Till Worlds Do Us Part

When I saw the airhostess walking towards my seat, I pulled out one of my earphones. She paused at a few seats for some passengers to whisper their requests at the side of her face. She was friendly and her smile never left her face. When she got closer to me, I raised my hand slightly to get her attention and she caught it. “Yes ma'am?” “Uh, can I get a bottle of water, it's getting kind of hot up in here.” I told her, feeling compelled to return her smile. “That just means we are close to Congo.” She said, keeping that warm smile. “Sure, it's coming right up.” “Thank you.” I said returning my earphone back in my ear. She nodded and walked perfectly on. I looked at the young couple seated across the aisle from me. The blonde woman was saying something about her bright fingernails to the brunette man, who I was assuming was her boyfriend. No ring on her finger. He held her hand and said something into her ear, which made her giggle. I looked down at my phone, ignoring the two ha

That night, I dreamt that I was sitting in darkness, confined to a chair. I couldn’t move. Something was not letting me move. I don't know where I was. I was looking around nervously as if I was scared. My chair then started rattling and shaking. I held on to the handles and shut my eyes but it wouldn't stop. I started to hear screaming and shouting but I couldn't see the people around me as it was dark. The rattling of my chair got worse, and I started to scream too. I was screaming at the tip of my lungs, but my screams were muffled. I couldn't hear my own scream. I started struggling to breathe all of a sudden. I was suffocating. I felt like I was going to die.When I opened my eyes Furah was there shaking me in an attempt to wake me from this nightmare. She and the lady looked very frightened. The chief was also there. The lady wiped my face and placed a wet cloth on my forehead. All of a sudden, I felt very cold and started to shiver. Furah sent the lady out and she came in later

That next day Gamu prepared red vegetable-like food, with the same white and green looking food on the side. This time they did not let me eat on the bed. Furah, the chief and I sat around a wooden table with our plates before us. Gamu stood aside and awaited any orders. After we all washed our hands, the chief gave permission for us to start eating. I decided to start with the green vegetables as the white looking food did not go so well yesterday.I took some of the green and ate it. I didn't like the taste, but I continued chewing anyway. I shut my eyes hard and swallowed. I tried a second time, and before the veggies were halfway down my throat it all came back up and I threw up on the floor.The chief banged his palms on the table and got up. He started to complain and shout. Furah just kept quiet and moved the food on her plate around with her fingers slowly. I didn't know why the food kept coming back up. I hadn't eaten anything in three days. I didn't even feel hungry anymore,

Today was different, as soon as we stepped outside, I noticed there was something different in the way everyone went about their morning. There was excitement in the air, like something was about to happen. Furah told Gamu to dress me up good today and she did. Today I wore material from cheater skin. When we went up, we didn't see Yoké and Uma today. I found out what brought the excitement when the sun was about to set. Everyone started going towards the mountains. Everyone but us. We waited until everyone left and then we also followed. We kept walking for a long time, and I was a little bit scared. We were walking in single file with the chief leading, followed by Furah and then myself and then Gamu. We passed the forest and got to stony ground. We approached a stop, there was no more way. Just bamboo sticks forming a great wall. We stopped in front of the bamboo wall, and I looked back at Gamu. She had no expression on her face, she didn't smile or make any face. The chief t

It rained that night. Gamu told me it was the first time that it was raining in Toko for 3 months. She said that that meant that their God was very pleased with them, that's why he brought rain again. She told me that since it rained after so long, tomorrow there would be a celebration in the village. Kids played outside in the rain until late that night. I could hear their screams of excitement muffled under the pouring of the rain on the straws of our hut. After that they were still... I assumed they all went back to their huts. Now only the sound of the pouring of the rain reined. I cried the whole night. I didn't feel the excitement of the rain. I didn't want to celebrate tomorrow. I just wanted answers. Why? Why? And why? Why Yoké said those things to me. Did he really mean them? Me and him had been speaking nicely ever since he came to interpret for me the first time. So, what went wrong? Yoké couldn't just kick me out like that. He meant so much to me. He meant so much to me