Five years ago,534Please respect copyright.PENANAZt38TVNBn7
February 13th, 2010.534Please respect copyright.PENANAEem6ilkm1n
Mpunde Girls Secondary School,534Please respect copyright.PENANAck4fidop4L
Zambia.534Please respect copyright.PENANA6pV7lsvCiG
I gasped for air as I 534Please respect copyright.PENANAm2rOv4WcxX
quickly sat up on my bed, holding my burning throat and feeling my lungs534Please respect copyright.PENANARR7MlCn5US
ache as air quickly flooded in. For a moment, I thought I was drowning 534Please respect copyright.PENANA8h45C7vrOW
in water, but I was actually taking in air. I coughed out a little and 534Please respect copyright.PENANAvUGXVuPODg
opened my eyes. The lights in the dorm were all turned on and the bunker534Please respect copyright.PENANAkrsBOFFiFP
beds were all empty. For a moment, I panicked as I quickly got out of 534Please respect copyright.PENANAUUKHnU005A
bed on the bunker bed below, looking around the dorm. There was no one 534Please respect copyright.PENANAXzNio1oc7r
and I felt scared and worried. I quickly looked out of the window and I 534Please respect copyright.PENANAMMUZTVoswm
realised that the sun was rising up from the east. I couldn’t help but 534Please respect copyright.PENANA7tgdNxho6Y
sigh in relief, but then again, I realised that I was running late and 534Please respect copyright.PENANAkqxjMEyddp
my dorm mates were obviously hitting the showers in the ablution. And I 534Please respect copyright.PENANAY130bFgNs8
was the only one left in the dorm.534Please respect copyright.PENANAjgfCQmGWMX
I quickly grabbed my 534Please respect copyright.PENANAYE1oz557Gd
toothbrush, toothpaste, my bath towel and cloth. Quickly slipped my feet534Please respect copyright.PENANAquspr35KJc
into my bath slippers and when I turned around the corner of my bunker 534Please respect copyright.PENANAWIKHATuoRQ
bed to grab my bucket, I realised it wasn’t there. I sighed, this time 534Please respect copyright.PENANAS8ykiwhmGP
in frustration.534Please respect copyright.PENANAmNqunwoQYw
Obviously because I knew534Please respect copyright.PENANAVqwiaIThbl
who took it. If it wasn’t my bunker mate, then it was probably one of 534Please respect copyright.PENANAF2dvkYQYG5
the dorm mates. In my nightdress, I rushed out of the dorm and headed 534Please respect copyright.PENANAuWmPxzG4sf
for the ablution. The ablution was one place where I found it so 534Please respect copyright.PENANApsKx9k2lNz
repulsive to be in. Despite it being cleaned every day, it was always a 534Please respect copyright.PENANA8f6xjiwgXj
surprise how it gets messed up and flooded afterwards. When I mean 534Please respect copyright.PENANA7q8TTls279
messed up, I mean the toilets is one thing you wouldn’t like to see 534Please respect copyright.PENANARh8fRqWXex
first after you eat a meal. For a moment, I wonder if we really are 534Please respect copyright.PENANAYGs9WYVYv0
girls or sometimes we act like boys who like to leave a mess. We are 534Please respect copyright.PENANAZG1SFb61Zi
“GIRLS” for crying out loud. And as far as I know, we need to take care 534Please respect copyright.PENANA1SgT7tW4eU
of ourselves and the environment around us. Looks like being in boarding534Please respect copyright.PENANAw4Jvaufvy4
school, you get to know that sometimes things aren’t always what you 534Please respect copyright.PENANAmMD523nYfS
thought it ought to be.534Please respect copyright.PENANAOtugDdRI7J
On either side of the 534Please respect copyright.PENANAcd8nebAzHg
ablution were the shower side and the toilet side. In between was a 534Please respect copyright.PENANANG2Rut3izH
passage where people could move around and line up their buckets to get 534Please respect copyright.PENANAGGuJU7zwKz
into the shower cubicles. When it gets flooded, it’s pretty hard to move534Please respect copyright.PENANAn6RG1u9D7E
