Chapter One

Once upon…

No tear fell from my eyes as I stood there watching, not wanting to believe that what laid before my eyes was true.

My mind isn’t even with me. It was back to the time that my father and I crossed to the other side for the first time, explored the other side… The Forbidden Side of our town, where only the Bureaus were allowed to set foot.

I stood there, numb, and watched as my father’s men, ever so slowly dropped the box bearing my father’s corpse down into the ground.

My mother sobbed quietly in my aunt, Kionah’s shoulder. My baby brother, teary eyed and confused, staring at all the adults that had gathered that day, all gloomy as they’d gathered to witness the death of a king. A man. My father, Xhaka. Born a leader and died one. Man amoung men. A Comrade. A brother. A husband… And most of all, a father.

I wanted to cry. I needed to cry. I needed to release. But my father never raised me to be weak. I, in his eyes, was the son the always wanted… Raised me to be a man who resembled him in every aspect. Except, I wasn’t his son. Nor became the man he worked hard all those years, moulding me into.

I am his daughter. River. always a hard worker, but never seemed to impress Father enough, or at all.

There he was. Being laid to his final resting place. The Bureaus were present. There to witness the death of a man they feared. An enemy. There to bask in his downfall.

The rain falls. Along with the tears of the lot, with broken hearts. I was drenched in the rain. The tears of the sky mourning my father’s death, staring at the mound of dirt, where my father’s just been buried.

Nobody comforted me. Nobody even looked my way. It was for the good of their own selves though.

I watched as the head of the Bureaus, Mr Bureau, approaching where my mother was cuddled in Aunt Kionah’s arms. Mother didn’t even acknowledge him. Aunt Kionah was civil enough to spar a glance at him but went back to soothing mother’s back.

“My condolences.” He speaks. Nobody regarded him. He stayed there for good measure. Stubborn, even though he saw he was being ignored.

The cold wind hits up my legs as it passes, as if carrying my father’s spirit with it. Gone. And gone forever. Gone with the wind. I turned back to my father’s tomb, willing myself to cry, but i was void of any emotion.

I believe that great people don’t die. Yes, they disappear from the earth’s face, but their souls move to a better place. A happier place. Not Heaven. Just a better place, filled with happiness and peace.

My father was at peace with himself and his life. But there were people who were at war with him. He couldn’t just sit back and have us defend ourselves against the ‘Thems’.

He fought for us. He protected us. He taught me how to fight… To defend myself and mother and Ramsey.

Now He is gone. Letting out a long shaky breath, as if imitating my father’s last breath, I looked up to the sky and whispered

“Goodbye Xhaka.”

And with that, I accepted his passing. Came at peace with it. But surely, i shall avenge his unforeseen death, which dramatically occurred.

The thunder roared and furious rain fell, the black dress, which i only wore in respect of my father in his funeral, clung to my legs. I refused to move. Wanting to spend as much time as i can with the last of him.

I honestly wouldn’t have moved, if it wasn’t for my cousin, Kio, who came running, ducking his head trying to dodge the rain blanketed he with his coat and pulled me along with him to where there was shelter from the rain.

Mr Bureau had gone. Mother and Aunt Kionah and the kids had moved to the transportation cars.

Kio looked down at me and i avoided his eyes, occupied myself with watching the furious rain, hoping for it to drown our sorrows down, with my father’s corpse being sealed there underground, forever.