Lady wandered from Star away from the bonfire after standing long on her feet that she could feel the searing pain that her injured foot was screaming out in every fibre of her body. She stopped in front of the big tree in their compound, taking a ground cloth she always hid in the low branches of the tree in case of emergencies and placed the cloth on the ground.
She sat down gently on the ground cloth and checked her bad foot. She could see the scarlet liquid staining the cloth she had used to cover and treat the wound under her foot. She sighed in defeat, it was probably going to take a long time before her foot returns to normalcy. She removed the stained piece of cloth and threw it aside, exposing her wound to the crisp air that immediately entered the wound making her cringe.
Supporting her chin with a hand, she looked at the unfolding events before her, everything seemed to be in order and everyone was happy except for her. She used to be the gem that her mother was proud of but now she was no longer that gem and she was as important as the stained cloth she had thrown way outliving it's usefulness. The bitter memory of that day jolted into her mind again.
It was a bright Saturday afternoon and she had just overhead her brothers' conversation about going to check on the traps in their orange farms. As excited as she was she hopped like a gazelle to her father's room to make a request. She found him tying his sackcloth behind his back almost ready to go out to check the traps.
"Greetings Father" She said with a beautiful smile.
"Greetings" Her father responded and smiled back at her.
"Father I have request" she said with the smile still on her face " I hope you can grant it for me"
"Sure go ahead" her father laughed.
"Father, can I join you to check the traps?" she asked meekly the confidence she had mustered draining from her voice.
Her father groaned and rubbed his temple sitting down on his plush bed.
"Lady, you know you are going to be introduced next year as a matured woman into the society and as such you are supposed to be at home learning with your mother not accompanying males to check on traps" her father softly chastised her.
"But father, I only miss the farms and I would like to get a few oranges seeing that our farm has yielded beautiful ones" she protested.
"Lady, you must understand. You are basically not supposed to be roaming around especially into the farms and traps when you are just about into maturity"
"But father, I promise to stay in the orange farms to pick some oranges whiles you and my brothers go about your manly duties checking the traps, I won't stray, I promise not to follow you" she tried harder this time with a pleading look.
"Fine, if you promise to do just as you say" Her father agreed and sighed giving in to his only daughter.
"Thank you very much Father" she hugged her father and skipped out of the room without waiting for a reaction form her father.
Lady went straight to her mother's room that was where she was staying till she will be introduced and took a small basket for the oranges she would pick up later on. She came out to find her father and brothers already on the trail to the farms.
Hurrying after them she called out to her mother who was sitting under the tree in the compound " I'll be back later!"
The walk to the orange farms was fun and intriguing as she hopped along to the fine tunes of the songs her male family members were humming and singing at some point. She knew her town loved singing and she did but there was something about the way the deep rich baritone of males carried out the songs that made her want to listen for an eternal bliss. She loved singing but she would sacrifice everything to hear the males sing. Not long after they arrived at the orange fields and her father glanced back at her giving her a silent order to stick to her promise.
Lady nodded her understanding as she smiled towards her father and started picking up the oranges that had fallen down from the mother tress. She could hear the faint thuds of her father and her brothers as they moved further into the fields to check on their traps. She started humming a song as she proceeded with her work. She realised she had half filled her basket with the oranges on the ground and there were no more lying around so she had to stretch a little to pluck the ones closer to the ground to fill up her basket.
She moved closer to the tree closest to her and plucked three big and juicy fruits from it. Enticed by the fruits she just plucked, she peeled one and started eating revelling in the new found sweetness. She moaned a little and swallowed the piece in her mouth and placed another piece in there. She moved on to the next tree and plucked two fruits from it and on to her third tree she found a little tortoise with it's creamy coloured shelled belly up under the tree.
She looked at the little creature in amusement and flipped it onto it's tiny limbs. The poor little creature sauntered towards her, resting beside her left leg. She cooed at the tortoise and picked it up forgetting about her basket of fruits that was patiently sitting beside her. She smiled at the tortoise and started playing around with it and making soft noises at it. The small creature not understanding what was going on tilted it's head at Lady straining it's long and wrinkled neck at her.
Lady didn't realise that she was venturing into the old fields where perhaps old traps long forgotten might have been laying around. She stepped carelessly onto the ground still noticing that she was threading on dangerous grounds and before long she stepped on a hard piece of metal and before she could remove her leg, it snapped around her ankle digging into her skin.
She released a long agonising scream. The pain was just unbearable, the hard metal teeth of the metal had dug into her skin and she swore she could feel it scraping against her bones. Her blood was gushing out like a newly birthed stream pooling around her legs. She screamed again glancing down at her caught leg. She heard the shuffling of feet behind her and she turned slightly in a painful manner and saw a young man in brown earth hues approaching her with concern. The young man seemed about her age which was clear with his looks and build but his eyes and demeanor screamed maturity and authority.
"How did this happen?" he asked his tone heavy with concern and his face scrunching up.
"I don't know, all I know is I had stepped into it and realised too late" Lady cried.
Before long she heard three hurrying thunderous footsteps approaching them. Her father and her brothers might have heard her screams she thought as the sound of the footsteps grew closer.
"Lady!" Her father gasped when he was close to Lady who was paling from the rapid loss of blood she was experiencing.
"Father!" Lady cried feebly.
Lady's vision became a little blurry and she felt a little dizzy as she stumbled backwards but was caught in time by the young man in earthy hues.
"Lady now listen to me carefully, Im going to pry the trap away from your legs, it's going to hurt terribly but I need you stay strong and hold on for me" Her father ordered her sternly.
She nodded meekly and her father smiled at her.
"Here I come" he warned and Lady closed her eyes.
Lady's father with all his strength took hold of the traps strong teeth, placing one of his fingers in a gap and then gradually filling up the gaps left in the teeth at the paces where it wasn't in Lady's skin then with great force he started pulling the teeth apart from Lady's legs.
The searing pain shot straight to Lady's mind as she shrieked like a banshee into the open air. The pain was too unbearable for her but she had to be strong for her father. She opened her eyes slightly and what she saw scared her wits out of her. The teeth of the trap had dug into the skin of her father's fingers in an ugly manner peeling the skin off at some places. Her father's hand was cool and firm even through the pain Lady couldn't even imagine he going through. Her father looked up at her and smiled silently encouraging her to hold on and to not worry about him. Lady got the silent message and cried harder and the before she realised, her leg was free from the trap, the trap was destroyed by her brothers and her father's fingers were bleeding and shaking uncontrollably.
Looking at the gory sight in front of her, Lady fainted and succumbed to the darkness of dull pains.