around and many people have slipped and fallen. Trust me; it’s not a 534Please respect copyright.PENANAbZP2h4lxrq
pretty sight when you see someone falling on their back into the water, 534Please respect copyright.PENANAHdy5SNGm8J
which was probably dirty. Luckily for me, that hasn’t happened, yet. I 534Please respect copyright.PENANABgaOTIs7Gw
wasn’t pushing my luck on that one. One day, I would probably fall and 534Please respect copyright.PENANAmQGSh1Sg7y
hopefully I wouldn’t break my bones in the process. At the far end of 534Please respect copyright.PENANAiE9iSV7JPg
the ablution were sinks where you can go and brush your teeth and wash 534Please respect copyright.PENANAIyiTazLUb3
your face. And by the corner was a store room where we kept the cleaning534Please respect copyright.PENANAM4Uxa1SItA
materials for the ablution.534Please respect copyright.PENANAS18CpS7VmJ
I stood by the door of 534Please respect copyright.PENANAOINI7DQSEU
the ablution, and as usual, there were queues of buckets all lined up, 534Please respect copyright.PENANAsrzXP677BA
their owners standing beside them waiting for the shower cubicles to be 534Please respect copyright.PENANAV4wpifE6mX
vacant. I looked around for my bunker mate and I couldn’t see her on any534Please respect copyright.PENANAIZxjUo7J8o
of the queues. I considered her to be in the shower and so I went by 534Please respect copyright.PENANAA75AylpnrR
the sink to brush my teeth. The ablution was flooded again and so as 534Please respect copyright.PENANAj3RZhM7Avm
always I had to be careful, taking a step at a time.534Please respect copyright.PENANAMuTGhTEdvh
When I finally got to 534Please respect copyright.PENANAKVhYu1eGie
the sinks, all in one peace, I suddenly felt a jolt of pain in my head 534Please respect copyright.PENANAYciXtneSJm
as though I was just struck by lightning. It felt more like a migraine 534Please respect copyright.PENANAsNFjDx779V
and I held my head, almost screaming out in pain. I saw a dark image 534Please respect copyright.PENANAbltwjEdy77
flash before my eyes and for a moment, I thought the lights went off and534Please respect copyright.PENANA8tkefh5jTu
come back on. But when I looked around everything around the ablution 534Please respect copyright.PENANARAg2x9X5yV
seemed to be normal. Usually when the power cuts, we girls like to 534Please respect copyright.PENANAp3zv8t5Tde
scream, a lot, except for a few of us who are already used to the dark. 534Please respect copyright.PENANAioQdBoPpag
This time, that wasn’t the case. Everything seemed normal and I felt 534Please respect copyright.PENANAM4EvSj9TPD
maybe I was being delirious.534Please respect copyright.PENANAVO7IB1ZWHU
“Hey, Diana, are you okay?”534Please respect copyright.PENANAsxeIsh4VPu
I turned to the last 534Please respect copyright.PENANANFkTTM4hWk
shower cubicle which was closer to the sinks, and there wrapped up in a 534Please respect copyright.PENANAWe9upcJCyV
pink towel stood my bunker mate, Christine. And just as I expected, she 534Please respect copyright.PENANAIu65M3TwxE
was holding my bucket. She slowly walked over to me, trying to avoid the534Please respect copyright.PENANAVv1zr5Wp5W
dirty ablution water from flowing into her bath slippers.534Please respect copyright.PENANAPNgimDz5L8
“Are you okay? It looks like you just saw a ghost,” Christine had a worrying look on her face.534Please respect copyright.PENANAt75KrTG0UU
“No, I’m fine, just a little ache in the head, that’s all,” I replied, trying to act normal when I really wasn’t.534Please respect copyright.PENANAeTL6sJOzRF
“You had me worried, I thought you saw something like a ghost.”534Please respect copyright.PENANAwOUet2HCXt
“You know I don’t believe in such things as the ghosts that haunt people around school.”534Please respect copyright.PENANA41kc2cvf3E
