Nyeupe

Chapter 2: Mpya

I walk into Nguvu Mauti, confident with my abilities. The watuwautaratibu do not stand a chance against me. The doors, grim and daring, open before me. Leaving behind the crowds of anger and discord, I pass through.

Before me lay an ua, surrounded by four columns plastered with posters. The yard is primarily grass, with white stones littered everywhere. The entire ua is empty.

I casually kick a stone out of the way. It bounces along the sidewalk, until shattering against the wall. I walk up to it. To my horror, it is a binadamu skull. The bone has bits of flesh on it. White flesh. Inzi fly over the skull, ready to feed. Across the forehead is a number-21. I gasp. I am the 22nd nyeupe to be sent to Nguvu Mauti.

Within the bloody eye socket, a piece of paper lay, rolled up. I gingerly pull it out, aware of the blood stains and gore. I unroll the paper and read. What's written inside sickens me. Damu siku zote inaonekana bora juu ya weupe.

Blood always looks better on white.

I quickly walk to my first darasani: Historia Vita . I open the door. Inside, all the nyeusi turn and stare at me. The mwalimu walks towards me, clearly annoyed by my presence.

He stops a few centimeters in front of me. He clears his throat and says , " Jambo, nyeupe." The pure disgust in his tone shatters me to the core. He continues. "I am Mwalimu Akida. You will be sitting front and center." He gestures to the empty seat. I worry. There must be a reason that seat is empty.

I walk towards the empty seat, and place myself down on the chair. I pull off my school bag and place it to the side. Behind me, I can hear the whispering of the waasi as they discuss the terror of a nyeupe and, even worse, where all the visu are for mchana. Someone taps my shoulder. I turn around, and sitting directly behind me is a small nyeusi boy, with bright hazel eyes and hair in ringlets. He flashes me a smile. Maybe not everyone is as waasi as I thought.

Before I can talk to him, Mwalimu Akida starts the lesson. I quickly swivel around.

" Today, we will be talking about the Vitasuwa."

I, along with the rest of the darasani, groan. We had been learning about the Vitasuwa since mwaka wa kwanza.

"I know, I know, but it is a good way to introduce my way of teaching. Think of it as a tutorial of how things work in here."

I am impressed. Though I dislike Mwalimu Akida, this is a brilliant idea.

"When the vita began, there were two sides: the Usawa, led by Mpitgh, and the Ili, led by Amaziah. The Usawa was comprised of nyeupe and wapenzi mti and was represented by the dumb, weak pundamilia. We will use him to be the Usawa." He points at me.

The entire darasani stares holes through me. Tree-huggers? Dumb? Weak? How much more biased can he be? No wonder no one likes this seat.

"The Ili was comprised of only the honorable watuwautaratibu and was represented by the mighty, dangerous nyeusi chui. We will have her be the Ili." He points to a girl in the back of the room. The waasi cheer.

" How should this battle have played out, you may ask? Let us find out!"

He runs to the side of the room and pulls out a cage. On one side was a punda, eyes wide with fear, trampling around and screaming. On the other side was a nyeusi chui, swiping at the punda and roaring for all to hear.

"Let the war begin!"

The separator between the two minyama drops as I close my eyes.

The class jeers as the punda screams and kicks while the chui rips off its flesh. A strong breeze is heard as the punda tries to scream through its broken windpipe. The panther starts eating it alive, and soon, all is silent.

I open my eyes. Left in the cage is the punda, dead, with its skull clean and flesh hanging off the rest of its body. In the opposing corner , the chui eats the flesh, licking its chops.

Mwalimu Akida quickly pulls out the skull of the punda before the chui can grab him. With a marker, he writes the number 22 across the forehead. He takes a hammer and smashes the skull, sending bone and brain everywhere. He stares at me with psychopathic rage, and whispers just loud enough for all to hear, "Damu siku zote inaonekana bora juu ya weupe."