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I remember seeing dead people for the first time ever, immediately after my Uncle, the one I called Father, since I had no reasonable Father-figure in my life.


Uncle Oscar was the kind to drink to stupor, his belly rising each and every day, just like the Sun. He would hit my Mother on several occasions and that one night, he dispersed my underwear from my skin, very ferociously, like a savage animal.


I remember seeing his almost invisible figure very close to the refrigerator, as he was always hungry and willing to have another round of his alcohol favourite. It was appalling to see him speak to me and I could actually hear him.


I was cowering at the corner of the room when he tried to grab me but he eventually couldn't. I could hear him speak so loud and clear, telling me how he enjoyed what he did to me that erratic night.


I was mouth-shut and when I was shut-eye every night, I could see more dead people. I could see dead Children and Women, I didn't even know personally.


That was when I decided to meet the Catholic Church's priest, Rev. Daniels. He had a bald head and a clean shaven face. He looked persuasive and I was willing to tell him my sins, even the ones I wasn't too willing to wash.


Rev. Daniels listened to me like a pendatic fool as I was coherent and unequivocal with my words and thoughts. He admitted I could have been possessed by an evil spirit, probably my Father's, after he stole from the Church a lot of years ago.


My Mother confessed she knew nothing about my Father's misdemeanour with the Church, before his disappearance to a foreign country for greener pastures, he wasn't so sure of. I told my Mother what Rev. Daniels said about my ability to hear and see dead people. She held me tight and asked if I had seen Uncle Oscar and I lied, I told her not another word.


I saw more and more of unrecognisable Children and Women I was unintelligible of. I could hear them muffle and mumble in a still voice, making me lack a shut-eye for nights. I told my Mother about what I had seen recently and she told me I had just seen my Aunts and many of my cousins, who couldn't make it in a Shipwreck, just before I was born.


Another night and Uncle Oscar appeared to me. He had a cigar in one hand and a glass of gin in the other. I wondered why Rev. Daniels never spoke about things like these in his sermons. Uncle Oscar was being sardonic once more, telling me how much of a coward I was. I wanted to scream but I ought to be wont with these sort of things.


The next morning, I woke my Mother from her peaceful slumber too early, making her let out a long sigh. I told her about Uncle Oscar's appearance and that was when she turned ashen, her face contorted in face, incisions of dismay all over her pale face.


"It's time you knew the truth about your Uncle, my dear. There's a tainted shade in every person and I'm willing to share mine with you." I remember my Mother saying those exact words before the actual story followed up subsequently, that made me doubt my own existence for a very long, long time. That was the end I ever saw dead people, even my Father, the one I called Uncle.