Five years ago,519Please respect copyright.PENANANBlkKUY9ML
February 13th, 2010.519Please respect copyright.PENANAx8Y9ZuKFxk
Mpunde Girls Secondary School,519Please respect copyright.PENANAUkPmzYLKAJ
Zambia.519Please respect copyright.PENANAwnJVWdHWPp
I gasped for air as I 519Please respect copyright.PENANA3QXHASVbnt
quickly sat up on my bed, holding my burning throat and feeling my lungs519Please respect copyright.PENANAI5nxCCd459
ache as air quickly flooded in. For a moment, I thought I was drowning 519Please respect copyright.PENANAxvAf62tY55
in water, but I was actually taking in air. I coughed out a little and 519Please respect copyright.PENANAYxuVJLO1Ch
opened my eyes. The lights in the dorm were all turned on and the bunker519Please respect copyright.PENANAyR24FiiVPK
beds were all empty. For a moment, I panicked as I quickly got out of 519Please respect copyright.PENANA4adYmpmGoC
bed on the bunker bed below, looking around the dorm. There was no one 519Please respect copyright.PENANA9qeAZ7x08y
and I felt scared and worried. I quickly looked out of the window and I 519Please respect copyright.PENANA1T50bN9IH7
realised that the sun was rising up from the east. I couldn’t help but 519Please respect copyright.PENANA2FTAlwD9xx
sigh in relief, but then again, I realised that I was running late and 519Please respect copyright.PENANA2c5mN4NWT3
my dorm mates were obviously hitting the showers in the ablution. And I 519Please respect copyright.PENANAEVa8ggJsTT
was the only one left in the dorm.519Please respect copyright.PENANAQgJfhMs3Je
I quickly grabbed my 519Please respect copyright.PENANAkuNY9u5i4r
toothbrush, toothpaste, my bath towel and cloth. Quickly slipped my feet519Please respect copyright.PENANA9pw9OmjNhP
into my bath slippers and when I turned around the corner of my bunker 519Please respect copyright.PENANAIpQgtV0e6W
bed to grab my bucket, I realised it wasn’t there. I sighed, this time 519Please respect copyright.PENANAkqMuzCyKa2
in frustration.519Please respect copyright.PENANAomIdNvtpAM
Obviously because I knew519Please respect copyright.PENANAKV3HNg4i5Z
who took it. If it wasn’t my bunker mate, then it was probably one of 519Please respect copyright.PENANA15klWLCWXb
the dorm mates. In my nightdress, I rushed out of the dorm and headed 519Please respect copyright.PENANArSG6dvqw8Y
for the ablution. The ablution was one place where I found it so 519Please respect copyright.PENANA2PICW8kChz
repulsive to be in. Despite it being cleaned every day, it was always a 519Please respect copyright.PENANA0SL6VXUtUt
surprise how it gets messed up and flooded afterwards. When I mean 519Please respect copyright.PENANAcmFpJeNN85
messed up, I mean the toilets is one thing you wouldn’t like to see 519Please respect copyright.PENANAV3bG8nOy1j
first after you eat a meal. For a moment, I wonder if we really are 519Please respect copyright.PENANAgy1lGVkkL6
girls or sometimes we act like boys who like to leave a mess. We are 519Please respect copyright.PENANAeelmzqLfyv
“GIRLS” for crying out loud. And as far as I know, we need to take care 519Please respect copyright.PENANA1WRbqcNi8p
of ourselves and the environment around us. Looks like being in boarding519Please respect copyright.PENANAOo2jXDORFa
school, you get to know that sometimes things aren’t always what you 519Please respect copyright.PENANAC8G4tiWII9
thought it ought to be.519Please respect copyright.PENANA7B2TqD7Llk
On either side of the 519Please respect copyright.PENANAbBAhgun240
ablution were the shower side and the toilet side. In between was a 519Please respect copyright.PENANAMMeUKlcgWH
passage where people could move around and line up their buckets to get 519Please respect copyright.PENANAAIjHFaA0cM
into the shower cubicles. When it gets flooded, it’s pretty hard to move519Please respect copyright.PENANAKck0DqQkLw
