CHAPTER 8

“I don’t think she can make it”

Someone was saying. The words were gibberish and echoed in Ejima’s ears like the voice of some market women, arguing over the price of a goat. Her legs and thigh were on fire and her body ached. Lifting a limb was almost impossible.

She tried to raise her head, but the sudden weight of ten thousand people will not let her. Where am I? She tried to recall. Her memory flashed back and a new pain sparked through her spine. She saw her husband and her best friend in her mind's eyes, smiling together, and laughing at their jokes.

Nonsense thought

She sniffed just as the image of her fall also flashed in her vision. My baby. She panicked but her hands would not move when she tried. The only thing that was moving at the moment was her eyes, which provided her with multiple images.

“Drink this,” A voice seemed to say. The multiple images appeared over her head and poured something into her mouth.

“But she is still breathing” Came another strange voice.

“I can’t say how long,” Another voice said. It was difficult for Ejima to distinguish who was saying what and why.

“But,” The voice continued, or so she thought, “I think the hands of the gods are in this.”

“Hands of the gods my foot. This woman is nothing but calamity and abomination. She is a harbinger of misfortune. We should appease the gods for touching the unclean.”

“Listen to me. I said the hands of the gods because no one could have survived this. She had bled so much when they brought her here, yet she had the strength to bring forth the abominations.”

Ejima’s stomach sank when she heard that. Abomination. That’s a term the midwives use for a child that had not formed properly in the womb or one that had not lived.

Wait a minute...

Did they say, babies? They had said babies, right? How many were they? Could it be that she had those demonic babies in her womb all this while?

“You said something?” One of the women asked as the room suddenly grew quiet.

Ejima licked her lips, not realizing she had spoken out loud. She turned her head and was glad when her body responded. She could feel her nerves again.

“You said, babies. What do you mean by that?”

“Emm…” The woman paused as she exchanged a glance with the other women standing behind her. The multiple images of her face had merged and Ejima could see her. She could recognize that triangular face anywhere. It was Adaku, the midwife she was indebted to.

“There were three babies in your womb. You gave birth to three children, and they lived,”

“What?” Ejima jumped out from the bed as happiness ignited her soul. She couldn’t tell how she had done it, but she felt strength all over her body. It must be the liquid they had given her. But who cares? What matters now was that she still has a place in her husband’s domain. He was going to accept her back, and life will just return to what it used to be.

“Where are they?” Her bright eyes flicked from one woman to the other. Adaku and Buchi were the best midwives in the community.

“They are…” Adaku stammered.

“They have been buried alive,” Buchi shouted, not minding the hands of Adaku which was trying to hush her voice, “Let me speak” She snapped and turned to Ejima, “You should know better when you gave birth to those abominations. Witch” She hissed and walked out of the room.

“Buried?” Ejima’s ears rang from the news. It was hard to believe. She had been without a child for twenty years. Four miscarriages and the only one that had survived, the children she would have called her own, were now buried? No, not just buried. But buried alive?

“I know how you feel,” Adaku said. The wood on the bed complained as she rested her weight on them, “Please take heart.”

Ejima swallowed. She could not feel the weight of her head or her body. Her world was spinning and the throbbing of her heart kept chanting unending in her eardrum. The pain was just unbearable. The cruelty was making her skin crawl. How could this calamity befall her? What was her sin? What offence did she commit that the gods would punish her like this?

“I think you should be more concern about your wellbeing right now.”

“I don’t want to live,” Ejima gnashed her teeth. “What am I living for, who am I living for?”

“Live for yourself my dear” Adaku whispered and place a warm hand on her shoulders, “Live for you.”

“It is so difficult” Ejima blinked and the pool of tears fell, “What have I done wrong, who did I offend? Why are the gods treating me with so much hatred? Why? Haven’t I been a faithful wife? Answer me. Where have my hands gone wrong? Why have the windows of blessing shut their face from me? Why has the rain refuse to water my crop? Or am I a living dead? Why can’t I feel my breath?”

“Emm, I don’t have an answer for you,” Adaku said “but this is what I must tell you. You are a miracle. You survived four miscarriages and on every occasion, you gave birth, not to one child, but two?”

“My God,” Ejima covered her mouth. Nobody has ever told her that before. Well, maybe because she never asked.

“Yes,” Adaku continued, “and today you gave birth to three healthy boys. The first in the history of Ame. You are the first woman to bring forth three abominations. No offence.”

“My children. God my flesh and blood” Ejima buried her nails in her hair as if that would comfort her.

“My dear, I don’t know why these things are happening to you. But, I can sense a greater power at work in your life. Perhaps the finger of God.”

“I am humbled by your words” Ejima whispered, turning her coppery eyes to the woman who before now had shown nothing but contempt and disgust. “You have said nothing kind to me before.”

“And I regret it.” Adaku heaved.

“I forgive you, not that I held anything against you before.” Ejima shrugged.

“Times are hard,” Adaku said and stood up from the bed. “Your life is teaching me a lesson. I am a mother too, and I know how these things could be, sometimes. We all face our demons one way or the other. But this is my advice to you. Greater tomorrow starts with a better today while laying aside the worst yesterday. Don’t let this get to you. Push on, no matter the circumstances”

“Wise words. Thank you so much. You just ease my pain in ways I cannot express.”

“Be strong, my child,” Adaku said as she walked towards the door, but paused when she remembered something. “You and your husband are still owing me forty bags of cowries, and adding today’s service, it would be fifty.”

Ejima nodded, “I haven’t forgotten, I will pay you every penny.”

“Just joking,” The woman chuckled, “I have written off all the debts you owe me, both the new and the old.”

“What?”

“Yes my dear, it is not enough, but take it as a gift. You know, for all the troubles I have caused you these past years.”

“By the ancestors” Ejima exclaimed and covered her mouth to hold back the scream. Her eyes were still watching the empty door. Since her trouble started. No one has been kind to her or had shown her any act of benevolence. But what could have caused the change?

The curtain—made of mat—flapped open and some able-bodied men walked into the room.

The Snake skin cloak and the falcon feather on their helmet, marked them out as the royal guard. They were twice the size of the hut and their heads would have burst out from the roof If they hadn't hunched their features. Their bare chests were vibrating like the current of a flowing river, matching the soulless gaze that covered the chalk circled eyes.

Confusion as well as fright wrapped Ejima's agony. Even as she dragged the mat to hide her nakedness, she could perceive the anger emanating from their gaze.

“You are wanted at the shrine of Amadioha.” One of them said.

“But can I at least change…” Ejima wanted to say, but she yelled when they yanked her out of the bed. Despite her screams and protest, they dragged her out of the room, and one of them carried her on his shoulders as if she was a blade of dried grass.