Sandwiched between Dozie and Frank, I couldn't move. All I prayed for was for the police to capture my abductors.
Yes, I hoped and recited the Lord's prayer over and again in my head, but the driver took the bush path and the police missed that opening.
Before they could come back to join the path, we were already in the deepest part of the forest.
I opened my mouth to speak but Dozie was ready to beat me down. We had ditched the truck and hid in the overgrown shrubs behind a shrine.
"Say one word and I will sacrifice you to this deity!" Dozie's fingers were pulling my ears to the point I felt as though he was going to rip them off my head.
I nodded to all his instructions for the sake of one more breath in the land of the living.
We were standing in front of 'Mama's' Self-sufficient hut. She walked around us like a swirling vulture.
"What you did today was stupid!" She admonished, her eyes intense.
I opened my mouth but her forefinger was up in protest, so I shut up. "You could have been killed or maimed!" I shuddered at the decibel her voice had suddenly attained.
"I do not hurt children, neither do I like losing anyone of them." She stopped in my face and gave me a piercing gaze. "Or do you want your mother to be in agony?" She asked, pointing at herself and letting a loose tear fall off her face.
I stared back at her in bewilderment. Whatever made this old hag think she was my mother even for a second was high on weed. I pulled my gaze off her and scowled in disgust.
Her gaze lifted at me as she gently wiped the fake tears off her face. "You are a hard-hearted child. Your mother is in tears and you are making faces?"
Her hands pounced on my braids, pulling them in her right palm. I winced in pain.
Then I felt my leg give way from a good kick. I sprawled on the floor, crying. My braids were still in the old woman's hand when she barked.
"Pick her up!"
Her boys dragged me off the floor, yanking my dirty clothes off my dirty bruised body.
Before I could say jack, a piercing pain went through my back, and a long skinny whip came down on my body with vengeance.
The force pushed me to the floor. I couldn't get up quickly to prepare for the next and the next ones. It continued to rain down on me till I felt my skin come off my bones.
"Get the pepper water!" Nne Eze was still hovering over me.
I wanted to protest but there was no strength left in me. I lay there praying to the God who hadn't answered me yet.
The last part of the prayer was still on my lips when searing pain engulfed my body. I felt as though I was on fire. I screamed and begged but they tied me to a tree at the center of the courtyard. I'd seen the girls get beaten but never tied to the tree, naked.
Hours later the rest of the family had retired home and the children were playing in the yard, away from me of course. Mama was relaxing in her wooden recliner and staring off towards the sky.
I'd noticed that about her. Every night she'd take the same position and linger her gaze towards the sky while muttering some things I assumed were prayers or incantations.
My tired bones were barely resting on my legs anymore as I slouched forward. I was barely alive. I needed food, water, shelter, and something for my pain.
"Untie her!"
I hadn't realized Mama was standing before me, again. The rough hands of the boys took me off the tree and laid me before Mama.
"Ifechi?" She called.
Quickly, I heard the thumping footsteps of the main cook for this settlement rush towards us.
She was a woman on a very large side. I'd never seen her stand from her cooking spot. She'd sit there and order the kitchen maids around. It was rumored that she had some form of relationship with Mama.
"You'll be in charge of her," Mama instructed. "I want her fed, cleaned, and rested. Tomorrow we'll ship her out to General."
I caught a stifled groan from the big woman. She scooped me up as though I was an eight-month-old baby. We were in her hut in minutes, and before I could take in my surroundings, she'd already tossed me on a twin bed.
"There's a bucket of water and soap outside for your bath." I was waiting for her to give further instructions, but she left me there looking like a fool.
Slowly, I dragged my bruised body onto the open backyard, and truly a bucket of water stood on the pavement in a shaded area I assumed was a makeshift bathroom.
Once my bath was over, a plate of hot rice and beans was streaming on the tiny table fit for just two people. I ate quickly before they changed their minds.
I'd tossed myself on the twin bed that Ifechi assigned to me when I saw her rise in my face. I was startled out of bed, not knowing what to do.
She heaved her body on the other queen-sized bed and removed her boots. From under her bed, she handed me a boot that was about my size, a piece of white loose pants, and a black plain shirt.
"This, you will wear tomorrow. You must be nice to the General. You won't be alive if you refuse to follow these instructions."
Slowly she made herself comfortable on the bed and minutes later, she was snoring loudly.
I placed the almost worn-out shoes under my bed and the clothes under the pillow.
In my flowing nightwear which was very much not my size, I took solace that I could catch a bit of rest tonight, but tomorrow, I handed over to God.
Minutes later, I was in my dream world watching my mother cry herself to a stupor.
My sisters have gone everywhere looking for me and even reported my disappearance to the authorities, yet nothing has changed. It was as though they knew where I was but had refused to help.
I woke to pain in my cheeks. Ifechi was standing above me and saying something in anger. I rubbed my eyes and cheek and then stared back at her.
"My friend, go get ready now now!" Quickly, I shoveled myself to the edge of the bed, on high alert. "When next I come in here, you better be ready. And that your hair, use the bands and pack them neatly."
Her forceful words lingered with me while her body left out of the door, not waiting for my morning greetings.
Minutes later, I was on my way to nowhere to meet some General. Blindfolded and left on the floor of the SUV, I couldn't see anything but could hear noises from cars and humans.
I tried to listen for clues but the guys were chatting loudly, confusing my senses.
Finally, the car came to a halt. The men at the back with me left the car and I was only left with only one human presence. If my hands were not tied behind my back, I would have gotten the cloth off my eyes.
They pulled me off the floor and led me through some door. Everything was hush, hush as though they were sneaking me through a back door. We would walk, wait, hide, and wait for a signal from whoever made only sounds and no words.
Finally, We stopped in front of a door, the blindfold came off forcefully with a warning not to act crazy. I looked around to see we were in one of those high-end hotels. I knew this because Mother at times transacted her fufu business with some hotels and restaurants.
The gig only came once in a while and me being the delivery girl, I knew what hotels looked like. With Owerri being a city of hotels, clubs, and nightlife, I didn't know which one we were at.
The door opened to unveil a white man, pot-bellied and stuartly built. He couldn't be more than 5'1. In his late sixties or even seventies maybe. His brown teeth flashed at me, filling my heart with dread. His breath changed my world from gray to dark. It reminded me of 'The Purge'. Those souls would grin before they'd cut you out of humanity.
"Good morning." I bowed as Ifechi taught me, almost kissing the floor with my knees.
"General loves to be worshipped. You must kneel for everything and anything."
"Will I ever stand up?" I asked. She first chuckled, then switched into a killer frown. "Fail and be dead."
Her words etched in my heart, reminding me of all the cons of this mission or whatever it was. As soon as a brown envelope entered Dozie's hands, he left me there with the stranger.