around and many people have slipped and fallen. Trust me; it’s not a 519Please respect copyright.PENANAY0kyAjFPgI
pretty sight when you see someone falling on their back into the water, 519Please respect copyright.PENANABkmUgE6kIg
which was probably dirty. Luckily for me, that hasn’t happened, yet. I 519Please respect copyright.PENANAMcjy7J6mUK
wasn’t pushing my luck on that one. One day, I would probably fall and 519Please respect copyright.PENANAkV5w1TzHwR
hopefully I wouldn’t break my bones in the process. At the far end of 519Please respect copyright.PENANAb9WiuBzSc0
the ablution were sinks where you can go and brush your teeth and wash 519Please respect copyright.PENANA9morg1Qk3f
your face. And by the corner was a store room where we kept the cleaning519Please respect copyright.PENANA9aucdSnRsv
materials for the ablution.519Please respect copyright.PENANAFfZFB4eIiQ
I stood by the door of 519Please respect copyright.PENANACkUpxQiOG2
the ablution, and as usual, there were queues of buckets all lined up, 519Please respect copyright.PENANAPRXNRZwuZb
their owners standing beside them waiting for the shower cubicles to be 519Please respect copyright.PENANAGf8rjz5Wxi
vacant. I looked around for my bunker mate and I couldn’t see her on any519Please respect copyright.PENANAMdmG8Nwjev
of the queues. I considered her to be in the shower and so I went by 519Please respect copyright.PENANAqxsqXvkpTg
the sink to brush my teeth. The ablution was flooded again and so as 519Please respect copyright.PENANAqimEbSXrJN
always I had to be careful, taking a step at a time.519Please respect copyright.PENANA5dJbrNlmeD
When I finally got to 519Please respect copyright.PENANAlyaofvE2Xd
the sinks, all in one peace, I suddenly felt a jolt of pain in my head 519Please respect copyright.PENANA0z4QJQ8sUb
as though I was just struck by lightning. It felt more like a migraine 519Please respect copyright.PENANAff4OCrMUYZ
and I held my head, almost screaming out in pain. I saw a dark image 519Please respect copyright.PENANADrGLifWlHj
flash before my eyes and for a moment, I thought the lights went off and519Please respect copyright.PENANAEOcxRBF24V
come back on. But when I looked around everything around the ablution 519Please respect copyright.PENANAB8l1Pq4G9X
seemed to be normal. Usually when the power cuts, we girls like to 519Please respect copyright.PENANALrwtACTS6c
scream, a lot, except for a few of us who are already used to the dark. 519Please respect copyright.PENANAT9aJnHKDsH
This time, that wasn’t the case. Everything seemed normal and I felt 519Please respect copyright.PENANAkHayDX2oMp
maybe I was being delirious.519Please respect copyright.PENANAU4wMFtxL9j
“Hey, Diana, are you okay?”519Please respect copyright.PENANAkUiTpWUdlW
I turned to the last 519Please respect copyright.PENANAmx7td91bdB
shower cubicle which was closer to the sinks, and there wrapped up in a 519Please respect copyright.PENANAoN6qfI9KkM
pink towel stood my bunker mate, Christine. And just as I expected, she 519Please respect copyright.PENANASuWg62s1MS
was holding my bucket. She slowly walked over to me, trying to avoid the519Please respect copyright.PENANAQdqfcwOKaJ
dirty ablution water from flowing into her bath slippers.519Please respect copyright.PENANAXvNxtKavlH
“Are you okay? It looks like you just saw a ghost,” Christine had a worrying look on her face.519Please respect copyright.PENANAAKBTwHklyt
“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.519Please respect copyright.PENANAt5ijKnZjqj
“You had me worried, I thought you saw something like a ghost.”519Please respect copyright.PENANASj3dMMxqL9
“You know I don’t believe in such things as the ghosts that haunt people around school.”519Please respect copyright.PENANAq4YLU2BpND
“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.519Please respect copyright.PENANAw1zYiYYUpS
