DEPARTURE.

It was as if she was just returning from a long journey and filing pass, when she had always been around and not going anywhere too. Insane ha? Brr! what all this insignificant, unsettling feelings can do eeii?

I didn't comprehend why ? But yeah! That was how I felt. It also was as though, that was the last I'm going to see of her; like a farewell! due to a pilgrimage to a far-off Land. These two edged sensations to my distraught. Sighs! My head is as fucked! as my mind at this moment. This unnerving foretelling sensation within, gives me a cold grounding in my belly, a lurking fear of evil yet to come but I hanged not on it for long. What could possibly go that wrong ai!?

For this brief moment, I had forgotten the bad day I had earlier. The annoying fella alongside the intruding maggot at work. It couldn't feel any harmonious than this and this was thanks to the very best of grandmothers in the world. she may not have given me a solution to my crazy day yet, but this relaxation and solemnity that I feel now? is ok. Just the simplest perfect fine! I didn't want to go back to the unsavory topic. For now, I was going to evade that but enjoy this momentary bliss which has an expiration date! I know for sure, to the fullest. I merely want to tarry in this suspension without unpleasant memories, unexplained mood swings and bad energy as a whole. Good radiance to negativity! "Maama!" I called her emotionally probbingly.

"Mmgh!" She intoned in response.

"Would you mind telling me the story about the powerful Seer again?" I asked like a good obedient child pleadingly. Anything to keep my brains away from the draining horrors.'I thought.'

"Well! well! well! You sneaky spoilt child of your grandma. 'She laughs' You give me the warmest of hugs unguarded, coated with sweet compliments only to ask for a favour ha? The con of a girl. You seem to always forget I saw this earth surface before you." She said shaking her head, still laughing.

"Not really Grandma. 'Yikes! what an awful way to get exposed was my introspection.' You definitely know I am not manipulative." I told her with almost teary puppy eyes with Faux melancholy. Just the right action to endorse her allegations. I played right into her snares! Deceptive old fox! Yes! I agree, I am what she said I was but only her. I am her grandchild! for goodness sakes! and boy! does the old woman know me too well for my liking. Never the less, If I don't exploit her? who would? hahaha! I scare myself with these entitlements sometimes.

"You wish!" was what Grandma verbally released to my heart ache. I held my chest in mock dramatization responding...

"Ouch! That stings bad Naana. It's just that I have this urge to crush you up with my muscles for warmth plus you took away the memory of my chaotic world. The one I was in the whole of today and I don't want to venture there; not for now at least! although I'm not afraid of the monsters there. " I told her with realistic emotions this time.

"I know dear child. Bravery has been one of your trademark apart from your charm not forgetting the silly side." She finished with a smug grin.

"Oh! no... not taunting again! Christ! Naana too? Anyways, I want to hold on to this world with 'STILL' for as long as I can before reality sets in again. Reality is no sweet place to want to be now. I may not have the answers nor understanding to what occurred but I want to leave it be; for now. I like the serenity. "I added smiling peacefully.

"Of course, you should! A strong person also breaks sometimes in the midst of so much repression, you need room to stow away from the punches. If it is tears you feel like shedding? Do! If you need to scream? Do it at the heights of your last vocal cords. Anything to release the bad chi and usher in good flow of positivity. But remember you can't always run from the chaos." She concurs then advice to my confusion.

This short sermon of hers comes off to me sort of like last words vibe. Come off it kea! with the reading of meanings into ordinary sentences. Yes! She sometimes talks in cursive to my daze but hey! it's her age. How else do i want her to do it apart from this method. I need to derive the meaning by myself to make it meaningful! Never the less, that prevents me not from trying to influence her into telling me direct instead of in wraps i'd have to unwrap. 'Rolling my eyes out of laziness right now.'

"What's that supposed to mean maama?"

"Nothing sugar! Just a piece of wisdom; I guess you will need and understand sooner than later."

"Another coated string of words? Darn." Insufferable sweet old woman.

"For what is to come will be extensively hefty than this." She said in a whisper with a dull distant look.

"Come again!"

"Nothing of relevance dear child. 'She closed the chapter on the subject Curtly.' Let's travel into the world of imagination then!" Grandma announced with a scope of renewed energy.

"Drum roll! Du! Du! Du! Dum!" The child in me yelled excitedly with glint in my eyes making the opening theater sound of a fontonfrom. A huge African drum which gave off heavy bass sounds.

Once upon a Time! far away in the vast vegetations of the volta Amazon rainforest. There lived a strong, beautiful white witch, modest in all her dealings and delicate in all the senses with a heart of gold. Her name was 'NEHENDA!'

"Hold up! Grans ... today the witch has a name? I don't seem to recollect her having a name ever since you began enacting this story to me and are all witches not the same? What's with the White color you have been adding since time immemorial? "

"Could you possibly ask a question at a time? You terrorist of a girl. 'She fussed jovially.' Mm! Let's see, yes! she has a name and it is NEHENDA! 'As soon as the name left maama's lips again, I had a cold reaction. A shiver run through me as if I had been in a heavy cold downpour for hours with the echo of the name ringing inside my head. crazy shit!' If I had never mentioned it? Then it might have escaped me." She said simply.

