Lady Black and the mysterious creature of the night

Chapter 2

A girl in her mid-twenties was at the back side of her shack which she shared with her sixteen-year-old brother. She was chopping wood. Her name was Mpho translated to gift in English. This shack was one of the many shacks surrounding the area. Life was colourful, children played, and women and men worked and gathered. It was a small township for them. Regardless of the livelihood of the township, Mpho still carried a certain anger inside of her which shot rays through her face. In her eyes was an obvious pain and exhaustion, but she dared not complain. She was a small framed young woman. Even so, she was strong, both emotionally and physically.

Soon, Mpho paused and took a break. She chucked down a glass of water and smeared away the sweat from her forehead. There appeared her sixteen-year-old brother with a friend of his, both in school uniform. The brother’s name was Karabo and his friend was Innocent. The brother was a tame young man whom respected his sister and anyone who afforded him the courtesy. She had raised him to be quite a gallant. While Innocent, on the other hand had no form of grooming whatsoever. He was unbearably loud, talkative, unruly and possibly rude sometimes. Mpho did not like this character and she would not hide it. “Aw,” Innocent would try by all means to get her attention. “My sunshine.”

Trying to maintain sanity and indifference towards the boy, Mpho asked her brother, “What are you doing with him?”

“Always sweet and polite. Love your smile,” Innocent continued addressing Mpho who was not pleased to have him around. It was not an intention of his to provoke her but to make amends. He did enjoy, however, seeing her vexed with him since it was their only form of interaction.

“Do I have to tell you a thousand times more?” Mpho was literally scolding Karabo. “What is it with you? Didn’t I tell you to stop playing with him?! You have wax in your ears now? Quick, get in inside the house.”

Feeling disrespected in front of his friend, Karabo sighed, “Really?”

“You want me to say it again? The second time won’t be so nice.”

Simultaneously, the boys had phrased her usual line together with her, “The second time won’t be so nice,” Karabo was annoyed and Innocent was mocking her tough. Karabo hit fist with Innocent, “I’ll see you, boy.”

“Yeah, sure. Give us some privacy. Babe and I have things to do.”

“Aim lower, boy,” Karabo warned. “You can never crack this nut,” and like that he went inside the shack.

“So, baby-babe! What can we talk about?”

In a stoic tone, “You and Karabo.”

“He’s my friend. Topic done. Now, let’s move on to you and I.”

She started to near him like a predator manoeuvring towards its prey, holding an intense gaze at his eyes, “What do you plan to do with him?”

“I plan to love his sister. Girl, I can spoil you, that’s for sure. Give you everything and anything you want.”

She did not care for his words. She would not stop drawing closer. He had to move back while she towered him. “You will stay away from him, you will not cry a letter of his name and you will not come to my house anymore.”

“Easy, babe. Too many demands. We’ve only just started this. Therefore, it is imperative that we go slow. I’m a slow kind of guy.”

“Well, I can fix slow.”

“Easy,” he had his arms raised signalling ‘no violence’.

“Tell me something.”

“I’ll tell you anything.”

“Tiger, your uncle… What is he up to?”

He laughed, as if patronising her, “You supposed to ask about me. Don’t you know how this works?”

“What does he want with Karabo? Word on the street says he’s summoned Karabo more than once now.”

“I am right here and you’re asking me about another man? Two other men? Am I not enough for you? You know what? I will not let you toy with my heart like that. We’re done!” he began walking away.

“Innocent!”

He walked back to her, his palms pretentiously holding his chest, “Ooh, that moment when you say my name. How can I not respond, my love?”

“Focus, damnit!” she snapped. She was running out of patience. “Tell me what your uncle is doing. What is he up to? What is going on?!”

“Eish, Mpho! Mpho, will you stop obsessing over my uncle! His business doesn’t concern you. Whatever he is allegedly doing doesn’t affect you in any way. Find another guy to obsess over. Better yet, look no further, obsess over me. Because no matter what you, however deep you dig you will never catch my uncle! You’re not even a cop. And what makes you think you’re better? Huh? Upon what you and KK are doing…”

“What are you talking about? What is KK doing?”

“Tsk!” and quickly moved on back to the topic, “Like yourselves, my uncle is only trying to make a living and to protect himself. You know it’s tough in these streets.”

When he turned and started walking away, she yanked him back and thrust him hard on the ground. It was all so sudden that he caught a fright. He stayed quiet on the ground, only looking up at her obediently so. She went down to him and gave him a very angry stare. It was more like she glared in his eyes. Innocent had no idea what must have been going on in that woman’s mind. She was notoriously known to be dangerous when triggered. She belonged in a small gang that KK ruled. Out of all 22 of them, she was the most feared in the streets. She had a creed that no other in her gang could surpass. No, she was not a murderer and she was definitely not bad. In fact, her gang mainly focused on doing good and fighting crime out of the community. A few broken bones and missing teeth of wrong-doers were tied to her name. She was aggressive, ill-tempered and impatient. Her gang was started with the sole purpose of clearing the streets out of theft, drugs and violence. This was the police officers’ job, one might argue, but the police had become lazy and perhaps fearful for their lives especially with the growing statistics of crime in the area. Almost every young person aspired to become a gangster and mostly inflict pain onto others.