“What happened to you 519Please respect copyright.PENANAh7EAvw04hl
today, anyway? You’re usually the first to wake up when the morning bell519Please respect copyright.PENANAypCc8kibFG
rings. But today you slept like a rock,” Christine added on, this time 519Please respect copyright.PENANAVm9gdQrtvn
there was a concerned tone in her voice.519Please respect copyright.PENANA3Nb1IFmgm5
It hadn’t occurred to me519Please respect copyright.PENANAAJiLjeTLZe
that I had never heard the morning bell in the first place. I was 519Please respect copyright.PENANAf891TPCy5Q
always the early bird and I was never a heavy sleeper. I was always 519Please respect copyright.PENANACUUF0xamFP
sensitive with whatever sounds I get to hear. But today, I hadn’t even 519Please respect copyright.PENANANyZ2eTsmvw
heard my own dorm mates’ footsteps as they always rush out and into the 519Please respect copyright.PENANAyzisuC8ntB
dorm.519Please respect copyright.PENANAlPUgmkTIMA
“I guess today just wasn’t my day,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders.519Please respect copyright.PENANAkVeTULxLHg
“Well, you better hurry 519Please respect copyright.PENANAWBKmLCL9Ft
up then,” said Christine, handling the bucket over to me, “you don’t 519Please respect copyright.PENANAq7f8q9fE1c
want to be caught by the prefects when it’s time to clean up the 519Please respect copyright.PENANA15UcyEOvnu
ablution. And that’s not how you want to start the day.”519Please respect copyright.PENANAsesJtqDxNy
I scowled again as I 519Please respect copyright.PENANA3PkOOfXeh8
took the bucket away from Christine. As I mentioned earlier, the 519Please respect copyright.PENANA2xyjCpDoCz
ablution always get cleaned. And we the pupils clean it with the senior 519Please respect copyright.PENANAE9LgtQjmnQ
prefects as our supervisors. At 6:30 AM, everyone should vacate the 519Please respect copyright.PENANAnYN6xsaeOc
ablutions so that the assigned group of pupils put to clean up the 519Please respect copyright.PENANAHYu6nca9pT
ablution should do their work. If you’re caught still in the showers, 519Please respect copyright.PENANAqZKnTvji5C
you would obviously have to join in the cleaning process. And that 519Please respect copyright.PENANA2PXNIhq8SI
proves to be twice as difficult when you know you’re also assigned to 519Please respect copyright.PENANAIsNVC6viuB
another area to clean in school. As soon as I finished brushing my 519Please respect copyright.PENANAjKAGzEhWbN
teeth, I quickly got out of the ablution to fetch water by a nearby tap.519Please respect copyright.PENANAWpSkyCQG7u
Most of the showers never worked in the ablution, henceforth, fetching 519Please respect copyright.PENANAaIaqdk1pIP
water outside.519Please respect copyright.PENANAyOIEpNGmrm
Luckily, for me, there was no queue and I did things as fast as I could.519Please respect copyright.PENANA3VbliAfj9Q
Afterwards, I went back into the ablution and quickly found a vacant cubicle.519Please respect copyright.PENANAf7ghJmNkJf
After getting cleaned 519Please respect copyright.PENANADrfmAkLT3S
up, I wore my beige school uniform, clean white stockings and I had my 519Please respect copyright.PENANAo5SBawpQJW
black shoes, neatly clean and polished. I looked at myself in the mirror519Please respect copyright.PENANAmr1ZmV9UN2
and made sure my short afro hair was neatly combed. I had cut my long 519Please respect copyright.PENANAApP5vBaNsI
hair a year ago before coming to this missionary school. As usual, one 519Please respect copyright.PENANAdNGWeAxfaY
of the rules was not to come with long hair, especially if was it was 519Please respect copyright.PENANAtcVTiAwNEp
permed. They strongly insisted on natural hair. I had to cut my hair 519Please respect copyright.PENANAwDCQGIVxvI
when I was going into grade 8 and I felt it was pretty unfair. But after519Please respect copyright.PENANAravMSu8gOC