"Are you kidding me right now? All the time, on multiple occasions? year! upon year! Over years?" I inquired deeply in utter shock. Her answer sure is fishy. How can it be possible that one keeps forgetting an important detail such as a name for years why whiles telling the same story recursively? She should definitely be trying to play with my intelligence, the old fox is indubitably covering something up.

"Talking of witches? There are two main types. The white and the dark or black witches." She delved right into explanations.

"What's the difference?" I chirped fast.

"I was going there young lady! Put some restraints on yourself!" She cautioned strictly like an archaic disciplinarian making me recoil into my shell.

"Sorry!" I plea sinking my neck in discomfiture as that of a tortoise.

"Both dealt with magic but one is of good whereas the other is of evil. White witches derive their energy from nature and delight in the flourish of nature whiles dark witches did in destruction. The black coven derived their power from demonic entities and unscrupulous means. They dealt in black magic and death was their companion whereas the other is crystal or pure power."

"I see." The confirmation hadn't left my lips before she proceeded. what's the hurry today anyways? I thought momentarily.

"She had long kinky hair, eyes were piercing pearly blue with fire in the center, which pierced through the very soul of any she looked straight in the orbs. She loved colors and played with them as much as she wanted which came in the form of flowers. The most noticeable was on her skull. She carried hair of a blast of vibrant colours in Rasta twists, dreads, dependent on her moods complementarily on her head which was never enough space to express the blast within with colours of carefully selected flamboyant petals combined.

She was always in white linen, a mark of purity; designed into a long gown with intentional low deep back cut exposing her delicate, silky, soft, skin with the tattoo of the infinity loop with olive leaves as wings of the circular loop which was demarcated in two sections with a drawing of a blazing hot fire in one half and the other water. Where there was a raging fire? There must be an extinguisher!"

"Ooh! That is wicked! How I wish, I could have an ink but the kill joy, yours courteously mother! will not endorse it." I lamented.

"Careful what you wish for pumpkin! Your wishes might just come true. Who knows?"

"Wouldn't that be awesome, thrilling! fulfilling!?" I bagged the last word elastically.

"Yeah! yeah! Let's continue. Shall we?" Naana said suspiciously as if avoiding something.

"Sure Grans."

"To express her deep connection with nature as well as her femininity in all it right senses. She was a woman! every woman! first of all, then a leader in the form of a mother to a handful whom were her family she cherished beyond anything.

They were of different ages and sexes yet all fell under the grouping children to her. They came with variants capabilities and looked up to her for guidance, provision and protection. She in her rights as the mouthpiece of the gods and leader of that coven did her best for her people. She could endure great amount of pain like no other her gender, the opposite, her age also above yet was meek coming off as delicate.

Above all she was a highly gifted one! A Seer! One of the greatest of the earth! Her roots run deep by teeth into the core of the earth where her energy sourced from. She healed, revived and sustained. She was a sorcerer of the earth."

"So me! But without all the power crap." I interjected briefly calling a smile to Grandma's face as she went on.

"She was a free spirit within and without! She was a stigmatophile but was restricted by principal. Nehenda! 'That feeling again with the mention! Bullocks! what is it with me and the name anyway?' was a lively one, kept on the leash by her children yet that never stopped her from indulging herself in impulses.

A giver of love to all with none as an exception. A re-incarnation of a female mix of the strongest of bloods and mythical creatures (A dangerous super hybrid) born decades past out of grieve. Before this she was a loving spiritualist of only nature. Hers was to give life, never to take. plants grew where she'd step pass. Dying plants regained vitality in her shadow and aura. Her powers were formidable."

"Uuuh! That's so cool!" I chirped again knowing the sly old woman had made it about me. She needs to cut me some slack seriously, making me out to be the embodiment of great spiritual endowment; when in actual facts? I ain't shit! I was nothing! I was an outstanding heroine to be weary of in her conjuncture yet ordinary kish! The leech of a girl had no iota of dread for me! What a joke. Hisses. lols! oh! Grandma! Grandma! Grandma!' I trailed off in my head.'

"Will you let me finish kea?" She asked knowingly, after which we cranked up looking each other affectionately in the eyes. Understanding perfectly well what we never voiced but heard. Our souls were bonded on a dense level. I began interrupting Maama long ago. She knew it would happen and I did so sometimes for understanding and other times to see if I can make her lose memory which never worked. For an unknown reason to me, I seem to want to relieve and wallow in our moments together. I just felt this need to be with her, enjoy her company for as long as it lasted. Which was rattling, cause she was here and not going anywhere but I don't know why I feel this loneliness inside me with the stupid idea of loosing her. It's suffocatingly stifling! Even if she returned back to the village? I could go be with her better still, she will come back again or is she not? oh! I just don't know. I might as well be way more 'The clingy girlfriend ' than I thought.

