A Dark Destiny

Chapter 6

Present day

I couldn't believe who I was seeing in front of me right now. How did he get here? How did he know where to find me to begin with? And the million dollar question in my mind was, out of everyone I have ever known, why him?

"Are you going to stare at me like that as if I'm some kind of a ghost?" the man before me asked.

I didn't know what to say. In fact, what was I going to say? I had been chased in the bush by some dark shadow for what felt like hours and now I realise that the person who helped me out back there, happened to be the person I least expected.

And it was my childhood school mate and family friend, Mutale.

He also happens not to like me very much due to a number of past issues.

I wouldn't like to dwell so much on our past encounters when we were children. Our parents always told us not to fight with each other whenever we met because we always did in one way or another, especially at school since that seemed more like our battle field when no grownups were around.

After completing Grade 7 and we both went to boarding school, we stopped seeing much of each other even during the holidays. There were rare times we would meet and usually that would be when our families would get together for a family party or a church function. Mind you, he and his parents were also Catholic. We didn't fight as much as we used to as we grew older. We would rather not talk to each other whenever we met. And to be honest, I was surprised that we even grew so mature that we didn't fight anymore.

"Hey! What's wrong with you?" he asked as he waved his hand across my face, bringing me back to reality.

"Huh?" I was still a little confused.

"Are you okay?" he asked me slowly.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

"Maybe it's because you're here."

He raised an eyebrow. "Don't start. I just saved your life back there."

"I don't want to argue with you. I'm just surprised that you're here. And as much as I wanted to say thank you, you wouldn't allow me to because we are not yet out of the woods."

Mutale continued to look at me and I bet he was wondering in that head of his why I hadn't changed these past few years. That's if I did. Well, it didn't matter now. For the time being, we had to get out of the forest quickly before that shadow came for us again.

"Let's go," he said, as he held my hand. "We can talk later."

We continued walking in the open area of the forest. The moon still shone brightly above us. I looked up at the sky and I realised how lovely it was tonight, with the stars shining bright alongside the moon. If I hadn't been running for my life from the shadow, I bet I would have been gazing at the stars like I usually do whenever I came here to my grandmother's village.

I stopped when I finally remembered.

Mutale looked back at me when he realised that I had stopped walking.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I've just remembered," I said as I looked behind at the forest of trees. "I need to go back."

"Go back? Where?"

I looked back at Mutale. "My grandmother's house. I need to go back there right now."

I forced my hand out of his grip as I turned my body around, heading back the way we came. But Mutale was fast enough to get a hold of my hand, again.