Calm and clearly, she spoke, “You see, Karabo is a child I take care of. I raised him and I raised him well with only these two hands. I’ll be damned if I let the likes of you and your thug uncle destroy that. Now start talking because my knuckles are itching.”

“Tiger has some boxes he wants stored. That’s all he wants from Karabo.”

“Why can’t you store them instead?”

“He didn’t ask me. And more over, Karabo is a known good boy. The police would never suspect him.”

“What’s in the boxes?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are you lying?”

“No. I really don’t know and I don’t think I want to know.”

“Then you must have suspicions. Whatever’s in those boxes can’t be something good.”

“Karabo will just have to hide the boxes really good. Somewhere the police won’t look. That’s the advice I’d give him. If it all goes well, he will be rewarded and you too.”

“We don’t want your rewards,” she went on her feet. “We are doing great.”

“Is your idea of bread and soup everyday doing great?”

“Some people have nothing. At least we have something.”

“Well, we don’t have something. We have everything. That’s the harvest from siding with the Tiger. Join us, Mpho. Your talents are wasted that side, leave that KK-club.”

“It’s not a club.” She had enough of the kid, “You know your way out.” She was leaving, headed back into the house.

“So, now that we’ve sorted out our differences… Am I welcome to your home? I love your soup, by the way!” Seeing that she paid no mind to him, he picked himself up and left their compound.

Mpho had made an interesting discovery. A discovery that put her on edge about what to do next. Tiger has targeted her brother this time. Now she will have to deal with Tiger, an enemy she had much rather put aside for later. There was no later anymore. She had to move fast and get hold of those boxes in order to keep her brother’s hands clean. Mpho had always kept an eye on Tiger and the Lantern Brothers, another street gang gone rouge over the years. The Lantern Brothers basically ruled the community, they were the most powerful and widespread group of all. Mpho knew very well that she, even with the help of her gang, was not strong enough to deal with the Lantern Brothers yet.

“Why would he target Karabo of all boys in the area?” she kept questioning herself. She thought maybe by breaking into his mindset regarding this matter she would find a ‘clean’ way to save her brother. “There are so many good kids around here that he could’ve picked from, so why him? Is he actually coming at me? Am I his real target?” She was in some old abandoned warehouse. “Maybe he knows that I have my eyes on him… No, impossible! I’ve been very discreet. I think Innocent put him up to this. I knew that boy is not to be trusted. If only Karabo could listen to me for once and stay away from that boy!” She was on the ground, her back against the wall at a corner of the giant dark room.

Suddenly, a cold breeze fell on her and when she turned to where it may had possibly come from, she saw the door to the next room open. She stayed like that for a while staring at who might come out but she no-one and nothing. She fell back into her thoughts. She had a black kitten join her coming from her other side. This building was their meeting spot, her and the kitten. She could not bring it to her area in fear that the neighbours may hunt it down. It was believed in the community that black cats are messengers of the evil. It was believed that they brought bad luck. It was believed that they were spies of witches. However, Mpho did not believe any of that. She had formed a bond with this kitten. She would visit it often.

She always brought along a snack for the kitten. It went straight to her and rubbed against her. Soon, the kitten pounced onto her lap and stayed there intensely staring at her. The kitten would not budge at the snack she offered this time. “Hey, it’s your favourite,” Mpho tried encouraging the kitten to eat. The kitten insisted on maintaining the intense gaze almost as though it was communicating something to her but she could not understand. She began patting it. Normally, it would respond positively at that act of affection but currently, it would push away her palm with its soft paws. “Hey, what’s wrong? Are you sick? Should I take you to a vet?” She knew the kitten could not talk back but she loved talking to it like it understood. In fact, the kitten was the other reason she visited the warehouse so often. She would sit there and tell it all about her plans and thoughts.

The kitten pounced off her and started heading out. Almost showing an attitude. “Hey, you leaving? But you just got here. Should I come along?” she was getting up but the kitten screeched. “Okay, okay. I’m not coming. You’re acting weird today. Come back tomorrow then.”

The kitten was gone by now. She was alone again to decipher her thoughts by herself this time. She got up and began on push-ups. She used this building to calm her mind, run through ideas and to do physical training. One thing she liked about this building was that, no-one entered there, at least she thought. She would hide some of her valuables and retrievals, and the police would not find them there.

When she went home, it would always be herself and her brother in that tiny room. It was a shack made of zinc. The inside was divided into two parts—one being the kitchen and the other their bedroom. Their main meal was always bread and soup. If they were highly blessed, they’d have rice and meat washed down with a glass of juice. They cooked their meals outside at the back of their house like many other homes. They had a lightbulb that ran on batteries, they would lite candles when the battery ran out.

Mpho would always encourage her brother to do great in school because, “education is a key to success. If you want a better life than this, work hard in school. Graduate university and get a good job.” In fact, she herself was a recent graduate in Bachelor of Commercial Accounting. “So, are you going to look for work now? I’m talking real work, sis. Not the garden girl or housekeeper.”

