1 The mystery behind her shadow

THE MYSTERY BEHIND HER SHADOW

AUTHOR CLARISSY CHIRUNGA

CHAPTER 1

DIANNA

I was fast asleep when i heard Jack shouting from outside , i quickly made my way out to see what the lad was shouting about .

" there you are ! what did you do to my girlfriend ? " he asked furiosly , pointing at me , i stood aghast , i had no idea what he was talking about , i remembered that his girlfriend had come for a sleep over but i didnt recall ever talking or being near that girl . Jack seemed to be serious , i had no idea of what he was blabing about .

" and then ? " i asked curiously , Jack came closer and hit me harder on my left cheeck , salty water started to flow down my pale face

" What did you do that for !? " i asked angrily , he wanted to slap me once again and then he suddenly stoped and ran away screaming , i followed him , thinking that there was something behind which was about to attack both of us , but to my surprise he was running away from me .

Everyone at our apartment started to laugh at Jack , saying that he was running away from a girl . Everything seemed like a dream to me . I , myself was pretty much scared of Jack but he was now afraid of me , i felt uneasy and slowly i fell down . I woke up in Sash's room , she was the only person i was so close to , she was busy with some comic books , when she saw that i was awake , she left the comic books on the table and came to me .

" How are you feeling now ?" She asked woried

" never been better " i replied as i was still confused if i had been dreaming or not .

" for how long was i sleeping here ? " i asked looking at my watch and saw that it was around eight in the morning .

" ten minutes , you fainted a while ago after you were chasing Jack , don't you remember ?" asked Sash

" Ohh " i replied , i thought i was dreaming but it seemed like all was real . I thought of the idea how Jack was always screwing me up all the times but now he was afraid of me , i found myself smiling

" Hey , what are you happy about , iam worried about you Dee , this is not you , you threatened to kill Jack's girlfriend an hour ago when she told you that Jack wanted you to give him back his money which he is assuming that you stole from him and you were holding an Ak 47 gun , where the hell did you get it from ? " she asked curiously , my mood suddenly changed , me with a gun ? an hour ago ? I was dead asleep at that time ,

" Ahh , that was a toy gun , i just wanted to scare her off that's all " i lied but i could see that Sash didn't believe me and she seemed to have a lot of questions , so did i , but i was not going to ask anyone , i was going to find out on my own that how come i was asleep and at the same time threatening Jack' s girl and i even had no idea what that girl looked like .

" If you say so , but how come you suddenly became so brave , you always shivered whenever Jack's name is mentioned ? " i kept quiet , i knew exactly that it was not me who had done that , i was still scared of Jack , eversince he made me lose my two front teeth , i never wanted him near me , something suddenly hit my mind ,

" Sash , when i threatened Jack's girl ....mmmmm my teeth ? "

"Come on Dee , every morning you do put on your teeth to avoid embarrassment " she replied , and then she continued " you must have lost them when you collapsed , let me go and check " , she said and suddenly rushed out , i too made my way out to my room . I found my teeth there , i had to get rid of them in order not to confuse Sash as well , i was about to throw them out of the window when someone suddenly grabbed my hand , when i turned to see whom it was , i was shocked with what i saw .

As i turned back to see whom it was , it was a girl who looked exactly like me , she took the teeth from my hand and said " you go and get the ones outside " ohh heavens she sounded exactly like me .

" who are you ?" I asked taking a closer look at her

" I should be asking you the same , go back where you came from , iam Dianna Peters " she shouted at me

" No , iam Dianna Peters , my parents passed away a while ago , and what do you mean go back ? Go back where ? " i asked confused .

Suddenly a man appeared by the doorway , he looked at both of us and said " what?"

" Dianna go back home now ?'' , i wanted to utter something but i was speechless , the girl made her way out ,

" uncle Mark ? No , no , this can't be , you died a year ago " i said horrified

" Look here Dianna Peters , iam Mark's shadow , iam here to protect you from my family , you will have to do as i say , your grandmother is still alive and she is living with the shadows of your whole family , she killed her own shadow so she is now an evil person , iam the only one who knows about this , both of us were told of the mystery of the shadows but we were told that one shadow have been initiated to live here on earth and that is you , but its a lie , Dianna is keen to kill you because you will be the one to replace her according to your grandmother " he said .