"Of course! You will." I said with a naughty smirk on my lips.

"From the lineage of the strongest of purest white witches, the successor after decades of destruction. Her source of strength emanated from the very womb of mother earth! When she spoke? it came to pass. When she saw in dreams and awoke with a clear remembrance of what she saw? It happened. She received of the which was to come.She had day time revelations that came to pass within short intervals of seeing. If ever a life was taken in any form? It brought great sorrow to her heart yet everything she held dear to her heart was taken away from her in a blink of an eye without justification. Great evil was served her cruelly. She became that which took away from her, to understand how to avenge her dear ones, only to end up bound by Fate to her nemesis. She would return in time, in an attempt to set the wrong against her people right! which kept her in a bind. A curse left on her by her own capabilities! Her strength was immeasurable but greatest was her grieve it's birthed a demonic cycle inadvertently by will, that which kept true love from her. Her betroth along with the life's of all her loved ones ended by a hand she became eternally bound to in heart!" Her heart birthed hatred! Her desire bounded to her adversary who in turn was her eternal love. A cruel twist by the gods.

"That's wicked!" I fumed! How can relishing in cruelty be a refreshment of all the so-called gods! Can't a person have paradise without the torturous breaking point? "

"Almost done baby."

"Don't ignore me Grandma!" I shouted emotionally as if it was I and real. For I felt an overwhelming congestion in my chest and was teary without reason at that last part.

"I could possibly not Hun! But no more trying to distract me. Besides, that old trick never worked! You should be tired of it by now." She skillfully evaded my query.

"I was not trying to distract you! I actually meant it! You know what? Just forget about it. ' I told her damply, as the feeling had died down within me and I was back to my lively self yet could not shake off the thought of Nehenda's agony.' However, how can something fun be tiring? But seriously, if what you just said had any truth in it? Nehenda didn't have it fair at all. She was bullied beyond human capabilities.Gosh!"

"That is why she is not a mere human, child! am sure thus her brutal trail." Grandma retorted to my agitation.

"That justifies nothing! Spirit, Demon or witch ... what not! not! So long as you feel? It counts! You are human, period! 'I put it to her all riled up, feeling like crying with this unimaginable desperation in me. I was waving in temperaments again. Damn it!' Anyways, I surrender." I notified Grandma.

"You should. Shall we continue?"

"Yes madame!" I relinquished full authority to her. With my unstable emotions simply hearing a story of her figment, what relevance could I possibly contribute without being emotional? I might as well just shut up and listen as she tells. I am plainly too emotional for my own good.

"There was only a hope for her appearance after nothing happened on wards for many decades. The fulfilment of a recursive unsettlement. Men of all ages were drawn to her but would never give her true love; which she yearned for. For she was tied to one! The only one! One she unfortunately detested with every fiber within her but must fight all odds to love. He came from the very roots of beasts! Ruthlessness was a common trait however, surrendering willfully and wholesomely at heart to one of a chosen by their mother, the deity they call the moon goddess was a more admirable trait. He was a wolf! of pure blood and bone! Whereas, she was a pure witch of the soil. Never the less! She became by sacrifice, a beast! his form; for vengeance but was shocked with an unforseen outcome. She became bound to him in heart! To her devastation. Ties of the heart they say were tricky.

Coming from a long thought lost line of powerful, undefeated witches, who forgot their ancestry and lived in the modern-day world as mere mortals however, the blood was not lost. So was she too! except for the nightmares. Was it? Or was it bits and pieces of a life she once lived and must return to, to put right that which hunted her without her comprehension. A puzzle it is! that laid ahead her with a missing piece. That which she must find to complete the whole soon to come."

"Grandma ma! I told you this part is whack! and scary. No one is going anywhere besides, this is just folklore you made up about me and has re-enacted for me since childhood. I don't know why but I simply enjoy it. I am drawn to it in a way I can't place. I mean how you tell it? it is like all those action packed Blockbuster movie trailers. Hi!hi! hi."

"Well! the end!"

"Just like that? Seriously Grans your narration outshines your conclusion." I mocked.

"And it is time for me to finish packing my stuff Kea." She prompted me.

"What? Why? Are you going back to the village now, Grandma?"

"My time is due priestess." She called me by the titled name in her narration which she hadn't done for so long.

"Grand no! am being serious. We are out of story land."

"Am aware child." She replies me simply solemnly.

"Is everything ok? Why are you leaving so abruptly?"

"There is nothing wrong angel."

"And how come I didn't know before now?" I posed. Maama's departure always unnerved me greatly.

"You would have if you had paid attention."

"Is there nothing I can do to make you stay? Anything! Just name it and it's done! I promise." I negotiated nervously in desperation. Grandma lifted her face robotically and I saw the saddening pain in eyes, my chest clenched! as dead silence engulfed the room whiles i anxiously anticipated her reply.