Perpetual

The loud thud coming from the front door is what wakes me up. I open my eyes abruptly and scan my surroundings. Of course I am in my bed but something just seems off.

‘Jesus.’ I say looking at the figure sleeping next to me.

It takes me a few minutes to realize what is happening. The woman in my bed can not be Pearl because of the tattoo that she has and I have seen this tattoo somewhere.

‘Sasha.’ I say swallowing hard trying to recall the events from last night.

We finished having dinner and then decided to get some drinks. What started off with one glass each then moved to two and then three. I remember us singing on top of our voices to karaoke and then making some grilled ribs late in the night. We continued to drink our hearts out and then, my mind pauses when I think of the first kiss. Our hands running on each other’s bodies until we completely got naked and our bodies were connecting and now here we are.

The knock comes through again, harsher this time.

‘Sasha you need to wake up.’ I say shaking her body.

‘What?’

‘You need to wake up, there is someone at the door.’

‘Leo my head is killing me.’

‘You need to get up please.’

‘Okay.’ She says.

I impatiently wait as she picks up her clothes, I lead her to the spare bedroom since she looks like she is still drunk. Before checking who is at the door, I quickly pick up the bottles of alcohol that were laying around in the living room and put them in the kitchen. When I’m sure that there is at least some order, I go and open the door.

I find James and Pearl’s aunty standing there, James has a solemn look on his face whilst her Aunty’s eyes are red and before I can say anything she lets out a loud wail that cuts through my hangovered ears.

‘We have lost her.’ She cries.

James comes to hug me. I am still trying to process all this. The doctor mentioned that she had a thirty percent chance of living but I didn’t think that she would be dying this soon. I didn’t think that she would go away without me even saying goodbye.

‘I am so sorry for your loss.’ James says again still holding me. My tears refuse to come out, I just can’t bring myself to accept the situation at hand. How is she dead? We were just fine yesterday, she was fine yesterday when I left the house. It doesn’t get to end like this. The life that we said we would build together, the plans we had and everything we were supposed to do together. How am I supposed to pick up the pieces? I feel my tears start to fall when I think of last night, I could have stayed at the hospital with her and just maybe.

Sasha walks into the room, wearing a chitenge and t shirt looking alive.

‘What is going on here?’ She asks her Aunty.

‘Pearl is gone.’ The older lady wails and I see Sasha’s face drop. For the next few minutes none of us says anything to the other, we are all in tears, crying it out with the women wailing on top of their voices.

The ladies finally calm down after what seems like an eternity of wailing. We are all still in the living room when Pearl’s Aunty finally breaks the silence.

‘Sasha and I are the only surviving relatives of Pearl in Lusaka. And just like her mother, I would suggest we take her back home.’

I look at the older lady.

‘All her siblings and parents were buried back home, there is no need for her soul to be left wandering in a foreign land.’

‘What do you mean foreign land. This was Pearl’s home. This was her home. She was my home.’

‘I understand Leo, but traditionally the two of you were not married and according to the law, her family has the final say. The two of you were just cohabiting, Pearl still remains our child and her corpse needs to go back home.’

I open my mouth to respond but no words come out. Now we can’t even refer to her as a person but a corpse. Just like that.

‘We need to make arrangements for travelling so that we leave by mid day. We have already informed everyone of the demise and they are expecting us.’

‘How many people need to go? We can start arranging for that and also go to the hospital so that they prepare the body for the trip.’ James says.

I stand up and walk outside.

‘I need a minute.’ I say to James who has followed me outside.

…

Kwenje’s Girl

Winnie

🙇🏾‍♀️