" So she is my shadow ? why weren't you all here when my whole family was alive" i asked curiously

" You are not supposed to face your own shadow , your grandmother was the one who made your shadow to appear here on earth , iam working on sending her back before everything turns upside down , and trust me you have to evacuate to a safer place , a place where your grandmother won't find you " he said , I just nodded and started to pack my things immediately . He threw my teeth down , i had no idea how they had come to his hands .

I was about to leave when i remembered that i had to go and see Sash and bid her farewell , i knocked and knocked but there was no response , i barged in , there i saw my one and only friend lying there motionlessly . I rushed towards her and shook her .

" Sash ! , Sash ! , wake up Sah!" i started to cry , the man had followed me , he came near me and touched my shoulder and said " she will never wake up , if you stay here you will loose everything and everyone will see you as a murderer "

I gave no response but rather quickly made my way out with my luggage , i had no idea where i was going , i just wanted to go to a faraway place , far from all this drama , the man who called himself uncle Mark's shadow was following me from a distance , i began to walk slowly in order for him to catchup with me for i had a lot of questions to ask him .

I was going to come back and avenge for the death of poor innocent Sash , i wondered who could have killed her . She was like family to me . The person who did that , i was pretty sure that he or she was trying to initiate the real me , the character which i had hidden for so long , for decades . When you try to act all nice and cool , the people will always push you to the limits , i knew exactly who i was and what i was capable of doing . And i was so sure that the man following me wanted to spy on me , but i was not going to show him anything at all , either was i going to tell him anything .

CHAPTER 2

MARK

The issue of the shadows at first came into my eyes as a joke , as i was living with my family , Dianna's parents passed away , they were all killed by their own shadows , i had to kill mine so that i would survive , me and Dianna were the only ones left . I survived amongst the shadows as one of them and none of them had a clue of whom i truly was .

" What's your problem ? You couldn't just let me kill her ?" asked Dianna

" And how was i supposed to know which is which ? ,What if you are the real Dianna huh ? Look at my eyes and tell me you are not the real Dianna !" I said so furiously

" Let go of me ! I said let me go now!" She shouted and i instantly let go of her .

Yes i had known the real Dianna but i trusted none of thee.

At sunset i visited my Dianna , the real one at the apartment which i had located her too and i found her standing by the doorway , looking at the sky and smiling .

" And what are we happy about ?" I asked smiling too , little had i known for what awaits me , within some seconds i was down , and i woke up with my hands tied up .

"Hmmjhvchajxbxhajabzbsbans" i tried to talk but no word came out of my mouth as it was tied also. Dianna came closer smiling and shaking her head , she suddenly untied my mouth only .

" You are making a very big mistake " i said to her and she showed no emotions ,rather she replied " uh uh , don't try anything stupid or you kick the bucket right away " . I said no word , she moved to the other room and came holding two comic books .

" What are you intending to do with those? " I asked her curiously , she burst into laughter and said " I want to read them ofcourse , but if i had magic , i would have turned you into one of these but too bad this ain't no fairly tale "

I looked at her and saw that something had changed about her , i had a knife in my pocket so i quickly took it out and cut off the rope , when i was to stand up , she moved like a ghost and tried to hit me , i resisted and stood Infront of her .

" Why did you lie to me ? You were trying to hide her away from us right ? " Ohh damn , my mind raced quickly and i knew what had taken place .

" You are getting it all wrong , now tell me where she is " i asked furiously , all my plans had gone avail , this one was pretty smart , she had known what i did .

DIANNA

As i was about to go out to get some fresh air , i saw my look like peeping from the window , i knew she had followed me , i started running away from her , she then saw me and started to follow me , threatening to shoot me if i didnt stop running , i did not want to be shot , neither did i want to be in her mercy .

