Metal.Fangs

FIRST ENCOUNTER.

 They say, you never really feel the departure of a loved one until after everyone who came to comfort you during the loss leaves after the burial. Tinani was left alone and even though the sky was ready to send forth showers of comfort towards her way, she was sure the Wepesi would not help her heart feel lighter in any way. She stood by the window, she thought of  how life would have been like had her mother been alive to see her and her brother through the journey of life. She wondered what it would be like to have a complete family like those she would see around the village. She felt a sharp feeling of pain, like a hot sharp spear had been pushed right through her heart. She took in a deep breathe then continued into her deep thoughts. She remembered her brother who left for the capital a while ago and has never written to Babu Iman or her all this time he had been away. She felt pain that despite everything their grandfather had done for them, her brother was still this ungrateful. She wondered what had come over the once kind, strong and grateful brother she had. She felt yet another sharp pain on her chest. Still lost deep in thoughts, Tinani remembered how good she and her brother felt the very first time they had an encounter with their true self. Babu Iman had brought them a tender lamb that one of his sheep had just delivered. He then made a tiny cut on its neck. "Come my children", Babu Iman said as he held them closer to him. "Close your eyes and just use your noses to smell the fresh blood." In not more than a minute, Towet pounced on the lamb. Soon, he was lost in this new side of him that he never new existed. Babu Iman slowly took the lamb from him and handed it over to Tinani who also loved every drop of blood she sucked from the lamb. "This is who we are children. Our people get our identity from our mothers-women of the original Chumaa clan. If our mothers breed with men who's both or either parents are from the original clan of Chumaa, then powerful creatures like us are born." Babu Iman explained .Remembering when she first came to meet her true self made her pain even sharper. In that moment, Tinani felt the kind of thirst she first felt when Babu Iman first brought them a lamb to drink from.

Tinani woke up at the last wind to dawn. She was woken up by an extreme cold. She was met with a rude shock when she found herself in an animal shed surrounded with ten dead sheep. She immediately connected the dots after seeing herself covered in a pool of blood. Her grief had brought out her true self. Previously, she had been feeding on animal blood more humanely when Babu Iman was still alive. On this night however, she did it like an animal. She attacked like the original people of Chumaa did whenever they were overwhelmed with emotions. In that moment, she remembered Babu Iman telling her that she would not want to know what happens should the originals get angry or filled with grief. Tinani quickly left for her grandfathers hut before the sun could come out. In the hut, she quickly cleaned herself up and hid her bloody sisal skirt and animal skin top under the barrel where clean water was always stored.

The three horns of distress were blown immediately the owner of the shed discovered what had happened. Tinani was still in shock. She had sucked life out of animals in a manner she had never imagined and what was worse is that she really felt good. She did not know whether to feel bad that she had made a home ten sheep poor or feel good for the first time since her guardian left her to join the gods. When still in the state of indecisiveness, she had a knock at the door followed immediately with her bestfriends voice. "Titi open up, open up!" Niwa said in the voice she always talks in whenever she wanted to deliver the latest village gossip to  her friend. Tinani opened the door and let her friend in. "Titi you know those savages are back"

"What savages?

"The ones who used to feed on live animals and fellow humans!"

"You mean the originals huh?"

"No. The savages. I really do not think they deserve to be called the originals. The originals are us, who forced them to stop being beasts and act like humans."

"Okay, what have they done?"

"Can you imagine they sucked dry ten sheep at the shed next to the well? This is the reason why the other parts of the country decided to completely cut off the entire island. They think we are all savages. We can not really blame them. I remember your brother Towet in our last night together told me he wanted to live and not come back. That he would leave and not come back. Sometimes I miss him but again whenever I think of his wise wise words, I understand him more. This morning makes me think of him more."

"Towet is a coward, do not take him seriously. Shall we go over to the shed and see for ourselves?" Tinani dismissed her friends concerns as she put an end to their conversation.

At the shed near the well, Tinani and Niwa were keenly listening to the village elders talking and trying to come up with ways of catching these savages who had found their way back into their village. According to the villagers, it was obvious that the savages were more than one since one person could not kill all those sheep within such a short time and at the same time feed on them that fast. Good enough for Tinani, the elders had come to believe that only the originals had that kind of strength to quickly catch and feed on animals, according to them, no original was able to walk in the sunlight and that would be a good starting point for them as they would go knocking on doors during the day, asking the villages to step in the sun. They were poorly educated on their history and had not had of the hybrid originals, the once who came from the lineage of Tan Chumaa. Tinani gave a stupid grin and signaled her friend to follow her home. 

