AMAMÌHE

Chapter 6

It appeared I was right. It was raining only in our compound, my farm included. I stepped out of our compound and it was really sunny on the other side. What was going on? Confusion stirred in my head. I stepped back into our compound and the downpour was much. I stepped back outside. Still sunny. People had already begun to notice the strange rainfall in our compound, they stared in awe and disbelief but that didn't stop them from bringing out their clay pots to collect water. Our compound space was now filled with different sizes of pots kept under the rain to collect water and people made trips making our compound seem like a tourist center. Ada and her younger brother were already filling our pots too. I saw Ola come in with her sisters and some neighbours. She waved at me and I waved back. Word really travelled fast. I went into my room and forced myself to have some rest, with everything, if you had some minutes of sleep, you were lucky. The strange occurings happening lately was too much to handle.

The next morning, it wasn't raining. Ada was sweeping the compound when I left my hut. She looked up at me and offered me a smile which I returned. I was going to finish clearing that farm today. As I headed out, Mama, Ifeoma and her son came along. Ada was to cook for us. We cleared what was left and we also found more yams. More than enough yams to do us for a long time. The yams we found today we're stashed in my hut and we'd already planned how to share some yams amongst our relations, some neighbours and Ola of course. If we still shared, we would have enough to do us for three months. Having three months amongst all this evil was magic.

The people we had gifted those yams were surprised as to how we had food and enough to even give out.

I decided to rest for the next two days to gain enough strength to enable me start planting on my already cleared land. I wasn't sure if the seeds I would put into the soil would germinate but I hoped they will.

Currently, I was on my bamboo with my feet on Ola's laps. She was massaging them. Work in the farm wasn't a piece of cake and my feet hurt a lot.

" I want us to get married soon" Ola said so softly. I almost did not hear her.

" What? Why?" I was honestly confused.

My response made her working hands still for a moment on my feet. She raised her eyes to mine in question, then lowered them and continued with the massage not saying a word

" Ola....there is no need to worry. It is and forever will be only you for me. We've talked about this. We'll wait till everything is over. We..."

" What if I don't want to wait anymore?"

" The ceremony..."

" You know I don't care about that. What matters is that we get married."

" Ola, you know I can't do that. I am a man and I won't settle for less. I would not let people mock me and I would not let people mock you either. We will get married after everything dies down and it would be a ceremony to be remembered. Be patient with me. Please."

"What if we all die before then? What will happen?"

" You know that is not happening anytime soon" something was definitely wrong and I was sure she was deeply worried but I didn't know what it could be. She needed to talk to me.

" We have enough food and the diseased are getting healed. The gods sent us rain after a year. Things are getting better. What is wrong? Is there a problem?"

" I.." she looked away " Amam, we .."

People rushing into the hut cut her off mid sentence. I watched as Ada and her brother hurried into the hut. They ran like they were being chased. Ada hurried to the floor beside my wooden chair and deposited herself there. Her face was in her hands and her shoulders shook vigorously. She was crying. Had someone done something to hurt her? That person would pay badly. I watched as her brother closed my doors and windows and sat besides her.

I and Ola shared a look before I got up, walking towards them and knelt in front of Ada.

" What happened?" I whispered to her brother.

" They are here" he whispered back

" Who is here?"

" The people that take people away. They are in our village"

" Which people?"

" They take people away on moving houses and never bring them back. They are there reason Nwadike has no person in it anymore"

He was looking at me like I was a foreigner. Like I hadn't been part of this village for the past one year. Like I knew nothing of what had been happening. I knew the people he spoke of and if I said I didn't feel chills crawling up my spine, I was a liar. These people were brutal, unforgiving and merciless. They took lives like they owned it. No one could stand up to them. No one could challenge them. Those that have tried were cut into pieces and were definitely not alive anymore. This was the first time they had ever come to our community. I panicked for some seconds. Where was Mama? I silently prayed she was safe in her room and I knew Ola's people would be so worried.

I touched Ada lighly on her arm. " Stop crying. Be quiet. You'll be fine. They wouldn't get to us." I kept on whispering to her until she got calm. I crawled to the other side of the room and motioned for Ola to come sit by me. She was so scared. We all were. We waited in my room in our positions for the whole day and silently praying the gods would save us.