She felt someone was watching her.
Enma left the bucket she had dipped into the stream and looked around, her breathing getting labored. Everyone in the village knew what time this was, with the Obong dead, no one, especially young virgins were to be seen walking about, not to talk of walking alone.
"I have made a mistake. May the gods take me home safely", Enma prayed close to tears already.
This time around, her prayers were not heard.
A piercing pain soared through her body. Before her brain knew what was going on, her eyes had already seen the water in front of her turn red.
[What is this?]
[I am being attacked]
In seconds, what was happening was processed.
"Please... no... no... my mother is waiting for me! I'm sorry... I'm sorry," she cried and cried.
Enma didn't know what she was apologizing for but she kept on saying those words.
The back of her leg had been sliced to prevent her from running. A man that had his face covered and wore just a loincloth with bow legs approached her. As she cried and wailed for help, he said, "No one will hear you, my dear."
He decapitated her before he finished his sentence.
The rest of his group came to meet him at the scene.
"Three gathered… Four to go"
"Bury the body," the leader said without the slightest remorse.
* * *
Unfortunately, Mary Hutchison had begun to fall ill. The heat was getting to her... the mosquitoes, worse. She would cover up in a thick blanket she had brought from home but the mosquitoes here, could penetrate any material, no matter how thick and sting you.
[These were vampire mosquitoes, no one can tell me otherwise], she thought as she writhed in pain, almost drenched in her sweat.
Some of the young girls that showed interest in the English language often came around to make a dish they called 'Pepper soup' which Mary drank and would then feel a little better. But the relief was always short-lived and temporary.
"Should I call our healer for you?" Edidiong asked.
She had become close to Edidiong surprisingly. They spent most of the day together talking about each other's cultures and beliefs.
Edidiong liked Mary's simplicity which she hadn't known she possessed. She had thought the woman with the red hair would be an angry bird and a proud lady, but that wasn't the case with Mary at all. Edidiong soon discovered that she liked being around Mary...at least, that was when she was happy and forgot her worries and hardship.
"Please do, Edidiong. The fever is getting worse. I fear I might have to go back home soon."
"Ah? No, please! If you go, when will you come back?"
"I will come back but I can't say when now." Mary shivered and the weather wasn't cold for the weather in Ufas was hot and humid.
* * *
Behind a hut built with palm fronds, there was a thick plantain plantation that was untamed. The plantation spread and joined a forest on the other side of the village.
Imeng's father usually harvested bunches of huge plantain from there to sell at very good prices. The villagers loved his plantain and Imeng liked to hang out on the plantation. The birds, the quietness... she loved the back of her house more than anywhere else.
"One nut, open the hut... Two nuts, just like the coconut...", she sang while she cracked open nuts with a stone in her right hand.
As she threw the fresh nuts into her mouth, she heard the leaves rustle behind her. Thinking it was her father, she said, "Papa, I didn't know you were in the bush. Did you get any plantain?", without even looking behind her.
There was no response.
[Hmm... strange], she thought.
As she looked back, she saw two men about 10 feet away from her.
She screamed and threw the stone in her hand to the one that was closer to where she was sitting. Enma stood up quickly to dash into her hut. The stone landed on the man's forehead and he let out a low groan.
"You are dead, girl. Yours will be slow and painful,", he called after her.
"Get her before she enters the house"
*WHEW*
An arrow flew past the man that was injured by the stone Imeng threw and found its destination in the heart of her back.
No one was home to hear her cries. As she fell, she thought about her loving father, who would be alone now after her mother had died a few years ago from mosquito bites.
Darkness had begun creeping in from the corners of her eyes and she felt a strange cold come over her body. Imeng closed her eyes welcoming the rest and peace that called to her and she was dead in a few minutes.
"You know what to do. Do not waste time. You, go and tie up that dripping blood coming out of your head. Bleeding like a cow", their leader ordered.
* * *
Mary watched as their healer brewed many leaves and tree barks he had brought with him. She had to ask what the wooden-like thing was and Edidiong told her they were cut out from medicinal trees.
She was skeptical about all these, [hope it won't make me sicker...should I even be taking these? I should travel back to Ocland]
The healer was saying some things about the herbs that weren't even in their language. If it were, she would have understood it but she didn't understand one word of what he kept saying.
He had patterns drawn all over his body and deep circles drawn with white chalk around his eyes.
[If it were me, I would be itchy all over]
"Drink this"
Mary looked at Edidiong who nodded her approval.
She drank...[This is so bitter. Eww]
"Finish It", the man commanded.
She almost rolled her eyes. Her mouth had been bitter for a week now and this drink just made it worse. She felt like vomiting.
[Tomorrow, I am going to book a spot on any ship sailing to Ocland]
That night, she shivered and the fever heightened. She knew this was malaria.
People were dying from it here. They didn't even know what it was... they called it 'Mosquito bites'. Mary made a mental note to bring back enough anti-malaria medications to help them out in Ufas Land.
She left Ufas two days later.