I carried my heavily loaded basket and took my first steps to liberation.I had been liberated from a near death experience by a woman I hardly knew anything about ,at this point she was a god...and I worshipped her.
I had never in my life walked this much. My thoughts drifted back to when my aunt from a distant village took me in and enrolled me to their community school.I had to walk to and from the school which was meters away from the village,still I did not complain.I had always built castles in the air about going to school and becoming a doctor therefore when such an opportunity presented itself to me,I dared not utter a word of complaint.My happiness was however short lived because my aunt passed away.My parents thought school was a waste of time therefore my journey died along with my aunt.
Even though I had walked distances before,non of them could be compared to the way I had walked this particular night.My legs felt numb and threatened to give up.I could not give up now...I staggered on.I walked all night long and before I knew it,it was morning.This new dawn gave me new hope.it whispered to me to go on no matter how tired I felt...this new dawn was like a master and I like its loyal servant.
My empty stomach grumbled and I realized I had starved myself enough. decided to look for a comfortable spot where I could eat and lay myself to rest just for a while.I saw a shade under a mulberry tree and I made my way to it.I sat down comfortably,took out some dried meat from my basket and decided to forget about the problems of this world just a little.I was so comfortable..I dozed off.
I was awakened by small chatterings in the bush near where I had lay myself to rest.At first I decided to ignore them but then they only grew louder,I opened my eyes and what I saw sent a quiver down my spin,my spirit left my body at once.
...what stood in front of me was the shortest person I had ever seen.He wore no clothes but did not seem to have any gender,his facial features were enough to send anyone into a trauma.He had a huge scar on his left cheek and it seemed fresh,blood oozed from it endlessly...he licked his scar with his weirdly long tongue and he seemed oddly satisfied by the gesture,I on the other hand was disgusted beyond measure.One of his arms seemed longer than the other.In the shorter arm,he held some sort of spear and he used the longer one to clear the long grass from his path for easier mobility.He was an overall freak.He looked like the demons my grandmother would talk about in her stories.
I did not think twice before I instantly got up and began to run for my dear life.I did not look behind,I raced as fast as my tired legs could carry me.I felt myself elevating above the wind.Had it been a marathon,I would have been crowned champion.After running for nearly an hour without seizing,I had run out of breath and stopped.I threw myself on the hard ground,I was useless.I looked back and realized I had been running from nothing,the weird looking creature was not following me at all.
My heart broke into a thousand pieces when I realized I had left my food basket in my pursuit of survival.I might have been hungry but atleast I was alive.
After I was entirely rested,I got up and started walking hopelessly.I was literally just pushing my body forward.I had nowhere to go to.I couldn't help but think why my mother had been so thoughtless.Was I just born to be an asset to her?one she would give away as soon as a chance presented itself?.Tears rolled down my cheeks and I made no attempt to wipe them away.I wanted it to be visible that I was in despair. What wrong had I done to deserve all this at my young age.I nolonger had strength to continue moving,I threw myself on the ground again and cried even louder.I thought of my younger sister back in the village I hoped she too wouldn't end up like me,my heart ached. I was not sure I wanted to be alive anymore.
Night had fallen while I was still seated on the ground.My stomach grumbled continuously it even sounded like a song in my weary ears.Mosquitoes began to play their own tune in my ears.All sorts of insects began to feed on me.My childish mind convinced me that I could not be feeding other creatures while I was hungry therefore I got up and disappeared into the night.
I walked so slowly because after all,I had no destination.I saw a long tree along the road and decided to lean against it.Before long I began to dream.In my dream,Mr Monde,the man I ran away from had sent his guards to look for me.The guards had somehow managed to spot me and began to chase after me.I ran as fast as I could but they were steady catching up with me.I lost balance and fell to the ground.The guards caught up with me and were about to pick me up.....
I instantly got up from my dream and started running.It did not occur to me that it was just a bad dream....I just ran.
I ran until I felt myself falling into some sort of pit.I hit the bottom of the pit and my leg landed on an upright spear...blood began to flow like a river.I was in deep pain but was far too weak to help myself.I lay back and felt my eyes closing,I did not fight it. Whatever was meant to happen should happen...I slowly let go.
.....Back in the village,Mr Monde had literally turned the whole village upsidedown trying to look for me.Everyone had sworn upon their lives that they knew not of my whereabouts.It had now been two days since I had taken the route to my liberation and in these days,Mr Monde had searched for me as if I were a needle.I was almost too sure it was the prayers of Mungole that had kept me safe for I was far too weak to intercede for myself.
After looking for me for almost a week to no avail,a frustrated Mr Monde decided to take my parents in to work on his farm until the lobola(bride price)was fully returned to him.To some extent,my parents deserved this predicament for they made me pass through hails and thunderstorms at my young age.