The Trials of Juanis

January 12th, 1966

New Orleans, Louisiana

Juanis Laton was a child, 13 years old, barely graduating 7th grade. The boy lived with his mother in a small house next to the bayou. They didn’t have much and the most expensive item in his home was a medium sized colored TV. Summer had just migrated in and the air was damp and smelled of algae and must. Everyone who lived in the bayou during the summertime had shining skin due to the humidity. Their skin glistened as their faces were covered in restlessness and contempt for themselves. But, Juanis was different, his face gleamed with hope and his head filled with aspirations of grandiose feats and desires.

Juanis had a tendency to find himself at the neighborhood arcade center almost everyday. He didn’t have a lot of friends but the kids at the arcade were regulars just like him and always played games together. Today, a new figure appeared, a suspicious old man with a book and bag who seemed to be very misplaced in that environment. While the arcade was run down, dusty and smelled of rat urine and mold, the man had a pale face with a black suit which seemed overly dressed for the occasion.

“I wonder if this dude is on vacation.” Juanis thought.

Juanis watched him for a while as the man tacitly sat there and peered with his soulless eyes at everyone passing by. If it wasn’t for him periodically turning his head it would be easy to mistake the man for diseased. Then, that’s when it happened, he left his notebook and the bag for just a split second. Juanis, being the prurient kid he is, couldn’t help but think about what was in the bag. The boy checked his surroundings to wait for his moment and swiftly slithered his way to the book and bag and escaped the arcade without a trace. His reasoning was rational in his mind, he assumed the man was an out-of-towner and was not someone who knew the place well enough to search and find him. He waited to open the bag as he trotted home, but immediately opened the book as he created some distance. It was small, black and wrinkled. It looked like the man had been using it for years and what Juanis found inside the book was very disturbing. As he flipped through the pages, one after the other, there were drawn portraits of people’s faces. The most recent ones being very familiar. Juanis had come to the conclusion that the old man was drawing portraits of the kids he had seen in the arcade and while beginning to worry he was also intrigued, he had no idea why someone would come to a place like this to draw the raggedy kids that lived there. He continued to flip through the pages as he walked home, recognizing some faces and being unfamiliar with most. He ended up at his doorstep, his mother most likely waiting on the other side of the door. His anxiety built as he still wanted to open the bag to see what was inside but decided to wait until he reached the bathroom. As he opened the door he scurried into the bathroom waving a quick hello to his mother, not giving her a chance to interrogate. He went into the bathroom, locked the door and sat against the toilet and prepared to open the bag to see what could possibly be held inside. He opened that bag slowly to ensure not to make too much noise, he put his hand inside and felt paper and immediately began to become overcome with excitement. He grabbed on to what he could get a hold of and obnoxiously pulled it out from the bag.

What sat in his hands were receipts. All the built up anxiety and excitement had immediately turned to utter disappointment. Being the child he is, he expected to come across something spectacular that would change his life and in that moment he came closer to understanding the complexities of life. He threw the book inside of the bag where the rest of the receipts were, stumbled out of the bathroom and went straight to his bed. He layed down in bed and could feel how drained he was after having the most eventful day he’d had in a long time.

January 13th, 1966

Juanis woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and ready for another day of scavenging and playing in the arcade. He put on his shoes heading out of the house immediately, with the same clothes he had gone to sleep in. Summer had just begun so there was no school, just freedom for the next couple of months. He left the bag and book behind and began running to the arcade and passing by the usual landmarks, but, as he began to shoot by the old abandoned welding building he had sensed the presence of something staring at him through the window.. He took a quick double take only to notice nothing was there. He continued his trek to the arcade and finally arriving he noticed he was in time to catch the pinball machine vacant. He walked over, stretched his fingers, as he prepared to break another record. In his peripheral view he noticed a tall black figure. Turning to see what had been standing there, he froze in trepidation. The old man was peering an unwavering glance into his soul. Juanis turned away immediately gathering himself and preparing to leave. His nerves were on edge as he began to wonder if the man had figured out that he stole his belongings. His steps were swift as he began to head out the exit of the arcade. Gathering the small amount of courage that he had, he looked back to find that the old man was no longer there. He began sprinting frantically all the way home, feeling as though the man was right on his tail the entire way. He crashed through the front door and rushed straight to his room. He grabbed the bag in which the book and receipts lie and shook it in frustration and to his surprise green bills began to fall out of the bag. They poured out until there was a small mountain of cash in the middle of his bedroom. He wanted to feel excited and overwhelmed but instead, what came with that surprise was more fear. He had no idea how the cash had got there. He sat there for thirty minutes trying to determine what to do with it. He began to count the money. Juanis had just found that he had $20,000 in his possession.

