Five years ago,536Please respect copyright.PENANAmcGjoYWcU3
February 13th, 2010.536Please respect copyright.PENANAuRe3sr257U
Mpunde Girls Secondary School,536Please respect copyright.PENANA7O5HlJTOa5
Zambia.536Please respect copyright.PENANA2Jp1imwNdt
I gasped for air as I 536Please respect copyright.PENANAc0a0Qz5F0J
quickly sat up on my bed, holding my burning throat and feeling my lungs536Please respect copyright.PENANAWEd4EGvtql
ache as air quickly flooded in. For a moment, I thought I was drowning 536Please respect copyright.PENANAfYK33645P3
in water, but I was actually taking in air. I coughed out a little and 536Please respect copyright.PENANAwsByZQCOCV
opened my eyes. The lights in the dorm were all turned on and the bunker536Please respect copyright.PENANAxw3EmWnC42
beds were all empty. For a moment, I panicked as I quickly got out of 536Please respect copyright.PENANAPF8SXvRBRB
bed on the bunker bed below, looking around the dorm. There was no one 536Please respect copyright.PENANAcWmsen3iNE
and I felt scared and worried. I quickly looked out of the window and I 536Please respect copyright.PENANAriwAQBzHK6
realised that the sun was rising up from the east. I couldn’t help but 536Please respect copyright.PENANATGIXqySGmQ
sigh in relief, but then again, I realised that I was running late and 536Please respect copyright.PENANAb41lue5Ji0
my dorm mates were obviously hitting the showers in the ablution. And I 536Please respect copyright.PENANAD1DtZJaCvb
was the only one left in the dorm.536Please respect copyright.PENANA9plI6ZXOMe
I quickly grabbed my 536Please respect copyright.PENANAKpSdPdyJ4w
toothbrush, toothpaste, my bath towel and cloth. Quickly slipped my feet536Please respect copyright.PENANAUB89x3Viyv
into my bath slippers and when I turned around the corner of my bunker 536Please respect copyright.PENANAhBVZKmmsEW
bed to grab my bucket, I realised it wasn’t there. I sighed, this time 536Please respect copyright.PENANAgpkOEwKeil
in frustration.536Please respect copyright.PENANAmlTOSaAeWQ
Obviously because I knew536Please respect copyright.PENANAKXzVS53MUh
who took it. If it wasn’t my bunker mate, then it was probably one of 536Please respect copyright.PENANAPYIhNVPP6y
the dorm mates. In my nightdress, I rushed out of the dorm and headed 536Please respect copyright.PENANAx9PLk9YbuY
for the ablution. The ablution was one place where I found it so 536Please respect copyright.PENANAQZVk9AnDpx
repulsive to be in. Despite it being cleaned every day, it was always a 536Please respect copyright.PENANA6KfiUvY9dk
surprise how it gets messed up and flooded afterwards. When I mean 536Please respect copyright.PENANAZT4o4ls1De
messed up, I mean the toilets is one thing you wouldn’t like to see 536Please respect copyright.PENANAmzULxB3um7
first after you eat a meal. For a moment, I wonder if we really are 536Please respect copyright.PENANAAFZRuCVEUQ
girls or sometimes we act like boys who like to leave a mess. We are 536Please respect copyright.PENANAiDJAfMpSz2
“GIRLS” for crying out loud. And as far as I know, we need to take care 536Please respect copyright.PENANAQvcKajLZKN
of ourselves and the environment around us. Looks like being in boarding536Please respect copyright.PENANAvqSQIYgRro
school, you get to know that sometimes things aren’t always what you 536Please respect copyright.PENANAgvqa7SmqBA
thought it ought to be.536Please respect copyright.PENANAz6vClgry0x
On either side of the 536Please respect copyright.PENANAW8EdEFSEIt
ablution were the shower side and the toilet side. In between was a 536Please respect copyright.PENANAdneYBOjbz4
passage where people could move around and line up their buckets to get 536Please respect copyright.PENANAOJy6yfEczn
into the shower cubicles. When it gets flooded, it’s pretty hard to move536Please respect copyright.PENANAWx8NRSUrQs
