Sky...

"The more an arrow is drawn backward, the more its velocity of projection" - Andria

"Eat baby, open your mouth for mummy to feed you, open it wide", I said

" No mummy I'm not hungry yet, I want to sleep, tell me a bedtime story", Sky said.

He sat up and put his head on my lap as I rubbed his head. His hair was black and curly. It was also very soft. 

"In the Muka kingdom, was a courageous king whose name was Zulu Kabar, he was a brave warrior and a hunter, the whole kingdom was scared of him because he never smiled", I started.

"Mummy, so nothing could make him smile?", Sky asked.

" Yes", I replied.

"The King believed that only a weak man smiles or laughs", I added.

" But that doesn't sound true, is it?", he asked.

"Darling, just listen and let me finish my story, I will answer all your questions later", I told him.

" One day the king went hunting in the jungle with his closest friend, Atah, they have been friends since childhood. On reaching the jungle, they found no animal to shoot, it seemed like the animals have been forewarned about the king's arrival"

Atah suggested they went home and came back another day.

"The king still didn't give up, they went into hiding and waited for any animal to pass by", I took a break and gulped down a glass of water, cleared my throat, and continued.

Seeing the suspense expression on Sky's face it was obvious that I'll answer lots of questions after this story.

"Finally a deer came passing by, the king immediately corked his gun and gave out two shots, however, the king's finger was at the mouth of the gun so the first shot took out his finger the deer ran on hearing that first shot".

"So the king lost both his finger and his target, the king was losing lots of blood from his finger and was in deep pain too"

"Atah tore out a piece from his cloth and tired the king's finger to stop the bleeding"

"The great hunter has shot himself, it's God's grace", Atah teased the king jokingly.

The angry king doesn't take that as a joke and told Atah that the gods will never let him shoot himself.

When they got back to the palace, the king ordered the guards to put Atah behind bars irrespective of their friendship.

Atah was put behind bars immediately. Two days later the king went out hunting again, he went alone because his friend was behind bars.

The King didn't like going hunting with his guards.

In the jungle, the king was attacked by a group of bandits, they tied his hands and carried him away to a faraway land.

The bandits presented the king to their leader, their leader was excited because the king had a smooth and succulent body.

"Call the chief priest for the ritual, tell him that the perfect meat has been found", their leader ordered.

When the chief priest came and inspected the king, he rejected him saying that anybody that will be used for the ritual must be complete and won't have any part of their body missing.

Due to the king's missing finger, he could not be used for the ritual. So the bandits untied him and let him go.

When the king got back to the palace, he went straight to jail and released his friend, Atah.

He hugged Atah tight and explained what transpired in the jungle to him.

He also apologized to Atah for letting his anger take over him.

"It is the grace of God", Atah replied.

" You haven't stop saying this, how is it the grace of God that I was kidnapped?", the king asked.

"No, it was the grace of God that you put me behind bars if I had followed you, I would have been used for the sacrifice cos I have no missing part", Atah replied.

The King then understood what Atah was implying.

"Everything that happens to us is always by God's grace, both the good and bad, God always has a reason for every season", Atah added.

"That is the end of my story", I said.

" It's late, you need to sleep, goodnight baby", I said, kissing his forehead.

I felt the sun rays shine on my eyes, "Good morning Andria ", a voice said. 

I slowly opened my eyes, it was the nurse with my medications.

It was all a dream, I wasn't with my son, Sky. I wanted to see him. I had this nostalgic feeling.

I always told my son bedtime stories before he slept. Dreaming about him today made me miss him the more.

He still has his cute voice even after 3 years, that was when I last saw him.

________________________________________________________

"Are you ready for the party, Amanda?", my father asked.

" Yes dad, almost ready ", I answered, knowing fully well that I wasn't.

My dad was hosting the biggest party that will go down in the history of parties in our country.

My dad was arguably the biggest musician in our country, his number of streams, the crowd during musical shows, his awards were too numerous to mention.

Although my father retired from his musical career five years ago, his music still dominates the city, his name rings in the ears of people, the new musicians often visit him for advice and music promotion.

