Mkurugenzi Frankie

 It was exhilarating while it lasted… but I’m afraid it’s time. “No… it can’t be…” I whispered, my throat tightening, the words tasting like ash on my tongue. The figure before me stepped from the shadows - tall, draped in a shifting cloak of black smoke, eyes burning like dying embers. His smile was thin, stretched unnaturally wide, as if carved into his face. “The devil has returned to claim your soul,” he murmured, his voice reverberating with a hollow timbre that seemed to crawl into my bones. “Why now?” I pleaded, my legs frozen, my breath shallow. “Do not cry, child. This moment was written long before your first breath,” he said softly, almost tenderly. "Your path was sealed the day you whispered your desire into the void." “I… I only wanted a taste of power… to be seen, to be heard,” I stammered. My mind spun with flashes of the past — the rushed deals, the shortcuts, the whispered prayers to unseen forces, the careless promises made under desperate moons. “Yes… you c...

I’ve returned weathered, but still standing. It’s been a journey through storms I never imagined facing, yet the thought of peace carved a quiet space in my heart that kept me moving forward through every darkened path. All those years wandering unfamiliar roads, I clung to one hope: the dream of resting where I truly belong. Now I’m here, though the ache in my body is nothing compared to the quiet ache that lingers deep within. I thought the choices I made along the way would guide me home sooner. It took longer than I ever imagined — and the marks of that long road, though unseen, will stay with me forever. I’m sorry I never got to say goodbye when I disappeared into the currents of life, swept away like driftwood in a river. I remember the day I left with painful clarity. The sky was heavy with grey clouds, the air thick with the scent of impending rain. You had just smiled at me across the table, your words a gentle reassurance that all would be well. I barely stepped past the door...