Five years ago,503Please respect copyright.PENANAUD0yyjFVs1
February 13th, 2010.503Please respect copyright.PENANANKFzIE2W6A
Mpunde Girls Secondary School,503Please respect copyright.PENANAfQ41uTLqnE
Zambia.503Please respect copyright.PENANAdTrCcK8laz
I gasped for air as I 503Please respect copyright.PENANAUBjNyXvvtY
quickly sat up on my bed, holding my burning throat and feeling my lungs503Please respect copyright.PENANAo8YLETrZBH
ache as air quickly flooded in. For a moment, I thought I was drowning 503Please respect copyright.PENANAJtJRT2UuN7
in water, but I was actually taking in air. I coughed out a little and 503Please respect copyright.PENANAZjSzqRwZ4y
opened my eyes. The lights in the dorm were all turned on and the bunker503Please respect copyright.PENANAZzWKgQVCl8
beds were all empty. For a moment, I panicked as I quickly got out of 503Please respect copyright.PENANAYbnr8NKiTA
bed on the bunker bed below, looking around the dorm. There was no one 503Please respect copyright.PENANA1v7EBOlk2o
and I felt scared and worried. I quickly looked out of the window and I 503Please respect copyright.PENANAqr6LDn3ugw
realised that the sun was rising up from the east. I couldn’t help but 503Please respect copyright.PENANAgac8P2VMTL
sigh in relief, but then again, I realised that I was running late and 503Please respect copyright.PENANAOggfhHJEcJ
my dorm mates were obviously hitting the showers in the ablution. And I 503Please respect copyright.PENANAr9MUlO4hyA
was the only one left in the dorm.503Please respect copyright.PENANAIRd5IZuxPL
I quickly grabbed my 503Please respect copyright.PENANA9pf4eAMnDf
toothbrush, toothpaste, my bath towel and cloth. Quickly slipped my feet503Please respect copyright.PENANAA10S9DxQhg
into my bath slippers and when I turned around the corner of my bunker 503Please respect copyright.PENANAR5MQeJdgy0
bed to grab my bucket, I realised it wasn’t there. I sighed, this time 503Please respect copyright.PENANAe0eMkoRn6r
in frustration.503Please respect copyright.PENANAdx2iGJ1fIc
Obviously because I knew503Please respect copyright.PENANAZIXYrEwWye
who took it. If it wasn’t my bunker mate, then it was probably one of 503Please respect copyright.PENANAGUhpbVUj93
the dorm mates. In my nightdress, I rushed out of the dorm and headed 503Please respect copyright.PENANA96gLXiYDQp
for the ablution. The ablution was one place where I found it so 503Please respect copyright.PENANAZv9hQ5Jnfw
repulsive to be in. Despite it being cleaned every day, it was always a 503Please respect copyright.PENANARMvBFxQqN2
surprise how it gets messed up and flooded afterwards. When I mean 503Please respect copyright.PENANAr5haCN4k9z
messed up, I mean the toilets is one thing you wouldn’t like to see 503Please respect copyright.PENANAeoQn7Lk7lv
first after you eat a meal. For a moment, I wonder if we really are 503Please respect copyright.PENANAZAgK8SSe2g
girls or sometimes we act like boys who like to leave a mess. We are 503Please respect copyright.PENANA9GDprfVO64
“GIRLS” for crying out loud. And as far as I know, we need to take care 503Please respect copyright.PENANAbyBMMlkSl8
of ourselves and the environment around us. Looks like being in boarding503Please respect copyright.PENANAH9ZmkmPY51
school, you get to know that sometimes things aren’t always what you 503Please respect copyright.PENANAbwd5Nyy05R
thought it ought to be.503Please respect copyright.PENANAngRCakfKh3
On either side of the 503Please respect copyright.PENANAaCXBDOsqwR
ablution were the shower side and the toilet side. In between was a 503Please respect copyright.PENANA5Qa3QwAyUx
passage where people could move around and line up their buckets to get 503Please respect copyright.PENANA9h28zBIp8m
into the shower cubicles. When it gets flooded, it’s pretty hard to move503Please respect copyright.PENANAX4DIMj0hrQ