that year, I kind of got used to it. Surly they were just trying to 519Please respect copyright.PENANA1bI0UEL3lp
promote equality amongst us, but there were a lot of things I never 519Please respect copyright.PENANAxzrWx9cEEJ
found amusing in this school.519Please respect copyright.PENANAW0XfmaMrOq
Mpunde Girls Secondary 519Please respect copyright.PENANA4V7CX6i80E
School, a Catholic school run by the Hand Maid Sisters. Located in the 519Please respect copyright.PENANA6WpAi1GrWj
Central Province of Zambia in the town of Kabwe, but pretty much away 519Please respect copyright.PENANADyrvxTAUny
from civilisation. When I say that, I mean the school is located far 519Please respect copyright.PENANAc9eLo4OLBI
away from town and deep into the bush. It’s located in the farthest 519Please respect copyright.PENANAbjvGcqj2tT
rural part of Kabwe.519Please respect copyright.PENANAp2qF4KSjQw
When I first came to 519Please respect copyright.PENANAcFfM7RMrmW
this school to write an aptitude test to go into grade 8, I was greeted 519Please respect copyright.PENANAZKdmR78klf
by the lovely surroundings of the school. The lawns of the school were 519Please respect copyright.PENANAM4Sv33Ac4v
properly well cared for, and there were beautiful flowers everywhere. A 519Please respect copyright.PENANAONC7OqNJGQ
beautiful Catholic church was situated right outside the school grounds,519Please respect copyright.PENANAvMqyJcmqfC
meant for the local people that lived around that area and for us 519Please respect copyright.PENANA4o4HxDYTIP
pupils. The attractive colours painted in different Catholic symbols, 519Please respect copyright.PENANAKRh7bJtECK
inside and outside the walls of the church were astonishing to look at. 519Please respect copyright.PENANAQ4yhemFP5p
It looked more like art in my eyes.519Please respect copyright.PENANA7quUDPREpL
At that moment, I 519Please respect copyright.PENANAIhBspHWygP
thought things were going to get better in my life. The school was 519Please respect copyright.PENANAGDPi8MdlJ0
beautiful and the Catholic sisters and teachers who introduced 519Please respect copyright.PENANAwNcchirVif
themselves to us girls and our parents, seemed so kind. And I was 519Please respect copyright.PENANAYFEwMfcq9n
Catholic, so attending mass wasn’t much of a big deal. I thought I was 519Please respect copyright.PENANAszhkKSj4RB
going to love this place and make it more like my second home. But 519Please respect copyright.PENANAoVTzL6AjyL
things weren’t the case when I got to know the school a whole lot 519Please respect copyright.PENANAfuduqJVbfi
better. I remember a certain friend of mine back home tell me that,519Please respect copyright.PENANA90I1FRSo0w
most Catholic girl schools in Zambia were highly recommended because 519Please respect copyright.PENANA1Vb6ghJgDW
the Sisters were strict and pupils are disciplined. As far as I had 519Please respect copyright.PENANApkGuXn6Z26
known, most Sisters were meant to be kind and loving, not strict and 519Please respect copyright.PENANAkYCG9pySM3
mean. It looked like I had been stuck in oblivion for quite a while in 519Please respect copyright.PENANAIE7ve7KuHL
my life, that when I got to know what my friend truly meant, it was like519Please respect copyright.PENANAfLjKqNssLC
a hammer blow to the head. One's thing for sure, I didn’t like this 519Please respect copyright.PENANA4Idcn0hfxG
school. Every time we begun a new term, I would pray for the three 519Please respect copyright.PENANAcUYcqXwGTg
months to pass by quickly. Whenever I came back home, it felt like I had519Please respect copyright.PENANA9yVPC8VOla
just come back from a beat-down, and as usual, losing the match every 519Please respect copyright.PENANA3IvJQxQ6Rm
time.519Please respect copyright.PENANA8G1EKD8w1U
