The Crow: American Dreams

Chapter 1: Golgotha

Fire, smoke, and ash surrounded dexter.
The smell of burning wood filled his nose, as smoke filled his lungs, he started to cough. His vision became blurry as a large hooded figure grabbed him by the hair, and dragged him outside. He looked to his left to see his wife, a slender african american woman with brown, curly hair, her once beautiful face, now covered in cuts and bruises. "Gladys" he forces out, sje can only moan in response. "Boss, should we spare this one, he's a white boy like us" the hooded figure said to another figure, this one adorned in purple robes "no, he's just a nigger lover" the man points at gladys "that one is his whore" he looks at dexter, then to his underling. "Brother, show him what happens when you betray your race"

~Flashback to three days earlier~

Dexter walks in from work, hangs his coat on the  coat hanger next to the door, as he hears little footsteps running toward him, then a sudden but of pressure near his legs, as his young daughter wraps her arms around him. "Daddy, you're home, i missed you so much today" dexter smiles at his young daughter as he kneels down to embrace his daughter "he-ey annie, i missed you too honey, did you finish your studies?"  Annie smiled up at her father. "Yes, daddy, i finished just in time to help mommy with dinner" dexter smiles once again "then dinner should be extra delicious tonight"
Annie smiled brightly. "Speaking of dinner, wher's your mother?"

Gladys was in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on dinner, getting ready to serve it to her family. She walks out carrying a bowl of salad, and sets it on the table, then looks at her husband and daughter. "Why hello there honey, i didn't hear you come in" dexter smiles at his wife "i would have come and said hi, but i had a little rascal clingin' to ma legs"  gladys grins at dexter and annie "well, both of yall better come to the table and eat before it gets cold" dexter chuckles and heads toward the table "yes ma'am"

~flash forward 3 nights~

Another hooded man drags annie out of the house, she is barely conscious. "Should we do the kid too?" He asks the man in purple. "She is impure, a mixed one, she goes first" the hoodrd man nodded and pulled the young girl towards a wooden structure. "Annie, noooo! Please she's just a child" dexter says as he reaches towards his daughter, before being hit in the back of the head with a pistol "quiet, nigger lover." Dexter falls to the ground, the back of his head starting to bleed. Annie wakes up, and sees her father "dadddyyy!!!!"  Dexter looks up to see his daughter, they had laid her on top of what seemed to be a cross. "Babygirl, daddy's comin for you" he says right before he's kicked in the ribs.

The men in robes, grabs nails and hammers, and start to hammer the feet and hands of the six year old.  Dexter could only watch in horror as they held a gun to his head, and a knife to his wife's throat. After what seemed like forever, the hoisted the cross up, annie nailed down, wailing in pain, before a sudden silence.

The men then grabbed gladys, and pulled her toward another cross, placing her on top. Dexter attempts to get up, just to be kicked in the face. They place nails at her hands and feet, and begin to hammer, she wakes up and starts to scream in pain, before passing out once more, blood dripping from her mouth and nose.
Dexter could no longer take it, he gets up and tackles one of the men, but it's too late, both his wife and his daughter are gone. He gives up and allows the men to drag him to his fate.

As dexter is nailed down, he can barely feel the pain as he has become numbs. They hoist him up, and he looks to his left to see his daughter, the light drained from her face, her once happy and cheery eyes, closed for all eternity. Guilt and shame wash over him, as he starts to cry. "I'm so sorry, my sweet baby girl, i should have been able to protect you, i have failed you." Her lets out one more wail, before he bows his head, and gives up his spirit.

~flashback to eight years ago~

Dexter enters the church, attending confession.
He walks into the confessional, and sits down. The priest enters shortly after, and sits on the other side of the screen. "Hello, my son" said father roy. Dexter, without looking up, says to father roy "forgive me father, for i have sinned"
"What is troubling you son?" Says father roy. "I have fallen for a colored woman" the priest sighs, almost in relief. "Do you truly love this woman?" Father asks. "I do" dexter says in response. "Then there is nothing to confess, love is not a sin, my son." The priest explains. "But the boys at work, they say the coloreds are nasty, lesser beings, here to take the place of the white man" dexter say, slightly distressed. "My son, the lord does not see any of his children as lesser, in the end, we are all the same.

~8 years later, three nights after the incident~

A group of crows circles the crosses, one lands on top of dexters, pecking at the top of it, waking him up. "W-what the hell?" He looks around, almost forgetting what had happened, as if it was a bad dream, unfortunately, it wasn't.
He looked at his hands, nailed down to his cross
He tries to move, but fails. He tugs his left arm, as hard as he can, pulling right through the nail, ripping through the skin and muscle. He reaches over grabbing right hand, almost breaking it, he manages to pull his other hand through the nail, causing him to fall off of his cross, both of his feet tearing apart from their nail.

Dexter, landed face first on the ground, he lifts himself onto his knees and stares at his hands, which now had holes in them, he balls his hands in a fist and starts to sob. He stands up, and hears the crow caw, as it landed on his daughter's cross. He turns around, and starts to sob once more. "I'm sorry, my child, daddy's going to get the men that did this"