around and many people have slipped and fallen. Trust me; it’s not a 503Please respect copyright.PENANAWqqFEbP9bm
pretty sight when you see someone falling on their back into the water, 503Please respect copyright.PENANAKtgYEXMVzj
which was probably dirty. Luckily for me, that hasn’t happened, yet. I 503Please respect copyright.PENANAj7Hr3wNFA2
wasn’t pushing my luck on that one. One day, I would probably fall and 503Please respect copyright.PENANASaun02u5cl
hopefully I wouldn’t break my bones in the process. At the far end of 503Please respect copyright.PENANAIMoJlWtywo
the ablution were sinks where you can go and brush your teeth and wash 503Please respect copyright.PENANAWkp8oqRKiR
your face. And by the corner was a store room where we kept the cleaning503Please respect copyright.PENANA7wzHvGUT5C
materials for the ablution.503Please respect copyright.PENANAg0SYtpaG82
I stood by the door of 503Please respect copyright.PENANAXTzesiB5gf
the ablution, and as usual, there were queues of buckets all lined up, 503Please respect copyright.PENANAdFneC2rSd2
their owners standing beside them waiting for the shower cubicles to be 503Please respect copyright.PENANAUnHPF3o8uu
vacant. I looked around for my bunker mate and I couldn’t see her on any503Please respect copyright.PENANA2RVmyxItof
of the queues. I considered her to be in the shower and so I went by 503Please respect copyright.PENANABtcUIKy6ip
the sink to brush my teeth. The ablution was flooded again and so as 503Please respect copyright.PENANAY2AuCsUje1
always I had to be careful, taking a step at a time.503Please respect copyright.PENANAsEeUZEiuyQ
When I finally got to 503Please respect copyright.PENANAlHYzzDKPcB
the sinks, all in one peace, I suddenly felt a jolt of pain in my head 503Please respect copyright.PENANAmB3sEbh667
as though I was just struck by lightning. It felt more like a migraine 503Please respect copyright.PENANAduej4s4Qjq
and I held my head, almost screaming out in pain. I saw a dark image 503Please respect copyright.PENANAVZYf2nGlVi
flash before my eyes and for a moment, I thought the lights went off and503Please respect copyright.PENANA5n3dO79UtF
come back on. But when I looked around everything around the ablution 503Please respect copyright.PENANA227aHJh056
seemed to be normal. Usually when the power cuts, we girls like to 503Please respect copyright.PENANAwWv77bUz0a
scream, a lot, except for a few of us who are already used to the dark. 503Please respect copyright.PENANA7kVGEWYcuK
This time, that wasn’t the case. Everything seemed normal and I felt 503Please respect copyright.PENANAfCJqTiLAye
maybe I was being delirious.503Please respect copyright.PENANAGxIYBPMn3v
“Hey, Diana, are you okay?”503Please respect copyright.PENANAp6f9aJbeqx
I turned to the last 503Please respect copyright.PENANApCynxyAL4a
shower cubicle which was closer to the sinks, and there wrapped up in a 503Please respect copyright.PENANAZkWc0hiDY6
pink towel stood my bunker mate, Christine. And just as I expected, she 503Please respect copyright.PENANA9Rz3FVWDAU
was holding my bucket. She slowly walked over to me, trying to avoid the503Please respect copyright.PENANAjYpmW4ZMKD
dirty ablution water from flowing into her bath slippers.503Please respect copyright.PENANAcU7r6YRMmM
“Are you okay? It looks like you just saw a ghost,” Christine had a worrying look on her face.503Please respect copyright.PENANAHeNCA7ua0o
“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.503Please respect copyright.PENANAqz9PiEGHTK
“You had me worried, I thought you saw something like a ghost.”503Please respect copyright.PENANA9Yp8h05Pca
“You know I don’t believe in such things as the ghosts that haunt people around school.”503Please respect copyright.PENANAFQkoJQmuwz
“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.503Please respect copyright.PENANAAoGC1UnBUo
