CHAPTER ONE

SEALED ENVELOPES

8 YEARS AGO
16th JULY 2016

Jamila Stevens sits in the living room of her family home and eats some smoked beef Simba chips as she watches reruns of the Queen.

She picks up her phone at the sudden ding sounds of her phone. She groans at the amount of WhatsApp messages that were coming in from the parents group of her school for the grade 5's. She had been added because of her fathers work trip.

She scrolled through the countless texts about  'welcome home braai's ' or 'chisanyama trips.' The eighteen year old muted the group chat before going to the chats between herself and her father.

The latest ones had been of her sending him pictures of Nala going on her hockey camp for the first weekend of the holiday. He hadn't even read them at all. There was only one tick and it was grey which worried the girl slightly.

She then remembered who her father was. He could handle himself more than most knew including herself.

He'll be fine, she tells herself over and over until she calmed down. She checked the time and noticed how her sisters bus was about to get it the school.

She switches off the tv and walked over to her bedroom and dresses into something decent. She also goes to her fathers room and takes a random button up shirt of his.

Afterwards she goes around the house and closes the windows and makes sure all the doors are locked.

She loooks at her phone. It's 9:45 meaning that her sisters bus would arrive at the school in an hour and forty five minutes. 

She thought to herself and decided to get her some breakfast or brunch from Mugg&Bean.

She gets her dads car keys, house keys and her wallet. After locking the door behind her she presses the blue button on the remote making the garage open. She gets into the car.

✦✧✦✧

Everett Ross sits at an outside table at Mugg and Bean with a thousand thoughts swarming his mind.

A latte was in his right hand and a sealed envelope gripped in the other.

His eyes scanned over the name that was plastered on the paper. The person this was going to.

JAMILA LINDIWE STEVENS

He was about to drive down to the post office and give them the envelope that needed to get to the recently eighteen year old.

Memories of the past few days flashed in his mind. One minute he was interrogating Klaue , the next he was shot in the spine and woke up in the true Wakanda.

The secrets of the country were revealed to him as they saved his life.

One thing he didn't expect was to see the man who was said to have been American and have children of his own show up to fight for the throne.

But Erik Stevens was the wake up call that Wakanda needed. It was unfortunate that he had to die for the message to finally send through.

Now the American sat in a South African coffee shop trying to gather up the courage to mail the letter that would change the lives of two children.

He didn't know why it was so hard for him, usually he'd just send the letter from the states but this time he felt like he should come and hand deliver it. They deserved to know as soon as possible.

Then he heard the faint sound of a girl asking for a table before she was lead right past him, it was her.

She sat a few tables away from him with a smile on her face.

Her day, no life was about to be changed with a single conversation.

Ross took a deep breath, he put the envelope in his pocket before standing up and walking to the young girls table.

He found the girl texting someone on her phone, not noticing that he was there. He cleared his throat making the girl look up. She quickly put her phone on the table.

"Ross? Hi. What are you doing here?" Jamila asked before the man sat on the chair across from her. "Well not that my dad doesn't like seeing you but he's on a trip."

The man frown slightly, she really didn't know anything. "I am actually here for you."

"Oh." She readjusts her seating position. "What's up?"

He began to reach into his pocket and held the envelope in his hands and placed it in his lap.

"Where did your dad say he went?" Ross asked.

"He went to see an old friend of his in Oakland and visit my grandmother." She explained.

"Kid there's something you need to know." Ross says as he takes out the envelope. "I don't think your dad told you everything."

She sees the envelope but doesn't pry. "What do you mean?" 

"Your father...he." Ross began making Jamila tilt her head slightly. If it was up to him he would've told her that the king of Wakanda was the reason he was here. "Your father he's."

He slid the envelope to her. Jamila's eyes widened before she grabbed it. She slid her finger under the tab and opened it. Ross could see the panic pooling in her eyes as she pulled out the letter.

"Dear Miss Stevens, we regret to inform you..." her breath hitched as she read the rest. "What happened?"

"Miss Stevens I can't-"

"You flew all this way to deliver this letter. Telling me that my father is dead I deserve to know what the hell happened." Jamila says growing annoyed.

"There was an engine failure in the plane he was on and the pilots initiated an emergency landing and told everyone to get out" Ross started to explain as flashes of the day before filled his mind, he had to lie to her. "Everyone had gotten out when your dad noticed that someone was missing." Another lie.

"So he went back into the plane to find them but by the time the person he was looking for got out the plane and gathered with everyone else your father hadn't and-" he lies once more

"And what? What happened Ross?"

"There must've been a gas leaked because seconds after the person joined the other passengers the plane exploded , with your father inside it." The man finished explaining as Jamila tried to hold her tears back. "I'm so sorry kid."

