UNBREAKABLE Novel Chapter 4

4

NARRATED

He’s been walking for hours looking for her. He hasn’t found her. He looked for her by following a trail of sneakers and also asking people on the way if they have seen her pass by. He tried his best to describe her but every lead he got didn’t lead anywhere.

He sits down and releases a sigh. The last lead he got led him to this place. He was so sure he would get her. But no. She was nowhere to be found. He was even starting to give up on looking for her. He even thought of going back home thinking that maybe she found her way to her village.

He snaps his head up when he hears someone sniff. He looks at the direction where the sniffing came from. He gets up and walks there slowly. His heart beats fast when he sees her. He gets to her and kneels behind her. She screams when he puts his arms around her shoulders.

“Sshh. You’re safe. It’s me.” She bursts out crying. He moves to kneel in front of her. The way her face looks breaks his heart. He feels guilty. He hugs her,brushing her back.

“I am so sorry. Please don’t cry.”

“I want to go home.”

“Is that what you really want? “She nods.

“Yes. Your people are going to kill me. My family is worried about me. Please just show me the way and i will go. I won’t say anything about you keeping me. You saved me and I’m thankful for that.”

“I will take you home. But first,here. Drink some water. I’m taking you to the clinic then I’ll take you home.”

“No. I want to go home.”

“It’s okay. Drink up so we can leave.” She takes the water bottle and drinks all the water. After she’s done he gets up and helps her up. He takes her hands and they start their journey. Even though he wanted to keep her with him,he realises that taking her home is the dight thing to do. He feels bad that he made her cry. Her red eyes are proof that she cried for a while.

“Did you get lost?” She nods.

“I didn’t know where to go anymore so I decided to sit and rest. I was so scared thinking of what would happen to me.”

“I shouldn’t have kept you against your will. It was wrong of me. I am really sorry. I’ve seen that I hurt you by doing that. Please forgive me. “

They continue with their journey until they get to Risuna’s village. Risuna tells him that he can go back but he refuses. He decides to walk with her until she gets home.

They get to her home and when her little brother sees her he runs to her. She hugs him. Mlunghisi stands there and watch as they embrace each other. Risuna lets go and Kuhlula wipes her tears.

“Sesi why did you leave me?! Don’t you love me anymore?” The little boy asks.

“I love you. I won’t leave you again. I promise.” She lets go of him and they walk to the house. When they walk in the parents look at them and her mother gets up and goes to her. She attacks her with a hug.

“Oh my child! What happened to you?”

“It’s a long story mom.”

“Who’s this?” Her father asks. They all sit down.

“This is Mlunghisi. He’s the one who saved me. “

“We’ve been looking for her for days. Where did you find her?” The father asks.

“I found her not far from the well. “

“Where are you from?”

“The village accross the stream. “

“Huh! Did you kidnap my child?”

“No,sir. When I found her she was unconscious. Some boys were surrounding her and wanted to kill her. They are the ones who hit her on her head. I managed to get them away from her and took her to my home. I nursed her back to health and now I brought her back. I will be on my way back now.”

“Thank you so much for saving my daughter. If there is any way I can thank you tell me. Any price. It doesn’t matter. You’ve saved my child from danger.”

“No sir. I did what anyone would have done. Risuna,be well and take care. Don’t go there alone again. ” Risuna nods her head and watches as he leaves. She cries feeling relieved that he finally let her go. She got scared when he found her. She thought he would take her back.

…….

“Did you find her?” Mlunghisi’s father asks when Mlunghisi sits down. He just arrived after leaving in the morning. They waited for him all day and he never showed up. They even got worried and thought maybe something happened to him. They thought that maybe people from that village found out where he comes from and attacked him.

“I found her and took her to her family.”he answers,with a low voice.

“But you sound sad. Did something happen there?”

“No. “

“You’ve never acted like this. What’s happening to you? Do you love that girl?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. “

“No,we are going to going to talk about it. ” His father insists.

“Dad,she is a good person. Her family is kind,that’s why she’s like that. I told them everything. How I found her and where I come from. All I saw from them was gratitude and thankfulness. They were so grateful to an extent that they didn’t even care where i come from. They even wanted to do something for me to show how grateful they are that I found their daughter. “

“You can’t trust those people. That doesn’t sound like them.”

