Damian Sanders was not the kind of man you wanted as an enemy. At 6.3 and weighing in at 280 pounds he stood an impressive exhibit of man hood. His broad muscular shoulders were probably the first thing you would notice about Damian as he appeared on the visual horizon. His two arms which always seemed to be on display rippled with the kind of muscular definition one would expect from a world class body builder.
Someone once described Damian as 280 pounds of moving muscle. Everyone seemed to agree with this description and generally moved out of his way when they saw Damian approaching. People were usually caught off guard when this powerfully built giant of a man stopped in his track s to give way to the elderly, children and women especially.
Damian was known as the gentle giant because he went out of his way to be courteous to those considered to be weak. He volunteered at the local senior citizen's home and faithfully served as a deacon in the largest church in the community. He was what might be called a model citizen until a tragedy occurred that changed the man and transformed him into someone unrecognized by a community that had grown to love him.
A tropical storm was approaching the island and everyone was in the preparation mode. Storms were becoming more frequent and their severity was causing great hardships in Barbados and all the other Caribbean countries. Tomas had sneaked up on the island and giving islanders just a few hours to prepare for the onslaught.
The meteorological office had been caught off guard by the speed at which the tropical depression developed into a storm. By the time the alarm had been sounded Tomas was already creeping toward the shores of the island.
The night Tomas came ashore proved to be a turning point in a small fishing village at Oistins and in the life of Damian the gentle giant. Damian had been working in the eastern section of the island and had stopped to give some assistance at the senior citizen home where he volunteered before going home.
Homecoming for Damian that night was doubly unpleasant. In the pre-storm drama some fools made the worst mistake of their lives by breaking into Damian's home. It was bad enough that they violated the sanctity of the giant's home. That may have been forgivable but the act of violating Veronese was a matter on a totally different scale.
Damian's cry of anguish pierced the stillness of the night driving fear into the hearts of every one close enough to hear his lament of sorrow. Damian stood on the street outside his home with Veronese cradled in his arms like a broken doll that had been used, abused and then discarded with contempt.
"She is hardly breathing. Somebody please help me."
The giant's screams became louder and louder creating a near panic in the community. That was when the thunder, lightning, and rain began. The gentle giant moved from door to door begging and beseeching the occupants for help. The howling winds which had preceded the thunder, lightning, and rain created a cacophony which effectively drowned out the giants voice.
The giant made his way up the street knocking on every door and receiving the same silent reception from the frightened occupants. Darkness settled over the island as the electricity company started shutting down its power grids leaving Damian alone in the blackness of the night.
"Oh god, please help me. I don't want her to die."
The gods, maybe deafened by a clap of thunder that shook the very foundations of the island granted Damian no relief from his dilemma. If anything the gods added to Damian's misery by sending a utility pole crashing down a few feet from where he stood still carrying Veronese. Totally oblivious to his danger, Damian stepped into the street and into the path a sheet of zinc roofing material that had been ripped from the rooftop of one of his neighbours.
The impact of the sheet of zinc was enough to shake his mighty frame causing him to stumble a few paces. Damian braced himself and turned towards his house as another object smashed into his mighty frame this time knocking him off his feet. He tried his best to maintain his hold of Veronese but she slipped from his grasp falling to the street.
Another sheet of zinc roofing material struck him. He had been lucky the first time to have been struck by the centre of the sheet of zinc. His luck ran out the second time around as he felt the thin sharp edge of the material slice into the flesh of his arm. Damian cried out in pain as he groped in the darkness trying to find Veronese.
He was a man of great strength but he was no match for the elements. The howling winds were beginning to exert sufficient pressure against him to convince him to retreat to his house. Another object smash into his body but he was able to withstand the impact. It was a branch from one the many coconut trees in the area.
With his home in sight Damian made a mad dash for the door hoping to make it to the safety of his house without further incident. Damian's luck ran out just feet from his door. He heard the cracking sound but in the darkness he failed to see the trunk of an uprooted tree falling towards his house. A heavy object struck Damian across his head knocking him to the ground for a second time.
Fear overtook him as he felt a heavy weight pressing him down to the ground. He tried to shift the weight but even in the darkness he knew he was in deep trouble. He was pinned under a huge tree that had fallen onto the roof of his home. He reached out in the darkness searching with his free hand, trying to feel for the body of Veronese.
His reach extended a few inches beyond where he had fallen. He knew that she was close to him but he had fallen on his back and one hand was now pinned under his body. Veronese was probably on the other side of his body.
She had looked so weak and lifeless when he entered the house and found her naked on the floor. With a storm on its way there was little hope of getting an ambulance to collect her. He knew he would have had to ask one of his neighbours with transportation to assist him. It was a long shot with a storm brewing but he had no choice.
Damian had not anticipated the coldness he had received from his neighbours. These were people he had helped on numerous occasions. As a builder and a man generally gifted with his hands he was always in the homes of his neighbours fixing things. Much of the work he did in his neighbourhood was free. It was his way of giving back something to his community.
He had never asked much of his community but in his moment of need they had turned their backs on him. He felt as though he had been betrayed by a community that he had grown to love. He was not a vindictive man but for the first time in his life Damian felt a darkness growing in his heart.
He had been left alone to deal with his tragedy and now he feared for the worst. He was trapped under a tree with Veronese who seemed to be holding on to life by a slender thread. Someone in the community had been the catalyst for this crisis and for once in his life Damian felt the bitter roots of hatred extending their tentacles throughout his spirit.
Like Darth Vader, the villain of his favourite movie Star Wars, he felt the pull of the dark side and succumbed to its power. A crime had been committed against him and the woman he loved and he intended to make those responsible pay in the worst possible way.
His neighbours may not have been the perpetrators of the dastardly deed but they shared in the guilt for not coming to his aid when he needed them. People were going to pay for their deeds and he was going to make sure of it. He had long since abandoned the use of certain abilities which he possessed since his youth. Unlike the others in his family Damian tried to lead a normal life but he always knew there was something asleep inside of him.
His mother had told him stories about a pact made by his maternal grandfather which brought protection and special abilities to all their bloodline. As a youth he had seen some strange and frightening things in his household. Shadowy figures roamed their home at night sometimes creating macabre movie silhouettes on the wall which both fascinated and scarred the shit out of him as a boy.
His younger sister Sarah-Lee had immersed herself in the mystery that surrounded them and had developed abilities which literally made him afraid of her. Sarah --Lee could read his thoughts as easily as she read all those strange books with equally strange titles. He could never erase from his memory the sight of his little sister floating in midair above her bed and talking to him as though it was the most natural thing in the world.
He had never seen Sarah Lee use her abilities in a bad way but there was a side to his sister that he did not trust. She did not like to be crossed and unlike him, Sarah-Lee had a very vindictive spirit. She had just returned to the island from Haiti and for once Damian was actually looking forward to seeing his sister.
"You need to move from where you are or you both will drown."
Finally someone had come to his assistance. His neighbours had taken their time but they were finally responding. He waited for a few moments expecting to feel a comforting hand on his shoulder assuring him that he would be freed from under the tree and taken to a place where he and Veronese would get the help they needed.
No human hand touched his shoulder neither was there any attempt to lift the heavy branch than pinned his body beneath the fallen tree. His body was half submerged in the rising water caused by the heavy rainfall. The voice was right. Oistins was prone to flooding. His thoughts went to Veronese. He could not be certain how she had fallen. In her weaken state she would not be able to move her head much.
"Don't fight who you are Damian. Use what is within you and free yourself."
There was no mistake this time. He was hearing a voice but it was not the voice of any of his neighbours.