“What happened to you 503Please respect copyright.PENANAagUcQmnOnA
today, anyway? You’re usually the first to wake up when the morning bell503Please respect copyright.PENANADjXwhwN1Mi
rings. But today you slept like a rock,” Christine added on, this time 503Please respect copyright.PENANA5XB9yJ1nPq
there was a concerned tone in her voice.503Please respect copyright.PENANAZPi0IjsQkw
It hadn’t occurred to me503Please respect copyright.PENANA83OY9eDpqI
that I had never heard the morning bell in the first place. I was 503Please respect copyright.PENANAOXoBcSPNNd
always the early bird and I was never a heavy sleeper. I was always 503Please respect copyright.PENANAHYMmnSSbye
sensitive with whatever sounds I get to hear. But today, I hadn’t even 503Please respect copyright.PENANApcYztufs3l
heard my own dorm mates’ footsteps as they always rush out and into the 503Please respect copyright.PENANAi1UUHf0j6Q
dorm.503Please respect copyright.PENANAA2gvr6lZo3
“I guess today just wasn’t my day,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders.503Please respect copyright.PENANAnRc7NstPYk
“Well, you better hurry 503Please respect copyright.PENANAJpKzEymjp0
up then,” said Christine, handling the bucket over to me, “you don’t 503Please respect copyright.PENANAFV8OfRFKHS
want to be caught by the prefects when it’s time to clean up the 503Please respect copyright.PENANANZ6ke3mpNM
ablution. And that’s not how you want to start the day.”503Please respect copyright.PENANAVe24IYYBcy
I scowled again as I 503Please respect copyright.PENANAWfnYSjKMCp
took the bucket away from Christine. As I mentioned earlier, the 503Please respect copyright.PENANAwsFqeb5mQI
ablution always get cleaned. And we the pupils clean it with the senior 503Please respect copyright.PENANAEqyp1jHz1L
prefects as our supervisors. At 6:30 AM, everyone should vacate the 503Please respect copyright.PENANAecwLOgJVtW
ablutions so that the assigned group of pupils put to clean up the 503Please respect copyright.PENANAtK7TpU7ezl
ablution should do their work. If you’re caught still in the showers, 503Please respect copyright.PENANAx5qp9rE0yF
you would obviously have to join in the cleaning process. And that 503Please respect copyright.PENANAMQmpSpIVca
proves to be twice as difficult when you know you’re also assigned to 503Please respect copyright.PENANAPqUulGIV7F
another area to clean in school. As soon as I finished brushing my 503Please respect copyright.PENANAeqVGQzFqlS
teeth, I quickly got out of the ablution to fetch water by a nearby tap.503Please respect copyright.PENANAQaPCjTjhxa
Most of the showers never worked in the ablution, henceforth, fetching 503Please respect copyright.PENANAXOaQJ4aj4H
water outside.503Please respect copyright.PENANA9Kjd76T0YE
Luckily, for me, there was no queue and I did things as fast as I could.503Please respect copyright.PENANAdKT4v9c01a
Afterwards, I went back into the ablution and quickly found a vacant cubicle.503Please respect copyright.PENANAv8cNSn4Sr4
After getting cleaned 503Please respect copyright.PENANACR9fhDJid5
up, I wore my beige school uniform, clean white stockings and I had my 503Please respect copyright.PENANA7rDEpIHkMm
black shoes, neatly clean and polished. I looked at myself in the mirror503Please respect copyright.PENANASQ5Nmc6QOQ
and made sure my short afro hair was neatly combed. I had cut my long 503Please respect copyright.PENANAxDjA7e0DwR
hair a year ago before coming to this missionary school. As usual, one 503Please respect copyright.PENANAU0dVvKnx5S
of the rules was not to come with long hair, especially if was it was 503Please respect copyright.PENANABBuYOKLTc4
permed. They strongly insisted on natural hair. I had to cut my hair 503Please respect copyright.PENANA9eshOhYurf
when I was going into grade 8 and I felt it was pretty unfair. But after503Please respect copyright.PENANABQIdoapaxV
