"Woe unto the bloody city! It is full of lies and robbery..."
(Written).
(Edited).
×~×
The girl froze in fear, her body shivered and her eyes had a faraway look in them. That threat wasn't a bluff; it was real, true and she didn't want to know what would happen if she withheld any information.
“Don't keep us waiting young girl; we have more important things to do than looking at you”. This sentence snapped the girl out of her fear-filled daze, and she spoke, but this ti with a slight tremble in her voice.
“Yes Elders. Like I said, I am her friend, her closest friend”. And without dilly-dallying, she got straight to the point.
“When it all started was when she ca back from the stream at the edge of our territory, after fetching water. Normally, she'd co back before dusk, but on that day, she ca back when the sun was setting looking soaked in water. I had asked her why she was wet and why she was coming back by that ti of the day, but she simply smiled at and entered our hut —” She was interrupted by an inquisitive Elder.
“You said 'our hut', that ans that you were living together, right?” The Chief asked, and was replied with a “Yes, Chief ”.
“Go on” Another urged her.
She took in a deep breath and continued telling them how she had gotten suspicious of the female's movent, which led her to follow the young female. She further told them of how she had seen the female talking to a person from another clan, and how she thought that her friend had been deceived by the male. Telling them that she couldn't take it anymore, “... So I rushed to tell you”. The female concluded with her head bowed.
“So you disclosed this information to us, even though she was your friend?” Elder Kalu asked.
“Yes, I did. Only the gods know what that male had brainwashed her with. Maybe he might be wanting to...” She held herself before she said sothing that would offend the King and Elders.
Petty excuse.
The Chiefs looked at the Igwe, awaiting his decision on the matter, after dismissing the female, keeping her in a separate hut to prevent rumormongers.
Chief Kalu spoke up again; “Igwe! Since we all have heard what she said, the proposal I bring before you is that we should give her a trial —” He was cut short by Chief Dike.
“Elder Kalu!!” He rebuked. “How can you say such a thing as giving her a trial? She should be killed imdiately after all this practice had been upheld since the days of our ancestors, should we now go soft because of that flimsy excuse of a female?” He imposed.
“Elder Dike, always quick to action, however, you need to focus your eyes on the ground — where you're walking — not in the air unless you'd fall. You didn't let finish. Before that interruption, I ant to say that she should be tried before all the clans so that we can see their decision on the matter because ours might not be the best”. Elder Kalu spoke.
The Elders seed to agree on this matter, except for one person. Elder Dike, on hearing their agreent, stord out of the obi in anger. Other Elders looked at him in shock that he could walk out on the Igwe like that, while the King just shook his head, and drew the Chiefs' attention to other matters regarding the community.
~***~
She got tired quickly, as her muscles ached with exhaustion. Carving a bone is not easy, and although it may take a long ti, she would continue until she'd been freed from this hellhole.
Huh? Her ears perked up when she heard whispering outside. She rubbed her eyes after she noticed that she had fallen asleep. When? She didn't know, maybe it was the stress and the fact that she didn't sleep at all. She heard so jingling, and she stretched her head to see who it was, but she couldn't. The only thing she saw was a slender hand giving the guards coins... Coins for what? Her brows furrowed in curiosity until she heard that familiar voice that called out her na.
“______” When she heard it, she shrunk back into the cell, not wanting to converse with anyone. But this person wasn't just anyone, it was the person who carried her in her womb for nine months; it was the sa person who birthed her.
Mother!
She sneered in her mind, but she didn't let it show on her face. It was her sa mother who didn't give a damn about her. She rembered when her mother s — Her trail of thoughts was disturbed when she heard that sweetly sickening voice. Her slanted eyes narrowed at the sight of the slightly aged female standing before her, and she shriveled. The female in the cell didn't utter any word to the older female.
“How have you been?” Her mother mocked her, trying to elicit any emotion from the younger female, and yet, as she didn't receive any response, she still taunted; “Oh wait! I rember now that you're in a cell”. She laughed, her eyes crinkling at the sides.