The school was strict 519Please respect copyright.PENANAapX622VfYk
and on point with their rules, I felt like a minion under their control.519Please respect copyright.PENANAovLSJVMu8b
Any little offense you make, they will take you as an offender. They 519Please respect copyright.PENANAV7esteYB9B
were strict with how you kept the rooms and the surrounding areas clean.519Please respect copyright.PENANAP5YZejQVWz
If they found that nothing was clean or things were out of place, 519Please respect copyright.PENANAsuXDDbgdih
whether in the dorms or in the surrounding areas, either one of the 519Please respect copyright.PENANAaYdbm1ER9n
sisters or one of the teachers on duty, would call the pupils assigned 519Please respect copyright.PENANA1X3VaZsmDQ
to cleaning the area or the dorm, out of class to go back and do their 519Please respect copyright.PENANA1uIXMY7EH3
work properly. And by the end of the day they are given a punishment, 519Please respect copyright.PENANAWoCiJfTG09
which was usually to weed the garden, clean the poultry shack or sweep 519Please respect copyright.PENANAeK4R81Flbe
up the leaves in the orchard. To me, that’s like working twice as hard 519Please respect copyright.PENANAzlU3gSM4FG
as you usually do on a daily basis. There was nothing you could do about519Please respect copyright.PENANAI24mtWb6fp
that anyway. That wasn’t the only that ticked me off sometimes. Most 519Please respect copyright.PENANA8uQesnJhkG
prefects were mean and complete jerks towards us. It’s even much worse 519Please respect copyright.PENANAIbhmjpLgvY
when you were in a lower grade. That meant more work, and if things 519Please respect copyright.PENANAn9csiWp6qw
weren’t done right, punishment in the worst way, cleaning up the 519Please respect copyright.PENANAc7wNrABhRo
disgusting ablution or weeding the entire garden, with your hands. And 519Please respect copyright.PENANAJ2ufYZRbTG
they always had a special day to punish offenders. If you know you were 519Please respect copyright.PENANAihOBw4PHx2
late for classes or attending meals and your name was written in any of 519Please respect copyright.PENANAyS4pjHaVuD
the prefect’s books, just know you will find yourself on the offender’s 519Please respect copyright.PENANALuCMoS985f
list which is always stuck on Thursdays. That means after classes on 519Please respect copyright.PENANAFpELjgmqxx
Thursdays, the first thing you would want to see first is if you’re on 519Please respect copyright.PENANANDT39VtHTY
the offender’s list. If you aren’t, then it’s just a time to relax. If 519Please respect copyright.PENANAJDwbOBcpfH
you are on the list, get ready to thoroughly clean up the whole school, 519Please respect copyright.PENANAOUKIYUPgaG
you aren’t going to get off that list so easily if you didn’t work. 519Please respect copyright.PENANAXXS5M2L3KP
You’ll just find yourself on the other week’s offenders list.519Please respect copyright.PENANAGaxRPhaQEn
Enough about what ticks 519Please respect copyright.PENANAvK1LhqW8vH
me off in this place. It was 7:00 AM and that meant it was time to get 519Please respect copyright.PENANADn8B8w7buw
to work. The way we were allocated to our places of work is according to519Please respect copyright.PENANAbcP5OPnwN2
dorms. There are 10 dorms in school. The size of the dorm also depends 519Please respect copyright.PENANAApfAVa3Dv2
where you’re allocated to work. For example, the second biggest dorm 519Please respect copyright.PENANA1J3bmvdiY7
called Dolores, which I’m in, usually worked in big places like the 519Please respect copyright.PENANANsjkrUDOVm
orchard. And smaller dorms like Xavier A, usually worked in smaller 519Please respect copyright.PENANA7z1v5eiUpK
areas like the kitchen area or the ablutions.519Please respect copyright.PENANAqajQBetFAh
It was time to go to the519Please respect copyright.PENANA9zP7VoSsMo
