Chapter 14

Dear diary. The date is now the 12th of March, 2019 and it has already been over 4 days since my best friend Chad left for a strange self-study trip into Africa. I hope his doing well. I tried to call him but there was no answer.

In my search for answers on to this problem, I went online to search the news. What if Chad had been kidnapped over there? I remember hearing that that's quite a common thing that happens there.

While looking for news about this all I discovered was something about a College Admission Scandal. Apparently, dozens were charged in the US college admission scandal by US federal prosecutors, including actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman.

Also, there was a second Brexit Defeat for MayTheresa. May's British government suffered a second defeat on a Brexit deal with the EU, 391 votes to 242.

But then I finally found something. In the week of March 3rd there has been sustained violence in Burundi, the specific country where Chad went to.

There were also communal and election-related tensions in Nigeria. Rising attacks by Mayi Mayi militias in the DRC and the threats to the peace process in CAR. DRC being the Congo which is the country right next to Burundi, this was quite worrying news to my ears.

Also apparently In Burundi, the UN Human Rights Office announced its official closure last week. The move came three months after the organization was ordered to do so by the Burundian government on the basis that sufficient progress had been made to establish mechanisms to protect human rights. All through the year violence on the streets has seemingly been escalating because of some political disagreements. But looking at the most recent news now it seems that Rwanda and Burundi have just yesterday closed all their borders and gone completely dark as no new news has come out after that.

On the internet, some speculate that the countries have finally broken down into a complete and utter civil war. Most likely they suspect on the internet that this is because of the upcoming 2020 elections that are raising the tensions in the countries.

Also, Important activity took place in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR) last week.

In Nigeria, communal violence is rapidly increasing in Zamfara state. Last week, at least 90 people were reported killed in attacks by Zamfara "bandits" on villages in the Tsafe and Shinkafi LGAs (Zamfara state).

Overall it seems that the violence in all of Africa is on the rise for one reason or another. Mostly like always the root of the problems seems to have something to do with foreign influences. Also, since each African country has multiple different cultural and ethnic groups that also seems to be always a major factor in the starting of civil wars and conflicts. Since there can always only be one president in a country and everyone wants their group to be the one that has the president in power that creates conflict. It also doesnt help that in order to gain power many are forced to sell their countries natural resources to foreign companies and countries so that they could make a quick profit. While this is a quick and easy solution to gain money and then buy weapons from those same foreign peoples it also always leaves the country in a poor economic position since now the foreign companies and countries have all the countries resources in their pockets. And if the leader then tries to fight back and take those resources for him or herself the foreigners will simply arm some other group and have them then take the leadership position and on and on it always goes.

Well, its nothing that I can do anything about now though. All I can do is hope that Chad stays safe and comes back home soon before he gets himself embroiled int one of these African conflicts of power.

But in other news, me and my dear brother Will have been gaining strength like crazy during these past 4 days. Actually, it has been quite a scary increase in strength for me especially.

One day I was lifting a good 150 kilograms in the bench press and the next day it was 170 kilograms. And now I can even lift 200 kilograms with ease. I do fear injuring myself so I haven't gone higher than that but I do wonder where do my limits lay. How much could I possibly lift?

Also, both our days at school have gotten a lot easier. It feels as if our intellect has just suddenly increased or something. All the things the teachers tell us now and have told us in the past seem to be sticking to our heads like glue. We hardly need to study as once we hear something then it's basically implanted permanently into our heads.

But speaking of school I have noticed that many of the girls, especially Chads sisters seem withdrawn and sad, as if they were really missing their big brother which is understandable.

But what isn't so understandable is all the other girls and even teacher Julia who seems to be sad all the time now. Her usual happy teaching style seems to have completely disappeared as now she teaches us like some kind of an robot without any emotion.

Even our mother Natalie seems to be bothered by Chads absence. Each night with our father not around Mother locks herself inside her room. For hours we can hear heavy music playing in there and some muffled sounds. Only hours after midnight will the music and sounds stop. Then she even sleeps all throughout the morning and only wakes up around mid-day.

One day I saw her immediately after waking up without even straightening her hair and wearing no more than her nightgown walking straight to the Redfield house. Later I heard From Chads mother Lili that Natalie had been asking for any news about Chad. Apparently, she does this each and every day for some reason.

Suspicious of this I went straight to mother to ask her what was going on. I thought that maybe Mother knew something about Chad that nobody else did. Maybe Father had told Mother something alarming about the situation in Africa that might have affected Chad in some way. But when I confronted her she simply said that she just wanted to give Chad a gift for being such a good friend to us both.

Intrigued by this I tried to question her further on this matter but all she said was that it was a secret gift that only Chad should know about.

On the other hand, Will has been making constant advances on a girl named Riley. A sweet, quiet girl who always wears baggy clothes and glasses. Underneath those glasses, she's got freckles and blue eyes and her hair is a ginger colour. Overall quite a nerdy appearance, I would say. I personally don't understand what Will sees in her but oh well. I guess I'm not one to really judge as I don't have a girlfriend yet and we are almost done with the school year.

Soon Prom is coming up and I will need to find myself a partner. And, after that, it's going to be time for college or university. But I'm not sure yet since apparently Father has something planned for me and Will.

But now it's time for school. . . . . .