She got tired and returned back to my apartment ,

"How did she find me ?" I mumured to myself , " I guese i got tricked by Mark "

I started to walk down the road to nowhere .

I started to reminisce about the times i was with my family , they were so warm

" You are my true princess " these were the words my mother always told me and her voice echoed in my heart and mind like she was there with me .

I sighed and started to think of a way to start living afresh , my life seemed to be in danger , little did i know all the mystery of these shadows thing , how they came into the physical form was all a fairy tale to me .

As i walked down the road , i came to a small village , there i saw a little shop with the shopkeeper being an old woman .

" What can i get for you princess ?" She asked jovially , i didn't have any money , i quickly thought of an idea and i smilled at her and said ;

" Actually , iam looking for a job , even cleaning i don't mind at all " , she looked at me and shook her head and said " this is the third time you have come to this place , most of the times you buy expensive stuff and now you want a job , why didn't you say so all those days ?"

CHAPTER 3

MARK

As i managed to escape from the psycho , i had to look for Dianna , the mystery behind her shadow was just unimaginable .

I walked down the road , i met an old woman who smiled at me and said " your time is near my child " , these words startled me and at the very same time i found myself scared of someone's words . I looked at her right in the eyes , the eyes looked like a cat's eyes when they are lighted by a light in the dark .

" What!? " I asked shakingly

As i was expecting an answer , something strange came up , an eagle came flying and hit the woman on the head and suddenly all was dark and i couldn't see properly , i wiped my eyes and when the darkness was nomore , the woman was nolonger in the picture .

I stood for almost thirty minutes , looking at where the woman stood when she talked to me . Suddenly a baby came crawling from nowhere , she was coming from the opposite direction of where i was going , i ran fast and i could hear my heart beating up so fast , as i ran , heard the baby chuckling at a distance . I ran till i could not hear that sound anymore .

The road seemed to be taking me to nowhere , i sat down tired , thirsty , hungry and weak , i reached for my backpack and took out a bottle of soda and gulped the soda , when i finished drinking , i looked down , with my hand wraped around my legs , when i looked up i saw a young boy who looked so hungry , he just stood there without saying any word .

"Hello , are you lost as well ?" I asked with a scared voice and the lad gave no response , i reached for my backpack once again and took out two apples and handed the boy , he thanked me with sign language , smiling at the same time .

" Do you know where i can find a place to sleep ? Soon the sun is going down and i can't risk sleeping in this place , this place is like hell to me " I said , the boy once again uttered no word but rather pointed at a hill .

" You want me to go up there? " I asked surprised , the boy noded

"Hell no ! I will be dead before i reach that mountain and .... " I couldn't finish what i wanted to say as i saw a furious look at the face of the lad and worse he opened his mouth to talk .

"The village is near that mountain , stop talking and go now or else you won't see the sun once again ! " He warned and his voice sounded like four or five people talking at the same time , i got really horrified and i ran quickly and i don't know i ran for how long , all i know is that i ran into a woman who carried a bucket of water on her head and she lost balance and fell .

" What is wrong with you ? Now look i have lost my water , thirsty will kill us today " she said so and began to cry , i saw that the woman seemed serious so i tried to calm her down .

" Relax , iam sorry i did not see you , i can help you to fetch it again " i said and she just nodded , she picked up her bucket and we went on our way , as we were walking , i wanted to break the silence ,

" So what's your name ? Iam Mike by the way " i said

"Nandi " she replied without looking at me .

We walked for a few minutes and then we came near a river , it looked so deep

" Is this where you usually fetch water " i asked , scared of the water , it looked greenish and it scared me a lot . She just looked at me without saying anything , i saw that she too was afraid so i took the bucket away from her hand and walked on to fetch the water .

I took a stick and deeped it into the water , a crocodile appeared and snatched the stick away from me , i screamed silently to avoid embarrassment .

"Whoa! " I said as i took a step back , i quickly fetched the water and rushed to Nandi

"Thank you so much , that was so generous of you " she said

"No need to , iam the one who made a mistake so i think i should repay you " i answered smiling .

