Changing lives constantly: The main

Chapter 6

Chapter six

Back in the old hut, the two girls who were sleeping before the woman came in with the baby stirred from sleep. Drowsily, they sat up and began arranging their sleeping grass mats and putting them away so there would be more space for cooking food and other things. Their house only had one room so they had to make do with what they had. The fourteen-year-old, Mira, shushed the twelve-year-old, Freya as she had noticed her older sister was deeply asleep. Talking in hushed tones, she said: "This time, older sister came back too late. Normally, she would be back by dawn but it is now almost mid-morning. What are the villagers going to say this time?" The younger girl teared up: "I am so tired of having to deal with all of this. Just because our family is not here, they dare bully us. Wait till they come back and we shall deal with them!"

Sighing Mira continued on disregarding what Freya had just said: "Don't be naïve. Sister hasn't said anything much about mama and papa after the incident. There are only two possibilities now. Either they died, or as you said, they really just left. But they couldn't have left without us you know?" Freya looked down in response. "We just have to trust older sister. She protected us all this time and stood straight through all the hardship. We must be strong for her too." Nodding firmly, each left to do their own chores. These consisted of cleaning the hut, adding some more repairs to the roof and washing clothes. They tried to make as little noise as possible wary of waking their older sister. However, they each had a niggling little feeling that something was about to happen that would change everything.

Jane's P.O.V

When l awoke from sleep, I noticed that l was extremely warm because the woman, l still don't know her name, had wrapped her arms around me. Even for a little while, l felt comforted that there was someone with me, going through something. I was still stuck in the swaddling clothes so l rolled around in her robes to try and wake her up. She stirred ever so slightly but still continued to sleep. That made me annoyed because l expended a lot of energy to try and get her attention. Besides, l was still a baby so l get tired easily. But really, l did it out of consideration for her. If l started crying and her sisters were startled by the noise, she really would not have the time to think of a response. I am not that mean. I tried to roll more but my body failed me and l did not want to strain myself. Crying it is then.

I opened my mouth and released a wail of desperation. It reflected half of my emotions because not only was l feeling frustrated because l was a baby, l was frustrated because l did not know what to do in my situation. I heard sounds of shock and amazement and footsteps pattering on the floor in haste. The woman next to me jolted in panic and looked around me to ascertain whether or not l was fine. All that went through my mind at that moment was 'Woman, you are in deep shit right now."

Third person's p.o.v

After the sharp cry, there was no more sounds which was very strange. Certainly, the two sisters thought it was strange and ran towards the source of the sound in curiosity and concern. The sound was heard from inside the house so they were both confused. "Wasn't that a baby's wail?" Freya said to which Mina replied: "I think it was. I have no clue. Maybe, older sister is awake..." The woman, had forget to cover the baby as she was still surprised that it knew how to cry so when her two sisters walked in, they saw her and a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes beside her. Looking at this scene, silence descended in the hut. Not the comfortable silence like before but now more of an awkward one. The baby was still gurgling and looking at the two new figures whom she had just met for the first time although she had heard about them from the woman. The loud sounds of birds chirping and leaves swaying contrasted the silence in the room.

No one knew what to say and how to react. Freya looked at her two sisters nervously before addressing the elephant of the room. "Edena, whose baby is that?" Only one word came in response "Mine" and the whole room descended into chaos and hysterics. The woman, Edena, now knew there was no stepping back from her decision. This was going to be life from now on.