White smoke

White smoke 

chapter 1

"Is it true?"

   "Is it true mother? are what people saying true?"the young boy whispered to his mother who was by the fire place. 

      No one knew what to believe anymore, countess times have lies and deception destroyed the basic foundation of the village,the elders themselves were confused and afraid and what they had heard. The children whispered among themselves when they got the chance, the woman as always gathered in the river bank where they went to fetch water to gossip and debate on whether to believe the old woman or not. 

    This village had seen its fair share of misfortunes along the way, from children being snatched by hungry hyenas while sleeping under a tree while the mothers were working in the corn field to women being attacked by angry prides of lions in the bush while fetching firewood in in some instances strong you men desapearing never to be seen again. 

    Some would say the people from that village were cursed and some would say that gods had abandoned this place and tat the ancestors had went silent. But this, this was too serious and sensitive to ignore.

     "I don't know, it might be true, only time can tell", finally the mother looking deep in his innocent so s eyes answered with fear written all over his face. 

chapter 2

The old man

    The birds sang more gracefully today, he had grown to love the sweet songs the birds used to sing for him, this day was somewhat special to say, he was finally turning seventy years old. 

    He sat down outside his hut and let the graceful morning sun shine on his face with his eyes closed his mind shifted and a sad look suddenly appeared on his face. "Am all alone", he reminded himself

   The memories of that fateful day haunted him every single day, the day when all he had valued most precious was taken from him without a warning, its surprising how at one moment every thing can shift soo fast. His wife who he loved soo dearly, his two sons who he could see a reflection of himself in all gone, taken by an illness that he had never seen before. 

   He stood up opened his eyes and looked up, the sun was still raising and the birds were still singing, this helped him get through his grief. 

    For a man his age he was quite strong, even though he decided not to remarry after his wife died a decisions that sparked up debate among his fellow agemetes and villagers. He fed well, was well groomed in his goat skin and somehow had all his teeth something which was not soo common to people his age. He turned and decided to take a walk and go to the market, a place he had nit been in  a while. 

Chapter 3

the prophecy 

     "A time will come when the people will encounter something which they had never seen or heard of before, it will come in the form of a man", these were the words of a woman from a time long gone. 

    "Pale skin he will have, long soft hair like that wet grass on a rainy day, He will speak in a very strange tone unknown to any man, woman or child. In his hand he carries a stick which spits fire, death, suffering and sorrow he brings with him". 

       "He will bring with him a metallic snake which slithers on metal railings, this snake will swallow more of this mans people and spit them out on our land. Slaves we will  e in our own land and darkness shall befell all of our people". 

      "But in all this death and darkness i see a light, a lantern which will be used to guide us to safety an d freedom, the lantern will come from a very unusual place but be sure, it will be our salvation". "Mark my words, heed my warning, prepare for the worst is yet to come". This was what the old woman told, a prophet to the people, a witch to the foolish and a doctor to the weak and ailing. 

Chapter 4

truth 

  Ignorance is the recipe for self distraction, the inability to understand makes us a slave to our own curiosity and as we all know curiosity killed the cat. 

      The young boy was the first to see, as fast as possible he ren to his mother to tell Mother gets furious at the boy"why do you always make things up, One of those lies you have will haunt you ", she said. The next group of people to see it were the woman from the market, confused and unsure of what they say they to ren screaming. 

      The men were the last group to see him, he was truly unusual, unsure of what to do they hold down their weapons with no intention of attacking the stranger who had come to their village. This was soon to be the worst mistake of their live. 

       This pale man give them clothes, gave children sweets, gave sick people medicine which was not like any they had seen, it didn't come from trees or plants, 

though they couldn't understand or his strange ways, they fell play to infatuation. "He gives us good things", they said "he treats our sick", others said "hevis harmless", this were the words of the people, some even said that the man was a sign of the gods. 

Chapter 5

The incidents 

    Days passed since the man came to the village, he had brought excitement to a village which had only known misfortunes and sadness upto now. He was like a light glowing in the darkness. 

    Baaang! this was the sound that came from a distance, it was soooo loud that even the old man heard it from his hut in which he lay. Birds went silent for a long time, the sound sounded like a tree being taken down by a mighty elephant. "What is that?"the women asked each other", "where did it come from?" others asked "what might have caused it?" sooo many questions yet no answers were delivered. 

      The sound of a woman crying and screaming was heard from a distance, it was coming from direction the strange sound had come from. The woman's cries became louder as she approached the market place, barefoot she ren, not looking back because of fear of what she had seen. Blood had been spilled in the chiefs compound, the man had killed the chief for reasons unknown. He was the first but not the last, the person who was thought to be a sign sent to them by the gods who live high in the mountains had all of a sudden turned into the devil. 

