Chapter 17

" dress up, we have a burial to attend now," she said, I picked up the dress and saw that it was the same as others - a plain black dress, I discarded my old clothes, I would have loved to wash up a little bit before putting on the dress but I do not dare to ask considering the atmosphere, looming over us.

When we stepped outside the tent, she took me towards an empty mass of land towards the boundaries, a lot of people who were dressed similar to me were already present, both male and female. None was saying anything we were all silent. The silence felt like a cloak covering us all.

I kept wondering what we were waiting for and why the burial he not commenced, it was nighttime, already and I was getting hungry by the minute. The sounds of footsteps were what broke the silence, I looked to my right and saw four men carrying what was a human body scantily wrapped up towards us.

It was not my first time seeing a dead body as we had a lot of those in Natings but it was my first time experiencing it over here. They took the body to the front of our little gathering, It was then I noticed that a shallow fresh grace had already been dug out awaiting its resident.

I guess I keep getting lost in my head, as I was not aware that Theresa was already at the forefront of the gathering close to the grave

"We are gathered here today, to lay a brother to rest"

She started but her voice was not strong and seemed to be choked up on emotions. She cleared her throat as if to relieve whatever it was congesting it. She started again 

"He was well known and will not be forgotten by us, this is not the first brother or sister, we will not deceive ourselves and say he will be the last but may all our deaths bring forth a cause for change in the future" she stopped and looked up

Immediately they all too followed after her, looked up, and they were murmuring some word which I could not make out. From their behavior, it was very obvious that this was not their first burial, from the way it was carried out so seamlessly, they all knew the parts to play and where to come in. A sense of foreboding came over me, she was right, it would not be the last that we may experience, it may turn out to be me next 

 Everybody started walking back towards the tent, a voice was at the very back humming a song but soon a lot of them joined it and started singing, I do not know the lyrics, it was about freedom for the people and how they were tired of burying their kin. I realized fully that the number of people that lost their lives herein was all buried there.