The Journey

Chapter 4

The stench of something burning chocked me just before I felt something cool splash on my face, I realised it was water when it trickled down my skin. The drops of water fell on my skin again, at first I thought I was outside and raindrops fell on me but when I heard screams and groans from my right I gradually rekindled what was going on even though a lash of whip hit my back before I fully realised what happened before then.

It took almost a minute for the pain the whip caused to register in my brain, when it did I found it hard to cry as I scrambled on the floor while I chocked and struggled to open my eyes so that I can escape from the whip before I got hit by it again.

"Stand up! All of you!" A loud and commanding masculine voice which made me jump filled the room.

I wasn't feeling my legs but I tried with all my strength to stand up when I heard the whip lash close to my ear and the way other victims screamed as they responded to the flogging. I just stood in a corner where I was finally able to breath, free from the smoke. My legs wobbled as I was weak, eyes closed and my head hung over.

I licked the water that trickled from my hair down my mouth and wiped my palm on my hair to make it wet. I used my wet palm to rub my eyes to make the sticky substance in them dissolve, it made them open easily. I shut them back immediately, I was scared to look, for a moment, I didn't want to see where I was.

The screams from the other victims told me it was a terrible place and the only place I expected to be was in a place where humans were butchered and their body parts sold for rituals.

A whip lash landed on my back again, I was totally trapped in my thoughts that I forgot I had to avoid the lash. My wet clothes made it so painful that my mouth went dry and it sucked energy from me. I could not even cry except the gasps that escaped from my lips.

My eyes were wide open because of the pain. Fear gripped me when I saw where I was.

The place was dark and smoky, I could not see clearly, but when my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw more than what I bargained for. The wall was made of mud, on the four angles of the wall were empty metal cages. There were black pots in on my right angle that had something cooking in them. The fire beneath the pots were deep red and the crackles from the wood caused mini fireworks. The substance cooking in the pot splashed into the fire continuously and thick white smoke filled the whole space which made the darkness thicker.

The floor was cemented, smooth and a slightly sloppy. Opposite me was an open drainage path which led outside beneath one of the walls.

On each wall were squares painted black, white paints were used to draw skulls on each black square with a splash of red which I was very sure was blood. Human skulls and other bones dangled on the wall opposite me. I stared into the empty skull through the socket and I imagined it was mine. I quickly took my eyes off and turned back only to see something worse.

A very small boy, maybe 6 or 7 years old, maybe younger or older, I could not tell because of the darkness. He knelt at one corner behind me, there was a calabash on his head and the money in it was full to the brim, some fell on the ground. I screamed with my voice which was almost gone and staggered before I fell on the ground.

I looked up while I was still on the ground, The sky was dark - no, black because there was no single stain of white in the sky, there were no stars and moon either. I quickly stood up when I realised that others were still standing.

"Now, I want you all to arrange yourselves in a straight file." The same commanding voice filled the room again. I saw a boy, his face looked young and his frame was thin and tall, he could not be more than 15 years old. He stood in front of us but I looked past him as I scanned the room for the man talking. I did not see anyone else and I found it hard to believe that was his voice.