We walked back to the village , Nandi was so quiet and shy , i wanted to ask her a lot of questions , like why their village was surrounded by scary spirits , i found myself shaking by the thought of what i saw on my way here .

"Ohhh my God ! , You are lost " Nandi said

"How did you know that " i asked curiously

" You saw them right ?" She asked

"Saw what ?" I replied

" The shadows in the jungle , it is believed that they only come to live with the humans once their counterparts are dead and they can be seen by someone who is lost only " she said

"The shadows ? , those are scary spirits not shadows , i know shadows when i see them " i replied with confidence .

"You can only differentiate them once their counterparts are still alive , when they are dead , you can't tell the difference " she said .

Henceforth i said no word till we were about to reach where Nandi lived .

" I think you can continue with your journey , i have reached home , thanks so much for your help " she said as she reached for the bucket and began to walk without waiting for any response from me ,

"Nandi wait ! " I said so as i grabed her hand

"What?" She asked .

"I have nowhere to sleep , i was thinking if you can ...?" I said and she smiled and said " it's alright , help me carry this bucket then " .

I helped her and we went on our way .

CHAPTER 4

DIANNA

The woman i worked for was Ms Zerns , she was a widow who came from a very far away place , she came from Egypt .

" How did you get here ? And where are your family members ?" I was busy throwing questions at her whilst i was cleaning at the same time , she smiled at me and said " you never get tired , do you ?" , We both laughed and then she told me that she lived in a small village in Mozambique and they had moved to Egypt and then they had to come to Zimbabwe as it was where her husband's family was at .

" So where are they now ? " I asked once again

" They are in Bulawayo , none of them wants to see me and that is why iam living here " she replied and she went on to say that she was barren and for that her husband had deserted her and got married to someone else , when she went on back to Mozambique , her relatives ordered her to go back to her husband and for that she had vowed to live alone till death .

"So you mean to say that you never had any children your whole life ?" I asked and she just looked at me and i said " sorry , as for me , both my parents are dead so consider me your child henceforth , i have something to finish first in here and then i think we should vacate to Mozambique and live together there " I said with my eyes wet as i was about to cry , Ms Zerns came near and hugged me .

" It's all right , let it all out , iam here for you , everything is going to be fine " she said rubbing my back , i cried so hard and suddenly stopped when a man walked in to buy something.

" Did anyone die ? " Asked the man as he saw that we both were in tears .

" What can i get for you ?" I asked him ignoring his question , he shook his head and asked for bread and sour milk .

"Here you go , and please do come back for some more as we will be having fresh bread delivered here tomorrow morning" i said as i handed him the break .

" The last time i was here you screwed me up , anywhere thanks " said the man and went on his way . I looked at Ms Zerns who just smiled at me and said nothing .

I had no idea of what he was talking about , i wasn't surprised either as i knew that i had a shadow which was a mythical belief among the people of this village and if i had to tell anyone , noone was going to believe me except for the ones who came across such things .

It was now clear that the other Dianna , my shadow was familiar with this place and it was so easy for her to find me .

As the sun was about to go down the horizon , we closed our shop and went to our hut to prepare dinner .

" Make sure you lock the doors " said Mrs Zerns as she went on to fetch water .

"Wait ma !" I called her as i ran towards her

" Let me go and get the water , you go and rest inside " I said so and took the bucket away from her hand and went on my way .

When i was fetching water at the well , i saw my shadow at a distance and when i walked closer , it vanished , when i returned back to pick up my bucket and go , i found a letter near the bucket , i picked it up to read it , it was written like this ;

dear Dianna

I can't live properly knowing that you are out there , my grandmother is going to kill me if i don't kill you , you and i we both don't know which one of us is the shadow , to settle this , meet me in the forest on Friday at exactly 1300hrs , if you don't show up , iam going to kick your butt

Yours

Other half

I quickly dropped the letter in the well , yes she was telling the truth , it was hard to tell which is which , i myself , i didn't know if i was the shadow or not or even if the people i lived with were real or not .

