Once Upon A Century...

CHAPTER - 3

The familiar heavy sour feeling sat in the bottom of my stomach and kept my eyelids from shutting. I kept turning in my bed, taking deep breaths and heaving sighs to ease the tightness in my chest. For the gazillionth time, I rubbed my sweaty palms together and wiped the beads of sweat that poured from my forehead before resuming fumbling with the hem of my fur skirt. I have a big day ahead of me and my heart pounded in my chest.

Sleep wasn't forthcoming so I sent a quick prayer to the gods to make it dawn already. For a moment, I let my eyes and mind drift to the oil lamp on the floor beside my bed. I watched how it danced in it's blazing beauty as a faint wind drifted in through a crack in my window, its many layers of colours mixing into a fine blend. I noticed how the fire always came back stronger after almost getting doused by the wind. It reminded me of myself. We had a lot in common. Our will to survive tragedy. Our rage. Our ability to consume anything and everything that stood in our way.

"You should get some rest." I froze. I could swear time stopped for a while and my heart stopped with it. Slowly, I turned around to confirm whom I had heard. My eyes bulged out of their sockets, it stung. I jerked off my bed as adrenaline pumped through my veins.

"Papa!" His lips tugged into a smile, he looked just the way I remembered him –maybe a little better though. His eyes crinkled at the sides and his skin  had a strange glow. A kind of glow I had never seen

"Ada'nnaya" His eyes held so much pain when he called me by my pet name. The smile faded like they weren't there a heartbeat ago."Why do you look so pale, my darling?" His voice, barely above a whisper.
I wanted to wrap him up in my arms so bad but my feet wouldn't move. It felt like I was deeply rooted to the ground.

"Papa..." The only words that managed to roll off my tongue. I stretched out my hands to reach him and he walked closer to me. I blinked away the tears that blurred my vision.

"I'm right here" He stopped few inches away from my outstretched arm.

"I want to hold you again, just this once" I took a large gulp of saliva to eliminate the lump in my throat "even if it's for the last time, please"

He clicked his tongue, his gaze holding mine. "We're worlds apart now" His eyes held so much sadness that broke my heart afresh into a thousand pieces. I clasped my hand over my mouth to muffle the loud cry that was threatening to surge.

"No, we're not" I sniffled, "take me with you"
He smiled at me - it was a sad smile still. I could see he was struggling to look like he was okay.

"Please don't leave me again" My eyes searched his but he snatched his gaze away from me and avoided my eyes.

"It's time" He said and inched closer to press his lips against my forehead. His peck lingered and my attempts to embrace him were futile - I was frozen still.

Cookooroo-koooo...

I jerked awake from sleep, the warmth of my father's kiss still burning on my forehead. My hand found the spot and held it for a moment. With my eyes, I searched around the room for him but there was no sign of him.

Sigh. It must have been a figment of my imagination.

I looked out the window to see it was morning. My prayers were finally answered.

With my will stronger and my heart heavier, I got up from my bed and stretched out the morning fatigue as I quickly undressed then I rushed into the bathroom neglecting the chilliness of the morning dews.

After making sure I was clean, I returned to my hut and dressed up in one of the most gorgeous outfits my father got me. I had worn this same attire two festivals ago. It was my favourite as every eyes at the festival were on me the last time I wore it. The bright red color of the fabric was perfect on my fair skin. Not to mention how it complimented my light brown eyes that glistened in my happy days. The edges of my curly black hair always fell perfectly with my hair bead. The reflection I used to see when I looked in the water was that of a beautiful maiden. My father used to tell me that I looked very much like my mother who was a half caste. She came into existence as a result of a forbidden love between a slave and a British colonial master.