Manka and Other African Shorts

Manka

I am sure you have heard about Beauty and the Beast. Where the fair maiden falls in love with the Beast and true love helps break the spell cast on the Beast? Well that is way off. This is the real story. If you want to know the origins and why your elders tell you not to leave the house on a full moon, read on.

In the deepest parts of Africa, in a small village known as Mankon, there lived a girl. Isolated and detested by all, her looks were some kind of myth. But not because she was pretty. On the contrary. She was one of the most abominable creatures to walk on this Earth.

Laila Manka, otherwise known as Manka was once an ordinary girl, well as ordinary as ordinary could get. She, like any other girl coming from a rural area, dreamed of a better life. She dreamed of living in a castle, with servants at her beck and call and of course a charming and good-looking prince at her side.

But how do you wish for happiness when all your life you've known nothing but scorn and embarrassment? How to get someone fall in love with you when they all flinched at your looks?

Manka had been shunned from every social gathering since she was a kid. She was, to put it frankly, an abomination. Nobody wanted anything to do with her.

She was accustomed to her fate. She had resigned herself to the fact that she was never going to be happy. She was going to be all alone and she was going to die without experiencing the most basic of emotions: love.

Manka lived peacefully in the outskirts of the village. She lived on the produce of her farms and on the water from her streams. She was adamant about the fact that it was the gods who had helped her survive so far. And with nobody to talk to, she liked talking out loud, pretending the gods were listening to her. It comforted her to think like that.

Everyone knew not to venture to her area. Manka wasn't dangerous but her looks had spurned strange stories about her. She had grown accustomed to them and so long as she didn't their sneers of disgust, she was okay.

But one day, Manka's routine was torn to shreds. Her monotonous life was shaken. Her life was no longer the same.

It was a newcomer. His name was Che. He had been warned. It is dangerous. She might eat you up. She's so ugly. Those were the numerous things that were said to him.

We all know how arrogance works. Che was proud and told everyone how he could bring The Beast to her knees without breaking a sweat. And upon the urgings of the others, went to her.

He found her. Or rather stumbled on her. She was busy fetching water, humming without a care in the world.

Che stood there, horrified. He had thought all the rumors were just that. Rumors. And exaggerations. But seeing The Beast, in front of him was an otherworldly experience.

Manka felt she was being watched. She dropped her bowl with a small scream and looked at the newcomer with fear in her eyes.

"What do you want from me?" she asked with a small voice.

It was quite obvious Manka was confused. After all, this was one of first times she was meeting another human up close. And she couldn't deny that he was very attractive.

"I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you. But I am lost. And I am very hungry. Could you help me please?" Che said, feigning a tired expression.

Manka hesitated for a second. She didn't want to just let him into her house. But she was too kind hearted to leave him to starve to death or something. So with a motion of her hand, invited him into her small but well organized mudhouse.

And so it started. Sweet words here and there. Kisses all over the place. Manka was getting attached, a bit skeptical, but convinced her feelings were reciprocated.

Finally. Finally, she had found someone who was not repulsed by her. Someone who could bear get touch without flinching, someone to spend the rest of eternity with.

But as quickly her fate had turned, it turned again. It was all a lie. It was all a mockery.

He left her. After making her believe they were meant to be, he just disappeared. But not without taunting her cruelly.

How could she believe an attractive young man like him would waste his life with her? Did she really believe her touch wasn't repulsive? Did she think he hadn't been thinking if someone else every time they got intimate? Did she really think he was the fool who was going to love her for her inner beauty? That was never going to happen. For who could love a beast like her?

Manka was left in shock. She let him leave and mourned, like one who had just lost a loved one. Technically, she had lost a loved one. She had been so blinded by her loneliness that she had believed he would stay with her forever.

Manka died of heartbreak. Her poor little heart couldn't take the trauma. The gods who had grown attached to her, gave her a chance to take her revenge.

On the fifteenth of every month, on the full moon, Manka shows herself. You know when you're walking and you feel someone watching you with shrewd eyes? That's Manka. Or when you feel someone's breath on your neck and pass it off as the wind? That's probably her too.

Some said they hear her screams of agony till this day. Others say she still haunts the village. It is also said that if you looked at the sky on the night of the full moon, you would see her awful face, ready to frighten whoever was her next unfortunate victim.

So next time someone pretends to know all about the story of Aurora and her so called Prince, be mindful to correct them. Manka doesn't take kindly to mistakes. Stay woke and stay safe.

Africanscommunity my entry for the disneyafterdark challenge