Chapter 1 :THE DAY EVERYTHING CHANGED
The village was unusually quiet in the Morning
People gathered beneath the large tree near the burial ground.
Women sat together, dressed in dark clothes, while the men stood silently nearby.
In the middle of them all stood Miraya, a young girl who could hardly understand why everyone was crying.
She stared at the two graves before her.
Her mother and father were being buried on the same day.
“Miraya,” an old woman whispered, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Come and sit down, my child.”
Miraya shook her head.
“I want to see my mother.”
The woman sighed sadly.
“She is gone, my child.”
“But she promised she would never leave me.”
The woman had no answer.
Miraya looked toward the grave.
“Daddy said he would teach me how to plant maize when the rains came,” she whispered. “He promised.”
Her voice broke.
A man standing nearby lowered his head.
“They were good people,” he said quietly.
Another villager nodded. “It is a terrible loss.”
Miraya looked around at everyone.
“Why did God take both of them?”
Nobody answered.
She wiped her tears with the back of her hand.
“Who is going to take care of me now?”
An older woman named Aunt Ruth stepped forward.
“Miraya, you will come and stay with me.”
Miraya looked at her.
“Forever?”
Aunt Ruth hesitated.
“We will see, my child.”
Miraya looked back at the graves.
“I don't want to leave our home.”
“I know,” Aunt Ruth said softly. “But you cannot stay here alone.”
Miraya remained silent.
The villagers began walking back toward the village after the burial.
Miraya stayed behind for a moment.
She knelt beside the fresh earth and placed a small flower on the ground.
“Goodbye, Mama,” she whispered.
She swallowed hard.
“Goodbye, Daddy.”
She stood slowly.
“I'll be okay.”
But deep inside, Miraya didn't know if she would be.
As she walked away with Aunt Ruth, she turned around one last time.
Her little village looked exactly the same.
The dusty paths.
The small houses.
The fields stretching toward the hills.
Everything was still there.
Everything except her parents.
And from that day onward, Miraya's life would never be the same.
