“Nope. Sorry Maleko. This isn’t a good day for me. And there’s no way I would race 100 meters with you. I will take you on in a 5k any day though.”
Maleko looked questioningly at Daniel who’s eyes had widened slightly at my reply.
“5k? How far is that?”
Daniel spoke before I could. “About fourteen laps of the track.”
Maleko’s expression was comical. His face fell and his shoulders slumped. I had to smile; he was so transparent. He knew he was beat.
“Oh.” He looked thoughtful and then wrinkled his nose. “Girl, I don’t want to run that far. Are you sure we can’t try something a little shorter? I know, how about we throw a few rugby tackles into the challenge? I’m sure I can take you on those!”
Even I had to laugh at that one. Walking to the hall with the two of them felt like the natural thing to do, Daniel leaning forward to open the door for me, “Go ahead.”
Once in the hall, Maleko took off after a lithe girl with a braid that fell to her hips. “Hey – Malia! I need help with the Math homework, Malia!”
Without quite knowing how, I was walking down the emptying hall with the Chunk Hunk. With Daniel. Without knowing why, I was almost paralyzed with trepidation. What should I say? What does one say to a Chunk Hunk? One that you wanted to obliterate from the planet the day before? And now? Now, walking beside me, deliberately shortening his stride to keep pace with me, I felt nothing but breathlessness, my mind aswirl with rapid-fire conversation possibilities. Should I apologize for the debate? Or pretend like it had never happened? Should I talk about the Geography homework? Ask his opinion of the monsoon rains on the delta plains? That had me rolling my eyes. Oh, get a hold of yourself, Leila. So he’s handsome. Well, make that magnificent. So what. Big deal. I took a deep breath to plunge in to a question but he beat me to it.
“So, you’re a runner?” His tone was light. Casual. I strove to match him.
“I run a bit. Nothing too awe inspiring. I don’t think you should take Maleko’s version of events too literally. I may be the new girl, but I think I wouldn’t be far wrong to say that he tends to exaggerate things a little.”
Daniel laughed. “A little? I think you mean a lot. As in, Maleko is the master of exaggeration! We NEVER take anything he says literally.”
Our eyes met in perfect agreement, which had me flushed again. So much so that I almost walked straight into the willowy girl standing at the head of the stairs.
“Oh sorry!” My apology was relaxed but the hardness of the answering look in her eyes instantly had me on the defensive. What was wrong with this girl? I remembered seeing her in my Biology class. A stunning brunette who fit all the brochure pictures of tropical island beauties, she moved with a practiced grace. The same grace that was clearly evident as she put one hand on Daniel’s arm, a half pout on her face.
“Danny, I’ve been looking all over for you guys. My dad is waiting for us… ” her voice trailed away suggestively as she half inclined her head towards him, a deliberate attempt to shut me out?
Daniel groaned and rapped his fist on his forehead. “Agh that’s right. Sorry Mele, I’m coming.” He looked around over his shoulder. “Maleko was just here. ”
Nimbly, I quickstepped past them both and dashed down the stairs, throwing a hasty goodbye over my shoulder. I didn’t wait to see whether the Chunk Hunk had heard me. I didn’t need to. I didn’t need any antagonism from possessive girlfriends either, I told myself as I walked down the palm-lined driveway towards the bus stop.
I was almost to the gate when a rush of heat brought me to a standstill. The light turned a hazy red and a wave of dizziness descended on me like a blanket. I swayed. What was happening? I was hot. So hot that there wasn’t enough air to breathe and I felt like I was drowning in the wet humidity. Panic clawed its way up through my constricting chest as I struggled to stay upright. Before I met the ground face first, a hand steadied me and a voice was asking.
“Leila, are you okay?”
I grabbed the hand with relief, trying to steady myself. It was Sinalei at my side, concern on her face.
“Not really. I’m so hot. I think maybe the heat today and PE just got too much for me. I just need to sit down.”
