Blue (12 page)

They pulled up to the door of the building, and as soon as the vehicle came to a stop, Inali opened the door and stood outside, Chester following close behind him. Inali turned around and reached out his hand to Anytha, offering to help her out of the vehicle. She grabbed hold of his hand and climbed out of the limo, which proved to be more difficult than she thought it would be in a short skirt and high heels.

“Do you mind if we both escort you in?” Inali asked Anytha, looking at Chester for validation.

“No, that would be fine,” Anytha replied, balancing herself on her heels.

The three of them walked up to the doors, and Anytha could hear loud pounding music coming from inside. Inali linked arms with her on her right, and her father did the same with her on her left.

“Everyone, I would like for you to turn your attention to the front doors. Our guest of honor is here. Happy birthday and happy Activation Day, Anytha!” Anytha heard the DJ saying from inside the doors, followed by loud cheers and clapping.

The french doors to the reception hall flung open, and the three of them walked into the room. The lights in the hall were dim, but there were colorful lights flickering around the room. There were hundreds of people there, all of them clapping and shouting catcalls at her as they walked in. Anytha felt her breath catch in her throat, and she tried hard to hold a believable smile on her face. A white spotlight followed the three of them as they walked across the hall toward the stage. Chester hugged Anytha at the edge of the stage, and Inali walked up the stairs of the platform, guiding Anytha up the stairs with him. Inali let go of Anytha’s arm and walked to the center of the stage, where a microphone had been set up.

“Anytha and her family thank you all for being here to celebrate this important day in her life,” Inali said into the microphone, as the crowd’s volume died down.

Everyone began to take a seat, and the DJ faded down the music in the background.

“I just wanted to take a moment to tell you guys just how proud I am to know Anytha and her family. She has been a dedicated member of our camp since before she was even a teenager, and now she is a young woman on her Activation Day. We are so proud of you, Anytha.”

Anytha mustered an awkward smile as a small round of applause came from the crowd.

“Now, we’re going to have fun tonight. I hope to see all of you on the dance floor in a little while,” Inali said, pointing out into the crowd as they laughed back at him. “But first I wanted to take a moment for us to meditate and be thankful for this day in Anytha’s life. I want everyone to close their eyes and just take a moment to be thankful for this night that we have been given to celebrate such a beautiful young lady. We all have so much to be thankful for. So much to celebrate tonight. Let’s just take a moment to be thankful.”

Inali stepped back away from the microphone and closed his eyes as silence filled the auditorium.

“We’re so thankful for Anytha. We’re so thankful that she can now participate in the important inner-workings of our government by being given the right to vote. Ah, we are even thankful for our own right to vote tonight! We are thankful that women are allowed to vote. We are thankful that all races are now allowed to vote. We are thankful for the Law of the Land. We are thankful for our government,” Inali said, pausing and stepping back from the microphone again for a moment.

“Just let your gratitude fill your mind right now. Let us just be grateful tonight. We are so blessed. We have more than we need. We are so privileged to have the right to have an active role in our government in South Africa. We are blessed to be a part of a wonderful democracy. We are so blessed. We are just so blessed,” Inali said, stepping away from the microphone again as his words trailed off, seemingly fighting back tears. Inali paused for a long time, squeezing his eyelids hard together as if processing a large amount of information at once.

Anytha looked out over the crowd and saw no eyes looking back at her. She turned her attention back to Inali, as he started shaking his head back and forth, rocking a bit on his feet behind the microphone, as if he was deliberating about something. After a long pause, he walked up to the microphone again with tears in his eyes.

“I’m going to go out on a limb here. As we were meditating just now, I felt that there was something that I needed to say tonight. Something that I need to do,” Inali said, pausing as if to think again about what it was he needed to say, and closing his eyes tightly together before stepping back to the microphone. “There is somebody in this room that is having severe pain in their right lower leg. I believe you are actually having to walk with some kind of device because of how excruciating it is. If that’s you, I want you to raise your hand.”

