Chapter Thirteen

   ***One year ago***

"Kensi, do you know what I'm going to do after campus?" Munzi asked her little sister. She didn't really want to tell but there was an elephant in the room that needed to be addressed. She was just provoking her mother well enough for her to start talking.

"Do I look like I care?" Kensi asked and Munzi took in a deep breath to calm her heart. What her sister had said was hurtful. She would never understand why Kensi always behaved that way with her. It was like she didn't respect her at all despite Munzi being three years older. Sometimes she felt like she was the youngest in the family.

"It doesn't matter. I'll still tell." She looked at her mother and said,"I'll go to Aust." She said and she meant it. That got to her mother.

"Who do you think you are?" Her mother asked. She took a deep breath and prepared herself for what was to come. She felt like a punching bag for everyone. Something to help them release their frustrations. So for the next one hour, she would listen to her mother saying hurtful things but wouldn't fight back.

"Do you have any idea what your actions have caused us? The whole neighborhood is talking about how bad of a mother I am. Raising a slut of a daughter. Not to mention that you slept with Kwela's fiance. Don't you have any boundaries? And seriously accusing a man we chose for you of forcing himself on you. You are a bad person. One level away from becoming an animal." Her mother said it all at once. Munzi tried to stop it but the tears flowed down her face like a river. She was expecting it but she still couldn't believe that her own mother didn't believe her. Her heart hurt badly. She looked around the room. Her father was lying on the couch watching the news without giving a crap that his golden daughter was being broken. Maybe he had forgotten that part. Her sisters Kensi and Anita, were also sitting on the couch watching the TV except for Anita who was on her phone. She cried even harder not bothering to wipe the tears anymore. It didn't matter. They didn't believe her and she wouldn't change their minds.

"What are you crying about? Does it hurt to hear the truth? You are a slut with a loose tongue and from now onwards you are no longer a daughter of mine. So disrespectful and shameless. I'm not cursing you but you will never be happy." That was the speech that almost broke her. It was also the last time she and her mother spoke. After she went to her room that night, she packed her essentials and left for campus. She only talked to her father three months later. Not to make up but to give the financial support she badly needed. She accepted it. Life on her own was hard and she was humble enough to accept help.

***End of flashback***

Now a year and three months later, Munzi sat in a public vehicle traveling east to her hometown. She wiped a tear after having to live through all that again. It was about time she faced those wounds. The scars would be her battle wounds. They already hurt her before, it couldn't get worse, right? She looked at the person sitting next to her. It was an old woman. She was carrying a basket full of potatoes and sweet potatoes. She was probably traveling home to take those to her family. Munzi felt guilty. She would have to stop at a store before getting home to buy some goodies for everyone. It was the Zenj way. No matter what happened between you and everyone else you still had to treat them with kindness. She wouldn't abandon her way of life. Traditions connected you to the past and no matter how dark hers was, it was a part of her. Maybe she couldn't leave it behind but she could try to shine some light on it. She was a moon after all. Five hours later, she arrived at the shopping center in her village. It was the only one in the place. Her family owned it. That wasn't surprising considering that her great great great great grandfather had founded Kianyange village. During the tribal migrations, Nyange had settled here with his family and named it after himself. Munzi smiled thinking about it. She was one of the descendants of a great man. She was proud of that. After standing there lost in her mind for some time, a child bumped into her. She steadied herself and said sorry to the child who looked at her in distaste and ran away. Munzi felt like crying. These people who were all related to her, had very long memories. They also found it hard to forgive. That she had left and not come back for a long time didn't sit well with them. According to them, she had abandoned them. They seemed to forget that they left her first. She however didn't care enough to want to leave her dreams and stay here. She couldn't take the judgement and cold stares forever. She just wished they could understand that. There was a whole world out there to be explored and she was going to do just that even if it meant doing it alone. Bless the good Lord for creating novels. She smiled thinking about all the times she had fallen in love with characters. Call her weird but she loved it, finding true love with so many good men even if it would never materialize. She smiled in a way most would find creepy and shook her head going into the store. She saw her cousin Nyonge.

"Hi." She said and prayed that he wouldn't be cruel to her. She wasn't that thick skinned. He turned around and walked around the counter. After looking at her for a while, he smiled and pulled her in for a hug. Munzi hugged him back. He had been her best friend before everything went downhill.

"Nyonge, you are kinda squeezing me." She said and laughed. She felt his body vibrate probably from a chuckle. He then let go of her.

"Are you really back?" He asked still looking at her but with a smile on his face this time around.

"Don't get your hopes up. I'm only here for the weekend. I have school on Monday." She said hoping he wouldn't feel bad.

"Relax Munz. I'm just glad you're okay and I'm sorry I didn't believe in you." Nyonge said and Munzi smiled. She had been hurt when he was one of the many that didn't believe her. But she had more happy than sad memories of him. It was easy to forgive him.

"It's okay. I suppose I can get where you were coming from." She said touching his upper arm. It was muscular from all the hard work at their coffee and tea farms. She smiled at that. The tea farm was her favorite place. Just being surrounded by the vast green. It was therapeutic and peaceful. She missed it.

"So how is life in the big city?" Nyonge asked and Munzi grinned. Life was amazing but she wouldn't tell that. She didn't want to have to confess that she had dallied with a hot white man from another land. She would be stoned if people found out.

"Same old same. Nothing much going on there except for noise and air pollution and traffic." She said and cringed just thinking about how bad it was there. She had missed the fresh air and even though her new apartment was in a better place, she still wasn't free.

"I don't think you're going to give me the dirty details so I'll let it drop for now. Did you want to buy something?" Her cousin asked.

"Yeah. Let me go get it." She said and walked away. It wasn't hard to find the sweets she needed. Her family was wealthy so they had everything money could buy. Even if they didn't send her alot but she understood them. Being so close minded was their excuse. After paying for her sweets, she said goodbye and left for her childhood home.

She was smiling as she walked the half kilometre. There weren't many people on the road since it was already seven in the evening. Most people had retired to their beds after the long day of work. They would be up the next morning by four. It was also a habit she had found hard to shed after moving. She passed the river where she and Hita had started their love and where it had also ended. She smiled sadly as she saw them playing in the water but a little further from the road. It would have been a disaster if people had seen them. A few meters later, she was standing in front of her father's door. She said a silent prayer and knocked.