Tinani was finally all by herself after Niwa left. Was Towet right to leave? Was it true that they were savages? She had a drum full of questions to ask herself. She thought of how much she had disappointed her grandfather Babu Iman. She thought of numerous times he had always told her why it was very important for hybrid originals to contain their anger and grief. Babu Iman always said  that in the heat of extreme grief or anger, their original desire for warm fresh blood is always inevitable. Hybrids are prone to extreme thirst when angry, Babu Iman used to say, extreme emotions tend to introduce them to their original selves and those around them normally suffered the aftermath. To push the current events away from her mind, Tinani took a deep breathe and quietly told herself that there was nothing she could do to bring back the animals. Life had to continue, she however promised herself to do better, to keep going back to her grandfathers teachings for a better future. She decided to finally clean her skirt and top to get rid of any evidence that might lead to any further questioning during the questioning of the entire village  as the elders had planned before.

The following day at around noon, Tinani had a knock at the door. It was the village elders together with Winam the highly respected head of the village warriors. "Good day daughter, sorry to disturb. I believe you already heard about the tragedy that has befallen us as the people of Chumaa. We are politely asking you to just step into the sun and also allow us to check if at all there could be anyone inside the hut." Winam said trying to be as polite as possible considering the loss Tinani had suffered few days ago. She stepped into the sun as directed and while doing so, a man went inside the hut to check if there was anyone else apart from Tinani. After they confirmed that there was no one in the house, Winam thanked Tinani, assured her that she was not to be afraid just because she was living alone and obviously had no family left in the village to take care of her, he and the rest of village heads would ensure that she was safe. '"Safe huh? Keep me safe? What could a bunch of impure blood do to keep me safe?" Tinani asked herself. The death of Babu Iman had torn her apart. It left her wondering how life would continue without her only guide. Her brother Towet was supposed to be present. They were supposed to share this grief together but sadly, she was all alone with no shoulder to lean on.

Despite Tinani promising herself that she would do better, she was yet to blunder again . The second night after she had attacked a flock of sheep next to the village well, she knew there was someone she would like to pay a visit. Her own father. Grief and unanswered questions had made her  build anger towards her father. This man killed her mother and was given a very light fine. Her father lived several huts and bushes from where they did. Babu Iman only showed him to her about three times and never tolerated any questions about him either from her or Towet her brother. When grief took the better part of her, she decide to knock on her old man's door. "I want to talk to my father" Tinani told her fathers wife who took over her mothers house immediately her mother was killed in cold blood. "No way I will be allowing a beast to enter my house" that was the response Tinani got from the woman who took over her mothers house. In that moment, extreme anger took over her and the only thing she remembered was the voice of her father screaming for help. She immediately realised that she had not only killed a human being for the first time, but also exposed herself to the villagers. She had blown her cover. She had revealed her true self. She left in the speed of wind. The only person she could plead with to help her out was her bestfriend Niwa.

Tinani knocked at the door. Niwa's father opened. "Come on in daughter, your friend is in the kitchen. "He said. Tinani nodded her head very fast as she walked passed her friend's father. "Can i trust you with my life my dear bestfriend?" Tinani said while shaking. "Yes, you know you can trust me my mothers daughter."

" I need you to hide me. They are coming for me."