The spotlight spun around the room, scanning the crowd. And in the back, at a round table, was a young man with his hand in the air.

“Sir, I can’t see who you are from here, but I need you to walk up here to the stage,” Inali said.

Anytha looked out at the young man, and looked again at Inali, wondering why he would make him walk to the stage from the back of the room if he was in excruciating pain. Especially on display for everyone to see.

The man stood up, hobbling a bit, and a woman next to him handed him a cane.

“I want you to start walking to the stage. By the time you make it to the stage, your leg will be healed,” Inali said.

The man started walking, hobbling on his cane and his good leg. He took shaky steps in the beginning, and the pain in his face was evident. As he reached the halfway point, it was obvious that the pain was not as present, and his steps became truer and steadier. He was walking at a faster pace as he approached the stage, and about five paces before he hit the stairs of the platform he dropped his cane and ran up the steps to the platform, jumping up and down. The crowd erupted with gasps, cheers, and applause as he ran up to the middle of the stage where Inali stood, laughing.

“How’s your pain now?” Inali asked.

“It’s gone! I have no pain!” the man shouted, running around on the stage as the crowd gasped and erupted into more cheers and applause.

“Amazing! I knew it. Just incredible,” Inali said. “See, folks, what can happen when we are in tune with our Power!”

The crowd again broke out into loud cheers and applause.

“Wait. Now, you’re a young man. What was wrong with your leg?” Inali asked him as the man came back to the microphone from running around the stage.

“I was in a car accident about a year ago. I’ve gone through three surgeries to fix my shattered shinbone. The doctors weren’t convinced that I would ever gain my full mobility back, and I was scheduled to have another surgery to remove some scar tissue next week. You could feel the scar tissue through my skin,” the man said, bending down and rubbing his shin. “It’s completely gone! Inali, it’s completely gone! Feel!”

Inali reached down and rubbed the man’s shin, laughing hysterically.

“People, this is what we are capable of when we are in close communion with our Power!” Inali said, laughing and fighting back tears. “Another thing that we can be thankful for tonight! A miracle has just happened right before our eyes! Thank your Power! I know I am thanking mine right now!” Inali said as the crowd applauded again, and the man began running around the room.

Inali signaled to the DJ to start playing some music, and a song with a throbbing dance beat blasted through the speakers.

“We have so much to celebrate, but tonight we celebrate Anytha! Happy birthday, darling! And happy Activation Day!” Inali said as the crowd clapped again. “Now, let’s dance!”

All around the room, people flooded to the dance floor with their arms in the air, cheering loudly. Others flocked to the bar and downed a couple of glasses of wine before making their way out to join the revelers.

Anytha hadn’t eaten anything all day, and she felt her stomach growling as she made her way around the reception hall, greeting and hugging everyone that she recognized. After what felt like hours of small talk, she walked over to the table where the caterers had set up the food, filled a tiny plate with all the finger foods that she could fit, and walked back to a table. She sat down by herself to eat.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Inali leaving the dance floor and approaching her table. She put her food back down on her plate and swallowed what was in her mouth, crossing her legs as Inali sat down beside her.

“I hate seeing you sitting all alone like this. I hope that you are having a good time tonight,” Inali said loudly, and then leaning in to speak directly into Anytha’s ear. “This is all for you, you know.”

“Oh, I am having a great time! I was just starving!” Anytha said to him, smiling.

Inali laughed. He leaned in to her and spoke directly into her ear, “You know, I love how real you are. Most of the women here wouldn’t be caught dead eating a plate full of food in their tiny dresses.”

“Well, I like to eat, what can I say?” Anytha said, leaning away from him.

“I like that about you,” Inali said, leaning back away from her ear and smiling.

“I’ve never seen a healing happen in real life! I had only heard about them happening at other camps. That was amazing. I’m so honored that it happened at my party!” Anytha said, grabbing Inali’s shoulder and squeezing it with her hand. “It was really amazing. Thank you.”