        People started going missing from that day, no one knew where they went or who took them. First it was the prisoners who went missing, then the deptors then from them came the strong young men who went hunting in the woods, from exitmment to confusion to finally fear, every time the sun set not only did darkness come with it but also fear never before known in the village."Where do they go mother, where did father go?" asked the young boy, two nights ago his father went to hunt but didn't return. Mother was not sure what to answer this time, fer she too was asking herself the same question as her son 

Chapter 6

The young and the old meet 

The young boy was hungry but mother was out, there were no left overs from last night's food. What was he to do? he couldn't cook he was too young and even if he could there was nothing to cook, since the man came people were afraid to go to the market. There was only o e thing he could do, go to the bush to look for fruits to eat. Without thinking twice out the boy went"maybe ill bring mother some fruits ", the boy thought to himself and with a smile he continued going without any hesitation. 

   That morning the old man wake up late, it was unusual for him but of late he wasn't soo sure of what to do. People were going missing and others were being executed by the man with his fire stick. All the other elder had been corrupted by the man, they were supposed to defend the people but the man had given them firesticks and garments and even clothes. The chief was dead and no one was safe anymore. This were the thoughts on his mind but he was hungry, he had meat but no wood to cook, though he was afraid he was not willing to die of hunger. 

   He woke up dressed and dicided to go to the forest to look for wood, "may my ancestors protect me", he prayed as he entered the forest which had be come a no go zone for the people of the village. 

   The boy had not yet found any fruits in the bushes and the o es which were there were poisonous, his search was met with more disappointment every step he took was driving him deeper and deeper into the bush but with his focus being fruits even he too didn't know how deep he was. He was beginning to see the forest trees, which was quite confusing because the only way that was possible is if he had gone too deep in the bush to where the forest merged with the bush, he turned to go buck but was shocked because he couldn't find the path which he had led him to this spot, scared and confused the boy stood still. 

   As he was in the forest collecting firewood he saw something, something which was uncommon to say, he saw a figure of a boy though not sure he dismissed it. He continued collecting but noticed something else, the figure in the woods had stopped, the region where the figure was was in the place where the forest and the bush met. "What could this be?" he thought out loud "it cant be a boy, this is too deep in the woods for a boy to be, or is it?" he thought as he approached the figure for a closer look. 

   As the boy stood he heard movement in the forest, the sound seemed to come closer and closer to him. Fear creeped in and he couldn't move, he was too afraid, " could it be a lion? "he asked himself," or is it a snake ? "mother had told him that there were lions and snakes in the forest, he had always thought it was to scare him but know he was considering it to be true. 

    The old man stoped and diced to call out to the figure, although he was hesitant he finally got the courage and called out, at first the figure seemed to move a little soo he called out again. To his the voice of a boy answer in a low tone. 

    At first he wasn't sure of what he heard so he didn't answer, he even tried to hide but then the voice came again calling soo he stood and answered. 

    The boy went to where the voice was coming from and saw an old man, he recognised the man from stories he had heard about the man from his mother. he was soo happy to see some who could lead him out of the forest, he went up to the man and smiled at him. 

   The figure came towards his direction, as it came closer he saw that it was a boy, he had never met the boy but the boy came stood in front of him and smiled showing off his white you teeth. 

chapter 7

Jurney back home 

  The boy introduced himself to the old man nad told him where he lived, the old man was glad that it was he who found the boy before the wild animals did. The boy helped the man in carrying the firewood and out if the forest they went. 

   On the way home the boy thought of asking the old man whether the story he had heard with his mother was true but thought it safe not to ask soo he decided to tell the old man the story of how his father had disappeared without a trace and how his mother was worried. 

  The old man listened to the boy and felt pity for him, it was soo sad for someone soo young to loose his father but what could he do, he couldn't fight the pale man alone could he? that was impossible but he had to do something, even if it was the last thing he could with his old age. 

   After reaching his place he took the firewood and placed it outside his hut. He then took upon himself to take the boy to his home, all he could think about know was what he could do to stop the pale man, through out the journey he thought if what could be done. After he took the boy home he decided to go to the market to see if there was anything he could trade for with the piece of meat he had back home. 

Chapter 8

Retaliation 

   When he reached the market place he found a group of young men debating, they were debating on how to retaliate on the pale man. The old man was one of the few elders who had not been corrupted by the pale man. Soo in reaching the group he was by far the oldest among them and also the wisest. He had not much left to live for anyway soo he decided to join the men but to his surprise they decided to make him head of the group. 

   On that day the Mau mau group was born, this group decided not to fall prey to fear or intimidation but to stand tall and firmly fight for their land and people. On the next coming days the old man lead the attack against the pale man and anyone who supported him, This group of men drove the pale man away from their land with the old man as the head of the group. 

   Blood was spilled, lives were lost and at the end the old man was captured and killed but what he left behind influenced more people to fight for what they believed in. As for the young boy though he didn't know what he had started by telling his story to the old man he grew up to be strong and he too joined the group and history was written as the old man who was no family to live for till this day lives on in the memories of many.