Deborah

Episode 4

Deborah came to herself woken up by sharp pains. She lay writhing in pain, her head ached, her whole body ached, she felt the sharpness of the guinea grass on her delicate skin, ‘where am I’ she wondered?
She had no idea how long she had passed out. She managed opening her eyes to see that the night had gotten dark and only the voices of croaking toads and hisses of night animals could be heard.
she shuddered at the thought of being bitten by a snake, but what could she do? She tried to move her feet but they felt numb, then she perceived the smell of fresh blood on her palms, it was night and she couldn’t see much, she also had a throbbing headache but the wetness of her hands made her realise she had bled profusely.

She struggled to get up and began groping in the darkness of the night, she had to go back home, she had to find a way back to her mother.

In the pitch darkness and also in her panic, she didn’t realise there was a gutter right in front of her. Suddenly she and she fell right into it and let off another loud scream.

‘God be with me’ she whispered, “help me”
She wondered what had happened to her money and her goods bag, then the memories came back in pieces then in whole and she bit her lip in frustration, she had been robbed by some hoodlums, she recalled how one almost assaulted her, wiping a tear she thanked her stars the criminal hadn’t succeeded.

While lying there and gathering strength she debated on what to do next. She didn’t have enough knowledge of the terrain to know if she wouldn’t fall into another pit or into the hands of other hoodlums. She finally realised that the best decision was to lay quiet and wait for the break of dawn.

The night dragged in an annoying manner, it was as if it would never end. The crickets and frogs seemed louder that night than at any other time known to her. It was all so disconcerting.

After a while, the tiredness and the pain started to get to her and she found herself drifting of to sleep. Suddenly from nowhere, she felt a hand on her shoulder followed by a light tap and the words ‘dakkada, eyo asiere’. Startled she opened her eyes but her gaze fell on no one. Deep fear gripped her and she quickly started to pray.

From nowhere, some voices seemed to come from a distance away, getting louder as they got closer to her. She lay flat inside the muddy gutter, desperately trying to hide herself and be invisible. From afar, it seemed like a bright pattern of yellow lights, dancing and singing an eerie tune. As the voices got closer she realized they were people – religious worshippers in fact. Their looked frightening and she was sure they didn’t have any good agenda. ‘Lord send down your light’ she prayed, wondering how much longer she would have to wait for morning to come. She remembered her friend Sarah and prayed she got better.

The religious worshippers approaching her stopped before a big akana tree, their candles illuminated the atmosphere and their singing dimming the sounds of the night, she peeped as much as she could from the gutter and saw a newborn being placed underneath the tree, then the leader, a heavily bearded man brought out a little dagger and cut the baby’s foreskin. She heard the shrill cry of the baby and it made her want to jump out of her skin.

She held her eyes shut praying harder for dawn. She wondered why someone would want to circumcise a child at that time of the night. The night seemed to wear longer. She became very scared watching the people and la!d down. After what looked like a long time, she heard the honking of trailer and felt relieved as it indicated that dawn was finally closing in.

she wondered what the religious sect would do and raised herself up to see more. She saw no trace of human presence, only the soft glow of the candles that were scattered on the ground. Just then, the sun started it journey and spread her light on the clouds, giving them a beautiful indigo color.

Deborah sighed in herself, “time to return home: Dawn had come” she said to herself. The events of the night would forever be etched in her memory. She said a silent prayer, got out of the gutter and walked as fast as her feeble legs could carry her.

Morgarna threw the kettle shaped alarm to the other side of her room, she didn’t want to be disturbed, she was having a very nice dream.

Finally, she had stood before the altar with Ani as they were taking their vows, she looked charming in her white gown and blue sapphire earrings to match and the man that stood before her was looking every inch of his beautiful body like a god, ‘you may kiss the bride’ the bald priest said as he pronounced them man and wife,he placed his seductive lips on hers and they got entangled with flames of passion, as she kissed on she felt something sharp on her chin, she blinked and woke up to find her little dog, Tarzan licking her face, she threw him down and picked up her phone.

’19 missed calls from Ani’ she exclaimed hoping nothing was wrong with her baby, he had never called her this early, something was up and she didn’t feel right,
‘ hello Ani goodmorning, is everything okay’? she breathed hopelessly,
he simply chuckled at the other end of the phone

‘ calm down baby, am okay, lets meet at my house tonight for a date, and come with gifts; Seline and Clarabella are back’,
she gave a triumphant ‘yay’ and blew him a kiss. She smiled and kissed his picture, staring at it, like it was her own holy grail, but he was of course. He was her beginning and her end, she couldn’t imagine loving any other man like Aniebiet Brigass, she knew deeply he was god’s gift to her and no woman could take that away
Morgana quickly made her way to the gym in her home As it wasn’t far from her room. Working out always kept her in shape.

one hour later, she was done. She got back to her room, took a shower and dressed quickly. She carefully selected the clothes she will wear for the dinner date, wondering the latest gossip Seline must have brought from overseas. She was suddenly excited, this dinner date promised to be much more exciting than any other.

Deborah returned home around 4.a.m in the morning, feeling all weak and nauseous, surprisingly the compound was already bubbling with activity, then she remembered today was the big market day : Itam market was the largest in Uyo and many traders and hawkers like herself patronized goods from there as they came at a far cheaper price. Although she felt weak, she planned going to the market to get fresh plantain at a cheaper price, she had to work again to make up for the money that was stolen from her.

‘Mama Debo come oooo, Sweet Chocolate is back’ one of her neighbors screamed, the rest rushed to welcome her like she had gone on a journey,
Her mother rushed out with tears in her eyes and broke down, ‘where have you been Sweet Chocolate? it is not in your habit to sleep out’

your mother was worried about you’ her landlord said kindly,
they had kept a vigil in wait for her return asking her sister and other people in the area questions; it was unusual for Debora to stay out late, no, that would be her sister, the wild rose, but Deborah was a good girl in everyone’s eyes, she was a delicate rose.

‘ I was kidnapped’ was all she could muster. On hearing this, her mother stopped crying, then broke into a song of thanksgiving to God for this testimony, ‘ Utibeima..Jesus ama de mi, ami mmo yom akanam kwe….’, she sang wholeheartedly and the others joined her.