1 Endurance

She grew up as a very quite, shy girl, she was a girl woth little to say, she woukd only speak when asked a question or laughed at silly jokes. Her eyes were full of light, from a yonger age she started to observe things. She used to pay alot of attention to her dreams, she never shated her dreams with anyone one except for her two siblings. Whenever her dreams came to pass they qould gather together in shock, scared that someone might start to think they knew what was going to happen. She was a girl with a gift, Mary. Their mother left them with their father at a very young age, she was only 8 years old, her brother 6 and their ypunger sister was 9 months old. She used to look after her siblings before their father took them away from their devastating situation. He took them tto their stepmother's home where there where 2 other older kids who where to be their new siblings. Their granny never agreed to the arrangement but she was also too old to look after them. They had to go, granny asked their father to bring them every year so that she could them for as long as she was still alive. She was a very disciplined old woman who loved God, she kept her grand kids in her prayers, every night she asked God to protect them.

They had to get used to their new family, it was not easy for them as their father only came home at the end of the month, they were left with their stepmother and their new sblings, Mary had to learn to do laundry, fetch wood from the fields, fetch water from the village water dam. She never complained, it was a difficult situation but she never once complained to her father. She had to make sure that Bontle and Neo were clean. Her stepmother would do everything for her kids except for the three of them. She always wished that their father could take them to go visit their granny, just so she can have a break from all the pain of hard work. She never saw her granny ever since they moved from their mother's house. She always prayed in her heart like her granny taught her, she used to observe whenever her granny prayed, she would sit next to her, closed her eyes and listened. She didnt know who her granny was talking to but she believed that someone was sitting quietly somewhere listening. She believed in prayer.

Mary used to have visions and dreams but was too scared to talk to her stepmother as she was not accomodative of them, she used to make her do most of the hardest chores while her kids wherw busy with homeworks. The only rime they would get to sit around the tv qith everyone was when thier father was around. Her brother was a very hansome boy, he loved playing soccer with his friends, he sometimes lost track of time and got home late, he was always in trouble, he would be beaten so hard tha Mary's heart bled for him. Neo loved soccer it always got him into trouble. Mary always tried to warn him of what will happen and he just chose to ignore the warnings. He was beaten so hard one day that mary asked to take some of the lashing on his behalf, she cried so bad, broken hearted asking herself what they did to deserve such life. Their mother left thwm at a very young age, now they get to endure the abuse from their fathers wife.

Years went by, their father never noticed anything wrong with them. Mary tried so hard to be the best at all her grades, she always promised herself that she will go far away from that family as soon as she finished her high school, she was at grade eight ehen she was offered a scholarship, she was given the forms to take home for her parents to sign and return to school. She was excited she thought that it will be her ticket to a better future. Her stepmother never showed their father the forms, she wiated patiently for the forms to be signed. A month past, the teacher asked her to bring the forms but she was too scared to ask her stepmother. Time to submit the forms past and the principal told her that she missed the opportunity. She went home and cried so bad, their new mother was the worst monster. She had to loose the only opportunity that was going to give them a better future. Their father never knew about this, he was suprised to be called by the principal telling him the sad knews, when asking the stepmother about it ,she pretended to have forgoten about it.

From The Cage

Time passed, Mary finished her matric theought the hardships, she was determinde to take the future into her hands and become someone better, she wanted to free her siblings from the life they lived. She woke up one Monday morning, packed her bags, said her prayers with her siblings, she promised them that she will come back to take them to a better place. They where sleeping alone in the shack at the back of the house, this gave them enough time to be alone and plan.