“Well, you better believe. One day it might just visit you,” Christine said that with a laugh. All I did was scowl back at her.534Please respect copyright.PENANAAoyL5LEwBc
“What happened to you 534Please respect copyright.PENANAZejWMf0OVN
today, anyway? You’re usually the first to wake up when the morning bell534Please respect copyright.PENANAKMK4Oorf4k
rings. But today you slept like a rock,” Christine added on, this time 534Please respect copyright.PENANAMucwi0v41M
there was a concerned tone in her voice.534Please respect copyright.PENANAXvtKMYxPTs
It hadn’t occurred to me534Please respect copyright.PENANADkqXI4fGED
that I had never heard the morning bell in the first place. I was 534Please respect copyright.PENANAcArCnrVSDT
always the early bird and I was never a heavy sleeper. I was always 534Please respect copyright.PENANASMGytsUTwO
sensitive with whatever sounds I get to hear. But today, I hadn’t even 534Please respect copyright.PENANAq6QsALCxWT
heard my own dorm mates’ footsteps as they always rush out and into the 534Please respect copyright.PENANAoCEE0GYNeL
dorm.534Please respect copyright.PENANAyGPPeoryv1
“I guess today just wasn’t my day,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders.534Please respect copyright.PENANAOsxlw3FL92
“Well, you better hurry 534Please respect copyright.PENANAo6RJuaMbft
up then,” said Christine, handling the bucket over to me, “you don’t 534Please respect copyright.PENANANSVVlJjD2i
want to be caught by the prefects when it’s time to clean up the 534Please respect copyright.PENANAyOg9tREzj9
ablution. And that’s not how you want to start the day.”534Please respect copyright.PENANA3Eg9eaT1nu
I scowled again as I 534Please respect copyright.PENANAwjL9EQ3XSV
took the bucket away from Christine. As I mentioned earlier, the 534Please respect copyright.PENANAGYZkOYseuJ
ablution always get cleaned. And we the pupils clean it with the senior 534Please respect copyright.PENANA7uR5UBG8Wo
prefects as our supervisors. At 6:30 AM, everyone should vacate the 534Please respect copyright.PENANAjN8UhGRGMW
ablutions so that the assigned group of pupils put to clean up the 534Please respect copyright.PENANArxvrbJgdi6
ablution should do their work. If you’re caught still in the showers, 534Please respect copyright.PENANAs8O5vaPbb5
you would obviously have to join in the cleaning process. And that 534Please respect copyright.PENANAB8xicvhmwE
proves to be twice as difficult when you know you’re also assigned to 534Please respect copyright.PENANAh8Fzt4nivW
another area to clean in school. As soon as I finished brushing my 534Please respect copyright.PENANAEOWopOsYyr
teeth, I quickly got out of the ablution to fetch water by a nearby tap.534Please respect copyright.PENANA6VIr9EUE3b
Most of the showers never worked in the ablution, henceforth, fetching 534Please respect copyright.PENANANcI7wUmElM
water outside.534Please respect copyright.PENANAMxwmgQBWMf
Luckily, for me, there was no queue and I did things as fast as I could.534Please respect copyright.PENANA4kKKwD7GBs
Afterwards, I went back into the ablution and quickly found a vacant cubicle.534Please respect copyright.PENANAVU0Oxlh0PG
After getting cleaned 534Please respect copyright.PENANAWBKcn8O7C5
up, I wore my beige school uniform, clean white stockings and I had my 534Please respect copyright.PENANAO7oWk6p22q
black shoes, neatly clean and polished. I looked at myself in the mirror534Please respect copyright.PENANADL5xMo211f
and made sure my short afro hair was neatly combed. I had cut my long 534Please respect copyright.PENANAt6wPXz5sJA
hair a year ago before coming to this missionary school. As usual, one 534Please respect copyright.PENANA8Gi0OuYBRW
of the rules was not to come with long hair, especially if was it was 534Please respect copyright.PENANAU0RbJ14k0q
permed. They strongly insisted on natural hair. I had to cut my hair 534Please respect copyright.PENANAbL5G64a4o2
