Granny's Little Alien
When the heavens conspired to give me breath, the earth was unusual. That night - it was darker than normal, the moon was dull. It wasn’t raining but the wind was blowing. Lights went off. Monrovia was covered in darkness. The sky stood dark and witnessed my arrival on this earth. My mother's belly was stuffed with howls of pain. It was time to sneak my way out. Time wasn't in favor of rushing her to the hospital so women from the community gathered in her room and helped her push me out. A sudden cry filled the room. It was me crying but not in a baby's tone but an adult's voice. The women were frightened at the sight of my physical appearance. I was different: A thin and very black body, hairy like a bear, dark eyes, finger and toenails all grown up, and a face that wore the mask of a full grown-up man. I was lying all wrapped up in a lapper next to my mother on the bed. She was sobbing and weeping with her hands folded on her face. She was afraid of seeing what had come out of her belly. She was afraid of me! The women silently left the room to disclose the bad news as they deemed it to our family members who were waiting outside. My father was enraged with so much anger. He needed a son but not the one who looked different and freaked people out. Our neighbors meandered their way home.
My father wiggled around the house with an irritated face for a while and later stepped, out leaving my mom and I inside. She later stood up and left the room as well. Was she leaving me here too? A sudden trembling voice cut through the air. It was my mother’s. I’ve been carrying this curse in my womb all along while I was wishing for a blessed boy child. How will I face my mates who have given birth to normal kids? How will I win my husband's attention? Later that night, when I was fast asleep, she bended over to carry me. I could hear the sound of her heart racing when she used a cloth to wrap my body in it. Her hands all trembling when she held me and jolted out of the room. I couldn’t talk but knew and could sense things. She was going to give me away like some non important thing. We arrived at this building and next thing, she lay me in front of it and then left. The wind came and swept over my body. Goosebumps erected on my skin. I was soaked with cold. I felt the sun warming my body. It was morning already and no one had noticed me lying before the building yet. I was impatient though I knew someone would pick me up soon. A few minutes after, a person shouted. “Oh there is a new born baby”! The voice belonged to a woman. “Such dark eyes”.
She murmured as she bended over to lift me and later carried me in. There was so much noise inside. The sound of babies crying, half-grown children playing around the house. One could tell it was an orphanage. The lady who brought me in immediately declared to everyone that there’s a new born baby that has joined them but he looks different. Workers ran to have a glimpse of me, the different kid. The sight of their faces drew a question mark. It was obvious I looked abnormal to them. Apparently, it was their first time to see such a child. That’s why the shock was there when they saw me. Shouldn’t we give this child out instead of letting him stay here and instill fear into the other children? A lady from the orphanage said to the lady who brought me in, oldma Tene but everyone used to call her Granny. Let’s give this child the chance to stay here and observe him. I will nurture him for the time being. Granny placed me in a warm water, bathed and dressed me up. She was a bit afraid of my long nails. Each time she’d bathed me, she would avoid them. She was amazed by my eyes and skin color while others in the orphanage were terrified. No one ever came closer to me than Granny. The tenderness she showed made me crave for a mother’s love. “Would my mother have cared for me like this”? No, Never! Who would love and care for a person who looks as scary as I was? But Granny did. In the middle of the night when everyone used to peacefully fall asleep, I would cry immensely and endlessly. My voice used to travel to every corner of the rooms in the orphanage. The kids would normally start to cry as well at the sound of it. It sounded like a monster’s voice. I didn't know what a monster is but that was what I overheard the workers in the orphanage saying each time I cried. Granny would sneak around and pamper me until I closed my eyes for sleep. During the morning, the workers would usually recap what had happened during the night and they all used to mutter: “Nowadays, we don’t sleep peacefully since this child was brought here”. What looked like a week I’ve been at the orphanage seemed like a year to the workers. Everyone in the orphanage was irritated and tired of having me around. They protested daily to Granny that I should be thrown out. “What kind of child will be born with a grown up face and nails, dark body and eyes”? This child is not normal. He cannot live amongst the rest of the normal children. He is dangerous for them. “They continued”. Granny wouldn’t utter a word and left them resounding their request. She was also feeling concerned for the other children. In some ways, they were right. Granny knew I looked scary. The children wouldn’t be in peace with me around. She quietly strolled down to my room and closed the door from the inside. She lay right next to me on the bed and whispered to my ears: I am not afraid of your dark eyes. I love them. Your sharp and long nails don’t stand a hair on my skin.
