Thicker Than Water

Chapter One

We run through the deserted country road, following a steam of black smoke. My sister Indie huffs and puffs as she tries to catch her breath behind me.

"Eva, yima!" Wait! She calls out, her breath rushing out in erratic waves.

I am already disappearing into the thick smoke, my lungs heating as I run faster and struggle to breathe. Our shack gives out as it roars out one last spit of fire. I hear Indie's footsteps behind me the same time a big van pulls up next to me. There are men grabbing us before we can register what's happening.

"Tumi!" I call out as the shack disappears in the flames.

"Sizwe!" I call out again , hoping my younger brother will hear me. I don't want to believe what could have happened or what is about to happen right now. My bones almost break as the masked men throw me into the van. I can vaguely hear Indie crying from a distance and then I hear another van drive off in full speed. It is dark and I can't quite make out my surroundings. My heart aches for Tumi and Sizwe, who obviously didn't make it out of those flames.

My soul shatters for Indie. She's only twelve years old and might never find her way home again. I pray for myself as the van drives off fast in the gravel road. I get thrown around the van as we make sharp turns.

The faster we go, the further away we get from each other. The van stops.

I wail harder and a tall muscular man roughly opens the door and slaps me across my face. The other skinny, rugged man pulls out a syringe. They inject something into my body as I cry out some more, cursing, with no one out there to hear me or to save me.

I awake the next morning in an unfamiliar rondavel. I can hear the sounds of men singing and women ululating outside. A bit of sunlight seeps into the tiny window. The window has become deem and dark with smoke over time.

"Ntombi!" A frail woman cries out as she walks in and finds me awake.

She clasps her hands together in excitement, "Likhaya lakho eli." This is your home, she tells me with an unwavering smile on her face.

I am then ushered out of the rondavel by two other women. My heart beats fast as we pry our way out of the myriad of people. The two women take me into a bigger rondavel on the other side of the yard. There is a dark, tall and scary man waiting for me. He is dressed in traditional clothing, sitting in a fancy chair with a stick in his right hand.

"Hello Ntombi." He sneers revealing old and crooked teeth.

"My name is Eva." I say swallowing the lump in my throat.

He nods and chuckles once more.

"Where's my sister? Are you behind my brothers deaths? Did you burn our shack?" I ask all at once, my blood boiling in anger. The old man who looks to be no younger than his 50's smiles smugly at me.

"I am your husband, David." He introduced himself like the circumstances are normal, extending a hand to me but I quickly dismis his pleasantries.

"You are crazy if you think I will marry an evil monster like you!" I spit at him almost at the same time as his hand lands on my face. My head spins and before I know it he is kicking me, spotting at me until one of his men rush in and inject me with something again. I try to fight them off but the darkness swallows me whole.