IN THIRTY DAYS

You will be unable to move a muscle for a couple of hours. The soil will feel like it is suffocating you but with all the training you have undergone you have gone through you will remember exactly how to get out of it. Remember I am not doing this to you because I hate you. I am doing this because you are my favorite daughter and I cannot kill you. I am sending you away because it is the only way you remain safe. Our world is right now is turning things upside down seeking for you. It is the only rational decision I can make right now. I hope you will appreciate it.

My father's words were still fresh in my mind. That day and all the other days that I had been away from home I kept turning them over and over in my brain. I wanted to hate the man for what he did but I couldn't. Somehow I knew my father was a rational man who did a lot of things after thinking them through. Not just blindly. I took a deep breath before getting up and fixing my suit. I stood in front of the mirror right next to my office door checking out my hair and my face to ensure that they both looked great. The only thing that was left for me since that time was my looks. My height sometimes made me stand out with a lot of people around me even some men ended up being a bit shorter than me.

I adjusted my tie and put on some clear matted lip gloss before picking up my bag and heading out of the room. I heard the lock ping behind me indicating that the door was closed. I always enjoyed that sound. It was kind of different to the one I had grown accustomed to when I was in America. The sounds of guns and screams had been replaced by peace quiet and serenity. I loved it. I never thought I would be the type of person to like the boring life away from family but it turned out not to be as bad as I thought.

I opened the door to a noisy lot. Fresh faces getting to know each other. I was silent for a while observing them. It is in that fashion that I saw her and I immediately knew that she was going to be it for this semester. Sitting alone at the back of the class with her phone in hand. Her dark lipstick and gothic make up just made her stand out even though she was trying to blend in. The more I looked at her the more convinced I became.

I tore my eyes away from her and started unpacking my bag, connecting my device to the class projector before taking out my tablet that I would use to take attendance with. I let my eyes sweep around the room again trying to see if anyone had noticed me there. My eyes still involuntarily found her again. I was damned if I couldn't take my eyes off her this early in the semester. I was part of an elite university in the country. When I had first set foot there I thought that the school was as backward as the narrative in America made us believe but turns out there were state of the art facilities in more universities than one. In that moment I understood why my father made sure that I had gotten my PhD as young as 25 years of age. It gave me an opportunity like no other.

I took my time reading the room trying to figure out how to catch the attention of a hundred people from different backgrounds. In that moment I also took care to connect my wireless microphone to my shirt and work on the settings so that everyone could hear me. I knew I had a loud voice but it was not time to blow my cover yet so till then I had to downplay it as much as possible.

"Good morning." I tested the voice and I could visibly see how shocked some of them got hearing my voice over the several speakers spread across the room. I could see her from the corner of my eyes chuckling a little at that. It brought a smile to my face. I took my glasses out of their pouch and wiped them as I waited for them to settle down. I placed the glasses over my eyes and looked around to see eager pairs of eyes look at me with a keen study. I knew why that was but I tended to ignore it unless someone raised it.

"I'd like us to introduce ourselves. My name is Dr. Kaimu Shelly. I'll be taking you through Communication skills for the semester." I kept ranting on and cracking resurrection jokes that no one got but I heard her slight laugh from where I was. Growing up in the family I had grown up in meant that I had a keen sense of any sounds produced. I then passed the baton to the student that sat on the far left of me. I had a second microphone on me that I had always known would come in handy. I pretended to pay attention to what they were saying but in real sense I was waiting for the microphone to get to her. She was the only person whose name I was really interested in. It moved quite fast with few jokes from me and several students and then it was her turn. She ignored the microphone and continued scrolling on her phone.

I pushed myself off my desk

"One mostly implicit element of the classroom reality is the way that power is manifested in any class. Feeling some degree of power is a basic human need. We all want that. However, due to the fact that the teacher is in the role of the manager of the class she requires power in another form, the power to influence student behavior. It can take many forms including coercion. So tell me my dear, would you want me to exalt my power over you in this moment or will you willingly take the microphone and introduce yourself?" By the time I finished that small lecture, I was standing directly in front of her desk. I took the microphone from her desk and stretched my hand towards her waiting for her to pick it. With a roll of her eyes she took it. I had started trying to imagine what her voice would sound like but I had not anticipated that it would cause the hair at the back of my neck stand with respect.