Kara stopped going out. She locked herself in her room and avoided seeing anyone, sometimes, including family. Months flew by.
She shied away from seeing her friends. She was meant to start tutorial classes with them for her forthcoming examinations, but she could not leave her house looking like a leopard. This made her insecure. She did not want her friends to see her skin because they would not be comfortable around her, so she lied. She lied to them that she traveled to visit her aunt in Abuja to help with house chores until she could get a nanny. Furthermore, she knew she would not do well in the examinations and had already accepted her fate because she was focused on getting cured.
She always wondered why such a thing could happen to her. She found herself in deep thoughts, trying to figure out how it all began; where she had gone, what she had eaten or rubbed on her body, or if perhaps someone had gone as far as going diabolical just to hurt her. She had heard rumors about how people hurt other people through voodoo. She became angry and ignored all the consoling her family gave concerning the rashes. They told her it was not the end of the world and that with time she would get better and get on with her life again.
Despite their soothing words, each time she looked at herself in the mirror and saw the outrageous black patches all over her body, she lost hope. At that point, she could search for help anywhere and would do anything to get it.
One early morning, she got up and felt like taking a cup of coffee. She headed to the kitchen to prepare it. As her coffee was boiling in the percolate pot, she sat in the sitting room waiting for it to get done. Thoughts assailed her as usual. She was deeply thinking about her skin and how to find a cure. She was absorbed in her thoughts until her mother drew her out of it by asking her to bring down the coffee kettle.
Kara's mother was a nice and intelligent woman, the best mother anyone could ever wish for. She was so unfortunate to be married to someone who did not value her much. Kara never really got along with her father because of his overly strict personality.
Kara's mother was sad. She had gotten a call that morning from her younger sister, who reported that their father fell and had a partial stroke and would be sent to Akwa Ibom State for treatment administered by a native doctor. Her mother's siblings believed that herbal medicine was a cure for his ill health and not orthodox medicine. Immediately, Kara heard that she presumed hers might be cured through herbal medicine.
The prospect of going with them was too appealing to ignore.
"I want to go with them, please," Kara blurted to her mother when she got done with the call.
Kara's mother took one look at her like she was out of her mind. Then she said calmly, "You already know my answer. I didn't bring you up in the Christian way to support the use of native medicine."
"But mum," Kara persisted, "I am looking for the solution to my problem."
Her mother took another look at her and began to browse the internet with her phone, not ready to entertain any further pleading.
Kara made up her mind to join them, with or without their consent. When her mother saw her determination, she was torn between allowing her or not. However, Kara eventually went without her permission.
A few days later, Kara set out for Akwa Ibom State with her aunt, grandfather, and two of her uncles. On arrival, they were taken to the house of the native doctor. Soon, a man came out of a hut wearing a loose gown of red and white colors. He held one ulna of an unknown animal, and half his face was painted with white chalk. Although he was a wiry praying mantis, he gave off a menacing appearance. They approached him and stated the reason they came. Before Kara's uncle could finish, the native doctor cut him off by saying some incantations. Then, he assured the family that he would heal their grandfather. His response put a smile on their faces. It made Kara more eager to unburden her problem to him.
He ordered his servants to take grandfather into his hut. Kara's aunt and uncles went with them. Kara, on her part, deliberately stalled just to have time to speak with him, even though she was scared to approach him. Her determination to find a cure pushed her forward in his direction. On getting close to him, she raised her face to speak, but before she could say a word, the man cut her off immediately by telling her the reason she had come. It was so surreal that he predicted her issue. He also said he could see that her heart was troubled. Then, he assured her that he would take care of her situation and that she had come to the right place. A sense of relief engulfed her upon hearing his words.
After attending to Kara's grandfather, the native doctor took her into a deep forest. He dug a hole in the ground and told her to take off her clothes and enter the hole naked. Kara hesitated because it was really humiliating. But since she was eager to be cured, she did as he said. He pulled out a bowl from his ragged bag, poured water in it, added some leaves and other things he could find, and then broke an egg into the mixture. After some incantations, he handed Kara the bowl and told her to rub the concoction all over her body. She did. When she was done, he said a few words and asked her to repeat them just as he told them. Then, he asked her to get dressed. Before she got through with dressing up, he told her a very close female friend was behind her ill health and warned her to be careful with her friends, especially her closest friend.
As soon as they got back to the hut, Kara found her way to the car and sat there until the herbalist was through with her grandfather. Soon, they got set to leave. She didn't utter a word to anyone; she felt bad that she had to go through the humiliation of stripping naked in front of a total stranger in a scary bush. It was also devastating to learn that her closest friend caused her predicament.
"Could this be true?" she kept asking herself.
On their way home, as the vehicle sped past the bush by the sides of the road, Kara indulged herself by staring at the trees. They danced and bowed as the draft from the car hit them. The breeze wafted into her eyes, causing tears to roll down her cheeks; she tried to control the tears. After a while, she could not take the pain in her mind anymore, so she broke down and started to cry. Remembering what she had just passed through in the bush and what the native doctor said about her best friend being behind the torture she had been going through. Rita was like a sister to her. They did many things together. She did not know whether she was to believe the native doctor or not.