Your baby form but an adult voice doesn’t ring fear in my ear. You’re weird and unusual but it is your own form of uniqueness, my child. She convinced and promised herself to lovingly care for me until eternity. The next morning, Granny gathered everyone in the hall and announced that she was adopting me since she doesn’t believe that anyone would’ve ever adopted me and she also wanted the other children to peacefully play around the orphanage without the fear of me. The news came as a shock for everyone. “This means you’re leaving the orphanage”? A little girl asked. Granny pulled her up and said, I will come to visit once in a while. She later went in for me and waved good bye to everyone. I could sense that the workers were saddened by it but they were also rejoicing in their hearts that I was finally leaving.
Granny brought me to her quiet and lonely home. She gladly named me “Dark”. I loved the name. It reflected my eyes, and body. Granny had some woes along her way. God never answered her prayers to conceive a child until the death of her husband. She lived alone in a tiny sized concrete house in Monrovia. She managed to cope with life and later joined the orphanage to surrender herself with children since she didn’t have one. Days came and left, she cared for me: Fed me a bottle filled of milk, changed my diapers every now and then. Since her neighbors were afraid of me and would usually leave some hard-wrecking words behind whenever they passed by, she would spend the entire day in door with me to avoid such. Interestingly, there was this night when we ran out of power. Half of the city was dark and there was too much heat inside. Granny brought me outside to catch some cool breeze. I peacefully lay in her arms while staring at the dark sky. There were no stars in it. It was entirely dark but the moon was shining brightly. I loved the view. I loved the darkness. I felt so powerful in the dark. I abruptly jumped into laughter. This was the first time Granny saw me laugh and I saw the joy reigning on her face. She didn’t care to know if my voice sounded like some monster’s but her neighbors did. They gathered in front of the porch and started to point lights at us to see the person such voice belongs to. Worse of all, I was still laughing, I couldn’t control it. Before they could see my face, Granny turned her back towards them and ran away with me inside and locked the door. The crowd from outside started to murmur: what sort of child is this? Where did Granny took this monster from? How could she live with this child? Granny didn’t sleep that night. She kept on recording the scene and the voices of what they said. “Were those people saying the truth”? “Is it because I don’t have any child that’s why I’m forcibly glueing myself to this child”? “But I could have adopted any other kid at the orphanage but I chose this one, why? ‘She wondered'. The next morning, she woke up to another shock. The bed sheet we slept on from last night was all torn apart. You could see the print of fingernails running through it. Her eyes went to the other side of bed to where I was, she was pondering. I sensed the fear In her heart. She silently reached for me and used the cutter to remove both my toe and finger nails. This is what’s best for you, Dark. Granny went to the bathroom and left me lying inside. When she came back, my nails were all grown up again.
She stood at the door and scowled at me for some time. She hadn’t yet digested what just happened. How? I just cut those nails myself. She couldn't let reality slide it. Later that day, she went out to fetch some food from the nearby market. There were chatters over the neighborhood about what had occurred last night. She hastily bought the things she needed and left the market in a jiffy.
After so many years of showering endless love, care, and attention on me, I was still the same from when she took me in. No improvement in growth. No changes. Granny was perplexed and worried. Why isn’t Dark growing? Does he have some sort of health issues? “What's wrong?” For a second, she thought it was spiritual but she pushed the thought away. Not wanting anyone to notice that I’ve not grown yet after so many years, she wrapped me in a cloth like a doll and placed me in a basket that she carried in her hand. We were going to the hospital. She wanted to be sure if I have any medical problems. She explained the situation to the doctor. He immediately asked: why are his eyes Dark? His face is grown up but have a baby body? He was born at birth with those things. Granny responded. The doctor later examined me and assured her that I had no medical problems. I would’ve said, he has growth issues but not at this young stage of infancy. Perhaps this situation is not hospital related. “He warned”.
Later in the evening when the sun had set beyond the horizon, the birds flew back to their nests, the sky wasn’t dark, it was grey, there were thunder strikes, it was threatening to rain but didn’t. Granny was fast asleep by then when I heard a voice summoning me outside. Our house wasn’t far from the beach. The voice led me there. How did I get here? I could walk? I could sense things but I didn’t sense that I could move my legs. My eyes wandered around but couldn’t see anything, only the darkness. When I attempted to walk away, I felt a hand on my left shoulder. The first thing I saw was me? It took me off guard. I didn’t see this coming. Someone just like me? The same physical appearance? Though I had questions, it felt relishing to finally see someone that looks exactly like me. Wait! There are many of us.
