Chapter 4 - Communication Is Key

It is not his call to make, he could only watch as the girl grabbed onto his clothes tightly with shaking hands as the little girl sniffles softly while being glared at in a hostile manner and treated like a plague by strangers from her perspective. These people were not trying to help understand the girl, they only wanted to use her or get rid of her. He has witnessed it so much... This family will not last long like this. Gently he brushes her head of braided hair, coaxing her to calm down. Ah, the girl's skin brought back memories of his past, when he was younger he travelled a lot and one day met a man with the same dark skin tone as this little girl. He too spoke this language, he said he was a slave that washed up on the shores after surviving a sunken ship

Managing to avoid danger by climbing on a stray lifeboat, the young supervisor battled near starvation, which he survived since he washed ashore holding onto an inch of his life. He made acquaintance with this unique man a few years before he retired from being a traveller. This man had saved the old man's life and even treated his wounds when his unconscious body was found after the shipwreck. They had spent over four years living together in the middle of nowhere, all was well and peaceful for the two. The traveller even learnt a new language during this time. Thus he was able to speak to the little girl. But one day one of the people from a neighbouring village had seen the man and claimed he was a cursed being. And when the young supervisor tried to defend his partner, they said he was bewitched and restrained. Saying he was under a spell

Figuratively speaking the villagers painted the man of darker skin tone black, or threw mud at him. due to his skin tone being unique and rare. Finally, the only way to prove his innocence was being whipped and tortured which was followed by being burned at the stake. If he didn't turn into a monster or come back to life then he was human. However, no one thought of the consequences that would follow since he was a human. After the man's death, the old man decided to retire from his travelling journey. There were other similar or exact cases being reported to the king, after that innocent man's death and the king had made a law that people with darker skin tones or different looks would be arrested and brought to the palace alive and unharmed for his judgement or further investigation. But there was a rumour saying that it was the only precaution the king could make to secure these foreign beings' lives. Thankfully the citizens had complied with the law and these foreign beings hadn't appeared in their land for over 30 years. This girl proves that the king truly kept the strangers alive and only had them relocate to an area where no one would suspect these people to be living. However, the rumour had been disregarded as there was no proof of such. 'This girl shouldn't be here-. Unless something happened at the place they were being kept hidden'

The girl suddenly gets a flashback, her vision gets engulfed by flames of fire, nostrils are filled with the heavy scent of burnt flesh and blood along with smoke from the fire. The once peaceful night is now filled with screams of people being attacked and butchered - if not manhandled - by intruding men and women, who came dressed in ragged clothing, they looked like bandits or roaming savages. A beautiful woman in African clothing, a piece of clothing wrapped around her waist and chest with patterns of nature in bright colours, representing her African heritage, was now heavily stained with red. She runs to her daughter and carries her into the woods still running. The scene changes as the two hold their breaths while walking in the woods as silently as possible, the sound of a woman shouting from a few meters catches their attention. They turn to see her glaring at them with bloodshot eyes. She breaks into a sprint and the duo start running as well, hearts pounding painfully in their stomachs, due to the mother running too fast. The little girl easily falls behind and trips, she cries out to her mother. The woman in African clothing stops and turns to look t her daughter whose crying on the ground then behind the girl to see that the enemy has also stopped

The two women have a standoff, both looking at the little girl in the middle and then at each other. Silence descends onto the woods, and only the sound of the girl on the floor crying is heard. The Korean woman in ragged clothe is holding a knife while the African mother is bare-handed. A few more seconds pass until the two women go at each other without warning, the ragged woman aims for the child but the mother pulls her child away in the nick of time, and so the fight ensues... Then it switches again as the little girl blinks. The woman from earlier is now sitting on the ground with her hand covering the wound on her abdomen, the little girl is kneeling by her mother's side as tears stream down her cheeks. The woman smiles, raising her hand to brush her daughter's tears away from her cheek and then her hair behind her ear. Knowing this will be the last time she's going to be with her daughter, the woman speaks in the same language as the old man, supervisor in the previous chapter, Xhosa - one of the eleven official languages of her home country

"Dear... Mommy is going to have to say bye to you, okay?" The child's crying becomes louder but the mother calms the child down by muffling her tears and sobs by pressing her daughter's face into her chest, she whispers into the child's ear, feeling her strength leave her body. Her trembling hands and drooping eyes show the effect of excess blood loss over a long period of time. "You can't trust anyone okay? You have to look after yourself now. Mommy can't look after you anymore..." As the woman pauses, the tears she's been holding back start to flow, but she speaks on. "You have to run- run far away from here. You can't stop running until you have reached a safe pace you hear? Don't rest till you have gone far away from here. Mommy loves you, m love. I-" Suddenly one of the female bandits bursts out of the woods and rushes toward them with a dagger in hand. The pushes herself and her daughter out of the way but she misses her step and rolls down the cliff, embracing her daughter tightly and close to her body to lessen the injuries she receives as much as possible. Finally the tumbling stops, but the woman remains motionless. The tries to move but the woman holds her daughter firmly in place and then whispers, "Let's play the quiet game, mommy will start," and then silence descends. The little girl lays in silence, it seemed never-ending. Sadly she was still captured while her mother's cold corpse was left for dead

The scene changes back to the bedchamber filled with people and the 'girl who is the centre of attention. After being quiet for a while she suddenly bursts into tears as she speaks with a panicked tone. "Mother! My mother by the cliff- so much red liquid. Mommy wouldn't move, I called to her but she didn't wake up... She said I must run- must never go back! Please- please don't send me back!?". She grabs her hair then looks at the people with pleasing eyes but no one gives in or openly sympathises with the poor girl. Because she spoke in a foreign tongue no one knew what she was saying hence couldn't receive any empathy from onlookers. Receiving no help, the girl pulls herself together as she openly looks around frantically and seeing the front entrance blocked, she runs for a window she saw earlier. But the young master stops her once again as she attempts to escape, the girl breaks into a frenzy and manages to push the boy away then runs back to tug at the old man's clothes as she cries hysterically. The memories were too much for a child her age to process, the old man takes pity on her as he bends down and cups the little girl's cheeks

Smiling at her with pity he speaks gently in a comforting manner, "Kulungile. Ukhuselekile ngoku" - (It is okay. You are safe now). As soon as he spoke the word 'safe' in her mother tongue, the girl seemed to have stopped having a panic attack. Her mother tongue proving to be more soothing than his touch. She repeats the word as if asking for assurance, "Ndikhuselekhile?" The old man nods his head as he smiles and says it for the last time, "Ewe, ukhuselekile ngoku" - (Yes you are safe now). After some time she calmed down to a more calm panic but she was trembling now. The old man picks up the little girl and begins to rub her back