around and many people have slipped and fallen. Trust me; it’s not a 536Please respect copyright.PENANAbH938Hhm9x
pretty sight when you see someone falling on their back into the water, 536Please respect copyright.PENANAPKArGvPVLB
which was probably dirty. Luckily for me, that hasn’t happened, yet. I 536Please respect copyright.PENANAAKuB3rnLYf
wasn’t pushing my luck on that one. One day, I would probably fall and 536Please respect copyright.PENANAjKjgz84pBx
hopefully I wouldn’t break my bones in the process. At the far end of 536Please respect copyright.PENANAphUiBfVo5p
the ablution were sinks where you can go and brush your teeth and wash 536Please respect copyright.PENANAmc3iLyqh1e
your face. And by the corner was a store room where we kept the cleaning536Please respect copyright.PENANA59zzzAg6m9
materials for the ablution.536Please respect copyright.PENANAzfTfTvYoK7
I stood by the door of 536Please respect copyright.PENANAsHYWcG8qN0
the ablution, and as usual, there were queues of buckets all lined up, 536Please respect copyright.PENANAY2YezZkzMb
their owners standing beside them waiting for the shower cubicles to be 536Please respect copyright.PENANAkaWXS96vMY
vacant. I looked around for my bunker mate and I couldn’t see her on any536Please respect copyright.PENANA06IQETJJax
of the queues. I considered her to be in the shower and so I went by 536Please respect copyright.PENANAWfAwRiXDh1
the sink to brush my teeth. The ablution was flooded again and so as 536Please respect copyright.PENANAaDBVG5gW01
always I had to be careful, taking a step at a time.536Please respect copyright.PENANAWMiV42tKZz
When I finally got to 536Please respect copyright.PENANALx1naKnqtF
the sinks, all in one peace, I suddenly felt a jolt of pain in my head 536Please respect copyright.PENANASdjduWfYsG
as though I was just struck by lightning. It felt more like a migraine 536Please respect copyright.PENANAaojKjE9f4B
and I held my head, almost screaming out in pain. I saw a dark image 536Please respect copyright.PENANAvzSqcqcDqL
flash before my eyes and for a moment, I thought the lights went off and536Please respect copyright.PENANAO1xXTlCH2j
come back on. But when I looked around everything around the ablution 536Please respect copyright.PENANAF2iJzrM4lI
seemed to be normal. Usually when the power cuts, we girls like to 536Please respect copyright.PENANA3FBDAjXu8E
scream, a lot, except for a few of us who are already used to the dark. 536Please respect copyright.PENANAwI1MlR2xgV
This time, that wasn’t the case. Everything seemed normal and I felt 536Please respect copyright.PENANA38sqECLQwH
maybe I was being delirious.536Please respect copyright.PENANAWqepE8BTO9
“Hey, Diana, are you okay?”536Please respect copyright.PENANAjFh8wn2Nm6
I turned to the last 536Please respect copyright.PENANAKjtvvwfqaV
shower cubicle which was closer to the sinks, and there wrapped up in a 536Please respect copyright.PENANAdJBLHME1kj
pink towel stood my bunker mate, Christine. And just as I expected, she 536Please respect copyright.PENANAwNwRlSxZFp
was holding my bucket. She slowly walked over to me, trying to avoid the536Please respect copyright.PENANAMyy1sLpbJj
dirty ablution water from flowing into her bath slippers.536Please respect copyright.PENANAqfSRXOxFwo
“Are you okay? It looks like you just saw a ghost,” Christine had a worrying look on her face.536Please respect copyright.PENANAALk51RaGCo
“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.536Please respect copyright.PENANAleUhoxhf2T
“You had me worried, I thought you saw something like a ghost.”536Please respect copyright.PENANAZPn6yIRBed
“You know I don’t believe in such things as the ghosts that haunt people around school.”536Please respect copyright.PENANAgv9LBmlMud
“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.536Please respect copyright.PENANAGLgDJ4XTHk