Tonight is the night we leave this Earth. Said the one leading the group. We belong to a world where darkness reigns, where we see and do everything in the dark. Though we have human structures, our inability to grow is rooted in our world. Things don’t grow there. We are born at birth with everything. Growth is given at birth. Staying as a baby but having an adult face and grown up nails. That’s growth for us. “He continued”. Pregnant women from this earth erupt our primacy through their night baths and walks. The attraction of bringing forth a creature that resembles our kind, donates the characteristics and features from our world to the child inside at night. Thus making him/her ours. At that instance, I remembered what one of the workers at the orphanage said. Women give birth to such children because of night baths and walks. In Africa, especially in Liberia, it’s believed that pregnant women should not be seen outside at night because they could encounter genn and other creatures. You belong to our world! Join the group and let’s go home, the leader said. At that moment, I could only think of Granny. How will she react to my disappearance? But then again I thought, it’s better to go where I belong. I would only give her more reasons to worry if I’d stay and besides, no one will really accept me here because I am an Alien!
Am unfamiliar with their looks. ‘Dark’, I heard a voice call me from afar. When my eyelashes fell apart, I realized ‘it was all just a dream’. Granny was there hovering over me. She had some tears in her eyes because it was taking me long to wake up. In some ways, I felt gloomy because I knew this place was never my home. I wished the dream was a reality. I was filled up with so much anger that I began to cry. My voice traveled to the doors of our neighbors. Everyone came out and stood in front of our house as though they came to make palaver with Granny.
“This child is possessed by a genn or some creatures out there. Can’t you hear his voice”? Oldma Musu said. A lady who lived not far from our house. 'Yes’! ‘You’re right’. ‘He’s evil’. Another lady said. One after the other, they went away. Granny was again worried. Where will she go without me in this world without receiving harsh words for how I looked? “She wondered”. Granny didn’t come out. She just stood and watched from the inside. I tried to sense how she was feeling at that moment but it seemed like something was in the way. I guessed it’s because she was emotionally locked up and wasn’t really thinking straight. Because of me, Granny was isolated. None of our neighbors ever paid her a visit since I was brought home. Even her co-workers at the orphanage distanced themselves from her because of him.
She was even lonelier than when I wasn’t around. I was somehow a burden and a curse in her life. Later in the evening, Granny grabbed me from the bed and angrily tied me on her back and strolled out of the room. I didn’t know where she was bringing me to but I felt the grief she had on her chest. Is she tired of me already? I kept on ruminating on this along the way. She went on and on and wasn’t stopping. Why was she going that far? I didn't know until she finally quit walking. It was at the beach side but why did she come all the way here when we have another beach behind our house? She immediately untied me from her back and placed me in a basket and began to stroll down near the water. It helplessly ran to my mind that she was going to leave me to drown. Before she could let go of the basket, I held on to her hands and wore that expression on my face that would’ve melted a mother’s heart. My grip on her was so tight that my nails were piercing through her skin. Tears started to flow down her cheeks. she didn’t hesitate to haul away from me. I didn’t mean to hurt her. I couldn’t just let her leave me behind to die. Tears began to fill my eyes. She frustratingly pulled the basket away from the water and sat down in the sand. What do I do with you, Dark? I don’t want to send you away. I want to care for you but you’re scaring me. You aren’t growing and I don’t think you will ever walk or talk. What’s wrong? Is it true that you’re possessed?
It was In the middle of the night when we got home. Granny bathed and lay me on the bed and she lay right beside me. She fell asleep but my eyes were still wandering around in the room. The same voice from my dream was coming closer to my ears. It was summoning me again. I meandered my way to the backyard, on the beach. Again, I saw my look kind. The guy standing before the others began: We came for you in your dream world to peacefully flee away from this earth but your earthly mother held you back.
The same earthly mother who almost left you to die. Humans will never accept us here. Everyone here has been rejected because we are aliens. Tonight is the night we leave from here and you’re coming along.
He was right but Granny wasn’t really going to let me die. Her negative feelings just took over but it still didn’t change the reality that we were worlds apart. When I leave, she will go back to her normal life and that’s what is best for her. When darkness reaches at night, I will send the wind to attend to Granny's loneliness. I will pay her a visit in her sleep and wipe away those sad tears from her eyes.
Granny woke up and Dark was gone.
BIO:
Aminata Talawally is an emerging Liberian writer who recently graduated from the William V. S. Tubman High School. She believes her writing has its own world that is trying to make room for itself in it.