Cautiously I walked to the grass and sat down. Sinalei kneeling beside me was rifling through her bag.
“Here!” She was triumphant as she handed me a bottle of water. “I knew I had another bottle here somewhere. Go on, you’re probably dehydrated. Too much running at PE.”
Eagerly, I gulped down the water, taking deep breaths in between each mouthful trying to slow my racing pulse and attain calm. There were a few curious glances as the school continued to stream out of class and down to the bus stop but, after only a few minutes in the shade, I felt better enough to stand.
“I think I’m okay now. Thanks Sinalei, I guess I’m still adjusting to the weather here.” A rueful grin. “And I should take it easy in PE. I won’t be in such a rush to humiliate Maleko next time.”
She laughed with me and pretended mock horror. “No way – are you kidding? That was the best PE ever, watching that show-off get outrun by a girl was classic timeless memories stuff. You have to keep doing that!”
She accompanied me to the gate to wait for the bus. I laughed off the whole heat flush incident but secretly I was worried. Where had that come from? Once back at the house, I took a cold shower, standing under the deluge until my fingers were wrinkly and my face was numb from the spray. Only then could I shake off the heat wave from earlier. I soothed away my worries. It was nothing, just a little too much running in PE. It would be an early night for me. A quick dinner, another cold shower and then I tumbled into bed with the ceiling fan on full blast.
That night, the dreams began.
She stood in a forest – lush, living, breathing rainforest. A canopy of green, hung with vines and trailing with white orchids. It was night. A flying fox screeched nearby, startling her. She wore a woven cloth wrapped around her like a bath towel. So finely made and so worn with time that it fell in soft folds around her knees and caressed her skin softer than silk. A band of brown feathers fluttered at its hem. Her feet were bare on the moist earth. Her skin glistened with coconut oil, catching the fire of the moonlight as she raised her hands to feel the necklace made of pointed boar’s tusks at her throat. Where was she? Why was she dressed like this? She could hear water rushing nearby. A waterfall? The sound made her acutely aware of the burning thirst in her throat. She had an overwhelming urge to submerge her body in the rushing falls. Drink deeply of its cool freshness. Lie in the liquid moonlight, awash in its swirling embrace.
Turning towards the sound she started making her way cautiously through the trees. Bushes scratched at her legs. Ferns tugged at the hem of her dress. Leaves entangled in her hair. Her raging thirst grew, the closer she got to the falls. With relief, she parted the leaves and there it was. A small waterfall splashed from a rocky rise in the land, falling gracefully into a circular pool, edged with smooth rocks and trailing ferns. The water sparkled like black diamonds at the base of the falls. She walked forward to the edge of the pool and hesitated. She hated to wet the fine mat wrapped around her, but she had nothing on underneath. Oh well, it was only her in the night. Flushing with embarrassment, she quickly shrugged out of the woven cloth and slipped into the welcome concealment of the water.
The cold was a shock. A jolt of refreshing coolness that had her shivering in the warm wet night. She slowly swam towards the waterfall and was pleased to find that she could stand at its base. Cupping her hands to the silver froth, she drank deeply, glorying in the clean sweet taste. She drank again and again, like a water-starved nomad in a desert. Finally satiated, she leaned forward to let the rushing waters sweep over her hair and down the length of her oiled body. Then she felt it. A chill down her spine that had nothing to do with the night air. A prickling of unease. She was not alone.
Slowly, she turned. A woman stood
at the end of the pool. She was hauntingly beautiful and yet terrifying at the same time. She was tall, with a length of sandy brown hair that fell to below her waist. At her throat was a boar’s tusk necklace identical to that which Leila wore. She was half naked, her woven dress clinging to her hips, feathered hem skirting her ankles, full breasts covered by her thick hair adorned with vivid red flowers. She held a long carved knife in one hand, the blade of polished bone gleaming in the darkness as she raised both arms to the night sky. A dreadful smile lit her face as she exulted,
“Yes! Pele, my beloved daughter, finally you return to me.”