“What happened to you 536Please respect copyright.PENANAdqOzTltrUD
today, anyway? You’re usually the first to wake up when the morning bell536Please respect copyright.PENANAZz69BBIfhG
rings. But today you slept like a rock,” Christine added on, this time 536Please respect copyright.PENANAqgb26kug8y
there was a concerned tone in her voice.536Please respect copyright.PENANA85SzXBnj1M
It hadn’t occurred to me536Please respect copyright.PENANAiE7XAM405x
that I had never heard the morning bell in the first place. I was 536Please respect copyright.PENANACPVivho27h
always the early bird and I was never a heavy sleeper. I was always 536Please respect copyright.PENANAxsBZyUphA6
sensitive with whatever sounds I get to hear. But today, I hadn’t even 536Please respect copyright.PENANAFwS2Rw5gOU
heard my own dorm mates’ footsteps as they always rush out and into the 536Please respect copyright.PENANAmp2cXpouuv
dorm.536Please respect copyright.PENANAyZhnexohSy
“I guess today just wasn’t my day,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders.536Please respect copyright.PENANAeBFBu0c5N7
“Well, you better hurry 536Please respect copyright.PENANAaPySZtB1iN
up then,” said Christine, handling the bucket over to me, “you don’t 536Please respect copyright.PENANAwrnxv925J8
want to be caught by the prefects when it’s time to clean up the 536Please respect copyright.PENANABSMmclc2Mb
ablution. And that’s not how you want to start the day.”536Please respect copyright.PENANADALh6QFACF
I scowled again as I 536Please respect copyright.PENANAVGVB0OkUPn
took the bucket away from Christine. As I mentioned earlier, the 536Please respect copyright.PENANAEsK26xhVZr
ablution always get cleaned. And we the pupils clean it with the senior 536Please respect copyright.PENANAKZKTWsufve
prefects as our supervisors. At 6:30 AM, everyone should vacate the 536Please respect copyright.PENANAQ2AlaQ5C2V
ablutions so that the assigned group of pupils put to clean up the 536Please respect copyright.PENANAqmyxlqeUMi
ablution should do their work. If you’re caught still in the showers, 536Please respect copyright.PENANA3ns5391SQu
you would obviously have to join in the cleaning process. And that 536Please respect copyright.PENANANXmpt7LkrE
proves to be twice as difficult when you know you’re also assigned to 536Please respect copyright.PENANAdbkreaT67I
another area to clean in school. As soon as I finished brushing my 536Please respect copyright.PENANATlHpcuWBp3
teeth, I quickly got out of the ablution to fetch water by a nearby tap.536Please respect copyright.PENANAk4aNNrZ0Fg
Most of the showers never worked in the ablution, henceforth, fetching 536Please respect copyright.PENANAI3GnhuA9di
water outside.536Please respect copyright.PENANAyGmDd9wYk8
Luckily, for me, there was no queue and I did things as fast as I could.536Please respect copyright.PENANAMNUrOaN17v
Afterwards, I went back into the ablution and quickly found a vacant cubicle.536Please respect copyright.PENANAIZDKJWD4r0
After getting cleaned 536Please respect copyright.PENANAuu2714yVEH
up, I wore my beige school uniform, clean white stockings and I had my 536Please respect copyright.PENANABABrMFvFWw
black shoes, neatly clean and polished. I looked at myself in the mirror536Please respect copyright.PENANARz0P6kwPmi
and made sure my short afro hair was neatly combed. I had cut my long 536Please respect copyright.PENANAZG8wwMeeWK
hair a year ago before coming to this missionary school. As usual, one 536Please respect copyright.PENANAp4CyMiTduh
of the rules was not to come with long hair, especially if was it was 536Please respect copyright.PENANABFjqSDPTd1
permed. They strongly insisted on natural hair. I had to cut my hair 536Please respect copyright.PENANAmyFa4GNDlb
when I was going into grade 8 and I felt it was pretty unfair. But after536Please respect copyright.PENANAtMoSC6g9UI