Tinani had finished talking when a loud knock accompanied with a lot of noise were heard at the door. Niwa always had a very shallow tunnel in the kitchen that she made to allow her get out of her fathers compound to meet with her man friend Towet before he left for the capital. In the Chumaa community, it was always considered a taboo for an unmarried young woman to be seen alone with a man. Where children were already in puberty, boys were to build their own mud huts with dry grass roofs while girls, upon reaching puberty, were to sleep in their mothers kitchen until her family found the right suitor for her, or until a man who believed in himself decided to elope with the woman whenever she went to the river to fetch water or whenever she went to fetch firewood. With the noises becoming louder and louder, Niwa decided to hide her friend in the tunnel and perfectly covered the floor with the clay pot usually meant to keep the drinking water cool through the hot seasons. "Give us the beast!" that was the voice of Winam the head of warriors. After being told what had happened Niwa's father quickly rushed to the kitchen only to find his daughter cooking the evening meal as if Tinani was never there. "Do you know what she has done? where is she? daughter she just killed a woman in cold blood!" He said. Niwa could not believe what she was hearing, it caught her off-guard. She was aware her best friend was running from a group of people but it never occurred to her that her friend was a savage. The good thing about this clan is that the kitchen was always at the back of the house. For anyone to get to the kitchen, you had to exit the resting area through the back door then enter the kitchen which was a small building with three huge cooking stones. Niwa lied that her friend had just left in a hurry and that she followed the small foot path next to the pit latrine her father had recently dug within the compound.

Niwa had just finished a very long talk with her father who was very worried about her and had made her promise him that she would run or call for help whenever she saw Tinani. "Will you hurt me if I let you out?" Niwa asked her best friend who assured her that she would not. Both friends had a very long talk. Niwa promised her friend that she would stick by her no ,matter what. Sticking by her also meant that she would help her escape the village before morning since there were worriors looking for her all over the village. They both knew that making Tinani run to the neighbouring villages was not an option since everyone was aware she would likely run to the nearest village for help. Their only option was the capital, a place so far that no body in the village ever knew of. Another reason why the neighbouring clans in the island was a terrible idea is because every clan in the island believed that it is because of the originals that they were viewed as savages, also, all clans in the island had  peacefully accepted to intermarry, most people of the Chumaa felt it good to give up their true selves and be like the people whom they decided to marry. Over the years, assimilation and the need to not be seen as animals caught up with the Chumaa people, however, Babu Iman believed that there was need to stay true to their roots and not be like the children of the sun who had corrupted their beliefs. He handed over every lesson and ways of the originals to his granddaughter. She was now into the deep and lucky for her, Niwa would stand by her to the end.

Tinani and Niwa left the village. Niwa wrote a letter asking her parents to forgive her for standing by her friend. The two decided to slide out of the village quietly at dark. On their way towards the village gates, they could see smoke coming from Babu Iman's homestead. The villagers had decided to completely burn down his home. Most villagers were not asleep yet due to fear and others were just carried away by the latest gossip. "No wonder Babu Iman has seen tragedy after tragedy. Even the gods did not want him" one of the gate guards was heard saying. Tinani attempted to confront him when Niwa remind her of what would happen if she got caught. Tinani did not care at all at this point. She pounced on the two gate guards and broke their necks as she quickly opened the gate to head out of the village. The two managed to get out as Niwa was still in shock at what her friend had just done. "What are you?" she asked. " A beast" her friend answered. The two kept walking towards the lake that divided the island from the mainland. For a long time, Tinani thought her brother had left the village by bus. Niwa gave a very silly laugh. " There has never been a bus. From a very long time, the government on the main land has always thought of us as cannibals. Everyone on that side of the country believes that we are all savages that is why , to protect the humans on the other side, we had to be cut off and the initial bridge destroyed." Niwa explained. " Then how did Towet leave the island?" Tinani asked. "We came all the way from the village, right through here then down towards the end of the villages where there is just but a thick forest with dangerous animals. There are men who accept payment of any kind in return of offering passage from the island to the mainland." Niwa explained. "Why did he leave me and Babu Iman?" Tinani asked. "  Your brother wanted more than the island could offer ,he thought the island was way too simple for him. He also told me he wanted to be a proper human being. Now that I see you, I understand what he meant. " Niwa said.

The two friends finally came to the end of the villages. " Niwa, do not be afraid, I will protect you through the forest." Tinani told her friend who nodded like she perfectly understood what her friend met. The fishermen who also offered passage to the mainland noticed the two new faces. The two ladies did not have anything to offer to the fishermen. In order to give them sweet hope, Niwa and Tinani promised the men 'great company' on the fourth and last day of their voyage. This worked like a charm. The two friends were given food, blankets and fresh water throughout their journey across the lake. When they finally came to see the main land, the ladies decided to scream for help saying they had been held hostage. In this world, sometimes you get to win by being a jerk. Never forget that.