Fiction

Jemmi

by

The night drags on in a cloud of smoke laced with some hard drinking and a lot of loud talk. Just like every other night, Jemmi sits at the corner table, drink in hand, and waits. There are many bars along this street but this is her favourite because she can sit and let the … Read more

Lovebird

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The clang of the metal door startled me awake. The guard was back. Was it time? It had to be. I was sick of waiting. I just wanted it to end. This had gone on too long, even by their standards. They had no reason to keep me there. I wasn’t quite sure what their … Read more

Stolen Parts

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I was starting to attract a lot of attention. When an unknown teenage girl is seen running wildly through the Kayole Soweto slums, it’s bound to turn a few heads. If her clothes also happen to be generously covered in mud and water then people may start murmuring and curious children might even start to … Read more

The Tunnel

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The Twins On nights when neither moon nor stars rode across the sky, the heavens were black and endless, and you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, the people in the small Kenyan town of Toi were convinced that something inhabited the tunnel under the highway. Nobody had ever seen this thing, … Read more

Bad Bodies

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Part I: Kibera, Naitropolis – Jan 4, 2199 “We are standing live outside the building presumed to be where Jake Ongari, the son of Kentelco CEO and billionaire tech mogul James Ongari, has now been held hostage for the last 4 hours by a group of well-armed and determined criminals calling themselves The Squatters. No … Read more

A War of Harmony

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Recently, I have become taken with an idea. It started as a joke, but day by day, I feel that there is truth in it—some undeniable quality that I cannot resist. Yes, there is something here. — The Diary, Page 1 Nairobi was, once again, gone. Where the city had stood just hours before, it … Read more

Hubishi Na Akuzikaye

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Hubishi na akuzikaye – You do not argue with your grave digger. Wairimu had the sneaking suspicion that her name should not sound the way it did. So strange, hearing her name in the darkness over and over as it warped itself into something else, something almost physical in its abstraction and no sense-ness. She … Read more

The Fracturing

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Now Those in the mirror are the first to know that Bosi is back. She is not in the room yet, not even the house, but they know. The mirror clouds over in their excitement. It rattles a little bit. It hisses with the whisper of their voices [she’s here she’s back.sheshereshesbackshesbackbackbacksheshereshesback.] Bosi is watching … Read more

The Soulless

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I There was a place in Karen where the Devil sometimes came through to Nairobi. It was an open field of about a quarter of an acre with a few tall trees, sporadic thickets, and patches of stunted grass. The trees and the thickets had yellow, sickly leaves and the grass was mostly burnt. But … Read more