Not forgetting his record label that has signed a lot of musicians whose names have been written in the sands of time.

My father's mansion and cats were the top talks of the city. Both the interior and exterior design of the house were a tour sight of its own.

Although I have lived in that mansion for years, I still felt like a tourist sometimes when I move around the mansion from the fifteen rooms to the sitting room, the large dining room, the library, the award room, my dad's studio, and the art room.

My dad was a wonderful musician as well as a talented artist. He painted a lot during his leisure time.

He had a different room for that, made paintings of my mum, brother and me as well as paintings of his parents.

My dad doesn't talk much, I felt he expressed his emotions through music and paintings.

His love for art might be one of the reasons our house had nice aesthetics. Everything my dad had or did was always well arranged, he gets irritated by disorderliness. 

My dad is throwing a big party to celebrate his newest award as 'the artiste of the decade' even though he hasn't released any song or the past five years.

A lot of celebrities both home and abroad will be in attendance, the governor and ministers will also be in attendance. This award wasn't just a win for only my dad but also a win for the whole city.

It was an international award, one of the most prestigious awards ever. My dad was the first to win this award in the city, it was going to be a glamorous day.

I wore a black gown decorated with cultural prints and joined my dad in the entourage. It was a very colorful event with lots of prestigious people in attendance as predicted.

Surely, the event will be the top topic of blogs and news channels the next day.

" Hey Amanda, you look stunning", a voice said. The voice seemed familiar, I turned back "Hey William you look great too" I replied.

"Mind joining me for a drink?", he said

" Had lots of drinks already", I replied.

He looked so handsome in his new haircut and traditional attire which looked expensive and astonishing.

As I left, I felt he kept gazing at me. William is my ex-boyfriend, my father's best friend's son. My father and his friend tried working things out between the both of us.

Our relationship went well at the beginning but with time I noticed some characters I couldn't tolerate which led to our break up.

 "William has everything you need in a man, his humility, intelligence, and hard work, I believe things can still work out between the both of you", my father always sang in my ears every day after he heard about our breakup.

I often wondered whether Williams's dad also sang my praises to William too.

William was a proud and arrogant man, adding to the fact that he was a master in cooking up lies.

A lot of bad characters he portrayed, I wasn't good at tolerating them either, I wondered how my dad only saw the good aspect of him.

The dress code of the event was traditional attire. Lots of different traditional attire were seen all over the place, attires that we're worth thousands down to those worth millions.

The event wasn't complete without the cultural music raiding the atmosphere.

My mum always wanted all of these for my dad, he was such a hard worker, only if she was alive to be part of this celebration.

I always believe my mum was always present wherever we went, it was always like I felt her presence around me.

Most times, I hear her voice calling my name and saw her in my dreams.

I'll be in big trouble and somehow ill find my way out of it, I felt that it was my mum who helped me, I felt she was our guardian angel.

My mum died when I was eight years old, she passed away while living birth to my brother.

The birth complications were much that even my brother's mental state was affected. My brother still undergoes therapy to date.

Talking about my brother, I just saw him walk past my dad in his traditional attire, my dad called him back to come to greet some guests.

My dad and brother's relationship was at the breach of elapsing. They have never been close or even had a father and son talk for even a day, it was that terrible.

My brother's relationship with Velma, his girlfriend who was the daughter of Mr.Humprey, my dad's rival made the matters worse.

My dad has been against the relationship from the onset but my brother keeps paying deaf ears.

____________________________________

I was pressed, I found my way to the restroom. Getting to the restroom, I checked my makeup in the mirror and went ahead to use the toilet.

I heard the door open behind me but didn't feel the need to turn because it was for the public.

Finished using the toilet came out and met William!

What was he doing here, this restroom was for females only?

"What are you doing here?", I asked him.

He didn't utter a word but keep coming towards me with a weird smile.

"What are you doing?", I asked again.

I made my way to the door but found out it was locked.

He came towards me and held me against the wall, I kept struggling to be free from his grip but all was to no avail.

He put his hand into his pocket and brought out a knife!