You See Me

t her, a terrible inhuman scream that probably scares the shit out of her because she doesn't say anything and keeps quiet. I feel a bit bad. "I'm sorry but I just can't stand my brother and that my

ion and they had taken her here to Kufunda Village. She was now learning to read and write. I thought it was weird that she spoke Shona when she was from the Matebelelands, but she also speaks Ndebele (the more popular language in that region). She was hoping to be able to writer her O'level exams and then become a doctor and give her daughter a much brighter future than she had been given. I thought that was inspirational. This reminds me of the Zimbabwean woman that I had once seen on Oprah Winfrey that had been married from a young age and had not had a chance at education until an aid worker had heard that she wanted to get educated and somehow she had ended up in the United States. I wonder if Chiedza will have a story like that as well. This reminds me about how privileged I am as well. Even though I'm blind I was born into a middle class family and was given an education when most blind kids in Zimbabwe don't get that. It was likely that I would have been raped by many men because I can't see and they could just get away with it. But then again if I had grown up in Zimbabwe I might not be blind right now. Talking to Chiedza makes me forget that my brother here and lifts my mood...until my brother comes and literally sits besides me and asks to help with the cooking. Having him near me makes my skin crawl. Why the hell is he still here? They ask him to help collect water and I can tell from the excited chattering of the girls that they're impressed with his muscles and strength. The way that most girls are. Most people think of him as such a nice guy including all of his ex-girlfriends but none of them know what kind of monster he is except me. My parents conveniently tend to forget what a shit he is. Like when they send him to be the one that collects me. He collects all the water and gives the girls a reason to rest and they are all giggling and swooning over him. This is pissing me off hard. He then asks for an ax so that he can cut down some trees and get some fire wood instead of us collecting branches all the time. Even Dr.Nadine is charmed by him. "Wow, your brother is beginning to make me look really lazy," I hear a voice say beside me. Great the Asian again. "Well then maybe you should get off your lazy ass and help around instead of lazing about like an entitled rich prick," I tell him. I hear him suck in his breathe. He's angry. I hear him stand up and go away. Good, he shouldn't be under the impression that we're friends. "Hey can you show me how to cut wood too? I want to help," I hear him say to the Monster. The Monster hiding his true nature good-naturedly tells him that's no problem and now the girls in the camp are swooning over two hot guys doing hot guy things. I roll my eyes and nearly cut my finger. "Fuck!" I exclaim. "Lilith, please don't use profanity," Dr.Nadine tells me. I hear the women around me whispering. "Sorry," I apologise and get up. I take my guidance stick and leave.I hear someone following me. "Lilith," Dr.Nadine calls from behind me. I turn around. "I won't let your brother take you okay of you don't want to go, but he may be staying with us for a while to keep an eye on you," "Are you fucking...sorry, but I came here to be independent and not have my family babysitting me and now that's being taken away from me," "What happened a yesterday was scary Lilith and I know that it's important to have independence and the need to have agency over your life but we're in the middle of the bush. It's dangerous and something very bad could have happened to you when you just rushed off without your guidance stick. Do you think that I want to have your death on my conscious because I gave you independence in an environment that I should have been more aware that you would need some extra help and honestly Karen can't be watching you all the time either but your brother is specifically here for you," I suck in my breath and turn back to walk away. "I'm sorry for being such a burden to everyone," I say, I try to speak steadily but the tears in my voice are audible. I hear Dr.Nadine sigh and she comes over and places a hand on my shoulder. "You are a very capable young lady Lilith, but there are sometimes situations where you might need a little help. Like tonight we got a little help from the boys by them chopping woods. Honestly none of us wanted to do that and it would be a great physical toil that none of us would want to undertake. People are there to support each other and I know how it can suck when your family won't let you be independent but I won't let your brother dote on you. He'll just make sure you don't rush off without your guidance stick but you will still be expected to do your work and all the other activities. As usual okay?" I nod. "Do you want to have your dinner in your room?" She asks me gently. I nod and walk to my hut. I enter the blankets until Karen comes with my dinner. Its' spaghetti with mince. "What's with the massive improvement in food?" Are they still trying to impress the Asian prince?" I ask her. "I think that his family dona