Praying for Time

By Kriss Munsya

He was a Black 8-year-old child growing up in Brussels. His teacher, a white male, was 46. The teacher beat the child regularly. At first, the child was beaten for poor marks, but soon the beatings were a mere result of the mood of the teacher. He was the only Black child in the class. He was the only one to get beaten. He was a dreamer, and dreaming was his way out of the nightmare he was living. When he was beaten, he used to play a song in his head to escape reality. He longed to tell his mother and father but his fear of his teacher kept him silent. One morning, he decided if he was hit more than 3 times that day, he would tell his parents. He lost count at 17... - Now that he’s older he wants to reclaim that past he never had. He’s trying to populate his memory with memories of his own to change his future. But memory is a tricky one… There might be some glitches and bugs. And starting to dig the past always brings up unexpected things.