that year, I kind of got used to it. Surly they were just trying to 536Please respect copyright.PENANAWHeK9SY7VT
promote equality amongst us, but there were a lot of things I never 536Please respect copyright.PENANA743E3L7m1a
found amusing in this school.536Please respect copyright.PENANAJvv7PZAeTb
Mpunde Girls Secondary 536Please respect copyright.PENANAAvQkHOMtUH
School, a Catholic school run by the Hand Maid Sisters. Located in the 536Please respect copyright.PENANAkYvsSXbl8F
Central Province of Zambia in the town of Kabwe, but pretty much away 536Please respect copyright.PENANAjYjn6n1KvF
from civilisation. When I say that, I mean the school is located far 536Please respect copyright.PENANArqXhWAiWEh
away from town and deep into the bush. It’s located in the farthest 536Please respect copyright.PENANAWgLz70VT9j
rural part of Kabwe.536Please respect copyright.PENANAkKpiwu3WOE
When I first came to 536Please respect copyright.PENANAFOtTz6SOHt
this school to write an aptitude test to go into grade 8, I was greeted 536Please respect copyright.PENANA4aP1D74i7k
by the lovely surroundings of the school. The lawns of the school were 536Please respect copyright.PENANAcYMTRFMrYV
properly well cared for, and there were beautiful flowers everywhere. A 536Please respect copyright.PENANAbUvPyGIGrY
beautiful Catholic church was situated right outside the school grounds,536Please respect copyright.PENANAholDf0mzml
meant for the local people that lived around that area and for us 536Please respect copyright.PENANAdWUTwhDMGZ
pupils. The attractive colours painted in different Catholic symbols, 536Please respect copyright.PENANADBdYvsIAkf
inside and outside the walls of the church were astonishing to look at. 536Please respect copyright.PENANAu7d9ZrCbSb
It looked more like art in my eyes.536Please respect copyright.PENANAz5gqFmnoZ7
At that moment, I 536Please respect copyright.PENANATeNeyYS1WU
thought things were going to get better in my life. The school was 536Please respect copyright.PENANAHRXyKcLVb9
beautiful and the Catholic sisters and teachers who introduced 536Please respect copyright.PENANA5CDnIJBJkK
themselves to us girls and our parents, seemed so kind. And I was 536Please respect copyright.PENANALq6fODTjMa
Catholic, so attending mass wasn’t much of a big deal. I thought I was 536Please respect copyright.PENANAWY8gL7nNkq
going to love this place and make it more like my second home. But 536Please respect copyright.PENANAL9uFtN9HV6
things weren’t the case when I got to know the school a whole lot 536Please respect copyright.PENANAcYbPT8ioNL
better. I remember a certain friend of mine back home tell me that,536Please respect copyright.PENANAqYxqrfVtue
most Catholic girl schools in Zambia were highly recommended because 536Please respect copyright.PENANA3GalKtnWuC
the Sisters were strict and pupils are disciplined. As far as I had 536Please respect copyright.PENANAHD4ltdFTxZ
known, most Sisters were meant to be kind and loving, not strict and 536Please respect copyright.PENANArwEEPtY7ZC
mean. It looked like I had been stuck in oblivion for quite a while in 536Please respect copyright.PENANAow0XFErALl
my life, that when I got to know what my friend truly meant, it was like536Please respect copyright.PENANARtv7jg5IB8
a hammer blow to the head. One's thing for sure, I didn’t like this 536Please respect copyright.PENANAYV3LmKtySY
school. Every time we begun a new term, I would pray for the three 536Please respect copyright.PENANAAeZp2LC0h8
months to pass by quickly. Whenever I came back home, it felt like I had536Please respect copyright.PENANAzRNs2vsijl
just come back from a beat-down, and as usual, losing the match every 536Please respect copyright.PENANAbOMbbYQnbw
time.536Please respect copyright.PENANAxMfAkSD8FI
