Dark Dreams of a Mortal Woman (eBook)

Chapter 8

To say the warmth of our relationship cooled a bit, was an understatement, but I stayed with the group because I love my friend. Antonia and I wrote to each other once a day, mostly in a perfunctory way. Good morning, or goodnight, was nearly all we could muster for the next two weeks after my best friend’s revelation she was in love with a woman whom I’d never met.

That’s not exactly true. I met Carlotta Cardoza-Villa when she made a request to be added to my contact list. Extending her hand in friendship, was a gesture without guile. I could feel her love across the miles, across time zones and quite possibly across the previous century. But this woman loved my best friend, and wanted my trust. We both had Antonia’s best interest at heart.

Looking over Carlotta’s Facebook Page, was a revelation in itself. All the images of this beautiful woman who self-identified as ‘Witch,’ were hand painted portraits of her wearing a black shroud. The only flesh showing were Carlotta’s face and her hands from fingertips to her wrists. Long, black hair flowed out from under the folds of the shroud she wore.

As was often the case in painted portraits, her large black eyes appeared to follow mine no matter what angle I observed her images from. Unlike the eyes in Antonia’s Facebook Profile photo which were dull, flat, black orbs, Carlotta’s eyes in these portraits were very much alive, sparkling in what can only be described from somewhere deep in her soul. There wasn’t a challenge to her stare; her eyes were open and welcoming.

Carlotta’s Wall was filled to brimming with inspirational quotes, sage advice, lists of remedies for even longer lists of ailments, food recipe’s for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and sweet thoughts for daily living. She could have been my grandmother. Quite possibly, Carlotta was as old as my own might have been, if my own were still alive; but she didn’t look a day over twenty. Nowhere on her Wall did I see a spell cast or a boiling caldron of ‘Witch’s Brew.’ Nada!

The requests for friendship from members of Antonia’s group didn’t end with Carlotta’s. By the end of my first week of membership in Creole Gotica, fifty-seven requests were sent to me and I accepted all of them. Why not? I was looking for friends. Most of the ‘Friend’ requests were from women, who were Princesses of one kind or another in the group.

This ‘royalty at court’ were actual Ladies in Waiting to Antonia, and they treated her with loyalty and respect. There was an order to each woman’s place in the hierarchy of the group and their tasks performed as Administrators of the Group’s Facebook Page. The two closest ‘Princesses’ to Antonia, whom I would call Lieutenants, kept the peace or ‘paz’ within the group and their Queen was the final arbiter in whatever conflict might arise.

During times of disagreement the Messenger App in multi-party-line mode, was utilized to settle disputes among belligerents. Peace would be negotiated, and as final arbiter, no party to the agreement could dispute Antonia’s final decision. If this happened, the offending member was banned from the group. This was an egregious penalty, akin to being driven from Heaven.

There were no legal Non-Disclosure Agreements or caveats, written or expressed. Banishments were discussed ad infinitum; over and over in a ‘until hell freezes over,’ kind of way. By design, a banishment was to be gossiped about as a way to censure the individual whose Goth card was taken away. This reminded me of the condemnation existing for girls Antonia and I went to high school with, who found themselves pregnant without benefit of marriage, and who were sent to the Midwest to live with relatives. To be expelled, wasn’t punishment enough, a verbal ‘going over was required.’ Creole Gotica had a moral code to maintain.

What was cause for dispute? It varied. One crime rarely occurring but considered a pretty big deal; image theft. This was the use of one members established Profile photo by another member, who then assumes the image as their own. It was the Goth equivalent of Identity Theft.

Once provenance of an image is established by a kind of council made up of the longest serving members of the group, who could still remember who was the owner of the image in question, the offending member would be required to remove their name from the injured party’s image. The edict, ‘Remove Title,’ would be handed down and in order to remain a member in good standing, the offending member would comply. At all cost, banishment was to be avoided.

