THE UNION

Chapter 18: PAPA

In 1940, Papa is in the Organization building sitting amongst other people of colour. They were all

called by Bryan preparing to send them off for a very daring mission, the mission was described to

them as a death race but they were willing to participate if any of them was able to win it meant they'll

get a promotion and not work as servants anymore. Bryan walks in and they all bow down to greet him,

he made it mandatory that anytime he passed their side they should pay due respect or else be killed.

"In our hunt to find every special powers your kind hold, we stumbled upon something but we lost track

of it. It's a community of Hause people, they call themselves the "Taletikans." Everything is pretty

primitive about them but there always give birth to a special child every 50years, we need to find that

special child. None of the noble men and women here are ready to do it, so we're sending you people."

Bryan says boldy, they all watch, they couldn't talk back or else they'll face the wrath of The

Organization. Papa was determined to get to higher position, live a luxurious life, he swore that he'll get

to the Taletikans by all means.

3months later, Papa has been living in the deep part of the forest haunting for the Taletikans. He still

remained determined even though sometimes he was tired but he quickly remembered the type of life

he could live if he was able to find the special child, he couldn't escape a chip had already been

implanted on all their necks. One night after searching all day, Papa faints on the ground, a young man

wearing a fur coat drags Papa leg.

Papa wakes up and finds himself in a tiny bit. He wasn't wearing the clothes he wore while he was

awake, he was wearing animals fur around his body, a dark skinned woman also wearing animal fur

with unique blue coloured tattoo walks in. She's shocked to see Papa awake, she was taking care of

him while he was asleep, Papa sees a wooden stick laying on the floor and picks it up, he streches it

towards toward the young lady face indicating that she should back off.

"Who are you?" Papa says, he was scared about where he was and how she looked. He wanted to run

out of the hut but the lady was blocking the entrance. The lady didn't understand anything that Papa

said, she only understood Hausa language.

"Kwantar da hankalinka, dan uwana ya same ka kwanciya a ƙasa." She was trying to tell him that her

brother found him laying on the ground, Papa couldn't understand what she was saying still frightened

he exhaled deeply.

"I don't understand what you're saying." Papa says quietly, he thought to himself of where he could be.

He remembered vividly that he fainted, he looked at the lady dressing and the hut around them, it was

filled with ornaments, bones and ancient relics Papa studied the Taletikans culture and immediately

figures out is at the village.

"You speak another language, this is awkward." He drops the stick and moves closer to her, he tried to

compose himself didn't want to mess up his only opportunity. The man who found Papa in the forest

walks in quickly, he doesn't bother looking at Papa but faces the woman and scolds her in his

language, the man looks at Papa and rolls his eyes in disgust, he walks out. The woman brings out a

plastic plate from a counter and demonstrate how to eat with her hand.

"Ohh, food? I'm quite hungry." Papa touches his stomach as it rumbles really loud, the woman smiles

and leads Papa out of the hut. Papa is outside in a tiny village filled with different huts with people NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

mostly kids, lesser adults and few elders. There's a hugs wooden table standing in front of Papa and

the lady, she drags him toward the table and he sits beside her.

"This is awkward." Papa looked very different from the other villagers, the kids were busy looking at

him this made Papa really feel uncomfortable. The man who came into Papa's hut moves behind Papa

and drops a cup of water for him on the table with a huge uncooked fish.

"I'll pass." Papa says and pushes the fish aside, the lady quickly displays eating the fish to Papa.

"I don't eat fish that isn't cooked." Papa says and smiles at her, he was happy that he found someone

that could lead him around this unknown new world.

"Sha." The lady picks up a cup of water beside her and drinks it.

"Sha means drink." Papa says and she nods to the positive, she holds his hand and puts it on her

chest.

"Mashee'a." She say gently.

"It's nice to meet you Mashee........." He struggles to pronounce her name, after three trials he finally

gets it, he couldn't stop admiring her and this beautiful world she lived in.

Two months later, Papa has been trying to adapt to the Talekitans lifestyle he maintained his friendship

with Mashee'a and was hoping one day she'll lead him to the special child, he spent time studying the

little kids in the village thinking one of them might be the special child. At a point he wanted to give up

on his search and just start a new life with these wonderful people but he knew at some point The

Organization will still send for him, one morning Papa is fishing with Mashee'a, he catches a fish after

numerous times and jumps really high celebrating.

"And that's how you fish!" He says exicted, Mashee'a applauds from behind she held a book and reads

out a sentence from it.

"Nice one." She says perfectly, Papa had been teaching her to speak English while she helped him

understand her language, people and culture.

Papa chuckles happily, he was glad that Mashee'a was getting better with English, during the past

months it was very hard for Papa to understand Mashee'a but luckily they both had a mutual

connection

"I'm glad you're getting better with your English, all that remains is for your to teach your brother." They

both laugh out loud, Tu'lur was the name of Mashee'a brother he didn't really care to learn anything

new and always accused Mashee'a of stepping away from the Talekitans culture, he always blamed

Papa but deep down he actually liked him everyone in the village liked Papa he taught most of them

new things and they were glad he was with them. Papa gets up to move away from the river, a deer

from nowhere runs toward him with dashing speed Mashee'a was fast enough to spot the deer and she

streches her right hand towards the deer. Her whole body was glowing in a blue colour, the light was

powerful Papa had to cover his eyes with his eyes or else he could have gone blind, the deer suddenly

stops moving and it's body fall apart into different pieces.