The school was strict 536Please respect copyright.PENANABvEEr6Tc9n
and on point with their rules, I felt like a minion under their control.536Please respect copyright.PENANApTOlkb6Otn
Any little offense you make, they will take you as an offender. They 536Please respect copyright.PENANAFJyYBV5TT9
were strict with how you kept the rooms and the surrounding areas clean.536Please respect copyright.PENANAVsxDVHCeO3
If they found that nothing was clean or things were out of place, 536Please respect copyright.PENANA9UYyjXho1V
whether in the dorms or in the surrounding areas, either one of the 536Please respect copyright.PENANAX5mJLMcndZ
sisters or one of the teachers on duty, would call the pupils assigned 536Please respect copyright.PENANA6dBE25e72M
to cleaning the area or the dorm, out of class to go back and do their 536Please respect copyright.PENANAD95zB1UaKN
work properly. And by the end of the day they are given a punishment, 536Please respect copyright.PENANARR0YMY4kOJ
which was usually to weed the garden, clean the poultry shack or sweep 536Please respect copyright.PENANAA7RbhhIByn
up the leaves in the orchard. To me, that’s like working twice as hard 536Please respect copyright.PENANAPcHSlAij3Q
as you usually do on a daily basis. There was nothing you could do about536Please respect copyright.PENANAdCgwvzx3FT
that anyway. That wasn’t the only that ticked me off sometimes. Most 536Please respect copyright.PENANAluXU6I5oqi
prefects were mean and complete jerks towards us. It’s even much worse 536Please respect copyright.PENANAm2wQhcD4nC
when you were in a lower grade. That meant more work, and if things 536Please respect copyright.PENANAE3SD9iYsf4
weren’t done right, punishment in the worst way, cleaning up the 536Please respect copyright.PENANA81mELncwoZ
disgusting ablution or weeding the entire garden, with your hands. And 536Please respect copyright.PENANAnxS6K5GvYP
they always had a special day to punish offenders. If you know you were 536Please respect copyright.PENANAxrvpoItWpu
late for classes or attending meals and your name was written in any of 536Please respect copyright.PENANAJvmDskk4uP
the prefect’s books, just know you will find yourself on the offender’s 536Please respect copyright.PENANAovuxydPWhW
list which is always stuck on Thursdays. That means after classes on 536Please respect copyright.PENANA5rd6Lqe3MT
Thursdays, the first thing you would want to see first is if you’re on 536Please respect copyright.PENANAJ8iZS8Vz5D
the offender’s list. If you aren’t, then it’s just a time to relax. If 536Please respect copyright.PENANAVVkrOGPhxW
you are on the list, get ready to thoroughly clean up the whole school, 536Please respect copyright.PENANAuwvVMhdQ8p
you aren’t going to get off that list so easily if you didn’t work. 536Please respect copyright.PENANAGaZUJvUlzf
You’ll just find yourself on the other week’s offenders list.536Please respect copyright.PENANA4j8dzHGtgb
Enough about what ticks 536Please respect copyright.PENANAkAiJawDDIg
me off in this place. It was 7:00 AM and that meant it was time to get 536Please respect copyright.PENANAcWSVLNc5TB
to work. The way we were allocated to our places of work is according to536Please respect copyright.PENANAxyVtm1WJFP
dorms. There are 10 dorms in school. The size of the dorm also depends 536Please respect copyright.PENANADoX9JqHYLR
where you’re allocated to work. For example, the second biggest dorm 536Please respect copyright.PENANAmj8K7RW63W
called Dolores, which I’m in, usually worked in big places like the 536Please respect copyright.PENANA7fW92riNvU
orchard. And smaller dorms like Xavier A, usually worked in smaller 536Please respect copyright.PENANAJrKlRBpatX
areas like the kitchen area or the ablutions.536Please respect copyright.PENANA2KIASyBu4j
It was time to go to the536Please respect copyright.PENANAbB08THzHpG