orchard, and as usual, we were always greeted by the sight of leaves 519Please respect copyright.PENANAQ2exjYWFNN
everywhere in the morning. Most of the time, people would usually sweep 519Please respect copyright.PENANAVll4sxwswf
up the leaves with a rake, but here, we would use brooms made up for the519Please respect copyright.PENANAC6PLirfyWn
strongest tree branches. It was more than enough to sweep up the 519Please respect copyright.PENANA1Sst9ouSC3
leaves. So, we got to work with the brooms. Since there weren’t enough 519Please respect copyright.PENANAGOq9HMehl1
brooms, most of us had to wait until one finishes her potion and gave it519Please respect copyright.PENANAl8M3qf9qbL
you. I was one of those waiting today and I stood under a tree. 519Please respect copyright.PENANAuCERNZeP4d
Christine came up to stand beside me. Our dorm prefect, Chileshe, stood 519Please respect copyright.PENANAf4uNGJWMWS
in front of us, doing her duty, to supervise.519Please respect copyright.PENANA8FRt69qFTh
“Hey, are you going to tell me why you couldn’t wake up today?” Christine asked, nudging her elbow to my side.519Please respect copyright.PENANA2fCZ2LIZV1
“I don’t know,” I replied. “And you are such a bad bunker mate. You couldn’t even wake me up.”519Please respect copyright.PENANAkLJwTWnVPG
“Huh?” Christine looked confused as she looked at me. “I tried to wake you up, but you were as still as a rock.”519Please respect copyright.PENANAKGjzHKugBv
I now stared back at Christine with a frown. “Are you sure? I didn’t hear you at all.”519Please respect copyright.PENANAnU0SgkVHMy
“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.”519Please respect copyright.PENANAWSlhIvvNXY
I shook my head. This 519Please respect copyright.PENANAZY8uV0o1Hd
was ridiculous and Christine was taking it like it was one big deal. If 519Please respect copyright.PENANACqhBc4HNZG
she was going to start talking about ghosts again, like she usually 519Please respect copyright.PENANAxuGOS5c1c8
does, I didn’t know what I would do to her that would land me in serious519Please respect copyright.PENANAWLPoTKL0gU
trouble.519Please respect copyright.PENANAWCvmbByyMV
“Christine, all that just happened to me today. It’s not like it’s going to happen again,” I said.519Please respect copyright.PENANAccpoknLTPi
“Diana, you had me worried,” said Christine. “What if you didn’t wake up?”519Please respect copyright.PENANAETjAfiOrOd
“But I woke up, didn’t I?”519Please respect copyright.PENANAvSYHb1ws6b
“Somehow I feel that there is something you aren’t telling me.”519Please respect copyright.PENANAtztmsJSjiy
I grew startled by what 519Please respect copyright.PENANABvrtvRgMSK
Christine said. I was just about to ask what she meant by that when 519Please respect copyright.PENANANApHtFyV4s
Amanda came back from sweeping her potion and Christine was quick enough519Please respect copyright.PENANA0piLo8Xhzv
to get the broom before anyone else. I could feel that Christine was 519Please respect copyright.PENANAkIWs6FGNdL
really mad at me and the confusing part about it was why she was taking 519Please respect copyright.PENANATXoSXJCLTW
all of this seriously. If I wanted an answer, I was so not ready to get a519Please respect copyright.PENANADYREMtHmQm
ridiculous one from Christine. She was so superstitious about things 519Please respect copyright.PENANA84YuMs553V
and I wasn’t coping with all of that ever since I first came to school 519Please respect copyright.PENANANx2idcAmkW
and learnt mysterious things that I wasn’t even willing to know.519Please respect copyright.PENANAPJZ8rKBl1k
Amanda came to stand 519Please respect copyright.PENANApWuh3Hksmc
beside me as we watched Christine head towards her portion of the 519Please respect copyright.PENANANbBCk4Nzqz
orchard. I drew out a breath of air. Amanda who had a bunker bed right 519Please respect copyright.PENANArgWbpLoehH
