1 Chapter One

"Junior, get up! How many times do I have to shout at you just to wake you up?" my mother shouted from the living room. I never quite got enough sleep last night despite having gone to bed early, I think we, growing kids need more time time to sleep than anyone else. Sensing the anger in her voice I forcibly got myself up, though my eyelids refused to open at first no matter how hard I tried. Then all over sudden it struck me. Damn,I was late for school. Not again! I quickly got into my uniforms and without much hesitation rushed down for breakfast only to find my mother staring at me in a rather displeased way.

"Come on, really, why do you have that one on?"

"I'm late for school Mama, you didn't wake me up on time," I accused.

"Junior, we don't have time for this. Go get dressed. Have you even packed your things? I cannot believe you two, gosh. Wendy, can you hurry up please." That was when it struck me that we were to go to our grandparents' back in Kisumu for the Christmas holidays. Damn, I needed to limit my playing if it was at the cost of my memory. I quickly dashed into my room, took a shower and within no time I was ready to leave. Girls! I hate girls. Wendy had been in the bathroom long before I even got off my bed and yet she had not even got dressed. All that time!

I was almost budging in her room to get her out when mom stopped me. She said I should understand her because she was a girl. Like really, what was wrong with being a girl? I knew she wanted to look great to impress boys. Adolescence, my God! Well, after waiting for like forever, she finally came out of the room having done a lot of make up on herself. I wanted to make fun of her but was already pissed and I could not afford to get a slap that early. We quickly put our bags in the car and within no time the journey started off.

I was busy staring at the passing vehicles and some centres that we passed by along the road while my sister was all over her phone, texting boys I guess. Mom was busy driving as she listened to some song on the radio while humming to it. Three hours later we stopped for a snack at Nakuru. I loved traveling. By the way,Is it normal that growing kids have to hate school because I can't remember any day that I went to school out of my own will. Well, we stopped at a gas station. I was pressed so I went for a call, Wendy went straight into the restaurant while mom refilled the gas. Within a short while we were all done and Wendy was pissed off by me. I don't know if it was my fault to always be talkative or what but I found her staring at a boy and started making fun of her infront of mom. As much as I wanted to be a good brother to her she never seemed to like me, and it all started when she got in form two, highschool. She got into this group of girls that thought the whole world rotated around them, because they got the attention of almost all the boys at school. Wendy always complained that I had a narrow mind and that I always ruined most of her plans. She couldn't walk with me because according to her I was always dirty. Was getting my clothes dirty my fault? That was a stage and everybody had to pass through it, right? But really, why must girls always hate their younger brothers? Please.

Anyways, three hours later we were in Kisumu town. Mom made a stop at the supermarket to grab some groceries and stuff to take home, but she seemed so distressed, like something was bothering her. I tried asking her what the problem was but you just know how grown-ups are. Well, twenty minutes later we were on the road again, only that that time we had only a few kilometers to cover. I watched the huge buildings be replaced with scattered houses and the electric fences with bushes and huge trees. We hit the murram road and a few minutes later, we were at the gate. Before mom could even get out to open the gate we heard Mustafa shout, "Aunt Elizabeth is here" as he raced to open the gate for us. By the time we got into the compound everyone was already waiting for us, the town people, in the house. I so much wanted to go look for Sam but the look mom gave me made me resolve not to. After the greetings and exchange of words I went to look for Sam as the adults had their adult talks. Sam was my cousin, the lastborn to my uncle Musa. He was not in their house, so I went to look for him in the field, a place he called Alango. That boy loved soccer, damn. I found him with his friends and you know how kids are, we just started playing.