when I was going into grade 8 and I felt it was pretty unfair. But after534Please respect copyright.PENANA24U5GqCf2M
that year, I kind of got used to it. Surly they were just trying to 534Please respect copyright.PENANAHiNeRQpxHK
promote equality amongst us, but there were a lot of things I never 534Please respect copyright.PENANAsFbYnXk8aw
found amusing in this school.534Please respect copyright.PENANAvoHbmifGAF
Mpunde Girls Secondary 534Please respect copyright.PENANAgGPaVE8Kv7
School, a Catholic school run by the Hand Maid Sisters. Located in the 534Please respect copyright.PENANAHlH7AUw6Rk
Central Province of Zambia in the town of Kabwe, but pretty much away 534Please respect copyright.PENANAobfplMySPo
from civilisation. When I say that, I mean the school is located far 534Please respect copyright.PENANAHz9pliBcxt
away from town and deep into the bush. It’s located in the farthest 534Please respect copyright.PENANAZA1nfxvVAA
rural part of Kabwe.534Please respect copyright.PENANAl3QSu0JaoU
When I first came to 534Please respect copyright.PENANALHgG8k9nrz
this school to write an aptitude test to go into grade 8, I was greeted 534Please respect copyright.PENANAFbIsCrTtyp
by the lovely surroundings of the school. The lawns of the school were 534Please respect copyright.PENANAAHHyCyp14R
properly well cared for, and there were beautiful flowers everywhere. A 534Please respect copyright.PENANAQVBtN9yxKO
beautiful Catholic church was situated right outside the school grounds,534Please respect copyright.PENANAjg7UN6GezS
meant for the local people that lived around that area and for us 534Please respect copyright.PENANAQauENzUdlz
pupils. The attractive colours painted in different Catholic symbols, 534Please respect copyright.PENANAeP9LJvLaRP
inside and outside the walls of the church were astonishing to look at. 534Please respect copyright.PENANApJ2q5YVf7U
It looked more like art in my eyes.534Please respect copyright.PENANAORTbY5ifKm
At that moment, I 534Please respect copyright.PENANAb7SNtJ3lGg
thought things were going to get better in my life. The school was 534Please respect copyright.PENANA13btUNCisW
beautiful and the Catholic sisters and teachers who introduced 534Please respect copyright.PENANAhDdwHHPYmD
themselves to us girls and our parents, seemed so kind. And I was 534Please respect copyright.PENANAl28oc1HBE6
Catholic, so attending mass wasn’t much of a big deal. I thought I was 534Please respect copyright.PENANAvn073YIvFJ
going to love this place and make it more like my second home. But 534Please respect copyright.PENANAx6WSU5KBv7
things weren’t the case when I got to know the school a whole lot 534Please respect copyright.PENANA7teeyaEGf5
better. I remember a certain friend of mine back home tell me that,534Please respect copyright.PENANA4HZ5H4JBFK
most Catholic girl schools in Zambia were highly recommended because 534Please respect copyright.PENANAqHmh10GOE3
the Sisters were strict and pupils are disciplined. As far as I had 534Please respect copyright.PENANAnsMMP5mT0R
known, most Sisters were meant to be kind and loving, not strict and 534Please respect copyright.PENANAMzOSkRtt8x
mean. It looked like I had been stuck in oblivion for quite a while in 534Please respect copyright.PENANATPsOEVHofO
my life, that when I got to know what my friend truly meant, it was like534Please respect copyright.PENANAWAHmFZt2BJ
a hammer blow to the head. One's thing for sure, I didn’t like this 534Please respect copyright.PENANA7yCpbBKNgu
school. Every time we begun a new term, I would pray for the three 534Please respect copyright.PENANAogjHZXNMd7
months to pass by quickly. Whenever I came back home, it felt like I had534Please respect copyright.PENANA7TMtzMGezY
just come back from a beat-down, and as usual, losing the match every 534Please respect copyright.PENANAIixGH34S8x
time.534Please respect copyright.PENANA9elfg2TIhE