“Dad,you know why I’m sad? It’s because they did what you,my father fail to do. You’ve never appreciated anything I do for this family. I work so hard yet you don’t appreciate that. You say it’s my job. You are always demanding things. It’s like I’m paying for being born. You don’t know what the words “thank you” mean. Sometimes you demand things that are impossible and i have to go out of my way to do them. You don’t care about me or my wellbeing. As long as you get what you want then everything is well. You see,when I came here with Risuna my intentions were to nurse her back to health then take her back to her family. But as I spent time with her I felt a change in me. I was happy. The way she spoke of her family and how she was worried about how they must be feeling made me wish to have that. Someone who would care about me like that. I’ve always wished for someone who would talk like that about me. I had hope that maybe one day I’d be happy like everyone else. That hope is gone because of you. She made me happy. Her presence replaced the misery that you put me through everyday. But you threatened to hand her over to the chief and she ran away. I had no other choice but to take her home. I hope you are happy with yourself. The person who made me happy is gone because of you. I would have eventually taken her home but you scared her. You can go on and celebrate. ” he gets up and leaves.

He walks into his hut and takes his toiletries and walks out. He goes to get water and goes to take a bath. After he is done he asks his sister where his food is. He gets it and sits down and starts eating.

“When is Risuna coming back?” His sister Basani asks.

“I don’t know. Maybe she will forget about me since she’s now with her family.”

“Don’t be sad. Do you love her?” He looks at her.

“You’ve never been this sad. But now it’s like you lost something important. I will also miss her. Even though I only interacted with her for a few times she was nice. I hope one day I see her.” She smiles.

“You know, you can visit her if she’s really that important to you. Don’t listen to dad. Those people won’t know who you are unless you tell them. It’s not like you walk around with the name of where you come from written on your forehead. ” They laugh. At least he is no longer as sad as he was. That’s what Basani wanted,to cheer her brother up.

“I doubt she will want to see me again. ” Mlunghisi says.

“Don’t lose hope. Anything is possible. “She leaves him to think about the possibilities of seeing her again.

After he’s done eating he goes back to his room and looks for his phone. When he finds it he goes to the gallery and looks at Risuna’s picture. He loved taking pictures of her. She never even noticed when he did that. He smiles at one of the pictures he took when she was mad at him. She was mad but it made him smile. Is he going to see her again? Is he willing to take the risk of possibly calling danger to himself?

RISUNA

I wake up to Kuhlula’s hands around me. I smile. My little brother missed me. He even cried when he saw me walk in. I really missed him too.

When I came to bed mom came here to get him but he refused to go. He said he’s sleeping in my room so that he can protect me from the bad people so that they don’t take me again.

He talked nonstop until he fell asleep. He updated me on what was happening in my absence. He even told me that dad cried. My dad crying? That was a first. I didn’t believe him at first,but the way he kept on repeating it I ended up believing him. He also told me that mom stopped going to work. My parents were really worried about me.

I pinch his cheeks in a playful manner and he rubs his eyes. He opens them and giggles. I hug him.

“You didn’t leave!”

“Where would I go? “

“Okay. I want to go to work with you.”

“I’m not going to work. I will go with you and dad to school. How about that?” He smiles,revealing his toothless gap.

“Will you also fetch me?” I nod.

I get up and make the bed as he leaves. After that I take a shower and go for breakfast. Kuhlula is already eating and watching tv.

“I’m staying home with you today. Daddy said I shouldn’t go to school. ” He’s happy about that. I understand why dad would tell him not to go to school. He wouldn’t focus thinking about me.

Mom comes and sits next to me. She hugs me. I missed her. When Mlunghisi’s father said he would turn me in to the chief i thought of the possibility of never seeing my mother and everything almost stopped. I almost lost my mind. I knew I had to get out of that place. I couldn’t stay there and wait for death.

“Talk to me and tell me the truth. What happened? Did you get lost?”

“No. I was on my way back home when I started hearing noise. I thought maybe it was an animal. Then I heard voices and cow bells. I thought it was herdboys from here. Unfortunately it was those from the other village. Then someone threw a stone in front of me. The second one hit me on the back of my head and i fell. After that everything went blank.”

“Oh,my child. You will never go there again. I don’t want to lose you.”

“Then I woke up inside a hut. A guy told me that his brother came with me. When his brother,Mlunghisi came back he told me about what happened and how he rescued me. Mom,those people were ready to stone me to death…” I start crying before i finish talking.

“We thank God for Mlunghisi. If he was a minutes late something worse would have happened. “

“When he told me about the village that they stay in I got so scared. Thinking about the things grandma used to tell me…I thought I would be killed there if they found me.”

“You’re home. That’s what is important. “

I am not going to say anything about Mlunghisi wanting to keep me there for good,his father wanting to hand me to the chief or me escaping. It’s over now and moving forward is what I have to do. But I will never forget what I went through. I will never set foot to that place again and risk with my life. That was the last time.

……….