orchard, and as usual, we were always greeted by the sight of leaves 536Please respect copyright.PENANAT4pvP5WFmX
everywhere in the morning. Most of the time, people would usually sweep 536Please respect copyright.PENANAFPrxOjFYer
up the leaves with a rake, but here, we would use brooms made up for the536Please respect copyright.PENANAUpcCWhbmW1
strongest tree branches. It was more than enough to sweep up the 536Please respect copyright.PENANAZrNrT87l01
leaves. So, we got to work with the brooms. Since there weren’t enough 536Please respect copyright.PENANAyIFQgffYb8
brooms, most of us had to wait until one finishes her potion and gave it536Please respect copyright.PENANAyYk7ksSKWq
you. I was one of those waiting today and I stood under a tree. 536Please respect copyright.PENANAxKvNlAkBw5
Christine came up to stand beside me. Our dorm prefect, Chileshe, stood 536Please respect copyright.PENANAjPDgVpJSOb
in front of us, doing her duty, to supervise.536Please respect copyright.PENANAgdIYBxlTKf
“Hey, are you going to tell me why you couldn’t wake up today?” Christine asked, nudging her elbow to my side.536Please respect copyright.PENANAUEOe7Bc8MW
“I don’t know,” I replied. “And you are such a bad bunker mate. You couldn’t even wake me up.”536Please respect copyright.PENANASZzzfn7XK2
“Huh?” Christine looked confused as she looked at me. “I tried to wake you up, but you were as still as a rock.”536Please respect copyright.PENANA8xf3kgCt1r
I now stared back at Christine with a frown. “Are you sure? I didn’t hear you at all.”536Please respect copyright.PENANAd9c0MvdQxU
“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.”536Please respect copyright.PENANAVSVcyJ9l0q
I shook my head. This 536Please respect copyright.PENANAfedpQqIRIi
was ridiculous and Christine was taking it like it was one big deal. If 536Please respect copyright.PENANAlh27xopDSk
she was going to start talking about ghosts again, like she usually 536Please respect copyright.PENANAxtUT5EIMdK
does, I didn’t know what I would do to her that would land me in serious536Please respect copyright.PENANAWGYPce9xVi
trouble.536Please respect copyright.PENANAuGvR45fZip
“Christine, all that just happened to me today. It’s not like it’s going to happen again,” I said.536Please respect copyright.PENANAgTA9EEObdb
“Diana, you had me worried,” said Christine. “What if you didn’t wake up?”536Please respect copyright.PENANAZVzTHtl3KN
“But I woke up, didn’t I?”536Please respect copyright.PENANAu6BPgBE338
“Somehow I feel that there is something you aren’t telling me.”536Please respect copyright.PENANA1iRyxEOv96
I grew startled by what 536Please respect copyright.PENANA2RLNiBRoU0
Christine said. I was just about to ask what she meant by that when 536Please respect copyright.PENANAcLXo1ka9qe
Amanda came back from sweeping her potion and Christine was quick enough536Please respect copyright.PENANAfHpCTWOuiI
to get the broom before anyone else. I could feel that Christine was 536Please respect copyright.PENANAY5qkY0beaF
really mad at me and the confusing part about it was why she was taking 536Please respect copyright.PENANAg4VEcyQuS1
all of this seriously. If I wanted an answer, I was so not ready to get a536Please respect copyright.PENANAXKTpY42MJv
ridiculous one from Christine. She was so superstitious about things 536Please respect copyright.PENANAXxlTRzOGQc
and I wasn’t coping with all of that ever since I first came to school 536Please respect copyright.PENANAzhI1AVKlEc
and learnt mysterious things that I wasn’t even willing to know.536Please respect copyright.PENANAPRDGmoySMJ
Amanda came to stand 536Please respect copyright.PENANAAMT6zhlbCI
beside me as we watched Christine head towards her portion of the 536Please respect copyright.PENANAdggtSEfbYy
orchard. I drew out a breath of air. Amanda who had a bunker bed right 536Please respect copyright.PENANAiNoa3qFl06
