INKED: Doomed

Chapter 5

May 14, 2081

"The way you're washing those clothes, someone will think they did something to you," Wunmi said as she sat on a bench outside my house, watching me.

She had calmed down a few minutes after Sam left and had been telling me about something her mum had told her, until a few seconds ago when she saw the look on my face as I scrubbed the cloth in my hands.

"I always wash my clothes like this," I responded, scrubbing harder at the cloth.

"True." She nodded. "But still why are you attacking those poor clothes?"

I dropped the clothes in my hand back into the bucket and it landed with a splash. "I just don't see the need of washing inky clothes with inky water."

"Maybe you should look at it as washing dirty inky clothes with clean inky water."

I turned to stare at her as if she had grown two heads.

"What?" she asked, frowning at me.

"I want to say that makes no sense but when I look at it, I realise it does." She smiled at me. "When did you grow so smart?"

She scowled. "It's my fault for deciding to stay with you."

"Why are you even here?" I asked and quickly reframed my question when Wunmi narrowed her eyes. "I mean, I love that you always keep me company but it almost as if you never have any serious work to do."

"That's because I do my things at the right time and mum doesn't have much customers right now so she let me have an hour to myself."

"Lucky you."

"You are always procrastinating things, that's why you always have so much to do."

"Hey, that's not true," I protested.

She raised a brow. "Really?"

Knowing she was right, I looked away from her and focused on washing the clothes. She chuckled, deciding to let it go. She kept me company for a few minutes before going back to her hut to help her mum. I quickly finished washing my clothes and hung it on the cloth line behind out hut. It was a common line, shared by three huts, including ours.

Washing had made me hungry so I decided to get something to eat. Garri and groundnut seemed to be the easiest to prepare now and I was craving for it. Luckily, I had a small bottle of groundnut I had gotten a few days ago. After putting a heavy dose of sugar and groundnut, I sat down with my plate. Tobi had returned as I was preparing the garri and from the way he was looking at my plate, I could tell he was having alonga for my food.

I had just taken a few spoons when I heard sounds on the roof of the hut. Screams erupted outside as I heard people running. I peeked out of the hut and my eyes widened as I realized it was drizzling. People were rushing to get into their huts. It had been a few weeks since rain had fallen in the village and I was a bit surprised. No one could tell when exactly rain would fall, the rain cycle had changed. Rain fell at any time and anywhere. Sometimes, months it was expected, it didn't fall and other times months that it wasn't supposed to fall, it fell. The confusion made it hard to track down when rain would fall. Someone rushed into our hut and Tobi and I turned to look at who it was.

"Sorry, can I stay here?" the man asked wiping at his face.

"Sure," Tobi said.

Two more people rushed into the hut and the man moved aside for them to enter. It wasn't unusual. The rain had a way of infecting or speeding up the infection in people's bodies which was why no one wanted to be caught in the rain. It was a custom in the village that whenever the rain started, a villager could seek shelter in the hut nearest to him or her. Shades were also built around the village, in open places, for those who couldn't get to a hut on time. I hoped Mrs. Abimbola had found shelter. The three people who had entered our hut took up comfortable positions in our sitting room as they waited for the rain to stop.

I looked, through the window, at the inky drops as they fell. Though the water was infected with ink, it was still drinkable and took a long time to affect the body, according to research by some scientists. Apparently, most human bodies developed cells to fight against the infection or slow it down. It was the same with the air, which was why we could drink water and breathe in the ink without fear of being infected. But the inky rain was worse, a few drops of it on a person's body could doom the person. Everyone still remembered the first inky rain and its effect on earth. A lot of people had ended up dead in the months that followed and we had lost our food, both plants and animals. It was the reason why no one wanted to be caught under the rain.

Apart from the sound of the rain outside, it was silent all around. No sound of children playing in the rain or people trying to brave it to reach their destinations. That was in the past. Though I loved rain when I was a child, the only thing rain reminded me now of was my parents death. The weather had become a bit cold and Tobi got wrappers for the others to wrap themselves in. He got one for himself too but unsurprisingly, ignored me despite the glare I was directing at him. I refused to give him a chance to gloat so I sat still, acting like I wasn't disturbed by the cold. I dug into my garri, wishing the villagers weren't in the hut so I could make satisfying sounds to taunt him. That didn't seem much of a problem though because I caught his eyes a few times when he glanced at my plate.

For some reason, there was something tingling at the back of my mind as if I had forgotten something. I tried to think of what it was but nothing was coming to my mind until Tobi, with a smirk on his face, said, "It's a pity your clothes are still outside."

My eyes widened. "No!" I shot up from the chair and then stopped, realising I couldn't go outside to get them. "I can't believe I have to wash them again," I cried, falling back into the seat and ignoring Tobi's laughter.

©Jesutofunmi Fekoya

GLOSSARY
Garri: Cassava flakes/powder that can be cooked or mixed with water
Alonga: Greed.

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