THREE
I woke with a startled gasp, sheets a tangled mess around me, my shirt soaked through with sweat. Pulse racing, I tried to calm my ragged breathing but the room was so stifling I needed to get out. Hoping Aunt Matile hadn’t woken with the sounds of my nightmare, I slipped silently through the sleeping house and out into the garden. Sitting on an upturned plastic bucket under the fragrant branches of the frangipani tree, I breathed deeply in the night air.
What did it mean? Where had that dream come from? Was I losing my mind? Was all the pressure of being in this alien land, searching for information about a mother that no-one wanted to talk about finally getting to me? Fluffy chickens roosting in the breadfruit trees rustled and clucked close by and Terminator strolled over to snuffle hopefully against my fingers. It was just a dream, Leila, just a dream, I kept repeating to myself as I quietly crept back to my room. But sleep was a long time coming.
The rest of the week was uneventful. I was slipping into a routine with Matile and Tuala. I didn’t ask any more questions about my mother. They were kind and careful. I was polite and helpful. I washed dishes. Matile smiled with startled surprise. I helped Tuala sweep up the cut grass. He brought me an ice cold Diet Coke back from the corner store. I gave Terminator a much-needed bath. Which he hated me for. And which made Matile laugh. I had not given up on my search for information about my mother though. I risked Matile’s wrath and asked Kolio about her when he came to weed the banana patch at the back. He must have been warned by Tuala and Matile not to say anything though – because he only looked uneasy and shook his head, “I don’t know anything. I don’t know anyone like that.” Falute was the same. I went outside to help her hang up the laundry, and in-between pegging up lemon-fresh sheets, I asked,
“So, did you know my mother?”
At first she acted dumb. “Who? I don’t know anything about that subject. No, I know nothing.”
“But you’re part of the family, you’re Matile’s cousin, surely you must have known her? You must have at least heard something about her?”
She only shook her head vehemently. “No. I don’t want to talk about her.” She turned to walk away and then stopped to look back and consider my crestfallen expression. She sighed, looked around to make sure we were alone and then leaned forward to whisper, “Leila, your mother was a bad woman. It was good your father took you away from here. It is better you don’t ask about her. Better you don’t know about her. I’m sorry, that’s all I can say.”
And with that she bustled back into the house carrying an empty laundry basket on her hip. I stood there in the yard in disbelief. Your mother was a bad woman. I felt cold in the tropical sun because I could no longer ignore what was glaringly obvious. Matile and everybody else weren’t being cagey about my mother because she was too sad or emotional a subject for them to handle. It was because the topic of my mother was too unpleasant. Heck, Falute even looked afraid just to speak of her! But why?
School in Samoa was satisfying. I was attentive and studious. I smiled at all the right times. And tried hard not be rude with Sinalei when she insisted on keeping me company every interval. I had never had friends before, so wasn’t used to how they occupied one’s space and time. Even when you didn’t want them to. But I was learning. Simone was still gracing me with his presence and I had to admit that I found myself more relaxed with him than with anyone else. He seemed to have bestowed his approval upon me and regularly called me to sit with him and his group of girl-boys. Flawlessly beautiful, graceful supermodels all of them. I laughed to think what my dad would say about my new ‘clique’ of friends. In fact, everything seemed to be going fine in this new place. I kept my distance from the Chunk Hunk. Every time I saw him, I did an abrupt about turn and went in the opposite direction. He always stood out, so that wasn’t difficult. We only had one class together so it was easy to ignore him. It wasn’t as easy to stop thinking about the green eyes and the tattooed arm. But I persevered. I reminded myself he was in a different stratosphere from me. And I wasn’t here to get to know the opposite sex. Or to explore this new-found edge that one in particular inspired in me. No. I was here for three months to find out what I could about my mother. And to get to know my Samoan family. And to have a break from my palagi family. Which, let’s face it, was really made up of one grandmother. The slight unease Daniel inspired in me was the only complaint I really had about my new school. Samoa College wasn’t bad. If it weren’t for the nights, I would have been almost content.