next to Christine’s and mine, looked over at me. By the look on her 536Please respect copyright.PENANA0NpQf0jo13
face, I could tell she knew what Christine and I were arguing about. I 536Please respect copyright.PENANAsGNwvWet3j
wasn’t even ready to hear what she had to say. Hearing from Christine 536Please respect copyright.PENANA2KGxinLgds
was more than enough.536Please respect copyright.PENANANVpz7RLCXj
“I wouldn’t be so mad at Christine if I were you,” said Amanda.536Please respect copyright.PENANAHGnNrTJGNW
“I’m not mad at her,” I said, “I just feel that she is making a mountain out of a mole hill.”536Please respect copyright.PENANAa8gtIypFz7
Amanda folded her arms 536Please respect copyright.PENANAP7q7nWftxB
across her chest and leaned in closer to me so that people wouldn’t hear536Please respect copyright.PENANAH8W4r3Qeff
us. “I was there when Christine tried to wake you up. You didn’t even 536Please respect copyright.PENANAadWNvS3elR
move an inch. You just laid there. And you looked, I don’t know, dead.”536Please respect copyright.PENANAaO8lBNqNzJ
As far as I had known 536Please respect copyright.PENANAdKLKQxjRpU
Amanda, she was one person who always aired out her honest opinions 536Please respect copyright.PENANAtI5bLfeXow
about things and she was one who wouldn’t even lie. She was quite 536Please respect copyright.PENANAdBoqHGNKCJ
terrible at it if you ask me. I knew what she was telling me right now 536Please respect copyright.PENANAfDZJd64kVr
was the truth. I swallowed, still finding it hard to believe what Amanda536Please respect copyright.PENANAHmiNZbEBTU
had just told me.536Please respect copyright.PENANAWdNvTVxB2d
“If I was like that, why536Please respect copyright.PENANAN7qepaHGXb
didn’t you call the nurse or inform one of the prefects?” I turned to 536Please respect copyright.PENANAcZHtKiu5b2
face Amanda, her brown innocent eyes staring back at me.536Please respect copyright.PENANA70qFpPqv1c
“Christine was scared 536Please respect copyright.PENANAfF9HitM6Sa
when she couldn’t wake you. She almost freaked out and I told her that 536Please respect copyright.PENANABhYDanrESr
you would be fine, that you were just in a deep sleep. I told her to 536Please respect copyright.PENANAzMmzVHRDAm
leave the dorm and that I would watch over you until you woke up. We 536Please respect copyright.PENANAROZ9w22IiZ
didn’t want to attract any attention among the dorm mates until we were 536Please respect copyright.PENANAj238uau42x
sure you were okay.”536Please respect copyright.PENANAXmsQX65idS
“Where were you when I woke up? I didn’t see you and the whole dorm was empty.”536Please respect copyright.PENANAnK7O593akP
“I was standing by the 536Please respect copyright.PENANAUb8fQzN2v3
door of the dorm when you woke up. And to be honest, you woke up in the 536Please respect copyright.PENANA0rGXZqEFuM
weirdest way possible. It was like you were given CPR and was suddenly 536Please respect copyright.PENANAJHvcmmkSZ5
revived.”536Please respect copyright.PENANAZMYQpirp4x
Now that Amanda had 536Please respect copyright.PENANA5YSgK53obl
mentioned it, I did wake up in the weirdest way today. I felt like 536Please respect copyright.PENANAgw2ZxxMHon
someone had pumped in water into my nostrils when it was actually air. I536Please respect copyright.PENANAPmQm9J1uPe
could still remember my throat burn and I held it again without even 536Please respect copyright.PENANAsUdmf5mAof
realising it. I looked up at Amanda and she gave me a sad smile.536Please respect copyright.PENANABn1eNN6B2Q
“And you told Christine?” I asked when I obviously knew the answer.536Please respect copyright.PENANANPIkHrVf4b
“You know I couldn’t lie536Please respect copyright.PENANAQyhyyHxeMj
to her. She was worried and she has every right to. And so was I. What 536Please respect copyright.PENANAF2X4GYfK0i
