SUNSHINE IS FAR AWAY,RAIN CLOUDS LINGER ON

CHAPTER TWO

                    The day may end,

                    The night may seem long,

                   but deep down in my heart,

                    I know i'm not giving up.

                    The sun stayed true to its schedule that day and rose emitting its ultra violet rays to the creatures below having absolutely no mercy on them. The sun was scorching just like the scorching wound in my heart was. I hadn't  gotten over my mother's death.  As the villagers set off for their farms I laid in my bed, self-loathing. "KERUBO!KERUBO!GET UP!" That was my roommate/co-worker/ best-friend ,Ciiru. She was the only reason I got up in the morning except of course the intention of not wanting to get whipped by my master. You see after my mother's death I had to take over her job in order to help my father pay poll and hut tax. His hut tax had now almost quadrupled because he had married other wives. I looked at myself in the mirror critizing every part of my body that had been touched/ brutally beaten by my father . According to everyone in the village, I was an ensobosobo (gooseberry) meaning I was a very beautiful girl but I didn't see that in myself. I was a girl of great chastity, learned, wise, had long flowing hair that touched my well rounded behinds, almond shaped eyes that held in them the most precious shade of brown, full lips and wide hips but in the mirror, it was all distorted.

           I took a shower and dressed myself in a presentable way. Ciiru and I left the house in a hurry as our workplace was 16 km away. Momanyi would occasionally accompany us before he branched of on his own route. Ciiru's job was to clean the house, wash the clothes and dishes and  sweep the house. I on the other hand had to toss and toil in the field all day under the hot sun. When I was threshing the  wheat, some commotion in the fields caught my attention. The supervisor, Freddy was arguing with a slave. At that moment I had flashbacks of my parents arguing. I wanted to help. I really did but my legs grew weaker and weaker with every step I took. the little courage I had in me was cowering in the corner I could do nothing but watch as Freddy pulled out a whip and started brutally lashing the slave. Once he was done, he left not even bothering to glance back at the catastrophe he had created.

           Immediately I was done with the daily duties I rushed over to Ciiru to tell her what happened. She was utterly heart-broken as this slave was particularly one of her close friends. She wanted to say her final goodbyes at his funeral that was being held the next day so that meant that I had to fill in for her tomorrow. We slept on the cold hard floor keeping each other warm with our own body heat. A fear grew in my heart. A fear that kept on  telling me that that could be me or Ciiru on even worse Momanyi. That fear gripped my heart so tight that the rest of my body got no blood making me lie there numb crying my sorrows away.

           The morning came and I woke up early to get a head start on the chores. I started with washing the clothes then went to mopping. I was humming to a tune my mother taught me when I bumped into something hard. I looked back and saw an unfamiliar-familiar face. Regardless of the circumstances I bowed down in respect as it was after all it was a white man standing in front of me. "S-s..sorry master," I said. I could feel his eyes on me . He grabbed my face and looked me directly in the eye. His icy gaze sent shivers down my spine. His piercing blue eyes that had a familiar look of  ones I had seen before. Ocean strong swimming with sun-lit currents, thousand hues of blue and a small touch of hazel radiating in softly swooping arcs was what came to mind. He clenched his well cut sharp jawline and said " Do not disturb my sleep again, sunshine." Then he left. He went in to the master's son's room and that's when it dawned on me. HE WAS THE MASTER'S SON. I screamed internally and cursed Ciiru for making me do this.

       I scurried off to finish my chores but I  could not let go of  the image of his beautiful eyes. The image kept lingering in my memory like a cross on an archbishop's neck. I couldn't help but find them familiar but I brushed all those thoughts off and kept on working. I finished the day off with a prayer and went to sleep next to Ciiru. Not knowing that this whole event would cause a butterfly effect in the near future.