Yes, if it weren’t for the nights, Samoa would have been more than bearable. Because every night was the same thing. I slept. I had the same nightmare. I woke up burning hot and couldn’t stop the shaking. The gasping for air. The dream was the same every night. But the heat seemed to be getting worse. I slept with a fan. I slept in the bare minimum. I drank copious amounts of ice water. No improvement. I was trying my best to keep it hidden from Matile and Tuala because I was terrified that I had some sort of disease and it would give them an excuse to send me back to America. I bought a cheap thermometer from the pharmacy. Every night before I went to bed I would take my temperature. 36.5 degrees. Completely normal and textbook perfect. By midnight I would be burning up with some kind of fever. 42 degrees. I took illegal amounts of painkillers. Nothing. According to the textbooks, I should be practically comatose. I stopped taking my temperature. It only increased my agitation.
The weeks passed. I had been in Samoa for four weeks and my nights were taking their toll on my days. At school I was exhausted. I found it hard to concentrate. Ms. Sivani was giving me her stern eyes. The ones she reserved for Maleko on his worst days. I was finding it harder to be patient with Sinalei – looking for more and more excuses to spend my lunch break in the library. Where I would pore through science textbooks and Google unexplained fevers. I ignored Maleko’s teasing invitations to run in PE class, choosing instead to cut class and risk detention rather than an overheating episode in front of everyone. The Principal shook his head tiredly at me in detention as he reminded me that “we are not a school for teenage delinquents from America you know.”
By the fifth week, I was afraid to go to sleep. When I woke up with strange singe marks on my sheets like burnt holes, I sobbed silently into my pillow. That’s it, I had to get out of there. I left the house in the dead of night, slipping through the broken fence at the back of the house and into the green trees. Stars hung heavily in a black velvet night. The cool air was bliss against my skin and I walked almost blindly through the bush. I should have been afraid. Of the dark, the strange surroundings, the possibility of danger. But I wasn’t. I felt oddly at ease. Like something outside, out there had been missing from inside me. I walked and, as I walked, I started to cool down. The dizziness eased. The rising tide of fever burn slowed. And then suddenly, there it was. I took several steps and stopped. It was a pool of silver water that tumbled over a low rocky drop into another larger oval pool below. Ringed with glistening black rock and olive green ferns. Just like in my dream. Only, unlike my dream, there was no darkly beautiful woman waiting there for me.
I breathed a sigh of relief. And ignored the rational voice inside my head that demanded to know how I could possibly have dreamed of this place before I ever visited it? Without stopping to think, I stripped off my shirt and shorts and slipped into the water. I caught my breath with happiness at t
he coldness, the relief it gave me from the heat that had plagued me for so many nights. It was as if this exact water had been waiting for me, calling to me. Again and again I ducked my head under the water, cooling every particle of my being. Every feverish fiber. I stayed there as long as I dared before heading back home to my still room, grateful that Matile and Tuala were heavy sleepers. And, for the first time in weeks, I slept without dreaming. And woke without a fever.
I went three wonderful nights without a heat attack, enjoying the luxury of a full night’s sleep. At school I was almost myself again. Just when I thought maybe I had imagined the heat flushes, they started again, waking me with their fire. Again I went to the pool, praying Terminator wouldn’t tell on me and wake Matile with his howling at the moon. And again, the water was exactly the antidote I needed.
As the nights improved – so did the days. I stopped spacing out in class, falling asleep in Math to the drone of Mr. Michael’s voice. I still didn’t think it safe enough to try doing sports again so I kept cutting PE. Which landed me in detention. Again.
Telesa - The Covenant Keeper Page 7
