How To Survive a Spiritual Curse (...When You Don't Know Shit, OR HAVE Anyone...) PART 2: The HEX and The Bruja

...not only was Mr. Phillips known in the neighborhood as a man who practiced Obeah, he was also a man who spent his leisure time digging in trashcans. A man of wild resources, Mr. Phillps brought home all types of garbage. On any random day, you would find yourself leaving the house for your daily business, and frequently step over random artifacts that Mr. Phillps found the night prior. One day, you would pass an American flag and a vintage wheelchair, the next day it would be a 4-foot tall giraffe figurine. He would collect everything and bring it right back to that house. He loved garage sales and flea markets and spent every dollar he had looking for what he called "treasure." Being in school, I never paid it any mind, but as things took a turn for the worst, I regret ever combing my hair, clipping my nails and even brushing my teeth and throwing that all in the trash.

I later learned that practioners of Obeah can use your personal belongings to do extreme damage to you. At the time, I didn't know that...things just kept happening to me and I shrugged them off as just some bad luck, until I found things lying in front of my door. Once again, not knowing what any of this was, I stupidly touched things meant for me that I wasn't suppose to touch and told Mr. Phillps how I felt about the new rat problem that he introduced into the house. Things went from bad to worse and it was then that I had a really hard time focusing in school.

Two car accidents later, I remember being in the library with a few classmates doing another group-project that I hated on a weekday afternoon. As I was studying, my head immediately felt full. There is no other word that I can use to describe it, but it felt as if someone was squeezing my skull to the point of numbness. It was a headache and sensation that I will never forget and that first symptom was one of many that sent me running to every doctor in Jamaica, Queens.