if you never did wake up? Have you ever thought of what would have 536Please respect copyright.PENANAOwUYXI1Pt7
happened if you had died in your sleep?”536Please respect copyright.PENANASzRoH2sjCF
I took in Amanda’s 536Please respect copyright.PENANAI9gmXffBCn
questions into consideration and I looked at Christine who was busy at 536Please respect copyright.PENANAyyUlb3MGjJ
work. It was obvious that she was avoiding me. I swallowed hard and 536Please respect copyright.PENANAoG4fiUQdZU
stared off in a distance. All Christine was trying to do was help me out536Please respect copyright.PENANAFQh8krfRej
and I was acting like a complete jerk. But she couldn’t blame me for 536Please respect copyright.PENANAfTN2z6W6Q9
it. I didn’t even know what had happened to me in the first place.536Please respect copyright.PENANA0XyLEC2w63
It was now my turn to go536Please respect copyright.PENANAAEwjHuTjFJ
and sweep as I took the broom from my fellow dorm mate, Chilufya who 536Please respect copyright.PENANA8C5NFOjIPA
was a grade ahead of me. I went to my portion under a few guava trees. 536Please respect copyright.PENANAr1Ixf8W7Eq
Before I could bend down to start sweeping, a sudden wave of pain gushed536Please respect copyright.PENANAYUCRPq5CQq
down upon my head. The pain was so unbearable, that I almost screamed 536Please respect copyright.PENANAE3rA98UUKy
aloud as I held my head.536Please respect copyright.PENANABqzyRN6UyA
As I looked around the 536Please respect copyright.PENANAxWKMgG5vn8
place, everything seemed blurry. I tried blinking my eyes a few times to536Please respect copyright.PENANA8GsV9vQQhk
refocus my sight, but that didn’t seem to work. I leaned onto a tree 536Please respect copyright.PENANAAPeWac77mc
for support and I soon felt a jolt of dizziness and I felt like I would 536Please respect copyright.PENANAUSAjebZq9x
throw up at any moment. Soon, voices of concern surrounded me and I felt536Please respect copyright.PENANAGjgVkFET1s
a warm familiar hand hold my shoulder. I saw Christine looking at me 536Please respect copyright.PENANAGZWfEDWqDe
and with our other dorm mates surrounding me.536Please respect copyright.PENANA7MOJ8pcFeG
My vision was still 536Please respect copyright.PENANA0TIC0itH7R
blurry and my head ached like hell. What was even worse was the fact 536Please respect copyright.PENANA4yR3M4PQj9
that everyone was talking and I couldn’t get a thing they said, not even536Please respect copyright.PENANASyYDrl13mX
Christine who was right next to me. I felt so confused that I was 536Please respect copyright.PENANAf416BzLhz1
afraid of running mad with all the noise. I looked around and I noticed 536Please respect copyright.PENANAWxnS0WrSMg
that my vision was getting worse. I could notice a few of my dorm mates’536Please respect copyright.PENANASeu0Xny4KL
faces including the dorm prefect, Chileshe. I saw Amanda at the far end536Please respect copyright.PENANAiWUsYtHK3x
of the crowd, looking scared. And I noticed someone standing right 536Please respect copyright.PENANA6ECUhXEznw
behind her.536Please respect copyright.PENANAPVl7dGQOa3
At that moment, my 536Please respect copyright.PENANAukd0BpZwjv
vision cleared when I saw the tall person who was standing behind 536Please respect copyright.PENANAVLN6FDk8jA
Amanda. I felt a burning sensation run through my body, but I was 536Please respect copyright.PENANAgEkgiuVdV0
sensible enough not to scream. I continued to look at the tall figure 536Please respect copyright.PENANAm8U8YZmj9J
and out of nowhere, a flood of images rushed through my head in a quick 536Please respect copyright.PENANAZ4AUXlWLDH
flash.536Please respect copyright.PENANAzDlZVXvR2O
Right before I could figure out what had just happened; I was falling into a pit of darkness, right into oblivion.
536Please respect copyright.PENANAzNrnd5RYKu