THIRTEEN
There is a thing they do every weekend. I do not why no one told me that earlier. But I am sitting at my usual spot beside the stool in the parlor when Zuri skips in.
"They are here!" She says like we talked about "they" coming.
I get up and stand beside the television and wait. She fumbles with the chain that links the door to the wall then moves the bolt.
Once the door opens, there are shouts and plenty of heads. I walk away to my room. I stand close to the window and look down. There is nothing much to see but a laundry line.
The door bursts open and I know it is Zuri. She stands there for a while then begins to walk closer to the window. I turn around.
"I hope you understand what happened last night was for you," she says.
I raise an eyebrow and frown. " What was for me?"
She sig
FOURTEENI slowly turn and let out a laugh when I fully face him. "How long have you been there?"He begins to move in. " Long enough to see a different part of you."Suddenly lacking words, I walk to the chips and pick it from the floor then I return to the window and begin to chew carelessly with my eyes in his direction.Dwayne keeps his palms on the back of the long Sofa, facing the television - facing me."Where is your family?" he asks.I say nothing."Were you married, Imani?"That question makes me smile and then I exhale. Some of the weight dissolves and spreads again inside me returning to their crooks."Well, did you have a child?"I do not understand the pamphlet his questions are coming from. The absurdity is pushing me to laugh out loud. He seems to be randomly t
FIFTEENToday, Zuri sold two lanterns. I was not there when she sold them but I can spot that something has been removed. She sold one from the "Memory" and another from the non VIP group." Where did you go?" Zuri throws to me as she writes.I shrug and look around. She pauses her writing as if that was the attention she thought I needed. When she stared that way, it made her look like her brother though she is a darker shade."Do you think you can manage this place?" She asks, already closing the ledger before her. " I need to do something.""Yes I can."I'm wearing my Spartan sandals and it slides easily against concrete so I slide over to the counter.Zuri arranges her bag while I take her seat. She hands me some money. "You can buy something to eat."I nod."Don't mess it up," s
SIXTEEN‘’ Don’t move,’’ he says.Hearing that voice makes me automatically move and turn around. ‘’What the fuck!’’He lowers his eyes and puts his knife back in his boots. I also return mine to my belt holder and veil it with my shirt then pick my food from the ground.‘’ Dwayne, why are you following me?’’Now, he readjusts his stance. ‘’This is not the way back to the house.’’‘’ What?’’ I ask, blinking rapidly. ‘’ I am not allowed to have a personal business?’’Dwayne scoffs. "I really don't understand the game you are playing, Imani. If that's even your name, but whatever you do, do not touch Zuri."I roll my eyes with my head. " You have said that be
"Everything around me burns, everyone around me burns. I'm just trying to save myself." -Jumbo I am used to the four walls of this place. The four corners surrounding me are just white like they want to conform my sanity to be nothing but a plain white paper. It is not yet time. I hear no screams of anguish. I hear nothing. It is almost like if I find a way to break free, the halls would be empty. But I know better. I can not say accurately what lies in the hallway or how many people are out there and what sort of weapons they carry. I know there are plenty of men and there are girls like me waiting for their fate in these small cubicles. Okay, maybe they're not like me.
Looking at these sugar glazed donuts should make me throw up. This woman feeds me like a rat.I was slapped awake in this room that has a little warmth. Even after I opened my eyes, trying to adjust to this place, I was slapped again. Hard whack across my face that made me pass out. Again.She wants to kill me. She wants to end my existence but she chose slow torture for me. I have never been afraid of death but I am afraid of this door opening to reveal that woman whose face was like a sculpture in an art museum; devoid of emotions.I have lost track of time. This is the fourth day I have not been slapped into oblivion or been sedated. There are iron bars she constructed on the door. I was half awake the day she did it. It was after that she gave me more injections.This place feels like a higher level of the place I was held before. I seem to have been promoted to a diff
Two•See how the world is moving on like there are no captives somewhere, people about facing their deaths or worse.I have come to realize that death is fair. It is easy. I used to be ready for anything but inbetween living and anything, there is torture; it is a different form of death.There are bars at my window positioned with close grid spaces. It's where I look out from almost all day. That odd woman has seen me severally sitting on the bed and looking out but she says nothing. She does not seem to mind just like she doesn't mind if I stay in the dark or if I live.There is a woman who sells humongous fishes, another man sells patterned materials on a table beside her. Two boys hawk essential oils but they are also pick pockets. I have seen only two cars here. They were actually delivery trucks. The major means of transport in this area are bicycles and motorbikes. This seems to be the hi
THREEToday I let myself remember. I let my thoughts wander overboard beyond cliffs where I have trained it not to wander. Today I think of my mother.African she is. She still maintains the heritage and packs up her kinky hair or she braids it. Some days, she combs it and the fullness makes her face appear smaller, younger, Wilder. She also had beautiful dark skin and the body of one even younger than me.Kent once described me as chocolate smeared with caramel pudding. If he meant that I am the complexion of none but both, then I accept that description.My hair was formally straightened for a fluid flow with the comb but now it seems to have returned to its natural state. Just as I was once chubby but this past month or months has reshaped me. Yet my face is not wild like my mother's. Many times it has been called innocent with a touch of mischief and that's all.I do not know
FOURSometimes you hear the sound of silence. It sounds like danger hiding as safety. The camouflaging danger will speak to you in the silence that disturbs your peace but you would not hear.But I did.Beneath silence is chaos - an uprising rage inside of me. I can feel it, I can almost see it. The discomfort, the sudden irrationality.When that irrationality engulfed me, I walked towards the window and looked down. It could have been late hours of the morning. The woman who sits at the window in the building opposite mine is there looking out. I can not make out her face but as always, she seems hopeless.I walk to the door and try the handle even though I had heard her lock it severally. The door parts at just the first pull. An alien rage fills me and I throw back my head in laughter. I carry a stuffed doll for weapons. I did not know how to wield them but it assured me a lit