I arrived back at the hut and found Ms Zerns already cooking .

" Ohh ma , let me cook for you , iam your child remember ? " I said so and she looked up at me , smiled and said " isn't a mother supposed to cook for her daughter also ?" We both laughed and she continued cooking .

" Mom !?" I called her , she looked at me surprised and said " what now ?"

" Please let me cook for you !" I pleaded , she sighed and said " you know you are a grown woman now and very soon you will be married and i will be alone once again " , I nearly cried with her words and i went on to hug her and said "iam not going to leave you ma , not even after i fix all this mess " , she looked up at me and said "what mess?" I laughed and told her that she heard wrong .

CHAPTER 5

NANDI

The man i bumped into seemed to be running away from something , he looked really scared . He was such a nice person i have came across in the whole village , the whole village called me and my grandmother witches , my daughter Felisha who was only ten was also being called names in the village , names like goblin .

My ex husband Sam had deserted both of us when i was only three months pregnant , he denied the baby to be his and for that i raised Felisha all by myself . As i took Mark to our house , everyone was looking at us and some whispered in their eyes and began to laugh . Suddenly my ex husband appeared in front of us .

" Finally the witches will feast today !" He shouted and we both ignored him and everyone laughed at us " hey stranger , you better not sleep tonight or else they feast on you !" He shouted once again , Mark looked at him with warning eyes and he just raised his hands up and went on his way .

" What was the meaning of that?" Asked Mark

"Don't mind him , he is my ex husband , we have a daughter together and i think he is just jelous to see me hanging around with other men" i said so

" Is he taking care of your daughter ? And how old is she ?" Asked Mark

" Yes yes he definitely is doing so , well her name is Felisha and she is ten , you will see her she is at home with grandma " i lied because i did not want a stranger to know what me and my family were going through at that moment.

We reached our compound and i found grandma lying down on a sack , taking a nap . When i shook her up , she suddenly woke up , looked at Mark with her eyes wide opened and her mouth wide opened as well .

" Mark ? Ohhh my ! Is this really you ?" She asked and began to cry as she went on to meet Mark , i saw Mark crying as well , "what really was going on " i wondered to myself .

" Now you are both being weird right now , he is a stranger and you are my grandmother and you are both crying and you are confusing me right now " I said but none of them answered me and at that moment , Felisha came running to me and hugged me.

" Mommy , why is grandma and that man crying and who is he ?" Asked Felisha , i too had no idea so i told both of them not to draw attention of other people and we went inside .

" Mark Peters , i really can't believe that you are still alive " said grandma , at that moment i was surprised as well , how foolish of me not to recognise my best friend's brother .

" Ohh my God ! Mark is that really you ?" I said as i went on closer to him crying as well " grandma told me everything and iam sorry for your loss Mark , and my best friend , i really miss her each and everyday " i continued as i began to cry as well .

" Ohh Nandi , i didn't know that it was you all this whole time till now " replied Mark and i introduced him to Felisha , she was so happy to have a male figure around her .

" Should i call you daddy ?" She asked jovially , i was so embarrassed by that and i said " No , no ,no , this is your uncle Feli"

" Yes sweet pie , you can call me whatever you want , even dog i don't mind at all " replied Mark ignoring what i had said and they both began to laugh , for the first time in history , the atmosphere in our house had changed .

" So Mark , where is Dianna ?" I asked and continued " she is not dead right ?"

" Ofcourse Dianna is alive but i don't know if she is safe , actually she is the one iam currently looking for " said Mark and he continued " the shadows !"

" Jesus ! how did they know about her ? " Asked grandmother

" I too for once , lived with them and i don't know how and why Dianna's shadow came on to live in the world of humans when she is still alive " said Mark and that really scared me a lot , a shadow co existing with its counterpart , that was the strangest thing ever .

Mark went on to explain how he had lost contact with Dianna , we both knew that it was now not that easy to find her as noone could differentiate the two , but we had to find her nomater what .