When the heavens conspired to give me breath, the earth was unusual. That night - it was darker than normal, the moon was dull. It wasn’t raining but the wind was blowing. Lights went off. Monrovia was covered in darkness. The sky stood dark and witnessed my arrival on this earth. My mother's belly was stuffed with howls of pain. It was time to sneak my way out. Time wasn't in favor of rushing her to the hospital so women from the community gathered in her room and helped her push me out. A sudden cry filled the room. It was me crying but not in a baby's tone but an adult's voice. The women were frightened at the sight of my physical appearance. I was different: A thin and very black body, hairy like a bear, dark eyes, finger and toenails all grown up, and a face that wore the mask of a full grown-up man. I was lying all wrapped up in a lapper next to my mother on the bed. She was sobbing and weeping with her hands folded on her face. She was afraid of seeing what had come out of her belly. She was afraid of me! The women silently left the room to disclose the bad news as they deemed it to our family members who were waiting outside. My father was enraged with so much anger. He needed a son but not the one who looked different and freaked people out. Our neighbors meandered their way home.
My father wiggled around the house with an irritated face for a while and later stepped, out leaving my mom and I inside. She later stood up and left the room as well. Was she leaving me here too? A sudden trembling voice cut through the air. It was my mother’s. I’ve been carrying this curse in my womb all along while I was wishing for a blessed boy child. How will I face my mates who have given birth to normal kids? How will I win my husband's attention? Later that night, when I was fast asleep, she bended over to carry me. I could hear the sound of her heart racing when she used a cloth to wrap my body in it. Her hands all trembling when she held me and jolted out of the room. I couldn’t talk but knew and could sense things. She was going to give me away like some non important thing. We arrived at this building and next thing, she lay me in front of it and then left. The wind came and swept over my body. Goosebumps erected on my skin. I was soaked with cold. I felt the sun warming my body. It was morning already and no one had noticed me lying before the building yet. I was impatient though I knew someone would pick me up soon. A few minutes after, a person shouted. “Oh there is a new born baby”! The voice belonged to a woman. “Such dark eyes”.
She murmured as she bended over to lift me and later carried me in. There was so much noise inside. The sound of babies crying, half-grown children playing around the house. One could tell it was an orphanage. The lady who brought me in immediately declared to everyone that there’s a new born baby that has joined them but he looks different. Workers ran to have a glimpse of me, the different kid. The sight of their faces drew a question mark. It was obvious I looked abnormal to them. Apparently, it was their first time to see such a child. That’s why the shock was there when they saw me. Shouldn’t we give this child out instead of letting him stay here and instill fear into the other children? A lady from the orphanage said to the lady who brought me in, oldma Tene but everyone used to call her Granny. Let’s give this child the chance to stay here and observe him. I will nurture him for the time being. Granny placed me in a warm water, bathed and dressed me up. She was a bit afraid of my long nails. Each time she’d bathed me, she would avoid them. She was amazed by my eyes and skin color while others in the orphanage were terrified. No one ever came closer to me than Granny. The tenderness she showed made me crave for a mother’s love. “Would my mother have cared for me like this”? No, Never! Who would love and care for a person who looks as scary as I was? But Granny did. In the middle of the night when everyone used to peacefully fall asleep, I would cry immensely and endlessly. My voice used to travel to every corner of the rooms in the orphanage. The kids would normally start to cry as well at the sound of it. It sounded like a monster’s voice. I didn't know what a monster is but that was what I overheard the workers in the orphanage saying each time I cried. Granny would sneak around and pamper me until I closed my eyes for sleep. During the morning, the workers would usually recap what had happened during the night and they all used to mutter: “Nowadays, we don’t sleep peacefully since this child was brought here”. What looked like a week I’ve been at the orphanage seemed like a year to the workers. Everyone in the orphanage was irritated and tired of having me around. They protested daily to Granny that I should be thrown out. “What kind of child will be born with a grown up face and nails, dark body and eyes”? This child is not normal. He cannot live amongst the rest of the normal children. He is dangerous for them. “They continued”. Granny wouldn’t utter a word and left them resounding their request. She was also feeling concerned for the other children. In some ways, they were right. Granny knew I looked scary. The children wouldn’t be in peace with me around. She quietly strolled down to my room and closed the door from the inside. She lay right next to me on the bed and whispered to my ears: I am not afraid of your dark eyes. I love them. Your sharp and long nails don’t stand a hair on my skin.