The school was strict 534Please respect copyright.PENANAbfmIhpLLre
and on point with their rules, I felt like a minion under their control.534Please respect copyright.PENANAfXEYJzsxec
Any little offense you make, they will take you as an offender. They 534Please respect copyright.PENANAqhFGX2nkte
were strict with how you kept the rooms and the surrounding areas clean.534Please respect copyright.PENANAF4SI2dSKyH
If they found that nothing was clean or things were out of place, 534Please respect copyright.PENANAP6F6jXUl1z
whether in the dorms or in the surrounding areas, either one of the 534Please respect copyright.PENANAAcB5RvbIt1
sisters or one of the teachers on duty, would call the pupils assigned 534Please respect copyright.PENANA3og2A9PxLv
to cleaning the area or the dorm, out of class to go back and do their 534Please respect copyright.PENANAnQshNUmJtl
work properly. And by the end of the day they are given a punishment, 534Please respect copyright.PENANAnvdJqbAM9x
which was usually to weed the garden, clean the poultry shack or sweep 534Please respect copyright.PENANA3JcJ3gzym8
up the leaves in the orchard. To me, that’s like working twice as hard 534Please respect copyright.PENANA3XJoei3wxz
as you usually do on a daily basis. There was nothing you could do about534Please respect copyright.PENANAXGpAH3SpXx
that anyway. That wasn’t the only that ticked me off sometimes. Most 534Please respect copyright.PENANAs8SeOJM0Em
prefects were mean and complete jerks towards us. It’s even much worse 534Please respect copyright.PENANACwpjmk8XoC
when you were in a lower grade. That meant more work, and if things 534Please respect copyright.PENANA6uuSiujZro
weren’t done right, punishment in the worst way, cleaning up the 534Please respect copyright.PENANATB7LubHlfZ
disgusting ablution or weeding the entire garden, with your hands. And 534Please respect copyright.PENANAFZqsewE7UL
they always had a special day to punish offenders. If you know you were 534Please respect copyright.PENANAV8iL9X3jSx
late for classes or attending meals and your name was written in any of 534Please respect copyright.PENANAewcOPnGQi5
the prefect’s books, just know you will find yourself on the offender’s 534Please respect copyright.PENANAm0oXulMc1j
list which is always stuck on Thursdays. That means after classes on 534Please respect copyright.PENANA4EwFCnBlfq
Thursdays, the first thing you would want to see first is if you’re on 534Please respect copyright.PENANARdbjHRskaU
the offender’s list. If you aren’t, then it’s just a time to relax. If 534Please respect copyright.PENANASGfXlFb7lE
you are on the list, get ready to thoroughly clean up the whole school, 534Please respect copyright.PENANA89uRkgzYGZ
you aren’t going to get off that list so easily if you didn’t work. 534Please respect copyright.PENANAMEBrhmuP7z
You’ll just find yourself on the other week’s offenders list.534Please respect copyright.PENANAo5xOGC7Beo
Enough about what ticks 534Please respect copyright.PENANAEiMJZATjuU
me off in this place. It was 7:00 AM and that meant it was time to get 534Please respect copyright.PENANAmKiV4GyDKN
to work. The way we were allocated to our places of work is according to534Please respect copyright.PENANAkmT3qHaLKG
dorms. There are 10 dorms in school. The size of the dorm also depends 534Please respect copyright.PENANAt1IJhADSth
where you’re allocated to work. For example, the second biggest dorm 534Please respect copyright.PENANA1DMSopx1Pg
called Dolores, which I’m in, usually worked in big places like the 534Please respect copyright.PENANANjklZIFoZB
orchard. And smaller dorms like Xavier A, usually worked in smaller 534Please respect copyright.PENANA5mJDEg18m0
areas like the kitchen area or the ablutions.534Please respect copyright.PENANAgGlNL8BSjs
It was time to go to the534Please respect copyright.PENANAORN5x4d7Rq
