In Between

The Birth Of Abba

It was eleven years before the blindfold fell from his face. Abba, the son of a visionary inventor, had never seen the world. His father, Ngoma, believed the world was too corrupt and dangerous for his beloved son to witness. To protect Abba from this perceived evil, Ngoma devised a special blindfold and covered his son's eyes, shielding him from the world's harsh realities.

At the age of eleven, Abba's world was upended when he lost his father. The circumstances surrounding Ngoma's death were shrouded in mystery, but the consequences were immediate and profound. With Ngoma no longer there to protect him, the blindfold fell from Abba's face, and he was thrust into a world he had never seen before. Ngoma's death marked the true birth of Abba, the beginning of his journey into an unfamiliar and often hostile world.

"Is there a place for innocence in this world?" Abba wondered aloud, just months after his father's funeral. The world was an enigma, every thought and movement, every feeling pure in intention, yet met with ill intent. He struggled to navigate this new reality, clinging to the innocence he had always known. But the world was relentless, and the corruption around him soon took its toll.

Once trusting and hopeful, Abba's heart hardened. By the age of fifteen, he had created his first mask, a persona that projected the pain and betrayal he had endured since his father's death. The mask obscured his vision, making it difficult to perceive even the purest intentions. Abba became a monster in the eyes of the innocent, who often became unintended casualties of his pain.

Fifteen is a transformative age for any boy, and Abba was no exception. He developed the desires and urges typical of a teenager. He was drawn to girls, and they were drawn to him. Abba was handsome, a little mysterious, and genuinely kind, traits that had endured despite his hardships. Most of all, girls loved him because he listened to them.

It wasn't long before Abba found himself in a relationship, experiencing the highs and lows of teenage romance. His first heartbreak came swiftly, and with it, a new layer to his mask. Rumors began to swirl, painting him as an awful guy who hurt an innocent girl. Though these rumors didn't drive the girls away, they added to Abba's growing cynicism. "These people are liars too," he thought. "I will not give them any truth." His corruption deepened, and he truly became the awful guy the rumors described, hurting girls who, more often than not, proved him right. Yet, a part of him still mourned for the exceptional girl who didn't deserve his cruelty.

One might wonder what Abba's life would have been like if Ngoma had never died. It's a sweet but ultimately futile dream. The reality is that Abba was truly born only after his father's death. His mother, although physically present, was emotionally absent, leaving him to fend for himself in a world he barely understood. Friends from his privileged past offered little solace, pushing him further down the path he was destined to tread.

Abba's story is not about the loss of his innocence. It is about how he became the greatest of his generation. Through pain and betrayal, through masks and corruption, Abba's journey is one of transformation and resilience. The world he once feared became the stage upon which he would rise, not as the boy his father had tried to protect, but as the man he was destined to become.