DEFECT

chapter one

           I turn my head to the left sensing movement , levelling my breathing ,I sink into the grass becoming one with it. The steps continue approaching  unhurried and although whoever coming is trying to be silent,my sense of hearing is so sharp ,nothing goes unnoticed by me ,I continue listening but suddenly the approaching steps stop . My heart is pumping fast now ,I should probably be worried but I know I can defend myself. I can't see, am not allowed to , my eyes are sacred my father says,  so he trained me to use my ears and nose as sight and the rest of my body as a weapon. I pull my "mbiya" close and wait .
Moments pass by and nothing is happening, no movement or attack . I refuse to grow impatient, so I stay put but as several more minutes pass by ,it starts to feel ridiculous. I slowly rise up from the ground ,tightening my palm around my lethal mbiya ready to face whatever is here ,I may not be able to see it for I can't use my eyes but I can feel its presence or whose presence

            So quickly and instinctively my body bends backwards planting my mbiya firmly in the ground to hold my balance as a dart whisks past me ,before I can think about it ,I am hoisting my body gracefully into the air somersaulting 3 times as 4 more darts strike my way managing to avoid them all and landing smoothly back on the ground , "is that all you have nairanji" I calmly call out as I bend and pluck my mbiya from the ground and stand up straight again. "how do you manage  to avoid all my darts yet you can't see them coming , it's not fair ", she whins back her voice being carried by the wind from the short distance. I turn my head In her direction unimpressed

"you mean to say its unfair that you haven't managed to kill me with your poisonous darts huh?" I retort back as I make my way towards her because she's clearly here to fetch me. "What is it you want that you disturb my peace" I ask as I reach where she stands. "Your father is back" , my heart starts to beat fast in my chest and a smile spreads on my cheeks, " but he looked a little worri...." i don't let her finish her words and I am already running across the field back to the settlement to see my father.

         "Wait up kalani , your blind what if you fall" , I hear her calling after me and scoff at her words ,as if  they are not used to me by now ,I don't stop running ,am not afraid of falling because I know our entire settlement and the fields, father taught me everything I needed to know to survive without sight ,how to rely on my other senses and from time to time when it was just us, he would take off my eye veil and allowed me to see the lands and memorise the details then he would place it back on.

Everyone else here in the mugumu thinks am blind, but I can see ,my eyes stay covered to be protected for they are sacred, atleast that is what my father says and I believe him ,

i reach the mugumu walls and slowly approach the sturdy strong gates , I touch them and feel the ancientness and hardness of the muvule timber our walls are made of ,its such a strong unyielding wood ,it reminds me of father ,I have missed him , he has been gone for 2 months ,to mungu knows where. And every 3 years he does the same thing , he leaves for 2 months and always returns with a child , a sacred child , another like me ,like nairanji like all of us here , I have never questioned him but this time I want answers 

        " hey kalini, you can't just run away like that ,what it you fall, what would I tell mukubwa ,you didn't even listen to what I was going to say " nairanji  exclaims irritatedly besides me out of breath from running  ,I sigh and walk on to enter the gates ,I don't hate nairanji ,she's my friend but she talks too much ,and I have few words ,and for the most part she doesn't even understand that  I just want to be left alone ,I guess that is why she never gives up ,she's special too ,and where my eyes are sacred ,nairanji is sacred from head to toe ,she's another shade ,and she is always clocked and masked to protect her body,

it is how we live here ,we protect what is different ,we hide it ," if you weren't slow ,you wouldn't be left behind, come on ,I must meet father " I  don't wait to hear her following footsteps ,I go through the gate opening and walk into our community, I can hear everyone getting out of there wooden locks to come greet the return of father, anticipation and awe hungs in the air , I sense him without seeing him ,he's standing with the other kinsmen ,am sure the keepers

" taata taata" I call out in our ancient language as I run into his embrace ," you have been gone for  too long ,far too long " I cry in his shoulder  ," hush now kalani am home , I missed you too day sky" he whispers to me as he pets my dreadlocks , my heart calms at the feel of his voice ,my father and I are inseparable and everytime he goes ,I feel lost . I need to talk to him " taata we need to talk ,its important "
I pull back and stare in his face although I can't see anything I know how he looks like .

         "Let's go inside ,I'll explain everything to you ,by my hand , father leads me away ,walking us through the mugumu settlement  , greetings of "kulikayo 'welcome home' "  ring through the crowd as everyone goes on with there duties but still pay respect to the return of the chief ,the mugumya . His name means strengthener and he protects our settlement, everyone here has something sacred about them, especially the children ,and we stay here to be safe from the rest of the world ,or what is left of it ,
My father says we are the last of the human race and we sit on the only standing continent, I don't know what he means because  that is all he says about that knowledge, although he does say there other kingdoms ,kingdoms of the pure negros he calls them ,spread out in different plains ,vast large civilisations ,bigger than our community, I never ask why we don't stay under these kingdoms. Father says we are different, we wouldn't be welcomed we are safer here