Buckets of water lined the walkway to the bathroom as men and women waited their turns to use the bathroom and take a bath.
This wasn't new to me. My siblings and I lived in a 'face me I face you' apartment, where the one public toilet and bathroom served over fifty people.
Mornings were usually hectic and terrible. We devised a means to take baths at night and rinse our faces in the morning to beat the bathroom traffic.
I stood outside the sleeping hall, not knowing what to do. Mama was seated on the other end, brushing her teeth with a long stick that could also serve as a correction whip.
The teenagers were bathing the children while some older women were cooking.
"You over there!" Her voice snapped my head in the direction of that harsh voice.
I met her eyes giving me a devilish stare. Then I pointed at myself. "Me?"
"Yes, you! Don't you have anything to do?" I shook my head before I could understand the consequences of my words.
Quick kicks made contact with my butt, forcing me into confusion. I fell into a heap of stomping boots. They kicked and Stumped on me until I heard that voice again.
"Stop! Did I instruct to to touch her?"
"But Mama, we have to teach these untrained newbies the realities of life!" A male voice answered.
I felt a searing pain in my waist, face, and stomach. Trickles of blood escaped my mouth and I yelped. I hated the sight of blood. Any sight of blood at all could cause me to flee. So I got up, without thinking, and fled.
I ran blindly because I couldn't see where I was headed and the searing pain in my legs slowed me down. Quick strong hands caught me before I ran any further.
"Where do you think you are going?"
Multiple stars filled my field of vision when a thunderous slap landed on my face. The violence also took the answer off my lips.
I fell backward, landing on my butt, my hand nursing the pain on my face.
"This one will give us trouble." A calm male voice spoke.
There were numerous red flags in his words but the politeness with which he spoke, calmed my heart. I opened my eyes to see an older man, stepping out of the house where Mama had retired for the night.
"Then we'll tame her. We'd done well with the worst of them!" She scoffed and picked up a crying baby running towards her.
I picked myself off the floor and went to help the girls in the kitchen. "Don't let her touch anything, until she washes off those bloody things on her face."
I didn't need a soothsayer to tell me to go clean up. With my half-opened eyes and swollen face, I limped-sat down in front of a massive mortar and began to pound the mountain of fufu in it.
As I finished with one, they brought another and another. By the time I realized it, I'd spent hours pounding fufu.
My arms were sore and my back ached. Not that this part was new, mother sold fufu to make ends meet and my sister and I were very professionals in fufu pounding, so that was a nonissue.
My thoughts were distracted as my stomach continued to growl from fear and hunger. No one had bothered to give me even a morsel of food since I arrived at this camp.
Later that day, I and three other girls followed four of the men into the deep forest towards Emekuku, avoiding the roads and frequently used paths.
We stopped at a thatched hut, big enough to contain ten persons or so I thought.
Three armed men were waiting for us in front of the hut. My companions didn't seem bothered by their presence, so I relaxed a bit.
As we alighted from the old pickup truck, I was reluctant to move another inch. The other girls walked quickly towards the hut.
"Get in there before I cut you!" Dozie who was the leader of our small team screamed at me. I hastened my steps, crossing my arms low over my pelvic bone.
"Move!" Dozie pushed me forward.
I tripped over a tree stump and fell.
"Clumsy!" Eboy chuckled, causing the other men to laugh.
I tried getting up but the strings from the root of the tree trapped me again, causing my second fall. Dozie angrily pulled me up and dragged me into the hut. He dumped me on the floor, stomping away in anger.
I took that time to look around the hut. There was nothing ancient about it. Morden facilities were what was left in this place. The thatched stuff was a complete camouflage. The house was all about luxury and bling. A 40-inch smart TV hung on the wall across the front door.
Two pieces of reclining sofas stood adjacent to each other, a glass center table dividing them. There was a cooling system in the room. All my life I'd never seen such luxury, how much more having the AC on my skin. I got up and limped to the couch and sat down, admiring the place.
Strong hands pulled me off the white leather couch and dragged me into another room that was beneath the house. I marveled at this because I'd never seen an underground house before.
Mother used to tell us stories about the Biafran war and how most people built underground bunkers to escape from the plane raids.
From where I stood, more girls were packaging dry leaves into small transparent plastic bags. The smell of weed hit my nose like a hurricane. On the other side of the room, a different group of girls I came with were also packaging white substances into similar plastic bags.
