Ayira The Princess
I was thrown into a room as my body fell forward with a hard thud. Looking back, I saw the closet door shut as the sound of clothes fell against the door from inside.
“Maggie?” I called out, barely above my natural voice.
I looked around the dark room where it was simply a small bright pink bed, and other room furniture placed around the space.
I saw the pictures taped to the mirror on the wall that sat above a series of drawers.
Everything was colorful and bright with toys piled in one woven basket.
There was even a set of markers and colored paper placed on a desk that was held up by giant pencils.
I looked up and noticed stars and the moon that had a bright green glow stuck to the ceiling before looking down at the bed.
This was a child’s bedroom, and not just any child.
Slowly, I stood up and walked over to the nearest picture frame where I saw Maggie being held by an older woman.
Her mouth was covered in red juice and mushed fruit, staining her chin as she held a half bitten strawberry.
Her white hair was covered up by a big hat, but it wasn’t hard to miss when a curly strand dangled down her face.
This was her bedroom when she was a little girl.
“Maggie?” I called out again, looking towards the door. That’s when I heard the noise coming from the outside, something like water running and glass clinking together. I started for the door to peek open, letting my ear listen first as the smokey scent of meat filled the air between the cracks.
“Come on out, Princess,” a man’s voice said. “Maggie ain’t here just yet but she’s on her way.”
His accent was hard to place when I pulled the door further back and stepped forward into the hallway.
I followed the noise that I assumed was coming from the kitchen until I came out in the open space.
There, a man stood behind the stove with a cast iron pan in his hand.
Shirtless, he reached in the cabinets above to grab seasoning before opening a pack of round meat with a red band wrapped around its edges.
His hair could only be explained as thick black roots that stuck up like legs of a spider in every which direction.
The black shorts hung low on his hips showing another grey layer of material underneath and bare feet on the tiled floor.
I darted towards the first chair with my eyes on the front door, seeing a peek of sun shining through the windows but when I looked back, the man continued to cook, placing his meat on the pan before stepping back as it popped and fried.
“Shit!” He fussed. Leaning down, he turned the heat up before nodding proudly at his work.
That’s when he finally turned to look at me with a smile.
“Like I said, she’ll be here in a minute.
Just sit down somewhere and wait.” I remained standing as he shrugged. “Fuck it then. Yo call, not mine baby.”
Flustered at the thought of him calling me baby, I shook my head and looked around.
This was indeed her family home only there were no pictures of her as an adult, just as a little girl.
I heard the man cough as he spun a loaf of bread wrapped in plastic in the air only to drop it to the counter in a playful manner.
He began making his meat sandwiches, stacking one on top of the other as each round of meat bubbled in the center and charred on the edges.
When he had at least four stacked like a tower on his paper plate, he came to the living room and plopped down in the cushioned chair with content.
The small dangling chain around his neck swished back and forth when he placed his foot on the glass table in the center.
“Hand me that red cup over there,” he suddenly said with a point.
I looked at the kitchen, seeing the large plastic red cup before cautiously gripping it to bring back to him.
When he didn’t say anything else, I finally took the chance to sit across from him as he continued to hum and mutter to himself with a bob of his head.
How did he know about Maggie and I coming? Where is she and more importantly, why are we supposed to be here? He did not speak a word to me. Just chewed his food while I anxiously squeezed my hands in between my knees.
“May I ask who you are?” I started. He had no intention of speaking to me at first but as he brought his fist to his mouth, he took a deep swallow.
“Me?” He let out with a small burp. He leaned back on the couch and made himself comfortable. “Call me Akil…my name given by the people is Anansi the Spider.”
“A spider?” I asked with a smile. “You do not look like a spider to me.”
“No? Good…Means I’m doing something right with my life,” he scoffed.
“Where is Maggie?” I asked.
“She’s talking with Gaia.”
“The moon?” I questioned with a raise of my voice. He snorted like I was joking.
“Sure, the moon.” he replied with a smirk as he took another bite.
“She’s getting her together right now. Been throwing shit off lately, and the fuck took y'all so long, huh?” He questioned.
“I thought once y'all found a book, I get you out of the library and shit, stick you in a story, and y'all would figure it out. We almost out of gah damn time now.”
He had such a strange way of speaking that I found myself smiling more so than listening.
What an unusual accent. Akil slapped his hands together, brushing away the breadcrumbs as every bit of food was already gone.
I watched him lean forward to pick up what I now know is a blunt thanks to Asha as he took a lighter to flick a flame to the end of it.
“What about me?” I asked with a proud tone. He looked at me with a raised brow as he blew a cloud of smoke. “You know who she is then you should know who I am…especially in relation to her.”
Akil took a deep inhale of his blunt as he leaned back to make himself comfortable. With his other hand, he reached for his unusual prickly peculiar hair and began to twist it from its root. It was almost as if he was comforting himself as his pink eyes gently curled in relaxation.
“What do you wanna know?” He asked as the smoke escaped his lips. “You wanna know your story? I’m good at those…I’m in the business of telling stories.”
“I do.”
The lights in the childhood home suddenly grew dim, matching the orange desert glow from my home back in the Kingdom. Leaning forward, he pinched the blunt one last time, pulled deep from his chest before releasing a thick smoke from his nose that settled into the air.
“On this day…” He reached for the swirl of white smoke that hovered between us and pinched at the cloudy piece that shifted into a swirling ball. “A king that was said to have been made from the sun, gave birth to a daughter…”
I watched in awe as the smoke began to shift into a woman, my mother holding me in her arms while another figure knelt on his knees.
“The palace celebrated the arrival of this princess with the news spreading to the other six territories…”
I watched as the smoke formed men and women dancing underneath the sun with a serpent flying around.
I could hear the laughter. Even smell the smoked meats and sweet fruits of my home, and see my father sit on his throne with me in his arms. My mother standing proudly at his side, having just become the queen.
Then smoke shifted into a flame that suddenly formed legs, and a slender body with hair draped down the backside as it began to walk.
“That is me,” I smiled. Akil looked at me before pulling back on the blunt once more to release another cloud of smoke.
“Y'all mothafuckas know how to party,” he said with a suppressed cough.
“It was nonstop…the music, folks were drunk in the streets, women were out there selling it, and men were out there buying all because of the arrival of a princess who was said to be of rare and royal bloodline. As she got older, the king was having a hard time keeping curious and prying eyes away from his daughter, so he made sure to cover her face and body. So that no man would lay eyes on what he believed to be rare and special…Now, with no birth of a prince from the queen, the king became frustrated with his wife…”
I watched the figure stretched even taller and started to walk opposite of my father while he began screaming angrily at who I believe may be my mother.
She looked over her shoulder at him as a wisp of smoke trickled from her shoulder before continuing to swish from left to right with her hips, unbothered by his rage.
“He was being pressured by other territories and his council as curiosity grew about the famous daughter who is said to be powerful, the most powerful as she is a direct descendant of the sun. The king did everything he could to protect her from those who wanted to harm her…those who wanted to take her. He was offered money, gold, cars, everything…”
I watched as men lined up towards the throne with my father unmoving, but his council whispered behind his back, becoming angry and irritated by his decision.
“People in his own kingdom began to resent the way he was running this country…this territory. The Solhari people were not only prince-less as the king could never produce a proper prince from the chosen queen. He also had a daughter he refused to let go of.”
“He never let me see the world the way he did,” I said.
“Because your father wanted you to take his place on the throne. That…is the truth.”
My lips parted as I stared at the strange smoking man, unsure of what to think. I could not imagine myself on the throne…