orchard, and as usual, we were always greeted by the sight of leaves 534Please respect copyright.PENANAQcz4pXoCXw
everywhere in the morning. Most of the time, people would usually sweep 534Please respect copyright.PENANAeqBtU7zIV0
up the leaves with a rake, but here, we would use brooms made up for the534Please respect copyright.PENANAGoRJwVFgTu
strongest tree branches. It was more than enough to sweep up the 534Please respect copyright.PENANAEePRpAJtax
leaves. So, we got to work with the brooms. Since there weren’t enough 534Please respect copyright.PENANAXbl1BIN17L
brooms, most of us had to wait until one finishes her potion and gave it534Please respect copyright.PENANAd3JenmStEo
you. I was one of those waiting today and I stood under a tree. 534Please respect copyright.PENANA1wHzUrTLGh
Christine came up to stand beside me. Our dorm prefect, Chileshe, stood 534Please respect copyright.PENANAY7IDcj80Qr
in front of us, doing her duty, to supervise.534Please respect copyright.PENANA5QbGITfSGo
“Hey, are you going to tell me why you couldn’t wake up today?” Christine asked, nudging her elbow to my side.534Please respect copyright.PENANA4qCNgT8kDe
“I don’t know,” I replied. “And you are such a bad bunker mate. You couldn’t even wake me up.”534Please respect copyright.PENANApy7R9YFE3q
“Huh?” Christine looked confused as she looked at me. “I tried to wake you up, but you were as still as a rock.”534Please respect copyright.PENANAIoCQjJmd38
I now stared back at Christine with a frown. “Are you sure? I didn’t hear you at all.”534Please respect copyright.PENANAxMEoU1wgPp
“Not only did I call out to you, but I shook you too. You didn’t even budge at all. It was like you were dead or something.”534Please respect copyright.PENANA8WqTotQ3QC
I shook my head. This 534Please respect copyright.PENANASAg4C6YtlL
was ridiculous and Christine was taking it like it was one big deal. If 534Please respect copyright.PENANAkf5kgneGUL
she was going to start talking about ghosts again, like she usually 534Please respect copyright.PENANARPSQB1DQzh
does, I didn’t know what I would do to her that would land me in serious534Please respect copyright.PENANAoVfIwTKLTe
trouble.534Please respect copyright.PENANAFwekuHiTF3
“Christine, all that just happened to me today. It’s not like it’s going to happen again,” I said.534Please respect copyright.PENANA2BjCYIpRm5
“Diana, you had me worried,” said Christine. “What if you didn’t wake up?”534Please respect copyright.PENANAoVtVg74iiT
“But I woke up, didn’t I?”534Please respect copyright.PENANA2VHfJ3ge7W
“Somehow I feel that there is something you aren’t telling me.”534Please respect copyright.PENANAmzmJ2gvbA7
I grew startled by what 534Please respect copyright.PENANAeIu4VHC3b5
Christine said. I was just about to ask what she meant by that when 534Please respect copyright.PENANAfK5rPKbDkP
Amanda came back from sweeping her potion and Christine was quick enough534Please respect copyright.PENANAGwx9zCKE2J
to get the broom before anyone else. I could feel that Christine was 534Please respect copyright.PENANAbeGnYdBaf0
really mad at me and the confusing part about it was why she was taking 534Please respect copyright.PENANAbZjFC6tK1R
all of this seriously. If I wanted an answer, I was so not ready to get a534Please respect copyright.PENANA9xVuUpWsXN
ridiculous one from Christine. She was so superstitious about things 534Please respect copyright.PENANAf63fCBhhkR
and I wasn’t coping with all of that ever since I first came to school 534Please respect copyright.PENANADNvp1S6G5Q
and learnt mysterious things that I wasn’t even willing to know.534Please respect copyright.PENANA2JP0KzZMF9
Amanda came to stand 534Please respect copyright.PENANA1rU92rGEKb
beside me as we watched Christine head towards her portion of the 534Please respect copyright.PENANAmOnp3KpCju