next to Christine’s and mine, looked over at me. By the look on her 519Please respect copyright.PENANAAiCuppC1FI
face, I could tell she knew what Christine and I were arguing about. I 519Please respect copyright.PENANAlyPOdho3Rg
wasn’t even ready to hear what she had to say. Hearing from Christine 519Please respect copyright.PENANAwbRFK7cbBN
was more than enough.519Please respect copyright.PENANAl5qZcN29aQ
“I wouldn’t be so mad at Christine if I were you,” said Amanda.519Please respect copyright.PENANAENbaPn90kO
“I’m not mad at her,” I said, “I just feel that she is making a mountain out of a mole hill.”519Please respect copyright.PENANA15gO9ccHOJ
Amanda folded her arms 519Please respect copyright.PENANA0qc0O8l5tI
across her chest and leaned in closer to me so that people wouldn’t hear519Please respect copyright.PENANAnwZNlWe800
us. “I was there when Christine tried to wake you up. You didn’t even 519Please respect copyright.PENANAZWzjU5IZvB
move an inch. You just laid there. And you looked, I don’t know, dead.”519Please respect copyright.PENANALIeMm8Daxx
As far as I had known 519Please respect copyright.PENANAW2AfTpbFHc
Amanda, she was one person who always aired out her honest opinions 519Please respect copyright.PENANAjWWbI2LeNZ
about things and she was one who wouldn’t even lie. She was quite 519Please respect copyright.PENANAOs4LrjGUg5
terrible at it if you ask me. I knew what she was telling me right now 519Please respect copyright.PENANAsSHCFsg5nu
was the truth. I swallowed, still finding it hard to believe what Amanda519Please respect copyright.PENANADmfbIfNxPR
had just told me.519Please respect copyright.PENANA8od9U01g8G
“If I was like that, why519Please respect copyright.PENANAai6cG0aXCn
didn’t you call the nurse or inform one of the prefects?” I turned to 519Please respect copyright.PENANAKrbgCHnRVV
face Amanda, her brown innocent eyes staring back at me.519Please respect copyright.PENANAo4U03TxDv9
“Christine was scared 519Please respect copyright.PENANAsYuxd6NmT3
when she couldn’t wake you. She almost freaked out and I told her that 519Please respect copyright.PENANAN13XQ3DEoB
you would be fine, that you were just in a deep sleep. I told her to 519Please respect copyright.PENANA6zKsYThKEY
leave the dorm and that I would watch over you until you woke up. We 519Please respect copyright.PENANAQOxrM8OmiP
didn’t want to attract any attention among the dorm mates until we were 519Please respect copyright.PENANAPRWmM8NhBG
sure you were okay.”519Please respect copyright.PENANAbgYYliqqId
“Where were you when I woke up? I didn’t see you and the whole dorm was empty.”519Please respect copyright.PENANAFIZYvI4j5O
“I was standing by the 519Please respect copyright.PENANANlp7znCjNW
door of the dorm when you woke up. And to be honest, you woke up in the 519Please respect copyright.PENANAEHV5WtVzIS
weirdest way possible. It was like you were given CPR and was suddenly 519Please respect copyright.PENANAgSMHvui17y
revived.”519Please respect copyright.PENANAkhDkxtlD1i
Now that Amanda had 519Please respect copyright.PENANAHETgd6kZVm
mentioned it, I did wake up in the weirdest way today. I felt like 519Please respect copyright.PENANAEbmlLRy5tq
someone had pumped in water into my nostrils when it was actually air. I519Please respect copyright.PENANAJcgwNSkqzt
could still remember my throat burn and I held it again without even 519Please respect copyright.PENANAvCpSDySsnl
realising it. I looked up at Amanda and she gave me a sad smile.519Please respect copyright.PENANAgXKbyrIywY
“And you told Christine?” I asked when I obviously knew the answer.519Please respect copyright.PENANAPi6D03uWFY
“You know I couldn’t lie519Please respect copyright.PENANArT3u86wVLg
to her. She was worried and she has every right to. And so was I. What 519Please respect copyright.PENANAvSuwpWUmyN