that year, I kind of got used to it. Surly they were just trying to 503Please respect copyright.PENANAibrkITZuhw
promote equality amongst us, but there were a lot of things I never 503Please respect copyright.PENANAGtbOjyCVPM
found amusing in this school.503Please respect copyright.PENANACy8JQBoybx
Mpunde Girls Secondary 503Please respect copyright.PENANAtRBljKg6To
School, a Catholic school run by the Hand Maid Sisters. Located in the 503Please respect copyright.PENANA8BhpYMA77L
Central Province of Zambia in the town of Kabwe, but pretty much away 503Please respect copyright.PENANAvymhJF5twN
from civilisation. When I say that, I mean the school is located far 503Please respect copyright.PENANAZ4YiA4tV8r
away from town and deep into the bush. It’s located in the farthest 503Please respect copyright.PENANAmzp8tz0v1W
rural part of Kabwe.503Please respect copyright.PENANAoiZdpfg5Zh
When I first came to 503Please respect copyright.PENANAhZ3v3sLuhi
this school to write an aptitude test to go into grade 8, I was greeted 503Please respect copyright.PENANAt14JIvk1kM
by the lovely surroundings of the school. The lawns of the school were 503Please respect copyright.PENANALVFpBpUuLe
properly well cared for, and there were beautiful flowers everywhere. A 503Please respect copyright.PENANAtv5YSq3pDR
beautiful Catholic church was situated right outside the school grounds,503Please respect copyright.PENANATMwzPGI2wa
meant for the local people that lived around that area and for us 503Please respect copyright.PENANAcYsCGktYaf
pupils. The attractive colours painted in different Catholic symbols, 503Please respect copyright.PENANAhXf26AjWm0
inside and outside the walls of the church were astonishing to look at. 503Please respect copyright.PENANAkaEh3WPDJF
It looked more like art in my eyes.503Please respect copyright.PENANAlsVCtHcETn
At that moment, I 503Please respect copyright.PENANAKz6s8UMtq6
thought things were going to get better in my life. The school was 503Please respect copyright.PENANAMfltqXiqgm
beautiful and the Catholic sisters and teachers who introduced 503Please respect copyright.PENANAQ1SBrc2pA9
themselves to us girls and our parents, seemed so kind. And I was 503Please respect copyright.PENANA0q4L64Fa85
Catholic, so attending mass wasn’t much of a big deal. I thought I was 503Please respect copyright.PENANAYKh090YJeG
going to love this place and make it more like my second home. But 503Please respect copyright.PENANA9dpD6nXzAM
things weren’t the case when I got to know the school a whole lot 503Please respect copyright.PENANAzLA12fIFn9
better. I remember a certain friend of mine back home tell me that,503Please respect copyright.PENANAEqeu1L9BCW
most Catholic girl schools in Zambia were highly recommended because 503Please respect copyright.PENANApFfkemg2eR
the Sisters were strict and pupils are disciplined. As far as I had 503Please respect copyright.PENANAV6AtKwvdTZ
known, most Sisters were meant to be kind and loving, not strict and 503Please respect copyright.PENANAJQst00v1Sj
mean. It looked like I had been stuck in oblivion for quite a while in 503Please respect copyright.PENANAOW7uoXtcux
my life, that when I got to know what my friend truly meant, it was like503Please respect copyright.PENANATaIweFsvkR
a hammer blow to the head. One's thing for sure, I didn’t like this 503Please respect copyright.PENANARuGABYUJfw
school. Every time we begun a new term, I would pray for the three 503Please respect copyright.PENANAF6qTONtxgE
months to pass by quickly. Whenever I came back home, it felt like I had503Please respect copyright.PENANAARG9fbARhp
just come back from a beat-down, and as usual, losing the match every 503Please respect copyright.PENANAUxsRNK9Myn
time.503Please respect copyright.PENANAsJ8xYTWxwV