orchard. I drew out a breath of air. Amanda who had a bunker bed right 534Please respect copyright.PENANAKtm5xPfFQE
next to Christine’s and mine, looked over at me. By the look on her 534Please respect copyright.PENANAerXXWQPzQi
face, I could tell she knew what Christine and I were arguing about. I 534Please respect copyright.PENANAmrEf8VicdS
wasn’t even ready to hear what she had to say. Hearing from Christine 534Please respect copyright.PENANA5KUYKSCTz4
was more than enough.534Please respect copyright.PENANAD1EdXHrIXk
“I wouldn’t be so mad at Christine if I were you,” said Amanda.534Please respect copyright.PENANA3n38mtGMbp
“I’m not mad at her,” I said, “I just feel that she is making a mountain out of a mole hill.”534Please respect copyright.PENANAi4xaaQyKjE
Amanda folded her arms 534Please respect copyright.PENANAhvFim9JVnh
across her chest and leaned in closer to me so that people wouldn’t hear534Please respect copyright.PENANAcLNKvvFzap
us. “I was there when Christine tried to wake you up. You didn’t even 534Please respect copyright.PENANA7tIoq7OMWT
move an inch. You just laid there. And you looked, I don’t know, dead.”534Please respect copyright.PENANAXt9kmr9AS2
As far as I had known 534Please respect copyright.PENANAlFesNc6cIS
Amanda, she was one person who always aired out her honest opinions 534Please respect copyright.PENANAyFhaAyQxOG
about things and she was one who wouldn’t even lie. She was quite 534Please respect copyright.PENANAwbjEpH0SC9
terrible at it if you ask me. I knew what she was telling me right now 534Please respect copyright.PENANA4SxzBBYYLI
was the truth. I swallowed, still finding it hard to believe what Amanda534Please respect copyright.PENANAFRNQJHI7AY
had just told me.534Please respect copyright.PENANARQ6CZGT5WH
“If I was like that, why534Please respect copyright.PENANA1kLTAf2wId
didn’t you call the nurse or inform one of the prefects?” I turned to 534Please respect copyright.PENANAc2NlC3x52J
face Amanda, her brown innocent eyes staring back at me.534Please respect copyright.PENANAvO45TK7UeC
“Christine was scared 534Please respect copyright.PENANAyzsgrHOZ0F
when she couldn’t wake you. She almost freaked out and I told her that 534Please respect copyright.PENANAgmR0ImZWeu
you would be fine, that you were just in a deep sleep. I told her to 534Please respect copyright.PENANAsSwwEknFMA
leave the dorm and that I would watch over you until you woke up. We 534Please respect copyright.PENANA9iGN8IYMY1
didn’t want to attract any attention among the dorm mates until we were 534Please respect copyright.PENANAQr8vKAbbn6
sure you were okay.”534Please respect copyright.PENANA68FdLoS4FV
“Where were you when I woke up? I didn’t see you and the whole dorm was empty.”534Please respect copyright.PENANAV3NXNkGJ0h
“I was standing by the 534Please respect copyright.PENANApi1cYSXcXF
door of the dorm when you woke up. And to be honest, you woke up in the 534Please respect copyright.PENANA1C388Eq7bF
weirdest way possible. It was like you were given CPR and was suddenly 534Please respect copyright.PENANAeR8lNvWAd7
revived.”534Please respect copyright.PENANALvB6Oz2zr4
Now that Amanda had 534Please respect copyright.PENANA3SaEwD4I3W
mentioned it, I did wake up in the weirdest way today. I felt like 534Please respect copyright.PENANAeRXrfNIg2O
someone had pumped in water into my nostrils when it was actually air. I534Please respect copyright.PENANAXPZ5P3zOS4
could still remember my throat burn and I held it again without even 534Please respect copyright.PENANA26yA2jLkNf
realising it. I looked up at Amanda and she gave me a sad smile.534Please respect copyright.PENANADpr1X7EkUS
“And you told Christine?” I asked when I obviously knew the answer.534Please respect copyright.PENANAZCcspLl3IU
“You know I couldn’t lie534Please respect copyright.PENANAOypNpBhkPS
to her. She was worried and she has every right to. And so was I. What 534Please respect copyright.PENANABYiJodHMmJ