After dinner , grandma showed Mark his room and everyone went on to sleep . I could not sleep the whole night , i was reminiscing about the times we had with my best friend Clara Peters when we were in high school , we talked of how we both would get married to rich handsome guys and start living in those large mansions in the suburbs , Clara had been married to a rich man.

" Iam so jealous and happy for you my bestie " i said so on her wedding

" Ohh come on , you are always welcome in my house darling , you know i can't survive without you " she said and we both chuckled , i could still hear the laughter of our voices in my mind and heart .

Early in the morning , i found Mark already awake and busy cutting wood for us to cook .

" You know you really didn't have to do that " i said smiling at him

" Is that a proper way to talk to your brother ?" He asked and we both laughed , at that time my ex husband was walking at the road and Felisha ran on to meet her.

" Daddy !" Shouted Felisha as she ran on to meet him and as she tried to hug him , he pushed her down .

" Get away from me goblin !" He shouted at her , Mark ran and hit him with his fists , he went away and Mark picked up Felisha and came with her inside the gate .

" What is going on Nandi ? , Why is your ex husband calling his own daughter a goblin ?" He asked

" Well Mark , he deserted us a long time ago , when i was three months pregnant , he doesn't even want to see her , he can even went on to the extent of beating her up just for calling him her father " i replied with tears on my cheeks , i could see that Mark was now angry , he looked at Felisha and said " from today onwards , iam your daddy my princess and you don't need to go on running to any other person oky?"

"But mama said you are my uncle , and i want my daddy " said Felisha and began to cry , i felt a huge lump on my throat .

" Hey , hey princess , this is your daddy oky?" I said so trying to make her stop crying , she suddenly stopped crying and went on to hug Mark calling him her daddy .

Days passed on with Mark being on our side , everyone in the village began to respect us as they feared Mark .

" You finally have a male figure at your house , you can now join us and we can be friends now " said one of the women at the well where i went to fetch water , when Mark wasn't around , we used to fetch water at the river as noone allowed us to fetch water at their wells .

One day , Mark dug a well at our house and built it nicely , this was a new beginning for us , he re thatched our house and did a lot of changes , this made both of us happy , he went on to buy goats , chickens and our house was now surrounded with domestic animals and our garden was florishing , we began selling vegetables and eggs at our house and that was the moment i did not struggle for paying Felisha's school fees .

CHAPTER 6

DIANNA

The day i was supposed to go and meet my shadow , i did not go , i wished that uncle Mark was here with me but all was left was his shadow , so i couldn't trust it , nor did i trust my own shadow which tried to kill me several times .

Ma Zerns sat on a chair in our shop and i approached her .

" Ma!" I called her

" Yes darling ?" She replied

"Have you heard about the mystery of the shadows " i asked her and she laughed at me

" What is this place ? Wonderland in Peter Pan 's movies ? " She mocked me and began to laugh once again .

"Iam serious ma , haven't you come across one ?" I asked her

" Dianna ! This is not a fairy tale oky ? That is just a mythical belief of the people of this country , there is no such a thing " she said and i nodded at her .

" You have no idea , do you ? " I murmured that to myself not wanting her to hear me . We spent the whole day selling and our stock was deacreasing so Ma Zerns asked me if i can go and get more things in the village town .

" I will get lost ma , or meet the corn artists , i think it's best if you can go whilst i remain here looking after the shop " i said and she agreed with me , honestly i was afraid to leave the village as i did not know what could be out there and my life was in danger .

As usual , i went on to fetch water at the well and i saw a letter once again , this time it was just written a few words "YOU ARE DOOMED "

As i looked around to see who had left this letter though i knew exactly who it was , she came from behind and grabed my neck , i could barely breathe

" Let go of me or i will scream !" I shouted at her , she let go of my neck and turned me to look at her exactly in her eyes , we both froze for a moment looking at each other .

"Who exactly are you ?" We asked the same question at the same time , one woman came to fetch water and the other Dianna quickly left , i felt something strange when i looked at her , it seemed as if it was exactly me , like i was looking at a mirror , i bet she felt the same .