Your baby form but an adult voice doesn’t ring fear in my ear. You’re weird and unusual but it is your own form of uniqueness, my child. She convinced and promised herself to lovingly care for me until eternity. The next morning, Granny gathered everyone in the hall and announced that she was adopting me since she doesn’t believe that anyone would’ve ever adopted me and she also wanted the other children to peacefully play around the orphanage without the fear of me. The news came as a shock for everyone. “This means you’re leaving the orphanage”? A little girl asked. Granny pulled her up and said, I will come to visit once in a while. She later went in for me and waved good bye to everyone. I could sense that the workers were saddened by it but they were also rejoicing in their hearts that I was finally leaving.
Granny brought me to her quiet and lonely home. She gladly named me “Dark”. I loved the name. It reflected my eyes, and body. Granny had some woes along her way. God never answered her prayers to conceive a child until the death of her husband. She lived alone in a tiny sized concrete house in Monrovia. She managed to cope with life and later joined the orphanage to surrender herself with children since she didn’t have one. Days came and left, she cared for me: Fed me a bottle filled of milk, changed my diapers every now and then. Since her neighbors were afraid of me and would usually leave some hard-wrecking words behind whenever they passed by, she would spend the entire day in door with me to avoid such. Interestingly, there was this night when we ran out of power. Half of the city was dark and there was too much heat inside. Granny brought me outside to catch some cool breeze. I peacefully lay in her arms while staring at the dark sky. There were no stars in it. It was entirely dark but the moon was shining brightly. I loved the view. I loved the darkness. I felt so powerful in the dark. I abruptly jumped into laughter. This was the first time Granny saw me laugh and I saw the joy reigning on her face. She didn’t care to know if my voice sounded like some monster’s but her neighbors did. They gathered in front of the porch and started to point lights at us to see the person such voice belongs to. Worse of all, I was still laughing, I couldn’t control it. Before they could see my face, Granny turned her back towards them and ran away with me inside and locked the door. The crowd from outside started to murmur: what sort of child is this? Where did Granny took this monster from? How could she live with this child? Granny didn’t sleep that night. She kept on recording the scene and the voices of what they said. “Were those people saying the truth”? “Is it because I don’t have any child that’s why I’m forcibly glueing myself to this child”? “But I could have adopted any other kid at the orphanage but I chose this one, why? ‘She wondered'. The next morning, she woke up to another shock. The bed sheet we slept on from last night was all torn apart. You could see the print of fingernails running through it. Her eyes went to the other side of bed to where I was, she was pondering. I sensed the fear In her heart. She silently reached for me and used the cutter to remove both my toe and finger nails. This is what’s best for you, Dark. Granny went to the bathroom and left me lying inside. When she came back, my nails were all grown up again.
She stood at the door and scowled at me for some time. She hadn’t yet digested what just happened. How? I just cut those nails myself. She couldn't let reality slide it. Later that day, she went out to fetch some food from the nearby market. There were chatters over the neighborhood about what had occurred last night. She hastily bought the things she needed and left the market in a jiffy.
After so many years of showering endless love, care, and attention on me, I was still the same from when she took me in. No improvement in growth. No changes. Granny was perplexed and worried. Why isn’t Dark growing? Does he have some sort of health issues? “What's wrong?” For a second, she thought it was spiritual but she pushed the thought away. Not wanting anyone to notice that I’ve not grown yet after so many years, she wrapped me in a cloth like a doll and placed me in a basket that she carried in her hand. We were going to the hospital. She wanted to be sure if I have any medical problems. She explained the situation to the doctor. He immediately asked: why are his eyes Dark? His face is grown up but have a baby body? He was born at birth with those things. Granny responded. The doctor later examined me and assured her that I had no medical problems. I would’ve said, he has growth issues but not at this young stage of infancy. Perhaps this situation is not hospital related. “He warned”.
Later in the evening when the sun had set beyond the horizon, the birds flew back to their nests, the sky wasn’t dark, it was grey, there were thunder strikes, it was threatening to rain but didn’t. Granny was fast asleep by then when I heard a voice summoning me outside. Our house wasn’t far from the beach. The voice led me there. How did I get here? I could walk? I could sense things but I didn’t sense that I could move my legs. My eyes wandered around but couldn’t see anything, only the darkness. When I attempted to walk away, I felt a hand on my left shoulder. The first thing I saw was me? It took me off guard. I didn’t see this coming. Someone just like me? The same physical appearance? Though I had questions, it felt relishing to finally see someone that looks exactly like me. Wait! There are many of us.