The school was strict 503Please respect copyright.PENANAFGLHj383qU
and on point with their rules, I felt like a minion under their control.503Please respect copyright.PENANAcNA6rYg1aT
Any little offense you make, they will take you as an offender. They 503Please respect copyright.PENANAM9vFKHTnBx
were strict with how you kept the rooms and the surrounding areas clean.503Please respect copyright.PENANA1iJUb5bURB
If they found that nothing was clean or things were out of place, 503Please respect copyright.PENANAuxbflCuwUf
whether in the dorms or in the surrounding areas, either one of the 503Please respect copyright.PENANAsmDfWYBmz8
sisters or one of the teachers on duty, would call the pupils assigned 503Please respect copyright.PENANAt2hjr96ZoV
to cleaning the area or the dorm, out of class to go back and do their 503Please respect copyright.PENANA79q2xz6bvJ
work properly. And by the end of the day they are given a punishment, 503Please respect copyright.PENANAlxqip3wzrJ
which was usually to weed the garden, clean the poultry shack or sweep 503Please respect copyright.PENANAJksnUSQ2Yk
up the leaves in the orchard. To me, that’s like working twice as hard 503Please respect copyright.PENANA9N1RBDZj7k
as you usually do on a daily basis. There was nothing you could do about503Please respect copyright.PENANAXquZwivsx5
that anyway. That wasn’t the only that ticked me off sometimes. Most 503Please respect copyright.PENANAIEtEcsk8BZ
prefects were mean and complete jerks towards us. It’s even much worse 503Please respect copyright.PENANAEpSOzDplJN
when you were in a lower grade. That meant more work, and if things 503Please respect copyright.PENANAnbKOumT6m8
weren’t done right, punishment in the worst way, cleaning up the 503Please respect copyright.PENANAcCzeys7Sux
disgusting ablution or weeding the entire garden, with your hands. And 503Please respect copyright.PENANAYf7B2X2f4m
they always had a special day to punish offenders. If you know you were 503Please respect copyright.PENANAzjoKg7G7Dd
late for classes or attending meals and your name was written in any of 503Please respect copyright.PENANAL1rM252Mqs
the prefect’s books, just know you will find yourself on the offender’s 503Please respect copyright.PENANA32q2mMK4lh
list which is always stuck on Thursdays. That means after classes on 503Please respect copyright.PENANAVu8zM7xkXf
Thursdays, the first thing you would want to see first is if you’re on 503Please respect copyright.PENANAlEAripfzCK
the offender’s list. If you aren’t, then it’s just a time to relax. If 503Please respect copyright.PENANA9piAzvTISr
you are on the list, get ready to thoroughly clean up the whole school, 503Please respect copyright.PENANAo2jYlXriP2
you aren’t going to get off that list so easily if you didn’t work. 503Please respect copyright.PENANAb8d44bu4kN
You’ll just find yourself on the other week’s offenders list.503Please respect copyright.PENANAqPPYwHFeLW
Enough about what ticks 503Please respect copyright.PENANA27TBLueQsJ
me off in this place. It was 7:00 AM and that meant it was time to get 503Please respect copyright.PENANAmsTKqzx3FF
to work. The way we were allocated to our places of work is according to503Please respect copyright.PENANAuBy12q9fzN
dorms. There are 10 dorms in school. The size of the dorm also depends 503Please respect copyright.PENANAd7PqWoKOsq
where you’re allocated to work. For example, the second biggest dorm 503Please respect copyright.PENANAVE0gbCePgZ
called Dolores, which I’m in, usually worked in big places like the 503Please respect copyright.PENANAgekOBMSEM5
orchard. And smaller dorms like Xavier A, usually worked in smaller 503Please respect copyright.PENANA2QfjXUM6Dt
areas like the kitchen area or the ablutions.503Please respect copyright.PENANAAfIgrrPsyQ
It was time to go to the503Please respect copyright.PENANAvgSG9dcUr6