January 20th, 1966

A week had passed since Juanis had found the money and the old man was nowhere to be seen since he had last been at the arcade. Juanis had convinced his mother he had got a summer job and slowly gave her money for the house needs. He was able to buy new clothes and gift his mother a new TV, everything was going relatively well for his family. He had been spending the money consistently since he found it and today he had found some time to go back to the arcade that he had long missed. He had been so busy spending the money he had found he had no time to stop at the arcade until now. He contently trotted out of the house and made his way towards the arcade. It was approaching evening time and the sun was beginning to set as Juanis appeared at the entrance of the arcade. He walked in to notice that it was almost completely empty. It was a Saturday evening, most kids had showed up during this time but Juanis was seeing something totally different. He didn’t mind it too much as he was only there for one thing, pinball. He began rumbling his fingers as he delved himself into the game. It was silent except for the toggling of the game modules he violently tugged at. He played for hours until it was pitch black outside. It was approaching nine o’clock as he left the arcade to meet the humid air at the door. As he looked ahead, across the street, there he was.

“Leave me alone!” Juanis screamed as he began to run.

He had no idea why the old man had returned and it frightened him that he continued to appear. He never said a word or approached him, only stared with his black beady eyes. He began running home and the Deja vu of it all had begun to irritate the boy. As he sprinted home he had made the decision to tell his mom everything as soon as he got home and use the rest of the money to move out of the bayou.

Juanis fumbled through the front door, scattered to his room, and frantically started to count the remaining amount of money. He had noticed the black notebook was tossed as he had opened the bag. Glancing over, he noticed something different. He hadn’t taken a look at the notebook since the first time he opened the bag but definitely recognized something was different. He crawled over to the book and realized the portrait of one of the children had been crossed out. He began flipping through the pages and noticed that a portion of the drawings had an “X” through them. He didn’t understand what was going on, but knew that the portraits weren’t crossed out when he attained the notebook. As Juanis sat in frustration the book laid in his lap. Then, as he looked up into his window it felt as though time had stopped. There, right outside of his window was the old man who had begun to move his lips.

“Young boy, this may be a trial or this may be a nightmarish dream, but from this point forward you shall choose how you decide to live. You have used the life of others to fuel your own passions and desires. But, do not fret, you have not stripped the life from any being, only removed them from existence. Do as you will with this knowledge bestowed upon you, but know, you shall live as you act.” The old man chanted these words as if he were omnipotent.

“Why are you doing this to me man, I’m just a kid what do you want me from me, c’mon! You knew I needed that money!” Juanis screamed in anger and frustration.

“Well child, do what you see fit to survive, I cannot guide you I am only a messenger.” These were the old man's last words as he vanished into the darkness.

Juanis slowly put the money and book back in the bag and stuffed it under the bed. He sat on the edge of his bed contemplating what to do with the rest of the money. Reflecting back on what the old man said, he knew spending the money wouldn’t actually affect anyone because they were just wiped from existence. But, he still didn’t know the true consequences of his actions. He laid in his bed squirming as he tried to go to sleep with his conflicting thoughts.

January 21, 1966

Juanis woke up in bed and sat up in determination as he finally had made up his mind. He scrambled under the bed to grab the cash and book and as he reached for the belongings his heart dropped. What the boy pulled from under his bed was an empty and weightless bag. Tears began streaming down his face as he spiraled into a frenzied bawl. He had planned to use the rest of the money to take his family out of New Orleans.