turned serious. The elders gathered around him, praying, chanting and doing whatever they could. The house felt heavy, like the air itself was thick. My younger cousin suggested taking him to a doctor, but no one listened. Everyone believed this was more than medical.

They told us to stay away from him. I tried, but hearing him scream like that and seeing him like that, I couldn’t just stand there. So I went into the room. He was thrashing around, knocking things over his eyes wide like he didn’t even recognize me. He was yelling, kicking and trying to push me away. But I didn’t stop. I grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. He fought harder, screaming right in my ear, but I held on. I didn’t care how scared I was. I didn’t want to lose my cousin.

Then I felt something on his arm. I looked down and saw the needle still there, thin and red. For a second, I hesitated. He started yelling, “Don’t pull it out!”But I did. I pulled it out. And just like that, everything stopped. His body went still, his breathing slowed, and his eyes changed from wide and terrified to calm. “What happened?” he asked. The room was destroyed around us, and we were just sitting there in the middle of it. The elders rushed in, ready for something bad, but stopped when they saw us.

They didn’t understand. To this day, they think he was attacked by a spirit. I never told them about the needle, and I never went near that booth again. But every time we go back to the market, I still see the vendor watching and smiling.

About the writer

Hello, my name is Jahzi. I’m from Toronto, Ontario. I love drawing because it helps me to express myself and show how I feel, and what I can create, and I love writing stories because when I write a story, I can just dive deep into my past and imagination and really explore who I am under the surface and share that with others.