No Where to Run

NO WHERE TO RUN

Kanti looked at the heart shaped locket tattooed on her right hand. With a breath she closed her eyes and was lost in a memory.

Tonight. They were leaving tonight, running away. Kanti slowed her breathing but couldn't quiet her heart. Thump, thump resonated in her ears. She took a deep, quiet breath and slid out of the cot. She didn't breath until she was out of the window. Forty girls crammed into a small, cold, musty room. Kanti didn't fit in with those girls. They had given up, given up their language, their history, everything. Why didn't they resist? She knew why; the sting of the whip. Kanti had felt it but it had just made her angrier. Five years of this vile place was more than she could bear.

They were supposed to meet in back of what the monsters call a church. Where they talk of such things as righteousness and love but when they walk out of the doors they commit evil, foul acts. But the First Nations, my people, are the sinners? It was maddening to Kanti. She hated this place; she longed to be home, free.

Home, she was no older than three, she remembered the tears as the monsters tore her and her brother away from their mother. She had fought to remember her real name, Kanti. She refused to answer to Ruth, the name the monsters gave her. Ahanu was her brother's name not Mark. She didn't see him much because the boys and girls were kept separated. It was rare they got close enough to talk. Two days ago a boy named Matthew said he had news about her brother. They slipped into an empty hallway. In a hurried whisper he told her that Ahanu had died two years ago. A disease had swept through the place they stayed. Fifteen others had died. Kanti had suspected something had happened to him, she hadn't seen him in a while. Even so her pillow was soaked with tears that night.

Matthew, he didn't remember his given name, told Kanti that Ahanu was a like a brother. On his death bed he begged a favor from Matthew, to look after Kanti. Matthew said he couldn't live in this place anymore. He had to leave but felt bound by his promise. She understood how he felt. Kanti could see that his eyes mirrored hers. They could escape, they'll make it. She quickly agreed.

She sat crouched, still, like a rock, barely breathing. Matthew should have been there by now. What if he didn't come, did he get caught? His shadow preceded him around the building. Without a word they ran off into the darkness. They ran through the night until afternoon the next day. They ran through the water to lose their scent. It didn't matter there were too many of the monsters out there. They were caught and returned to that horrible place and punished in front of all for an example.

After only a few stripes the pain made Kanti wish to die, she had lost all hope. Then Kanti saw a woman running into the courtyard. She yelled at the monsters with a voice like fire. The woman grabbed the whip and flicked it at the monsters! This woman looked like the others except for the bright red hair that had slipped out of her cowl. This beautiful face spoke truth to those monsters and they cowered away. Their faces were ugly and contorted. They finally shrunk into the shadows. This woman had the other children take Kanti and Matthew to the infirmary.

After a while the woman came and sat next to Kanti's bed.

"My name is Amy. What's your name?" Kanti hesitated, the wrong answer brought about swift punishment.

"I know it's not Ruth" Amy said.

Kanti sat up straighter and proudly answered "Kanti!"

The woman smiled. "She sings!"

"What?" Kanti asked.

"Sings, that's what your name means." Tears filled Kanti's eyes. She felt flowers bloom in her heart, sweet smelling beautiful flowers.

"Kisemanito is the name for God in your language." Kanti repeated it over and over in her head.

"That's what these fools don't understand." Amy shook her head "The First Nations already knew about God we just had to share the news of Jesus." Amy took Kanti's hand and gave her a heart shaped locket.

"Look past what man says and does; look to Truth, God and his words. They are true, 'Man's heart is desperately wicked who can know it.' "

Kanti shook her head "Not that book, that's what the monsters read."

"God will teach you because you desire truth. They clothe themselves in lies and blindness." Amy sighed.

Amy gave Kanti such hope but suddenly reality came back. "They're gonna stop you, they'll get rid of you." Kanti cried.

"Maybe, eventually." Amy said with a solemn look. "But what happens when they meet Kisemanito and the One they called Savior says 'I never knew you?' " Seek Him child. Love."

Amy stayed for five months before she was removed by the hierarchy. Every week that she was there she taught Kanti and anyone who'd listen a word from their language. We spoke different languages but Amy knew them all. The monsters scolded her. "They can't speak their heathen language anymore!"

Amy responded in a soft voice "it's your language that is heathen." But they knew her wrath if they pushed her too far.

Kanti took up the fire when Amy left. She debated with the monsters out of the very book they worshiped. She punished whoever touched any of the children. They recoiled before her. Finally the day came that they forced her out.

Home felt refreshing, not what she remembered but wonderful. After a few days with family and more family and dances and stories she left to find Matthew. His people said that they didn't know his real name and that he had come home but left for the city. She found him in the gutter but she didn't leave him there. He had suffered atrocities at the hands of the man monsters. She had been spared that indignation but she knew some girls had not spared.

For six years they lived in the public library. Quiet as mice they read and studied all night. Kanti exceeded with law books. Kanti had renamed Matthew, Togqua which means twin. He loved the arts and opened a retreat to help others.

Now as she stood in front of the monster's government building she looked at the tattoo on her hand. The monsters had taken the original talisman soon after Amy left but Kanti had not despaired. The heart reminded her that she didn't stand alone. She won't be standing alone in front of the hierarchy today. Kisemanito had already prepared her for the outcome. The hierarchy would cringe and shrivel and hide behind lies and change nothing. Kanti would speak anyway just to put it down on record that the First Nations are rising.