In the dimly lit room, Pots and pans filled the other end of it. There was no window but rows of twin beds merged to create space. Four rows of Three-level bunk beds and a total of twelve beds. More clothes were left on the beds and a pottie bowl sat in front of each row of beds.
In my head, I wondered how they were able to move around, seeing that there was little or no space for the occupants.
As I stood there lost in my thoughts, a smack landed on the back of my neck. "Get to work chicken!" It was Dozie again.
I revisited the urge to run my hands through my head but worked against it. Then I forced my weight on a rickety chair by the table.
"See this one o!" You think we dey joke for here?" Dozie's voice boomed across the room again.
I quickly pushed myself off the squeaking chair and ran to the table. Rolls of plastic bags were handed to me and I began to stuff the dry leaves into the bags.
Another girl Kezi, was weighing and packing them in a box. Then the military-styled men took them out of the house and stacked them on a bigger pickup truck.
I got another kick in my behind and my attention went to the spilled leaves on the floor.
"How can one person be as slow as you?" Dozie asked, hovering over me while I whimpered on the floor.
The heel of his boot came on me again, this time I yelled, feeling the pain right on my head.
"Hmmm....If you kill her, mama will have your head. Frank, his next in command warned. Reluctantly, He pulled away from me huffing.
"Maybe we should break her?" One of the militia suggested.
Frank ran forward and put his hands up. "Nobody breaks any girl in this camp except Mama gives the order. Like I said, touch her and be on Mama's warpath." He walked back to his station where he was counting the boxes of weed.
The other man's gaze lingered on me before they walked away. I turned, stood up, and began packing all the leaves back into the bags. These I placed in separate bags from the rest.
Another girl came down heavily on the floor, Dozie's foot was on her, stomping away. She yelled, begged but he didn't listen. He went at her with slaps, kicks, and yells.
I didn't see any reason for the punishment, but like everything around here, no one gives you an explanation.
We were done in the hut and the evening skies were already getting darker.
The last batch of weed boxes was already in the truck while the boys used those few moments to chat.
Rustling, more rustling came from the woods. Before I could take another glance at what I thought caught my eye, I instinctively flattened myself on the floor, the bullet barely missing my head.
To stifle my adrenaline-manufactured scream, my hands did the needful and covered my mouth immediately.
I was not new to violence and chaos. Having lived in northern Nigeria, and my father was also a military man, I knew when to hug the floor and when to run.
I stayed on the floor while the gangs exchanged bullets. While everyone was distracted by the mini-war, I was slowly crawling away from my team.
Mother taught us how to crawl on our tummies to safety. She called it the 'Snake dance.' Crawl, swirl, and bolt.
My foot carried me to the edge of the river. Beside the Otamiri River, long shrubs and overgrown weeds sheltered me and shielded me from the Waring gangs.
It was midnight when I found my way towards the Egbu girl's secondary school hostel. I snuck into one of the classrooms and rested my body till morning.
Thank God it was not a School day, students were mostly in their hostels. I navigated my way out of the school and headed to the main road.
I didn't know where I was or what I was doing, all I knew was that I needed to get back home to my mother and my three sisters.
I kept flagging down vehicles, yet none of them stopped. I decided to walk, but hunger was dealing a deadly blow to me.
A woman on the right side of the road was roasting corn. I ran towards her, begging her for water, she shushed me away, paying attention to my thorn dirty clothes.
Even though I'd been wearing them for days didn't mean I was crazy, I was only kidnapped. I tried to talk to the woman, to tell my story.
When I mentioned 'Nne Eze' just to show her how genuine I was, she exclaimed and swept me away with a long broom.
"Don't create trouble for me and my family, Go away please!" I caught the fear and the terror in her eyes and voice just like I observed with Madam Lukgud.
I was in for a big tribulation if people around here were too terrified of 'Nne Eze' to offer me help.
I kept walking, barefooted and tired. People avoided me as though I was mentally ill. Then a car slowed and came to a halt. Two men in black ran towards me and I bolted away from them. But they were faster, stronger, and more determined.
"Help!" I screamed, yet no one bothered.
My voice continued to ring out into the morning, motorists drove by and leg walkers stopped and watched as these men bundled me into their tinted SUV.
From the corner of my eyes, I spotted the Nigerian police rushing towards the scene, but Dozie and his men forced me into the car. I tried as much as possible to hold off my captors but the strength of two huge men was no match for a fifteen-year-old.