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Becoming Akanna:: Chapter One
Chapter 1
The Forbidden
Voices murmur in the wind...
The ancestors wonder why I sully our name with such foolishness. I do not listen; I must see him. My heartbeat surges like the thunder booms. I take quick deep breaths. Waves crash through my body. I prepare for the journey again. The journey I have made 1000 times… each time close to losing my place on earth.
“This is not what power is for,” Baba would say, “You are an Olinka warrior. Royalty by rite.”
A princess.
Baba, my grandfather is old-fashioned. I know my rite; I understand my power—At least at 14 I think I do.
My spirit seeps through my 2nd layer of skin. It is like a volleyball net, but I push… I wiggle…. bursting through the small holes. I am but a speck of light free from this human garb.
Rising through the mist, up into the cool crisp atmosphere and into the night rain. Rain zips past me, never touching my light. I feel nothing, but I feel everything. I am the rain… the night air… the glowing moon.
One with all that is.
There it is. The small house. Smoke spins from the chimney. I feel him in the vicinity. His energy is blaring. I have been here many times. Sometimes he can sense me. He turns around to see who is there. Instead of seeing my face, there is only a breeze.
I am the breeze. No matter where he goes or what he does, I am there watching. His protector. He thinks no one listens; I listen. He thinks no one sees his tears: I see his tears.
The only thing about this secret love affair I have with him is he knows nothing about it. In the daylight we are enemies. We are enemies because our families are. The blood, the very blood that runs through our veins. This blood that makes me who I am.
His forbidden blood that makes me want him even more. Not your average Romeo and Juliet story. It’s deeper. We are God-like. Sometimes our family is at war. I want to tell him how I feel. I know it is impossible for us to be anything more than enemies.
If my parents ever found out what I was doing, they may just disown me. Olinkas do not fall in love with The Gedde. It Is forbidden. I began to fall. I start falling faster, and faster. I can hear Mama calling me, she sounds upset. I slam back into my body; it jerks up and about from my bed. I am back.
Momma stands with her arms folded over her ample breast tapping her foot. I know that I am in for it now, because behind her stands Baba. A look of disappointment spreads across his aging face.
To be continued.
© YEO
The Forbidden
Voices murmur in the wind...
The ancestors wonder why I sully our name with such foolishness. I do not listen; I must see him. My heartbeat surges like the thunder booms. I take quick deep breaths. Waves crash through my body. I prepare for the journey again. The journey I have made 1000 times… each time close to losing my place on earth.
“This is not what power is for,” Baba would say, “You are an Olinka warrior. Royalty by rite.”
A princess.
Baba, my grandfather is old-fashioned. I know my rite; I understand my power—At least at 14 I think I do.
My spirit seeps through my 2nd layer of skin. It is like a volleyball net, but I push… I wiggle…. bursting through the small holes. I am but a speck of light free from this human garb.
Rising through the mist, up into the cool crisp atmosphere and into the night rain. Rain zips past me, never touching my light. I feel nothing, but I feel everything. I am the rain… the night air… the glowing moon.
One with all that is.
There it is. The small house. Smoke spins from the chimney. I feel him in the vicinity. His energy is blaring. I have been here many times. Sometimes he can sense me. He turns around to see who is there. Instead of seeing my face, there is only a breeze.
I am the breeze. No matter where he goes or what he does, I am there watching. His protector. He thinks no one listens; I listen. He thinks no one sees his tears: I see his tears.
The only thing about this secret love affair I have with him is he knows nothing about it. In the daylight we are enemies. We are enemies because our families are. The blood, the very blood that runs through our veins. This blood that makes me who I am.
His forbidden blood that makes me want him even more. Not your average Romeo and Juliet story. It’s deeper. We are God-like. Sometimes our family is at war. I want to tell him how I feel. I know it is impossible for us to be anything more than enemies.
If my parents ever found out what I was doing, they may just disown me. Olinkas do not fall in love with The Gedde. It Is forbidden. I began to fall. I start falling faster, and faster. I can hear Mama calling me, she sounds upset. I slam back into my body; it jerks up and about from my bed. I am back.
Momma stands with her arms folded over her ample breast tapping her foot. I know that I am in for it now, because behind her stands Baba. A look of disappointment spreads across his aging face.
To be continued.
© YEO
