I watched as my house burned to the ground, how the fire seemed to consume everything leaving nothing but ash. My heart was heavy with fear and sorrow. Each time I remembered that day, each time it suddenly crossed my mind I would only fall into short depression. And the worst of it was that it was in my eighth birthday.
Eight years had elapsed since then. I lived in a two story house somewhere in a small neighborhood in Lusaka, Zambia. I live with my step parents Lucia, Arnold and there annoying son Michael who tends to act like his the reincarnation of Juice wrld.
I was in the bathroom washing my face. I glanced at my reflection through the mirror: a dark skinned girl with red eyes and messy hair. It was five-thirty in the morning on a Thursday. So I was getting ready to go to school. As I was cleaning myself up I heard a knock on the door.
"Hurry up in there," said my step-brother, " you're not the only one who wants to go to school you know."
"Yeah yeah, I'm almost done. "
That was my step brother Michael. He sometimes acts impatient when someone takes to long but when it's him on the wrong end of the rope, he throws excuses. His the same age as me although I'm older by a few months. He's brown skinned, has brown eyes, has dreadlocks and has a bored expression on his face.
I finished up and headed to my room to change into my uniform.
My room wasn't that small neither was it too big. There was a shelf where some texts books, novels, action figures and even my two trophies were placed on the shelf. One I got from winning the under eighteen boxing tournament when I was fifteen and the other is a UFC tournament I won in the same year as after my boxing tournament.
When I was done, I then left to the living room where I found my step parent's Lucia and Arnold Mushala. I greeted them all and left for school ( it was already six-thirty by the time I left). Lucia and Arnold are good parents indeed but I can't say much about there son. He sometimes acts like a spoiled rich kid. Well one can understand why because Lucia is a world class UFC fighter while Arnold is a championship boxer. I remember, after a few days passed after the adoption. They tried teaching me how to fight so that they could win my trust. And it worked. Soon I spent a lot of my time with them.
When I was fifteen, they suggested that I joined the under eighteen boxing as well the under eighteen UCF matches. I thought to myself that what they were asking was to much.But still, I accepted and ended up winning my first boxing tournament and UFC tournament in the same year. I remembered some of the audience called me the 'STONE COLD ROSE'. But that was back then, now I'm just your normal highschool girl with not to many friends and has a boyfriend.
I noticed that it had been a few minutes since I left the house and Michael hasn't come out yet. I get a bit worried and my worry ended up reminding me that I forgot my assignment in my room. Before jumping into conclusion I first checked my bag. I emptied my bag and there was no sign of my assignment. I panicked and rushed room to get it: if I don't have it with me my teacher, Mr Rogers would kill me. But little did I know that if I reached home I would be experiencing the worst birthday ever.
I reached the door to the house. The house was a two story building, there was a garage at the side and some graffiti on the garage door done by my step brother.
As I went to open the door I noticed that it was locked. Puzzled, I then decided to call for them through the door. There was no answer. I then got worried wondering why their were not answering the door. One things for certain was that they haven't left the house because the car was still in the garage.
I then thought of picking the lock. I knew I would get in trouble for that but I had bad feeling that something was wrong. I picked the lock with my hair pin and slowly crept the door open.
The house was quite and slightly dark as if wasn't even day time anymore. I trembled with every step I took, I clinged on to my rosary which I wore under my shirt. As I approached the living room I nearly lost all feeling in my legs. Arnold laid on the floor lifeless, his chest was covered in blood and a knife was stabbed in his hand. I quickly rushed towards him and knelt beside him.
"What happened? Who did this? Answer me, what happened?"
My questions were useless at that point. He was unresponsive: he was... Dead. I slowly started to shed tears untill I heard Lucia's scream coming from Benjamin's room. I rushed in and ended up finding two strange people in dark cloaks pinning down Benjamin. I acted without thinking and rushed towards them hoping to free Michael but in a blink of an eye, one of the strange people stood in front of me. I saw right under their hood. It was a girl about my age, she was dark skinned but was light in complexion, her smile gave me chills and her eyes seemed empty.
While I was still rushing in, not a moment passed did I suddenly find my self on the floor. My limbs felt broken, I coughed out blood and I noticed a knife stabbed in my belly. The girl then looked down at me as I was bleeding. As she stared at me, her smile grow bigger and more sinister. While looking at me she asked.
" Hello Barbra nice—"
"Leave her alone you b*tch!" Said Michael of the sudden.
I noticed the vain on her forehead begin to throb. She turned to Michael and in a blink of an eye... She was chocking him. The other one in the cloak then told her to stop. She nodded in agreement and just like that the two disappeared in thin air.
As I was slowly bleeding to death I noticed Lucia's body face down on the floor. I had no idea what to do at that point than just lay down. My limbs still felt broken and my bleeding showed no sign of stopping. Soon my vision became hazy, my breathing became more and more shallow by the second and before I knew it. Darkness.
I found myself in a dark place. I thought to myself, "Am I dead?" Then a young boy came out of nowhere and held my hand. The boy wore a white gown and he was bare foot. He looked at me with a plain expression and said,
"You must not give in to fear neither must you let your anger take control of you."
I then woke up and found myself on a hospital bed. I was able to see clearly but my body felt weak, I was in drip and had a gas mask on my face. As I glanced around the place. It was a small room with a sink, a chest of drawers and an open window.
I was still left stunned by what happened earlier. I then noticed a wall clock which indicated the time to be thirteen-forty. And underneath the wall clock was a calendar which showed the date as the twentieth of January. That was where I was shocked. My birthday was at the fifteenth. I came to a conclusion that was asleep for five days.
As I was still trying to process everything else, someone came in through the door. When I looked at my guest's face, a sudden rage felt like pouring down on her. It was the same girl who took me down in a blink of an eye. She looked at me with sinister smile. She wore a long skirt which reached to her ankles and a long sleeved denim jacket. She came in holding a bouquet of roses and looking at me she asked,
"So, how are you feeling?"
"Go... To... Hell..." I said while struggling to speak.
While closing her eyes she put the bouquet of flowers on top of the chest of drawers. She then raised her fist and smashed it against my stomach. I was in deep pain since that was where my stab wound was.
"You should really watch your tongue." She said while still smiling as if she enjoyed seeing people in pain.
The girl then turned to leave and before she did she said to me, "I just came to check up on you. Your brother wouldn't stop asking and it began to piss me off a bit."
She then left my room. I was filled with so much frustration and rage that I felt like I could just rip her apart. If only I wasn't badly injured I could have tried to murder her. But despite me sulking I still thought to myself why would they come after Michael and was it that necessary to take away the lives of Lucia and Arnold.