Tonight is the night we leave this Earth. Said the one leading the group. We belong to a world where darkness reigns, where we see and do everything in the dark. Though we have human structures, our inability to grow is rooted in our world. Things don’t grow there. We are born at birth with everything. Growth is given at birth. Staying as a baby but having an adult face and grown up nails. That’s growth for us. “He continued”. Pregnant women from this earth erupt our primacy through their night baths and walks. The attraction of bringing forth a creature that resembles our kind, donates the characteristics and features from our world to the child inside at night. Thus making him/her ours. At that instance, I remembered what one of the workers at the orphanage said. Women give birth to such children because of night baths and walks. In Africa, especially in Liberia, it’s believed that pregnant women should not be seen outside at night because they could encounter genn and other creatures. You belong to our world! Join the group and let’s go home, the leader said. At that moment, I could only think of Granny. How will she react to my disappearance? But then again I thought, it’s better to go where I belong. I would only give her more reasons to worry if I’d stay and besides, no one will really accept me here because I am an Alien!
Am unfamiliar with their looks. ‘Dark’, I heard a voice call me from afar. When my eyelashes fell apart, I realized ‘it was all just a dream’. Granny was there hovering over me. She had some tears in her eyes because it was taking me long to wake up. In some ways, I felt gloomy because I knew this place was never my home. I wished the dream was a reality. I was filled up with so much anger that I began to cry. My voice traveled to the doors of our neighbors. Everyone came out and stood in front of our house as though they came to make palaver with Granny.
“This child is possessed by a genn or some creatures out there. Can’t you hear his voice”? Oldma Musu said. A lady who lived not far from our house. 'Yes’! ‘You’re right’. ‘He’s evil’. Another lady said. One after the other, they went away. Granny was again worried. Where will she go without me in this world without receiving harsh words for how I looked? “She wondered”. Granny didn’t come out. She just stood and watched from the inside. I tried to sense how she was feeling at that moment but it seemed like something was in the way. I guessed it’s because she was emotionally locked up and wasn’t really thinking straight. Because of me, Granny was isolated. None of our neighbors ever paid her a visit since I was brought home. Even her co-workers at the orphanage distanced themselves from her because of him.
She was even lonelier than when I wasn’t around. I was somehow a burden and a curse in her life. Later in the evening, Granny grabbed me from the bed and angrily tied me on her back and strolled out of the room. I didn’t know where she was bringing me to but I felt the grief she had on her chest. Is she tired of me already? I kept on ruminating on this along the way. She went on and on and wasn’t stopping. Why was she going that far? I didn't know until she finally quit walking. It was at the beach side but why did she come all the way here when we have another beach behind our house? She immediately untied me from her back and placed me in a basket and began to stroll down near the water. It helplessly ran to my mind that she was going to leave me to drown. Before she could let go of the basket, I held on to her hands and wore that expression on my face that would’ve melted a mother’s heart. My grip on her was so tight that my nails were piercing through her skin. Tears started to flow down her cheeks. she didn’t hesitate to haul away from me. I didn’t mean to hurt her. I couldn’t just let her leave me behind to die. Tears began to fill my eyes. She frustratingly pulled the basket away from the water and sat down in the sand. What do I do with you, Dark? I don’t want to send you away. I want to care for you but you’re scaring me. You aren’t growing and I don’t think you will ever walk or talk. What’s wrong? Is it true that you’re possessed?
It was In the middle of the night when we got home. Granny bathed and lay me on the bed and she lay right beside me. She fell asleep but my eyes were still wandering around in the room. The same voice from my dream was coming closer to my ears. It was summoning me again. I meandered my way to the backyard, on the beach. Again, I saw my look kind. The guy standing before the others began: We came for you in your dream world to peacefully flee away from this earth but your earthly mother held you back.
The same earthly mother who almost left you to die. Humans will never accept us here. Everyone here has been rejected because we are aliens. Tonight is the night we leave from here and you’re coming along.
He was right but Granny wasn’t really going to let me die. Her negative feelings just took over but it still didn’t change the reality that we were worlds apart. When I leave, she will go back to her normal life and that’s what is best for her. When darkness reaches at night, I will send the wind to attend to Granny's loneliness. I will pay her a visit in her sleep and wipe away those sad tears from her eyes.
Granny woke up and Dark was gone.
BIO:
Aminata Talawally is an emerging Liberian writer who recently graduated from the William V. S. Tubman High School. She believes her writing has its own world that is trying to make room for itself in it.