This made the female talk back, “Of course you wouldn't see that; after all, you are getting old so your eyes are failing you. Amunsu”. She insulted her mother. Forget about respect! She respected her ummi, but she lost that years ago; that's why she lived with her best friend. Now thinking about her, she asked herself if her friend was faring well.
The woman's smile slipped off her face, revealing her true personality beneath that deceiving smile. “Looks like you still have the mouth to talk, eh? If I have never said this, I'll say it now. You're a disgrace to your family, you weren't expected, and now?! You dare soil our family's prestige — our na — in this tribe because of your foolishness. Now I can't go to the market without being gossiped about or looked at weirdly. Girl, a little information, you're unwanted” Her Ma ranted.
Although she didn't frown on the outside, she was saddened by the truth. Her mother was right; she failed to notice it earlier, which made her try to please both of her parents, but it was all for naught. And now that the truth hit hard, her eyes blurred with unshed tears.
The hate in her grew and she spat out, “Go and die so that I can eat your burial rice and dance on your grave. I wish that I was never born into your miserable womb. Yes, I am a disgrace, I know. But you? You are a gold digger, an ashawo, going from one man to another”.
The shock on her mother's face was a revelation that, indeed, what she had said was true, and it was satisfying, to say the least.
“You'd think I wouldn't know? That I wouldn't find out?! Well, I did, and guess what Pa would do if he found out? Your so-called "prestige" would be tarnished... Utterly destroyed. Then I'd laugh and spit at your sagging face and —” She was cut off by a...
Slap?
The space between her and the bars of the cell wasn't much so it was easy for her Ma to reach out to assault her. Her head turned to the side from the force of the slap and her eyes turned wide and wild. She rubbed the aching spot on her face, with her mouth wide open in shock. Slowly she turned her head toward the witch before her. The wildness in her daughter's eyes almost made her take a step back.
Almost.
Before she rembered that the girl sitting in front of her, looking miserable, couldn't do anything to her. She wouldn't dare to.
The female looked at her Ma in shock, and sothing else in her wild eyes — anger. She slowly stood up with her head bent down and her eyes still on her face, then she limped over to the older female. Her eyes gripped the bars of her cell as her body vibrated in anger. Then... She laughed.
It wasn't the kind of laugh that was fake to please soone or one that wasn't intentional. No! It was the deranged kind of laughter that made one shake in wariness. Yet, her mother didn't move an inch, thinking that she wouldn't do anything, but oh was she wrong. It happened so quickly that the woman didn't have any chance to avoid it.
Her hands stretched out of the bars and dragged the woman's afro-cut hair, banging it on the bars of her cell. Not only did she do that, but she continued banging, and then she proceeded to give the woman a resounding slap; one that gave the woman an imprint of her fingers on her cheek.
It imdiately alerted the guards outside as they rushed in to see what the ruckus was all about, only to see the female holding the hair of the older female, making the woman cry out in pain. They were frozen in shock, but when they heard her cry, they rushed into action and separated the two.
She had a satiated smile on her face, but it only hurried the guards to move the older female out of the confinent. A few minutes later, she was greeted with shouting and loud hypocritical weeping, followed by soone stomping into the room. There and then, the young female knew that she was dead.
The man looked at her in fury, as he barked out orders that they should let him in. The guards stood still, not moving until the male grabbed one by the neck. That was when they moved like urchins to grant the man's request, as they opened the cell.
He walked into the cell and gazed at her, making her wish that she would disappear. But thinking back to her Ma's pained face, she knew that it was worth it.
She looked up at the man who was breathing heavily with his fist clenched tightly, and before she could open her mouth to speak, his fist ca in contact with her face making her spin and implant her face onto the sand-filled ground. She spat out the sand that entered into her mouth and gazed at the huge man who looked down at her, before smiling at him, her wild eyes crinkling at the edges just like that of her Ma's.
Her Pa was here.
******_******
The next chapter coming up!
★Ashawo: prostitute.
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