orchard, and as usual, we were always greeted by the sight of leaves 503Please respect copyright.PENANAnGlLHD65y4
everywhere in the morning. Most of the time, people would usually sweep 503Please respect copyright.PENANA43VBZQvrwn
up the leaves with a rake, but here, we would use brooms made up for the503Please respect copyright.PENANA2ZzkYvq6HZ
strongest tree branches. It was more than enough to sweep up the 503Please respect copyright.PENANAIQ87m6h6SD
leaves. So, we got to work with the brooms. Since there weren’t enough 503Please respect copyright.PENANAg1RQZB8ZW9
brooms, most of us had to wait until one finishes her potion and gave it503Please respect copyright.PENANAQd5XlnlBOL
you. I was one of those waiting today and I stood under a tree. 503Please respect copyright.PENANAZ86sY2I1SX
Christine came up to stand beside me. Our dorm prefect, Chileshe, stood 503Please respect copyright.PENANAwvoF3GrJyJ
in front of us, doing her duty, to supervise.503Please respect copyright.PENANAF71M3TgOhP
“Hey, are you going to tell me why you couldn’t wake up today?” Christine asked, nudging her elbow to my side.503Please respect copyright.PENANAoovEVz23LM
“I don’t know,” I replied. “And you are such a bad bunker mate. You couldn’t even wake me up.”503Please respect copyright.PENANA9mbyibvgBt
“Huh?” Christine looked confused as she looked at me. “I tried to wake you up, but you were as still as a rock.”503Please respect copyright.PENANAOQrGtxFQ32
I now stared back at Christine with a frown. “Are you sure? I didn’t hear you at all.”503Please respect copyright.PENANAfwc6WugqN1
“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.”503Please respect copyright.PENANACQveGiY0l8
I shook my head. This 503Please respect copyright.PENANAkMqvUkUl77
was ridiculous and Christine was taking it like it was one big deal. If 503Please respect copyright.PENANAOabYpC8uSI
she was going to start talking about ghosts again, like she usually 503Please respect copyright.PENANAi2YcB5RQxh
does, I didn’t know what I would do to her that would land me in serious503Please respect copyright.PENANAEx3hCBdgtv
trouble.503Please respect copyright.PENANAMC4AT7Nmxi
“Christine, all that just happened to me today. It’s not like it’s going to happen again,” I said.503Please respect copyright.PENANAsG5s4dUQ4i
“Diana, you had me worried,” said Christine. “What if you didn’t wake up?”503Please respect copyright.PENANAaWxfzL4wDn
“But I woke up, didn’t I?”503Please respect copyright.PENANAbnewXdNGaq
“Somehow I feel that there is something you aren’t telling me.”503Please respect copyright.PENANAXvCYN9MAgF
I grew startled by what 503Please respect copyright.PENANA6M3nl7WRfa
Christine said. I was just about to ask what she meant by that when 503Please respect copyright.PENANA2vTgrNaoSw
Amanda came back from sweeping her potion and Christine was quick enough503Please respect copyright.PENANAwZtWACRdDb
to get the broom before anyone else. I could feel that Christine was 503Please respect copyright.PENANA57pXj4NfuK
really mad at me and the confusing part about it was why she was taking 503Please respect copyright.PENANAyoruU1zJVI
all of this seriously. If I wanted an answer, I was so not ready to get a503Please respect copyright.PENANAw8UNPqWz6s
ridiculous one from Christine. She was so superstitious about things 503Please respect copyright.PENANAFbcEYGE7HA
and I wasn’t coping with all of that ever since I first came to school 503Please respect copyright.PENANANoaSzjOabS
and learnt mysterious things that I wasn’t even willing to know.503Please respect copyright.PENANASn3UgG61O3
Amanda came to stand 503Please respect copyright.PENANAyIVFeZf8l8
beside me as we watched Christine head towards her portion of the 503Please respect copyright.PENANAbV18JVzfmo
orchard. I drew out a breath of air. Amanda who had a bunker bed right 503Please respect copyright.PENANA2uDmWxsxyH