if you never did wake up? Have you ever thought of what would have 519Please respect copyright.PENANA5ZWQp1oHlh
happened if you had died in your sleep?”519Please respect copyright.PENANA5WKnBIXrKS
I took in Amanda’s 519Please respect copyright.PENANA048BVgt3SQ
questions into consideration and I looked at Christine who was busy at 519Please respect copyright.PENANA9S8Z9HseVq
work. It was obvious that she was avoiding me. I swallowed hard and 519Please respect copyright.PENANAdJqyt68qJa
stared off in a distance. All Christine was trying to do was help me out519Please respect copyright.PENANAFklpr2xCFG
and I was acting like a complete jerk. But she couldn’t blame me for 519Please respect copyright.PENANA4BKzBLG26O
it. I didn’t even know what had happened to me in the first place.519Please respect copyright.PENANAwFXC1bsw63
It was now my turn to go519Please respect copyright.PENANAXibROHY5k0
and sweep as I took the broom from my fellow dorm mate, Chilufya who 519Please respect copyright.PENANA21J7gxuhI9
was a grade ahead of me. I went to my portion under a few guava trees. 519Please respect copyright.PENANAnPSJ2AjhfR
Before I could bend down to start sweeping, a sudden wave of pain gushed519Please respect copyright.PENANAEVspsq5Z3P
down upon my head. The pain was so unbearable, that I almost screamed 519Please respect copyright.PENANAtMViBOszjo
aloud as I held my head.519Please respect copyright.PENANAVOLf2yKJD7
As I looked around the 519Please respect copyright.PENANAQPgFZS09vv
place, everything seemed blurry. I tried blinking my eyes a few times to519Please respect copyright.PENANAMqNAwwVSsB
refocus my sight, but that didn’t seem to work. I leaned onto a tree 519Please respect copyright.PENANAJywQaZTeM3
for support and I soon felt a jolt of dizziness and I felt like I would 519Please respect copyright.PENANA4p79scruF6
throw up at any moment. Soon, voices of concern surrounded me and I felt519Please respect copyright.PENANACfprKL2faB
a warm familiar hand hold my shoulder. I saw Christine looking at me 519Please respect copyright.PENANAO4yAmtkW6G
and with our other dorm mates surrounding me.519Please respect copyright.PENANADSUZXTuHcL
My vision was still 519Please respect copyright.PENANA0R9MCz85N9
blurry and my head ached like hell. What was even worse was the fact 519Please respect copyright.PENANAsJlVDbJNXb
that everyone was talking and I couldn’t get a thing they said, not even519Please respect copyright.PENANALpN7clFXC6
Christine who was right next to me. I felt so confused that I was 519Please respect copyright.PENANAM424KG9zzx
afraid of running mad with all the noise. I looked around and I noticed 519Please respect copyright.PENANAn6gPUeKT83
that my vision was getting worse. I could notice a few of my dorm mates’519Please respect copyright.PENANA6dXN1Lz96l
faces including the dorm prefect, Chileshe. I saw Amanda at the far end519Please respect copyright.PENANA4hAu2ec0jw
of the crowd, looking scared. And I noticed someone standing right 519Please respect copyright.PENANAaW9pYiAwJA
behind her.519Please respect copyright.PENANAewrtnC0IBy
At that moment, my 519Please respect copyright.PENANAXnTswECMIr
vision cleared when I saw the tall person who was standing behind 519Please respect copyright.PENANAn0Elicd2zO
Amanda. I felt a burning sensation run through my body, but I was 519Please respect copyright.PENANAVriF7nDe0J
sensible enough not to scream. I continued to look at the tall figure 519Please respect copyright.PENANAmLwQClwctD
and out of nowhere, a flood of images rushed through my head in a quick 519Please respect copyright.PENANAkteMgaJHqX
flash.519Please respect copyright.PENANAGHd7WL3yFm
Right before I could figure out what had just happened; I was falling into a pit of darkness, right into oblivion.
519Please respect copyright.PENANAEq9XxDXE3X