As i went back to our compound , i was so desperate to tell Ma Zerns the whole truth .

" Ma , i have something very important which you need to know " i said but Ma Zerns gave no response , i saw that she lay down quietly , when i touched her , she was sweating and i removed the blankets away from her .

" No don't , iam feeling really cold " she said so , i asked her if i could get her to a hospital and she insisted that i call a nurse aide who lived next door , the nurse came and told us that it was malaria

" Well atleast can i take her to a nearby hospital ?" I asked and the nurse shook her head and said " I wish i could help but the only hospital nearby is a private hospital and it's really expensive and it is where i work but we are not allowed to treat people for free , iam sorry " she said and went on her way .

I watched Ma Zerns who lay motionlessly , noone was there to help us , a week later , Ma Zerns kicked the bucket , living me alone once again , i burried her with the help of other neighbors though she did not get a proper burial , some villagers insisted that she should be burried in her hometown but when i told them where she came from , the village chief insisted that she should be burried in the bush and so it was done .

I sold everything that was in the shop and took the money and even sold the shop and went on my way to the other village , i just wanted to get rid of her , my stalker .

CHAPTER 7

NANDI

Days turned into weeks with Mark being around , we felt safe around him , Mark was family to all of us .

" How long are you going to stay here my love ?" I asked him , yes i had fallen in love with him and i was one month pregnant but i had not told grandma , only Felisha knew .

" So mommy , is the baby going to look like me?" Asked Felisha and we were both startled and Mark nearly got chocked by the food inside his mouth .

" You fools , you think i don't know " said grandma and i felt so embarrassed by her words .

" Iam sorry grandma but i was going to tell you sooner or later , i just didn't know where to start " I apologised , she forgave both of us and now there were no more secrets , me and him started to share the same bedroom as a husband and wife . Felisha was more than happy to have a male figure around her.

One day as Mark and i were walking down the road holding hands , we ran into my ex husband once again , he looked at me from top to bottom .

" Looks like you bewitched the stranger to fall in love with you " he said

" Get lost idiot " i said that for the first time in history to him

" Or what ? This one can't fight me " he said and within a few minutes he was down , beaten by Mark .

" Mark that's enough , please Mr Peters , let him go for now !" I pleaded him and he did so .

We went on home and told grandmother what had happened and she encouraged us to avoid him as much as possible so as not to create a scene , we both agreed .

One day as i was coming from fetching water , i saw Mark and Felisha sitting beside granny , nursing her .

" What's wrong with her ?" I asked

"She is burning up " replied Mark ," I think we should rush her to a hospital " he continued .

" Mark we won't find transport at this time of the day and the hospital is almost thirty miles away from here " I replied " we can take her early in the morning " i said

We both agreed to do so the next day .

We had barely closed our eyes when we heard Felisha scream and we both made our way to grandma's room .

" Wake up granny !" Cried little Felisha , i grabed her hand and took her away from granny who slept quietly , she had died in peace , happy at last .

The word reached everyone in the village that granny had died and that was when her daughters , my aunts showed up . None of them talked to me , nor did i talk to them till granny was burried and they returned back to the city .

Later on , it came to my ears that she had died of malaria and it was being said that a lot of people where dying by this disease .

" I wish granny was still here with us " sadly said poor little Felisha , Mark took her in his arms and comforted her .

" If you were not here with us Mark , we were really going to suffer " I said sobbing , he comforted me as well and i felt safe in his arms .

We then went on to discuss on what we were going to do next , Mark told us that as soon as we find Dianna , we were going to be living in the glorious city of Harare , i was so happy with the thought of it but it was so impossible to find Dianna .

As i was in the garden , i saw a lady walking with her backpack and there it was Dianna , i felt it that it was the real her .

"Dianna!?" I called her and she came running to me and threw her arms around me crying .

"Ohhh ma Nandi !" She cried and at that instant i knew that it was the real Dianna , my best friend's daughter .