Papa's body was shaking tremendously, he ower ever seen such powers like that in his lifetime and he

knew he had seen a lot, he runs towards her. "How did you do that?" Papa asked swiftly, Mashee'a

voice shakened she didn't know what to say. She quickly runs off leaving Papa wondering.

Later that day very late, Papa had been in his hut wondering what he could do about Mashee'a

situation, he wrote different kind of theories on his book no other child or adult had displayed any form

of power to him in the village. Mashee'a walks in looking very angry.

"Come." She says swiftly and drags him toward the river stream, she sat down looking very sad Papa

was quite confused on what to do and what to say. He didn't want to say anything that will piss her off

but he also wanted answers.

"Explain to me Mashee'a, you can tell me." Papa says gently and sits beside her, she lays her head on

his shoulder and felt really comfortable and found peace. Mashee'a was the special child and a great

responsibility rested on her shoulder, she never played with the other kids or adults in the village cause

they were told to leave her but her friendship with Papa had made her free. She streches her right hand

towards the aky, and suddenly a group of fireflies suddenly appear around them, Papa stood up and

was flabbergasted by it, she stood up too and faced him the lights around the fireflies were shinning on

Mashee'a face. "You're outstanding......." He says slowly in a very low tone. Almost immediately to

Papa's suprise, Mashee'a pulls him closer and crashes her lips on him. His words trailed off, bringing

his head down to the crook of her neck. He trailed soft kisses on her neck.

Papa had gone back to The Organization to report what he had found, he actually thought of staying

there with Mashee'a to start a new life but he was determined to gain a higher position in life. He went

to report to Bryan.

"So you found the location of the Talekitans? That's impressive for your kind." Essence applauds.

"Yes but I couldn't find the special child." Papa lied he was hoping that The Organization won't

experiment on the Talekitans if there was nothing special about them.

"We'll figure that out by ourselves, conduct test on each and everyone of them. Dispose the useless

ones, you'll go back there and stay for five months while we get ready Papa." Bryan says, Papa

thought of what to do. He couldn't leave the woman he loved to be experimented on.

Five months later, Papa had been with the Taletikans and got even closer to Mashee'a he knew it was

almost time for The Organization to attack so one night he went to her but and sat beside her.

"I want you to come with me to the outside world Mashee'a." He said gently trying to convince her.

"And leave my people? I can't Papa." She said firmly.

"You've always talked about how your people were holding you back, how you wanted to be free

Mashee'a. Let's run away together and start a family together." He pleads, Papa wasn't ready to let her

go. Mashee'a thought of all the things she could do in a world of freedom, Papa had always told her

that they were other special people with powers like her, she wanted to meet them she didn't want to

feel locked up.

"Are you sure about this?" She holds Papa's hand and moves closer to him.

"Yes, it's going to be fine. I promise you." Papa says.

A week had passed, Papa was able to get Mashee'a away from village before The Organization were

able to invade and kidnap the people. Papa and a group of other men were sent to the village again to

check to see if they missed anyone, Papa walked down to the river stream of the village, this brought

back a lot of memories for him but something else was distracting him, he saw a man crawling on the

ground bleeding, Papa ran towards the man and saw that it was Tu'lur. Tu'lur at first was happy to see

Papa but noticed Papa was wearing the same clothes The Organization members were wearing.

"You? We accepted you? You betrayed us." Tu'lur says, tears filled his eyes.

"I'm sorry but I had to do what I had to do, your sister is safe though." Papa says quietly, he didn't want

to alert the other members.

"Help me, I promise not to say anything to her." He pleads, Tu'lur had already been injured during the

attack, he couldn't move or feel his legs. Papa considered helping him but thought of the

consequences, he knew Tu'lur will tell Mashee'a everything. Papa picks up a large wooden stick.

"Don't kill me, I saved your life Papa, I took you in as family." Tu'lur plead but within a second Papa hits

the stick on Tu'lur's head.

Years passed, Papa was attending a adopting event for Supernaturals with strange powers, he had

seen a lot of kids performed but was shocked by a particular child power. He had been searching for

the child throughout the event and he finally spots the person that brought him a young Asian man.

"Good evening Sir, I'm here about the young boy I saw on stage. I wanted to see more about his

powers." Papa said, the man quickly drags a young Asian boy out of a corner.

"Tell me more about your powers boy?" He asked, the young boy was shy at first but talks.

"I don't know, it seems like I can access a chi in me and look into your mind keep you away from

people that might be looking you. I can make you sort of invisible from the whole world, like you

vanished." The boy says, Papa hugs the young boy and shakes his hand.

"What's your name boy?" Papa asked.

"Chong." The boy says smiling, hoping he had found a home and a father.

In a white room, a huge TV is floating and Papa's whole past is being displayed in the TV. Essence sits

and applauds.

"Isn't this beautiful? No wonder I couldn't find Papa, after all these years he had a special child with him

to protect him and his wife. The spell must still be around Mashee'a I can't feel her but it'll surely wear

off at some point and I'll come for her." Essence says and snaps his fingers, the whole room goes

blank.