next to Christine’s and mine, looked over at me. By the look on her 503Please respect copyright.PENANApwHDYdwiI6
face, I could tell she knew what Christine and I were arguing about. I 503Please respect copyright.PENANABLuv0ogybA
wasn’t even ready to hear what she had to say. Hearing from Christine 503Please respect copyright.PENANAfzZARQYkQV
was more than enough.503Please respect copyright.PENANAsO6elXELnz
“I wouldn’t be so mad at Christine if I were you,” said Amanda.503Please respect copyright.PENANAXMsFPYx1f4
“I’m not mad at her,” I said, “I just feel that she is making a mountain out of a mole hill.”503Please respect copyright.PENANAmQlnP8jv01
Amanda folded her arms 503Please respect copyright.PENANAjfSvZwSWiJ
across her chest and leaned in closer to me so that people wouldn’t hear503Please respect copyright.PENANAdcl7gtRA7D
us. “I was there when Christine tried to wake you up. You didn’t even 503Please respect copyright.PENANAnHFANk6pyc
move an inch. You just laid there. And you looked, I don’t know, dead.”503Please respect copyright.PENANAp0bMZ248VG
As far as I had known 503Please respect copyright.PENANAwZUoHGUcJS
Amanda, she was one person who always aired out her honest opinions 503Please respect copyright.PENANAQivVarDVWd
about things and she was one who wouldn’t even lie. She was quite 503Please respect copyright.PENANAnd81CAX7V4
terrible at it if you ask me. I knew what she was telling me right now 503Please respect copyright.PENANASeJXYg1yZf
was the truth. I swallowed, still finding it hard to believe what Amanda503Please respect copyright.PENANAWuxKc1lSLq
had just told me.503Please respect copyright.PENANAGWCq5SRfnm
“If I was like that, why503Please respect copyright.PENANA8O4J1zB8rQ
didn’t you call the nurse or inform one of the prefects?” I turned to 503Please respect copyright.PENANA5sb9Pgsth0
face Amanda, her brown innocent eyes staring back at me.503Please respect copyright.PENANA59A4oJonI5
“Christine was scared 503Please respect copyright.PENANAwl4sCwqMgc
when she couldn’t wake you. She almost freaked out and I told her that 503Please respect copyright.PENANAOn6w72AGUM
you would be fine, that you were just in a deep sleep. I told her to 503Please respect copyright.PENANAHitu3lzKh8
leave the dorm and that I would watch over you until you woke up. We 503Please respect copyright.PENANATWZ373W8z4
didn’t want to attract any attention among the dorm mates until we were 503Please respect copyright.PENANAVl2j5SsW3U
sure you were okay.”503Please respect copyright.PENANA5LOTUtZYhG
“Where were you when I woke up? I didn’t see you and the whole dorm was empty.”503Please respect copyright.PENANAeKxamE8MoG
“I was standing by the 503Please respect copyright.PENANA82JEQJrdlB
door of the dorm when you woke up. And to be honest, you woke up in the 503Please respect copyright.PENANAPixjEYjdF9
weirdest way possible. It was like you were given CPR and was suddenly 503Please respect copyright.PENANArSw9GI52sz
revived.”503Please respect copyright.PENANAy9BKBsJ4yK
Now that Amanda had 503Please respect copyright.PENANAHGQ9hB8oFp
mentioned it, I did wake up in the weirdest way today. I felt like 503Please respect copyright.PENANAMxc3hh5vuk
someone had pumped in water into my nostrils when it was actually air. I503Please respect copyright.PENANAVW12ZBZHwm
could still remember my throat burn and I held it again without even 503Please respect copyright.PENANA8UwS1GIcX7
realising it. I looked up at Amanda and she gave me a sad smile.503Please respect copyright.PENANAF8HVhKK8Uk
“And you told Christine?” I asked when I obviously knew the answer.503Please respect copyright.PENANAgiOBAckroC
“You know I couldn’t lie503Please respect copyright.PENANAeJgQdXAxQV
to her. She was worried and she has every right to. And so was I. What 503Please respect copyright.PENANAwDOwL8Xxor