" I can't find uncle Mark , iam all alone , i lost everything !" She cried , i wanted to tell her that Mark was here with us but i wanted it to be a surprise to her so i kept quiet and i took her bag and started to walk with her to my house , she had changed a lot , she had grown so thin and i could tell that she had been through a lot .

As we walked near the house , Felisha came running to us and she reached for Dianna who was so happy to see her .

" Ohh my princess you have grown up so quickly " she said smiling at Dianna .

" Mommy is carrying another princess too !" Replied Felisha , Dianna looked at me with excitement and smiled and congratulated me .

When we entered the house , that is when she saw Mark , they both hugged crying ,

" tell me you are not my uncle's shadow" cried Dianna , Mark shook his heard and told her that he had only said that to protect her .

" Iam sorry that i doubted you " she said

" You did a good thing coming here , God was always guiding you all the time , you are blessed Dianna , i can feel that it's really you the real one " replied Mark , it was a moment of emotions and little Felisha joined them and started crying too and they both stopped crying and started to laugh at her .

We prepared a room for Dianna to sleep , i saw that she had a lot of questions to ask but she was just too tired to ask them so she went on to sleep .

" Should we tell her ?" I asked Mark as we were in our bedroom .

" Tell her about what ?" Asked Mark

" About us " i replied

" Nandi my dear wife , is that even a thing to ask , yes ofcourse she deserves to know , she is family and we don't keep secrets " he answered , i was so happy .

The following day , we told Dianna about our relationship and she was happy also , she then asked for Felisha to accompany her to the garden .

After an hour , Felisha came breathing so fast , calling out Mark's name ,

"Calm down Feli , what is it now ?" I asked her

" It's Dianna , her twin sister is trying to stab her with a knife " , said Felisha and Mark was about to run to the garden when i told him to wait .

" Wait Mark , let's finish this once and for all " , i said holding a bottle of Holy water and we both went on our way .

CHAPTER 8

DIANNA

When i saw Nandi in the garden , i could not believe that it was her , when she called my name , i was more than happy , worse when i saw Felisha and as well uncle Mark .

They told me that they were in love and were expecting a baby , i was happy for both of them , uncle Mark was never married before but Nandi had been married to a psycho and my mom hated that man for good .

The following day , i wanted to go and take a clear look at the garden and do some errands and i asked Keisha to accompany me as i did not want to disturb the two love birds .

" Where have you been Dianna?" Asked Felisha

" I have been living in a village next to this one Feli" i replied her

" Where you married there?" She asked once again

" No ,no ,no , hell no! I was living with a woman who died of malaria " i replied tickling her and she laughed .

" Well , you can't run away from me " said a voice Infront of us .

"How do you keep on finding me ?" I asked her

" Iam like your twin sister and we are glued together " she replied walking slowly towards me

" Feli go and get uncle Mark now !" I said and tha lass ran as fast as possible and i began to fight with my stalker .

" Well stalker what do you want ?" I asked her as we fought

" I want your whole damn life Dianna , i want everything !" She shouted

" Well today is your last !" Said a voice from behind , we both turned to see who it was and we saw Nandi and uncle Mark .

" Well Mark , let's see what you got , you fooled us " she said as she reached for Mark who took a step back .

" Coward !" She shouted as she tried to fight Mark , Nandi sprayed Holy water at her back and Mark did so at face .

For almost thirty minutes , there was no sign of everything ,

" You think iam a shadow ? She is my shadow " she said pointing at me , i was so startled and when she took the Holy water in her hands and tried to reach for me , she began to turn into ashes , i was so relieved

" Thank you Jesus !" I shouted victory and we were both relieved , we went back home excited .

A year later after the mystery of my shadow was solved , we got rid of all the shadows of my family . And Nandi and uncle Mark had a baby girl and they called her Clara Peters, my mother's name , i was so happy .

A few months later , uncle Mark was attacked with Malaria and after a few weeks in the hospital , he died , living Nandi a widow , we were now living at the mansion which my mother had left and everything was fine except that uncle Mark was nolonger with us .