Dancing With The Masquerade

Prologue

Rage.

That was all I felt as I marched with a jerrycan of fuel in one hand and a matchbox in the other. My strides were fast, my heart racing faster and faster with each passing second, and my anger fueling my motivation.

For as long as I could remember, I've ever played the dutiful daughter. One person or the other from the family constantly reminded me I was the oldest and a woman, meaning; I'm not to talk too much and I'm not to flare up no matter how badly I would love to. Fine, I've stuck with it. I've learned to accept those terms, but now, now, this was too much. They expected the unbelievable from me, and there was no way in hell that I was going to stand back and do just that. I'm going to set them free—set us all free.

"Kasie, where are you going?" Mum's voice forced my head to turn in her direction. She had stepped out from another building and uncle Chimdi stood beside her. Her gaze was inquisitive.

"I'm going to do what someone in this family should have done years ago." I declared before looking away and marching on towards the dreaded direction.

"W-what? Kasie! Kasie!" Mum called, a little louder from behind me. The tremor in her voice was enough for me to understand that I well informed her of where I was going. But that didn't stop me.

"Chimdi, stop her! She's headed for the hut." I heard mum demand, and that only made me hasten my steps. I have to do this; this was the only way I could think of gaining back my sanity.

"Kasiemobi stop!" Uncle Chimdi ordered from behind me, but I took to my heels the moment I sighted the dreadful hut—the root cause of all my problems.

Finally, I stopped in front of the rusted gate; the short walls adjoining it from its sides formed a round protection for the hut within. Wasting no time, I picked out a key from the bunch of them in my hand and inserted it into the keyhole of the padlock, keeping the gate locked. Thankfully, it unlocked, and I hurried in, but my steps faltered when I caught sight of the building. There it stood, made of brown clay and faded zinc for a roof.

From outside, it seemed like any ordinary hut, but for me, all I saw was an embodiment of pure evil. I had no desire to stare at it any longer, so I started with my agenda. I opened the jerrycan and began pouring the fuel all around the hut.

"Kasie, what are doing? Please, think about this first." Jachi, my younger sister, said once she caught up with me, but dreaded coming closer. I spared her a glance, only to realise she wasn't alone: they stared at me like I was insane. Okay, maybe I am, but for good reasons and in a good way.

"No, no, there's nothing more to think about. Oh, I've thought so hard, so hard about what to do. You can't even imagine what I've been through, but this—doing this is going to save us all. The elders, they're so scared to take this step so I'm going to do it on their behalf."

Once I emptied the jerrycan, I threw it to the side and hurriedly took out a matchstick from the matchbox I had been holding, ready to light it.

"Kasie, no!" Mum cried, and it forced my attention in their direction. They had all made their way out of the house and made me the show of the early evening. Mum's eyes pleaded for me to heed to her words and the rest of them had fear and uncertainty expressed on their faces.

"Please understand, this is the only way." I was almost pleading.

"This way is going to end us all. This is bigger than us and doing this will change nothing." That was her argument, and I could see the hope in her eyes that maybe—simply maybe I might listen to her but, I wasn't sure if I should.

"For goodness' sake, Kasie! Listen to your mother!" Uncle Chimdi's command forced my gaze to drift to him, and there, behind him, by the small gate we'd come in through, I sighted the one person whom I needed for encouragement. He stared back at me before I noticed a faint smile curl up the side of his lip. It felt warm and encouraging, like I wasn't alone in this decision: that was all I needed.

I lit the matchstick.

"Kasie, listen me to please. There's no going back if you do this." Mum begged, and I wanted oh-so-dearly to heed to her words as I consistently had, but this was my life; I'm a new being and I will not let the sins of the past ruin it. It was time to take matters into my own hands.

I turned to the hut and, in a second of weakness and doubt, I saw it. The figure that has lurked around me since I got back home: the same masquerade that wanted to engulf my existence. The hut was dark, but there it stood, staring back at me, almost as if it was daring me.

I drew in a deep breath. My shoulders straightened. "Go to hell." I declared before throwing the matchstick to the hut and taking several steps back as I watched the fire engulf the entire structure.

There was a sense of relief in my heart and even though my family members raved and talked about how done for we were, I didn't see it that way. For the first time, I felt truly liberated; I felt I could do anything.

This was my fight, and this was just the beginning.