"Uh, I need to get my food and go fetch my sister." The girl says as she takes the envelope from the table and walks to the bar to fetch the food.

✦✧✦✧

As Jamila drove down the street to her sister's school she took very deep, long breaths to try stop herself from crying but every now and then a tear would slip out and she'd quickly wipe it away while others left tear marks on her face.

She greeted the school security guard as she drove in and found a parking spot.

Jamila glanced at the envelope in the seat next to her. She quickly picked it up and stuffed it into the glove compartment.

All with good timing because the bus with the hockey team drove in. The girl watched the bus drive past into its designated parking spot and could see her sister laugh with her friends and teammates.

Her lips curled slightly at the sight but turned back into a frown with the realisation that she would have to tell her the news.

Jamila's breathing hitched before she opened the car door. She wiped her face before walking towards the group of girls pooling out the bus.

Her eyes scattered as she searched for the eleven year old. When she spotted her she sprinted towards her. When Nala Stevens spotted her sister running towards her she began to run too.

Nala wore an excited and happy smile while Jamila wore a relieved but saddened smile.

The moment Jamila reached her sister she picked up the eleven year old and spun her around making her giggle. When she put her down Nala's arms stayed around the older girls waist and Jamila practically clutched onto her sister.

The two stayed like that for a few moments before they separated, Jamila kneeled down to the younger girls level and did their 'secret' handshake before hugging her again. This time catching Nala off guard but she hugged back regardless.

"Hii." The eleven year old beamed.

"Hey kiddo." She smiled slightly, Nala could feel that something was wrong.

"Your heart was beating really fast." Nala pointed out. "Are you okay?"

Jamila's small smile shifted into a slight frown as she thought about ways of telling her younger sister that their father was dead.

"Yeah I'm fine, I just ran all the way here." Jamila assured. "Come on, let's go."

Minutes later the two were sitting in the car and stuck in traffic. The two sisters softly hummed to the song playing on the radio.

"Mila." Nala called.

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" The girl asked again.

"Yeah I am." She responds before stepping on the ignition and driving.

"You are a terrible liar, dad and I have been saying that for years."

The mention of their father made tears pool in her eyes but she cleared her throat to stop them from slipping out. Nala noticed and wore a concerned look on her face, her sister was never like this.

"I'll tell you at home." Jamila promises, Nala nods her head.

✦✧✦✧

When the two sisters get home Nala goes to take a quick shower while Jamila sets up their food.

Ten minutes later Nala came prancing down the stairs with a bounce in her step. She made her way to the table where her older sister had set up a glass of Oros and a bowl of cashews.

Nala's favorite snack.

"Ooo cashews." She cheers as she picks up one and puts it into her mouth and chews it with a satisfied smile on her face.

The smile fades when she notices her sister holding back tears. "What's wrong?"

Jamila takes a deep breath before taking her sisters hands in her own.

Nala looks more concerned than before as she feels the way Jamila's hands are shaking.

"What I'm about to tell you will change everything, but I promise to do the best I can to keep us in our home." Jamila starts, her sister tenses up.

"JJ, you're scaring me."

She lets out a shuddered breath. "Um dad... uh he's."

"Dad's what? What's wrong with dad?" The moment Nala finished those words she looked into her big sisters eyes and saw her answer.

The eleven old forcefully pulls her hands away and stares at her sister in horror.

"No." She whimpers as tears pool in her eyes. "Tell me this is a lie. Tell me that this is some sort of sick prank you and him are pulling."

Nala begs as she backs away from the table while slowly shaking her head. "Please tell me that he'll walk through that door right now."

Jamila's lips quivers as a few tears slip out her eyes. "Nala I-"

She doesn't get to finish her sentence because next thing she knows her sister is running down the hall and into her room, slamming it shut.

Jamila takes a deep breath before going after her. Once she reaches the girls door, she opens it and finds the girl wrapped in the blanket her father got for her years ago.

The seventeen year old feels her heart shatter at the sounds of her baby sisters soft, quiet sobs. She climbs onto the bed and lies down behind the girl. The moment she wraps her arms around the girl and rests her chin on her head, she feels Nala roll over to face her older sister before burying her face in her sisters chest.

She sobs, wails, cries as she clenches onto the fabric of Jamila's shirt. Soaking it with tears. Jamila bats her eyes, holding back tears as she strokes her baby sisters hair before kissing the top of her head, letting a few tears soak into her curls.

"We'll going to be okay. I promise."

AUTHORS NOTE!!!
here's a flashback to start this journey off

For those who may be confused, their father was Erik Stevens aka Kilmonger

These two deserve better and it's only going to get worse for them lol

but they'll be okay

I hope👀

Anywhoo hope you enjoyed