if you never did wake up? Have you ever thought of what would have 534Please respect copyright.PENANAUi6mMdJx5e
happened if you had died in your sleep?”534Please respect copyright.PENANAVt2Clpebx1
I took in Amanda’s 534Please respect copyright.PENANAHaltsSPzAX
questions into consideration and I looked at Christine who was busy at 534Please respect copyright.PENANAIrWttPmGUd
work. It was obvious that she was avoiding me. I swallowed hard and 534Please respect copyright.PENANAyq3bk27KXK
stared off in a distance. All Christine was trying to do was help me out534Please respect copyright.PENANAL8JY0xd5HH
and I was acting like a complete jerk. But she couldn’t blame me for 534Please respect copyright.PENANAjfGX7LJ51A
it. I didn’t even know what had happened to me in the first place.534Please respect copyright.PENANAEiYxxv28u4
It was now my turn to go534Please respect copyright.PENANAFLxYkVugde
and sweep as I took the broom from my fellow dorm mate, Chilufya who 534Please respect copyright.PENANAr6doUpNn58
was a grade ahead of me. I went to my portion under a few guava trees. 534Please respect copyright.PENANASJKIjGCcwe
Before I could bend down to start sweeping, a sudden wave of pain gushed534Please respect copyright.PENANACTsOyIu6tU
down upon my head. The pain was so unbearable, that I almost screamed 534Please respect copyright.PENANA6u7glmZzpA
aloud as I held my head.534Please respect copyright.PENANAg6ilCm0PXJ
As I looked around the 534Please respect copyright.PENANAU24Fk80Kc6
place, everything seemed blurry. I tried blinking my eyes a few times to534Please respect copyright.PENANAWLffSNz6Wf
refocus my sight, but that didn’t seem to work. I leaned onto a tree 534Please respect copyright.PENANAUf9eWmrXUs
for support and I soon felt a jolt of dizziness and I felt like I would 534Please respect copyright.PENANAmNiA1LqIpX
throw up at any moment. Soon, voices of concern surrounded me and I felt534Please respect copyright.PENANAiSXcFaHFZZ
a warm familiar hand hold my shoulder. I saw Christine looking at me 534Please respect copyright.PENANAEGmOzg8lRX
and with our other dorm mates surrounding me.534Please respect copyright.PENANACE5ltfhyY3
My vision was still 534Please respect copyright.PENANAcW1jcPz0Hz
blurry and my head ached like hell. What was even worse was the fact 534Please respect copyright.PENANAlwWhzndasi
that everyone was talking and I couldn’t get a thing they said, not even534Please respect copyright.PENANAMUK5VvbmbN
Christine who was right next to me. I felt so confused that I was 534Please respect copyright.PENANAiRa7Wxy8Hc
afraid of running mad with all the noise. I looked around and I noticed 534Please respect copyright.PENANAwD0wK0fPRZ
that my vision was getting worse. I could notice a few of my dorm mates’534Please respect copyright.PENANAnrlc88ETUc
faces including the dorm prefect, Chileshe. I saw Amanda at the far end534Please respect copyright.PENANAnNFFMEWG7n
of the crowd, looking scared. And I noticed someone standing right 534Please respect copyright.PENANAUBjfrj3zVN
behind her.534Please respect copyright.PENANACYRlKaDFPp
At that moment, my 534Please respect copyright.PENANARW6Q1LN4Fi
vision cleared when I saw the tall person who was standing behind 534Please respect copyright.PENANATn0bMaAvCi
Amanda. I felt a burning sensation run through my body, but I was 534Please respect copyright.PENANASLrSGoOBjG
sensible enough not to scream. I continued to look at the tall figure 534Please respect copyright.PENANA0tEhsHOQSa
and out of nowhere, a flood of images rushed through my head in a quick 534Please respect copyright.PENANAFoOJ5HWr8X
flash.534Please respect copyright.PENANAHSS060V8cm
Right before I could figure out what had just happened; I was falling into a pit of darkness, right into oblivion.
534Please respect copyright.PENANAg2JXyUEvPO