A fictional series
Last week:
âPM what yo doing sitting in the dark in yo nightie?â
My brotherâs voice booms through the room
âI ainât celebrating until I know fu sure that we win.â
âGirl, I guarantee you that, in a matter of hours, security will be at yo door to escort you to yo victory parade.â
âI feel so unworthyâ¦. I keep thinking⦠what would they think of me if they were to find out what I did?â{{more}}
âTo be honest with you, sometimes I feel like pulling Christopher aside and tell him to stay away from you.â
âHe saved my life you know,â
âKita he has been messing with your head for nearly twenty years⦠it is time to let goâ¦.â
â¦I think about Hezronâs words and I am again transported back to that night, when Christopher staggered to my front doorâ¦.
…I had found him passed out on the living room setteeâ¦. I had left him and gone to bedâ¦.
â¦There had been a knock on my door and Christopher had walked inâ¦.
âI am sorry about tonight,â he had said. He had suddenly looked away and there had been tears rolling down his cheeksâ¦.
I open my eyes! Nothing but red and yellowâ¦.
I open my mouth to scream and bellowâ¦.
From deep within I rumble and exhaleâ¦.
My heart decaying, my love turned staleâ¦.
Putrefying conscience, my truth confusedâ¦.
My country raped⦠heritage abusedâ¦.
What will we bequeath to our innocence?
When we infect them with political violenceâ¦.
I have my view you have your viewâ¦
Should that destroy a friendship true?
Why are we so angry? Why do we fight each other?
He is not the enemy⦠Son, he is your brotherâ¦.
I open my eyes! Nothing but red and yellowâ¦.
I open my mouth to scream and bellowâ¦.
It is easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needleâ¦.
As I survey what is behind me and cast calculated projections of my future⦠I wonderâ¦. I have already made so many comprises. I used to be a Seventh Day Adventist Christian. Now my religion has no title. I suppose I could still walk into church and warm a pew; but I am no hypocrite.
So shall a woman lose her soul and gain political power?
What can I do? It is done? Hezron was right. In a few hours they will be coming to escort me to my new office. My only defence is that I started out with good, honourable intentions.
Then I think about Christopher. I canât help it because he is such a big piece of my puzzle. A big part of the reason I ended up hereâ¦.
The fiend that lead me astray?
I smile. It is so typical of us humans to salve our conscience by blaming someone else for our transgressions.
Still I think if he had not staggered back into my life, drunk and hurting⦠that night his father passed away⦠if he had not begged for the comfort of my warmth – believing that our closeness could chase away the shadows of death⦠like it used to⦠forgetting that we were no longer children⦠that we were now adults, cumbered with the burden of mature lusts⦠if I had not sold my innocence that night⦠if I had not tasted and became addicted to Christopher, I would have taken a different path.
I had stood with him⦠at his fatherâs grave. I had seen the battle in his eyes; as he warred with the demons that had been trying to destroy him all his life. I had felt a sense of responsibility to save him. I had ignored the guilt of our unauthorised union – which had become a regular occurrence.
My school work had started to suffer. I would skip school to meet him. I would even sleep out. In the end Mrs Cooper pulled me aside and warned me to be careful. I didnât listen to her. She came home one day and found me and Christopher in a compromising position. Needless to say, I got kicked out and had to end up living with Mommy again.
My teacher Mr. Beckly called me aside one day.
âKita, what is going on? Youâve gone from a straight A student to barely passing. Youâre missing classes. I have to tell you I am really disappointed.â His words had sunk deep like sharp objects, into my chest. I had tried to respond; but suddenly, I could produce nothing but choking tears.
Mr. Beckly had tried to get to the bottom of what was bothering me; but I was not telling. How could I explain to him that, for the first time in my life, I was experiencing love, acceptance and comfort; that my hunger for these things was deep, consuming and irresistible? They were presented to me and I had to have them – even if it meant trading in all that I had worked tirelessly to accomplish.
It was like I was hypnotised and as I walked blindly into the arms of destruction; I had to be snapped out of my mesmerised state by something or someoneâ¦. That someone⦠that something would come when I least expected itâ¦.
More next week
Special Feature
March 11, 2011
Election Day