LIFE, ABOVE ALL
Episode 31
GANIZANI
I was lying on my bed staring into space when the door creaked open and my mother walked in, she was clad in a white dress that was smeared in blood & she was crying very hard.
‘Mummy!’ I stood up and walked closer to her.
I reached out and touched her but hitting air. I stood in front of her, tears cascading down my face.
There was this look of pain and torment in her eyes that I couldn’t ignore, I knew her as happy and bubbly woman so whatever was making her cry must have been something disheartening.
‘Why can’t I touch you? Mummy what is all this about? Why do you have blood all over?
She would not respond, I tried touching her again but to no avail. She did not move but the tears in her eyes kept rolling down her cheeks.
‘Mummy! please talk to me,’ I reached out for her but she slowly moved further away from me.
Then I started screaming from the bottom of my lungs.
The further she moved away from me the more I screamed. I felt hopeless and alone. Then all of a sudden, I couldn’t see her anymore, just like that she was gone.
I stood there and tried to understand what had just transpired before I sank to the floor and continued to weep.
‘Mummy! Please don’t leave me, come back here,’ I cried
Suddenly, i jolted awake and found myself lying on the veranda in the same fetal position. My face was wet from tears and perspiration. My heart was slamming hard against my chest.
‘A dream. It was all just a dream.’
Sitting up straight, I wiped the tears from my eyes then I took several deep breaths, it was dark outside and I was shivering. After that dream, I couldn’t go back to sleep I was more conscious of my surroundings.
How could father peacefully sleep inside the house while I slept out in the cold? I spent the entire night silently praying for God’s protection. The night seemed longer that I had anticipated but finally it was morning.
By morning, I was fiercely shivering my whole body was shaking uncontrollably. I desperately wanted to keep warm or else I would fall sick.
Alice finally opened the door and was shocked to see me shaking on the verandah.
‘What happened to you? Did you sleep out here?
‘No one opened the door for me last night,’ I ground out through chattering teeth.
‘I didn’t hear you, I fell in a deep sleep and only woke up this morning,’ she reached out and helped me up. I stood up and she led me to my room where I instantly crawled under the covers and tried to keep warm.
She walked out of the room and came back a few minutes later with a cup of hot tea.
‘This should help you keep warm.’
‘Thank you,’ I said
‘You are welcome. Please don’t tell your step mother I helped you into the house and gave you tea.’
‘Okay.’
She left a while later and I drunk my tea. I wasn’t gonna go to school today, I made a mental note to look for my sister as soon as I felt better.
***
TIYA
I opened my eyes and looked around in the emptiness. I didn’t know where I was or what I was doing in this strange room, I looked down to see my body I discovered I was naked.
I looked around from my position on what I assumed was a bed. I was lying on a huge bed. I turned around so I could get a clear glimpse of my surrounding and that’s when I saw her.
The strange girl
She was sitting in a fetal position near the corner against the wall opposite the door. She had a black pot in her hands. Her eyes were fixed in a daze, her body seemed glued to the stool.
Strange enough this girl looked a lot like me.
I stood up and walked towards her, ‘Hello,’ I said waving my hand in her face but she didn’t move.
‘Who are you? What are you doing here? What is this place?’ I asked one question after another but she didn’t respond to any of my questions.
I was in a state of confusion and panic.
‘Stop!’ A voice echoed around the room when I tried to touch her. I turned to where the voice had come from but could not see anything but black.
‘Get back on the bed,’ I whirled about again but saw nothing.
‘Where they playing with my mind?’
‘What do you want from me?’ I asked
‘Shut up.’
Again another voice.
I turned again and that’s when I saw a huge snake staring back at me. I opened my mouth to scream but no sound came out.
‘Shut up.’
I closed my mouth breathing heavily while looking around the room just to make sure the snake was real and not a figment of my imagination. When I didn’t see the snake again, I calmed down.
That was weird, what was happening to me? I sat back on the bed and my mind began to wander, I closed my eyes and tried to remember the events of the previous day.
Then I remembered Ken’s strange behavior, my father kicking me out and finally finding solace at Ivy’s house, was I still at her house?
I walked to the door and tried to open it but it was locked from the outside.
Frustrated I sank to the ground and waited for my fate.
****
GANIZANI
I didn’t go to school but spent the whole day searching for my sister, I moved from one place to the next but to no avail, I asked her school friends and even went to Ivy’s place but she too had not seen her.
Maybe that’s why mother appeared to me in my dream she must be disappointed at me. She asked me to look after my siblings before she died and I have failed her, i have failed my mother.
‘Lord bring Tiya back home, don’t let any harm come to her,’ I desperately prayed
****
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