Only on two occasions, I’m told, did members who swiped someone else’s image, refuse to comply. They suffered the ultimate sanction. Eviction. It is my understanding both men exited from the group to start their own Gothic Pages using the stolen image, and as they were shunned in the greater Goth community beyond Creole Gotica, both fledgling organizations, ‘died on the vine.’ This was an example of loyalty, ‘dying hard.’ A very big deal indeed.

Not considered a big deal, the usual petty stuff. Members of the group frequently established monogamous relationships with each other, would become engaged and marry in a sanctioned Facebook ceremony. Virtual marriage; men and women, women with women and men with men, there were three such marriages in the first two weeks after I became a member of Creole Gotica.

Nuptial announcements were sent out with a great deal of fanfare and hoopla, and members would reply with congratulations, gifts in the form of floral images and offers of toasts to the happy couple. This was typical of marriage ceremonies where Goths were concerned.

When relationships went bad; one partner suddenly wants an open marriage or strays with another member, the discontent would become apparent as the hostility among the couple spilled out onto the pages of their Posts. Fights between members were epic in the vitriol spewed about, and turned ugly when other members were dragged into the fray. Members felt the need to take sides with one or the other injured party, who usually called for an offending party to be blocked. Membership numbers were important to the group. Blocking of a member was frowned upon.

To keep the peace and wedded bliss maintained, the Administrators of Creole Gotica are called in to settle the dispute. The Princesses would be consulted and it would be determined if the marriage could be saved or if a virtual divorce would be granted; which by the way, a decree of annulment could only be issued by Antonia. If the Queen felt the marriage was entered into lightly and without forethought, she quickly agreed. The sanction of being blocked from Posting to the group would be avoided at any cost. Her feeling, if couples were truly serious about wanting to marry, they should do so legally… in the real world. Otherwise, forget about it.

Another dispute which frequently occurred and Antonia felt truly annoyed by; Intellectual Property Rights. To her, the Poets were the worst whiners where their ‘palabras’ or words were concerned. Claims of plagiarism were rampant. Her thoughts on the matter; unless a poem was copied word for word from one poet by another, or a theme was considered too clever for a lesser skilled poet to have created, to Antonia, it was a big who cares.

Remaining objective was critical for a ruler. The Queen loved all the poetry Posted by her members, whether good, or not so much. As a former law clerk for the Glenwood Springs D.A.’s office her opinions on the matter were held in high regard. Again, words, language and phrases were in the public domain and couldn’t be owned. Not to put too fine a point on the issue, unless a poet held copyrights to their work, Antonia never ruled in favor of a complainant. But, she listened politely.

Another butt paining conflict; factional jealousy. Cliques within the group would form based on everything from which manufacture of Goth clothing a member purchased and wore, what music a member was into, and what poet/artist they followed. Then there were… the Mean Girls. They were reminiscent of cheerleaders I knew in high school. The same hierarchy existed. And the head Mean Girl, jealously guarded and led her followers. This is where plots are hatched.

One of these plots, was the reason La Contessa Antonia De Alamieda was now Queen of Creole Gotica Y Vampiras de la Noche. From what I’m told, two years ago, one of the minor factions within the group plotted a successful coup to overthrow it’s King. He was a warrior poet (Poeta Guerrero) and petty tyrant who couldn’t remain impartial when disputes arose.

The former King always sided with the party who flattered him most, or slept with him. Gender was unimportant. Now, not to get off track, but while still young and innocent within the group, I assumed members who, ‘slept together,’ were engaging in cybersex. I was to find out otherwise, but this was much later. Anyhow, the King’s behavior caused a great deal of hard feelings within the group. When the leader of one of the minor factions lobbied to take his place, a vote of no confidence was taken, which the King lost, and he was overthrown in a coup d’état.

Unfortunately, leadership under the new King was far worse several months into the new monarch’s reign. Unhappy with their choice, the membership cast about within the group for a new leader, deciding to take a different path all together. Antonia,...