As the music began to slow down and fade into a new song, Inali leaned in close to her again to speak into her ear.

“I don’t know, Anytha. Something about being around you makes me feel like I can do anything.” Inali leaned in to kiss her, placing his hand on her knee and running it slowly up her dress.

Anytha pulled back from him, and shook her head.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to give you the wrong idea,” she said, pushing her chair back. She stood up and walked into the crowd on the dance floor.

Anytha made her way to the back of the room as quickly as she could and passed her parents, dancing with bottles of beer in their hands. She made her way to the back door of the reception hall. Tears formed in her eyes as she pushed hard on the back exit door and walked out behind the building into the parking lot.

Breathing hard, she walked out into the lot, leaned up against a van that was parked behind the building, and cried. Thoughts ran through her mind, and the tears got worse as she considered the fact that she could not tell her parents about what Inali had just done. Inali was like a father figure to her. Did he really come on to her? Did she just imagine it? Had he been waiting all this time to make a move on her when it was finally acceptable to do so? Would he deny it if she told anyone?

She leaned over and looked in the side mirror of the van to make sure that her makeup hadn’t run too much from the tears; she wiped away the black streaks from her cheeks. Standing up, she turned around to head back into the party, when the back door flung open.

Out walked a young man with a large tray in his hand, heading toward the van.

“I’m sorry, I was just going back inside. I was just using your mirror really quick,” Anytha said, as the man walked out of the shadow of the building and into the light of the parking lot lamps.

“Oh, no problem. I’m just here to clean up,” said Ari. “Wait, Anytha, is that you?”

“Ari. I didn’t know you guys were catering tonight,” Anytha said as Ari stopped her from walking back into the building. He gently grabbed her wrists, seeing that she had tears in her eyes.

“Anytha, what happened? Are you okay?” Ari asked, holding her hands as Anytha held on to a brave face.

Anytha nodded, holding her breath.

“What are you doing at this party? I didn’t know you were old enough to go to one of these things,” Ari said.

“I wasn’t. Until tonight.”

“Wait, this is your party?” Ari asked. “I didn’t know that you practiced Blue.”

“Well, I did. Until tonight,” Anytha said, finally letting the tears that she had been holding back fall to the ground. Ari wrapped his arms around her shoulders and she sunk her head into his chest.

C h a p t e r 
10

Tabitha’s eyes popped open sharply. She had fallen asleep the night before contemplating what she and Marguerite had discussed a month ago at the dam, and this morning she awakened to the same terrifying thought.

Blood harvest.

Just stringing those two words together was enough to send chills up her spine. And today was the day she would find out if the rumors were true. Another month had come and gone and Tabitha felt the weight of the rumors on her chest, as the sun would soon rise on another harvest day.

Tabitha shook the thoughts out of her head, sat up quickly in her bed, and forced her feet onto the cold linoleum floor in her room. She looked at the clock beside her bed and raised her eyebrows in surprise at the early hour. She shrugged her shoulders and stood up, walking into the bathroom. She knew that it would be vacant for a while; her roommates wouldn’t be waking for hours.

She turned on the hot water of the shower and stepped inside, letting the water rinse away the weight of all her fears. She rubbed the tension from her shoulders with her hands and ran her fingertips through her hair. The residents had only been taking the vitamins for a month, and already Tabitha could see the difference in her hair. It had grown at least an two centimeters, and her nails were longer than she had ever seen them before. She liked the way that her hands looked with the natural white tips on her fingernails, but she knew that they would be cutting them to the quick again today; she tried not to enjoy them too much. She scratched her scalp with her nails, squeezed some shampoo into her palm, and lathered the soap into a thick foam on top of her head. She rinsed out the lather, washed the rest of her body, and turned off the water, pulling back the curtain and stepping out of the stall. She wrapped a thin tattered towel around her body, smoothed down the sides of her hair in the mirror, and walked back into her bedroom.