All Chapters of Till Worlds Do Us Part: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

54 Chapters

Prologue

When I saw the airhostess walking towards my seat, I pulled one of my earphones out. She paused at a few seats while passengers leaned in to whisper their requests. 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. "Yes, ma'am?" "Uh, can I get a bottle of water? It's getting kind of hot up in here," I said, feeling compelled to return her smile. "That just means we're close to Congo," she said, keeping that warm smile. "Sure, it's coming right up." "Thank you." I slipped my earphone back in. She nodded and continued down the aisle. I looked at the young couple seated across from me. The blonde woman was saying something about her bright fingernails to the brunette man, who I assumed was her boyfriend. No ring on her finger. He held her hand and whispered something in her ear that made her giggle. I looked down at my phone, ignoring the two happy faces on my wallpaper staring back at me as I turned the

1– The people

The first thing I remember is laying on that bed with my arms flat against my sides and how difficult it felt trying to open my eyes. I felt as if I needed help opening my eyes. And when I did open them, it required energy to open them up again after each blink.What I saw was blurry. Silhouettes of people gathered around me. I didn't see their faces clearly, but I could sense that they were agitated, turning to their sides and looking at one another from time to time.Someone bent towards me and put something cold on my forehead. After blinking this time when I opened my eyes, I could see clearly. I saw the face of the person that put that cold thing on my forehead. It was a woman. A grown woman. She was very dark in colour. She had long black hair that fell over me. I noticed that she had two bands around each one of her upper arms. The material looked like cheater skin.The woman was looking down at me. She smiled warmly for a few seconds and then her face crumbled into tears. She w

2– Soft Hair

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

3– No talking

The healer was not too happy about my burn. He was a chubby old man with a big round tummy. He was wearing a long furry garment over his shoulders. There were white patterns drawn all over his face.He scolded Gamu for my burn. Gamu didn't say anything, she just kept her head down and her hands behind her back. She looked so submissive and quiet; unlike the carefree girl she was this morning in the forest.I felt really bad for her, although I did not understand the reason behind them locking me under that blanket with such hot water.I was sitting on the bed with my legs hanging to the floor. The healer was kneeling by my foot examining the yellow swollen bump on my foot. I kept looking at his round tummy. I had not seen anyone with a tummy that big in the village. The people I saw were all well-built, with strong features and muscles.Furah and the chief were seated around on little benches watching the healer rant on and on. They did not interrupt the healer as he complained.After

4– Story time

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,

5– The best part of the day

I was regularly accompanying Gamu while she ran her morning errands. She would wake up at the crow of the rooster and enter the hut. She would then clean up the hut and would wash any of our dirty clothes. As she did things she would hum. She'd then take the three buckets and take me to the beautiful river to take a bath. Before we reached the river, we always stopped in the forest to hear the birds and the trees and then she would sing, and we would dance. And then we would move on to the other side of the river where all the other girls would bathe and then I would watch her bath and play in the water with the other girls.We would then go up the hill to the well to draw out water. On rare days we would see Yoké and Uma coming to fetch water at the same time as us or coming up the hill as we were going back down. He would greet Gamu and then me and him would talk or laugh about the stories he would tell me. Uma always stood closest to us and smiled here and there although he could no

6– Closer

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

7– Silent treatment

That night I couldn't sleep. I kept asking myself why Abu did that? Why? Why did he do that? And why did he tell me that he would meet me at the well? I've never even seen him at the well before. I thought long and hard but couldn't get any answers. We were speaking nicely at the show, so where did I go wrong with him? I kept replaying what happened in my head. I replayed it a thousand times and then started replaying what could have happened. I replayed those scenes over and over again until I fell asleep. And as usual, I had the same dream again and I woke up covered in sweat. It didn't make any sense. What did this dream mean? Why did I keep having this dream? The worst part was that whenever I was suffocating in the dream, I was struggling to breathe in real life. I guess that’s why I always woke up with screams. *** As soon as I heard Gamu enter the hut that morning I jumped to my feet and ran into the main chamber. She just looked at me, frowned and continued working. I gre

8–Warm hands

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

9– Hide

Something strange happened. I went out with Gamu in the morning as usual, and I didn’t see Yoké at the well. Uma was there drawing water alone. We greeted him, and he greeted back. “Where’s Yoké today?” Gamu asked him before I could. “Oh, he was called to the chief’s hut a few moments ago.” Gamu and I exchanged looks. “Why?” I asked. “I don’t know. A small child was sent to call him from the well. You didn’t see him on your way up?” I shook my head. I was worried now. “Besides interpreting, is there another reason why Yoké would be called for by the chief?” Uma shrugged. “Yoké is a teacher, maybe they want him to explain something. I don’t know.” “What if he is in trouble?” I asked. “What could he possibly do wrong? Unless it’s with you.” Gamu laughed. “Can you believe that this girl sneaked out last night to see him.” “Why are you telling everyone now? I told you not to tell anyone.” “Uma is not everyone.” Gamu said. “Tell her Gamu. I’m a good friend. Besides,

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