TWISTED FATE

TWISTED FATE  
A story from Ghana

It was the last day of the Homowo festival, and it had been raining for the past few days, the sky was dark and through the wetness and the darkness a poor little girl was wondering the streets with bare feet and no protection over her head except of a little tray filled with avocados. Her feet were torn, bleeding and swollen from walking. It had been a bad day for her, no one has bought any avocados and she had not earned any money for that day. She was hungry, wet and she looked very frail.

Lights were flickering from the windows of the houses and there were wonderful smells of food coming from every direction. She found a hole in between two houses and she sat there and tried to warm herself up, but she grew colder and more wet. For her going home was not an option since her father would beat her up for not selling anything, besides it would be cold at home anyway and there would be no food and her father would be drunk.

Her little hands were almost dead from the cold. As she  sat there she could see the sky clearing up, a small cluster of stars was showing. She felt warm by just gazing at them. They reminded her of her Nana, her beloved grandmother, the only person who has ever loved her and she had died a year earlier, leaving her with a father who drank all the time and who was always blaming her for killing his wife and beating her up every day for nothing. She never knew her mother for she had died while giving birth to her.

“Oh Nana!, how I wish you were still here with me, how I wish you could wrap me in your arms and warm me up”. As she was saying that she saw her grandmother coming towards her, looking so happy and radiant. It felt like she was dreaming. Nana was smiling at her and she was coming closer and closer, she took her hand and it felt like they were flying higher and higher and she was not cold anymore. She did not even feel hungry or wet anymore.

When the sun came up the following day, people found her still sitting between the two houses, dead. She had a smile on her face. The crowd around her was crying and shouting but she was at peace finally. She was in Paradise with her beloved Nana!!!