if you never did wake up? Have you ever thought of what would have 503Please respect copyright.PENANACRRoT38JXX
happened if you had died in your sleep?”503Please respect copyright.PENANAgXFTXkzzuc
I took in Amanda’s 503Please respect copyright.PENANAlsGczUjKGt
questions into consideration and I looked at Christine who was busy at 503Please respect copyright.PENANAAfVREqV43m
work. It was obvious that she was avoiding me. I swallowed hard and 503Please respect copyright.PENANAkfaZtAvdc4
stared off in a distance. All Christine was trying to do was help me out503Please respect copyright.PENANAWzNLRG1K0a
and I was acting like a complete jerk. But she couldn’t blame me for 503Please respect copyright.PENANAmMjW91hmLD
it. I didn’t even know what had happened to me in the first place.503Please respect copyright.PENANAPqxIBtFcbl
It was now my turn to go503Please respect copyright.PENANAbGSg5Ji9tC
and sweep as I took the broom from my fellow dorm mate, Chilufya who 503Please respect copyright.PENANAbTSMACD4vF
was a grade ahead of me. I went to my portion under a few guava trees. 503Please respect copyright.PENANAvWHrwGg8NU
Before I could bend down to start sweeping, a sudden wave of pain gushed503Please respect copyright.PENANAqd762chXLZ
down upon my head. The pain was so unbearable, that I almost screamed 503Please respect copyright.PENANAwQkohGGxwV
aloud as I held my head.503Please respect copyright.PENANAFZiBlrgVTc
As I looked around the 503Please respect copyright.PENANA5r8Du0zOPq
place, everything seemed blurry. I tried blinking my eyes a few times to503Please respect copyright.PENANAMarSVShWAN
refocus my sight, but that didn’t seem to work. I leaned onto a tree 503Please respect copyright.PENANAJri0g125Dh
for support and I soon felt a jolt of dizziness and I felt like I would 503Please respect copyright.PENANAfgaI3kkwhg
throw up at any moment. Soon, voices of concern surrounded me and I felt503Please respect copyright.PENANADmnN4eXTh0
a warm familiar hand hold my shoulder. I saw Christine looking at me 503Please respect copyright.PENANAjdx2HICyuJ
and with our other dorm mates surrounding me.503Please respect copyright.PENANAAIzdBDLbDq
My vision was still 503Please respect copyright.PENANAcwOL1SJlci
blurry and my head ached like hell. What was even worse was the fact 503Please respect copyright.PENANArCakjBwKSW
that everyone was talking and I couldn’t get a thing they said, not even503Please respect copyright.PENANASLUkQ8K42F
Christine who was right next to me. I felt so confused that I was 503Please respect copyright.PENANASWw2GmTNUM
afraid of running mad with all the noise. I looked around and I noticed 503Please respect copyright.PENANA34htH4ciQz
that my vision was getting worse. I could notice a few of my dorm mates’503Please respect copyright.PENANAym6aXYtcUk
faces including the dorm prefect, Chileshe. I saw Amanda at the far end503Please respect copyright.PENANA2Q2cFPaMRb
of the crowd, looking scared. And I noticed someone standing right 503Please respect copyright.PENANAx3OyDExRJ6
behind her.503Please respect copyright.PENANA74B5T10j01
At that moment, my 503Please respect copyright.PENANAIgYJZ5e1i2
vision cleared when I saw the tall person who was standing behind 503Please respect copyright.PENANAaxlhxhjey1
Amanda. I felt a burning sensation run through my body, but I was 503Please respect copyright.PENANAIZnJ0pbR2M
sensible enough not to scream. I continued to look at the tall figure 503Please respect copyright.PENANA2Y2qKAbg9P
and out of nowhere, a flood of images rushed through my head in a quick 503Please respect copyright.PENANA1omJjRIEXP
flash.503Please respect copyright.PENANArIVWes6yGa
Right before I could figure out what had just happened; I was falling into a pit of darkness, right into oblivion.
503Please respect copyright.PENANAOoPeOYyN59