Side story 3: How did Suzie's mother pass away? (Read part 1)

Suzie P.O.V

My name is Suzie. I'm an eighteen-year-old black maiden from the Batang empire in Africa. I live with my grandmother - big Momma - like I affectionately call her in a chalet in the east of the imperial city, Ekule. The particularity about our house is that it has its double opposite the street. A twin chalet where uncle Bibi, my late mom's elder brother lives alone. Talking about my mother always makes me emotional because I lost her at a very young age. Anne was her name. I have a few souvenirs of her from when we strolled through Ekule's forest and had fun picking mushrooms. I was maybe five years old at the time. It's really difficult to tell my exact age so little I was. I remember when we wandered in the center of the village and walked past the statue of the late Emperor His Majesty Batang IV, the father of the reigning Emperor His Majesty Batang V, my mom always waved at the monument. She adored the Emperor and thought he was a Wiseman and a great Supreme leader. While my mom revered the Ruler of the Batang people, I venerated her because for me she was a source of inspiration. She was very caring. I especially liked when she concocted cassava donuts fried with red oil and accompanied by roasted fish. Aside from big Momma, for me, she was the best cook in the whole Batang empire. However, my role model passed away under strange circumstances that neither uncle Bibi nor big Momma ever wanted to describe to me each time I asked them the question. I understand that it was a way for them to protect me from a hurtful truth or past but for me, that was something I needed to know to be at peace with myself. So finally I decided to investigate what had happened to my mom. I was, I believe, seven years old when my mother died. Uncle Bibi was on duty in the imperial army when grandma came back from the woods and was in floods of tears. I was playing in the sandy yard of the house and when I saw big Momma in her awful state, I panicked. Her hair was disorderly and her eyes were red and wet. I could see how she was being eaten by sorrow. I asked what was going on but she didn't reply to me as she entered the chalet and slammed the door. I followed her and began to cry too because I didn't see my mom with her whereas they had gone to the woodland together. So instinctively I related big Momma's distress with something bad that I supposed had happened to my mom. I shouted at my grandmother and insisted that she tell me why my mother wasn't back home with her and why she was crying. The elderly saw my determination to not let go and felt compelled to tell me something. Though she didn't provide me with full detail, she told me that mom would never come back home again because an angel took her in the forest, and they went to heaven together. I knew that big Momma's story wasn't straight but I burst out in tears because at least I had understood that my mom was dead. Now it was remaining to know the cause of the passing, which my grandmother never revealed to me but did with her first child Bibi, my uncle. Till the age of fourteen, I was ignorant of what happened to my mom. But one day, while big Momma and uncle Bibi were in the parlor and thinking that I was probably still asleep, they began to speak about my late mom. I heard the name of the woman who gave birth to me and hid in the corridor upstairs that led to my bedroom to listen over. At first, they said nothing special about her. My grandmother and my uncle were just nostalgic about my mother's nice character and wished she was still alive to witness how fast I had grown up. And then uncle Bibi asked my grandmother if there had been a way my mom could have avoided the hyena who ate her but grandma responded no because the hunter, a suitor, missed his shot with his last arrow.

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