“Actually, I have already gotten work. I’ll start on Monday morning.”

“This girl is on fire, baby! Soon, we’ll build a bigger house and we’ll have better food than this!” he said that while dunking his bread in soup and soon tossed it in his mouth. She laughed with him, loving how he was understanding of their living conditions and even made fun it instead of mopping around. She was having the same food, with a glass of tap water. It was evening and they had their bulb on. They sat at their little round table.

She was the adult in that home. In fact, she had been an adult for the past 8 years after she found him crying for his mother amidst the angry fire that ate away all of their village. She watched him grow from an 8-year-old weeping boy to a strong and resilient 16-year-old. At times, she felt a sore in her chest for what they went through at such young age but seeing him progress facilely with life was a cool breeze over her burning pain. Mpho knew that one of the reasons he was as calm was because she had promised to find his parents. This was something she was not sure about anymore. His parents may have died in that fire all together with hers and the rest of the villagers. At times, she was beginning to wish she had not made him that promise. Oh, but how would she get him to continue living if she had not? Over the past few years, she was even beginning to wish he had forgotten the promise she made. She made it a point to never ever bring it up to his ears and he was quiet about it too.

“Maybe he has forgotten,” she mumbled to herself, soon as he went to sleep. Sitting in the dark room, she could not get any sleep and only her thoughts kept her company. She got up, took a coat and put it on. She stepped outside for a cool breeze across her face. She found a levelled spot to sit and hoped to watch the stars but the sky was so clear, with only the moon sizzling in the dark. “So odd. I have never seen the moon so beautiful. Whose resurrecting tonight?” her eyes popped at the giant moon. She felt something come into her and began seeing things flash in her mind. A past life. She quickly shook out of it, and dismissed those visions as mere thoughts. Useless thoughts.

“Should I continue with this job I found? I only opted to work in the Gama household only so that I can find out where he took some of the fire survivors. But now that Karabo has finally moved on, maybe I should too and maybe leave it to the universe.” And then suddenly, “No! I cannot give up! I have come this far. Who knows, I could be really close to finding them. Who knows, maybe my dad is alive somewhere.”

“Are you talking to yourself again?” came a voice—calm, slow and confident. She had never heard that voice before, she turned with a fright to try and see who it may had been. She had jumped onto her feet ready to fight anyone off.

She whispered, “Who is there?” She kept turning and turning searching the scene with her eyes. All thanks to that night’s unusual moon, there was enough light for her to see the right amount. “Don’t be a coward hiding among the shadows. Come out and face me!”

“Down here… Right. In. Front. Of you…”

When she looked, she had the shock of her life; the black kitten was standing right there. She picked it up and carefully, tuck it under her arm, “Cat! What are you doing here? You know you’re not supposed to come this side, the people are going to chase you. Hey, I think someone’s here. I heard a voice.”

“It was me, you slow-witted swine.” The kitten started snuggling out of her grip, “And get me out of here. It’s very stinky in here!” and it jumped back down.

“What did you just call me? Hey, did you just talk?”

“Meow…”

“Ow, don’t play dumb with me!”

The kitten went and comforted itself where she was sitting. It started licking it’s paws and talked in between, “So, finally you can hear me. Eeew, what is that, why does it taste so… Oh, it’s someone else’s poo.”

“You can talk? Since when?”

“Oh, sweetie. I’ve been talking my whole life. It is you who wasn’t awakened just yet. Come sit with me so I can tell you more.” But Mpho was hesitant. “Now-now, dear. Don’t go cold feet on me now. You know I mean you no harm. In fact, we have trouble on our horizon, my friend.”

She got closer and sat next to the kitten, “Trouble, you say?” The kitten crawled to her lap and there she started stroking its fur. The kitten loved it when she did that. Her palm ran from the top of its head down to its spine. In between this action, she would give it a nice gentle scratch beneath the fur. It would turn to different sides exposing more areas it wanted the scratch on. “Ooh, that feels good. You’re good at this.”

“Start talking.”

“She has come back. There’s a Lady Black in our vault. Thousand years have passed and she’s still here.”

“You mean the legend I read about?”

“It’s not a legend. It’s real, well maybe the books don’t have all the facts straight, but she is real. The last one standing of our generation. Oh, and with that, I always wanted to say good to meet you again, old friend. You know, you and I go way back. In fact, we were brothers, you and I. Now, you came back as a girl human, and I as a man cat. Talk about karma.”

Mpho was still worried about the ‘trouble’ that the kitten mentioned. More problems were adding on and it was beginning to feel uncomfortable for her. She had to find ways to deal with all of them. Plus, she had a partner now, she thought, “I want you to go back there and find out what she is all about.”

“Are you kidding me? What if she recognizes me? We were her greatest enemies in our time. Now, that I’m a cat, she’ll just squash me! Easily!”

“You’re a cat. I’m sure she won’t know who you are. Just go in there and pretend to comply. I would go myself but, I have to watch Tiger tomorrow and after that, I’ll be off to Gama household the next day. It’s a lot on my plate. If you can, keep yourself out of her sight.”

“It’s funny how I was the bossy one back then—”

She tossed it, “Get going!”