She had just celebrated her 13th birthday.
Emem's mother had cooked their native soup and the family was full of merriness that evening. Her father had brought in fresh palm wine and they all drank and got a little bit tipsy, sharing stories and laughing loudly. It was a big deal when a girl crosses 'childhood' into 'womanhood'.
Later that night, Emem's mother spoke to her while they were in the kitchen cleaning out the dishes and storing them back in the cupboards, "My daughter, you have to be careful now."
"Careful about what, Mama?"
"What else? Men of course. Now, you can get pregnant if you allow them to even touch your arm. Then, no one will want to marry you. Remain a virgin, I am telling you now so that your bride price will remain high. You are our only daughter, it will be good if your papa and I harvest the fruit of our labor over you. Don't you think so?"
Emem rolled her eyes unknown to her mother, [Mama was always talking about this], she thought.
She remembered that the sister of one of her friends who were older than they were and hadn't gotten married yet because of an 'affliction'- so they called it- had told them the way women got pregnant by men. It wasn't how her mother said it was.
Emem smiled to herself and kept keeping the plates in their places.
* * *
"Where are you? Don't scare me, please, Efing"
He tickled her from behind and she burst out laughing.
"Don't be loud, do you want people to wonder what is happening here?"
"You are the one that tickled me", Emem pouted.
Efing, her new boyfriend admired her lips. Emem was beautiful and he had liked her since he followed his father to their house. His father had gone to seek Emem's hand in marriage so now, she was betrothed to him already.
Efing was just three years her senior and he couldn't wait to have her as his wife when he reaches his eighteenth year and performed the rite of passage into 'manhood'. Meanwhile, their friendship grew.
"I brought some mboro for us to eat while we talk", Emem said.
(Mboro is a common appetizer or breakfast dish made out of beans and fried into little puffs)
"I like your mboro very much. Was it you that fried it or your mother?", he mused.
"What do you take me for this boy? Eat now, before I finish all of them"
"I even want you to add a little flesh before our traditional wedding. Have you thought about the number of kids we would have?", he teased.
Emem blushed but there was no hue of pink on her cheeks because she had skin like ebony that glittered in the sun.
"You are shining today, Emem," he said with an endearing look in his eyes and a smile on his face.
"It is because I am with you", she replied to him with her cheeks reddening as she spoke.
As they spoke and sang to one another, a shadow was cast over them.
Efing looked up and saw three men standing looking at them. People in the village knew what era this was and Efing never thought they would be found. They were not so far from home, in a shade that lovers usually came to stay. Everyone knew that place for its safety.
[Oh my god!], he thought with exclamation and deep dread. He could sense the doom in the air.
Emem was still singing with her eyes closed.
"Emem", Efing whispered.
"Don't you like the son...", she said opening her eyes.
As she saw the people interrupting her time with her boyfriend, "What do you want from us?", Emem asked boldly. She wasn't one to scare easily.
"RUN", one of the masked men said to Efing in a voice that sounded like a growl.
"I am not leaving her"
"So be it".
'GBOW!', Efing received a hit on his head that made the galaxy appear before his eyes, he lost consciousness before he hit the ground.
"EFING!!!"
As she reached out to him, she was kicked in the ribs sending all the air out of her lungs. Emem gasped and coughed.
"Please... please...", Emem begged.
The love of her life, Efing was the last thing Emem saw.
"Bury the body"
"What should we do with the boy?"
"We do not need him. Leave him"
"What if he talks?"
"Nothing can happen. This is the tradition. We do it for our Obong"
* * *
Mary had arrived in Ocland some weeks later. Her eyes were rimmed with red and extreme fatigue had come over her. She could hardly walk.
When her mother and sisters saw her, they had mixed feelings. They were happy she returned but sad that she was so sick.
Immediately, she was admitted to the missionary hospital in the capital of Ocland with one of her two sisters beside her to see to her needs.
They had grown up and that brought a smile o Mary's face. They were going to be fine women. One of them had eyes that looked like the skies and the other had hair just like Mary's but with a white patch in front.
They had always teased her that she was an old woman in a young girl's body.
"Think hard... you might remember your past life", Mary teased, telling her sister she must be a reincarnation of a past family member.
"Stop saying that, Mary"..."We do not believe in such things", their mother had warned.
"I'm only joking, Mother", she mused.
Mary Hutchison couldn't eat anything. All the foods and soups she was given came right back out. She also frequented the toilet.
"That isn't a good thing, Miss Mary", the doctor said.
"We have to infuse electrolytes into your system to give you a little strength, also an injection to suppress the vomiting, so that food can stay in your stomach. The more a sick person eats, the higher the chances of recovery"
She nodded in agreement.
Mary stayed in the hospital for three weeks receiving several injections and drips.
"I don't envy you, Mary. My butt cheeks would have swollen up by now", her sister said.
* * *
As the preparation for the burial of the Obong drew close, the sadness and mourning in the land grew higher. But, it wasn't for the Obong that people wept and mourned, it was for their missing children. Who were they going to cry to? Who would they ask for justice? It was the way of the land. They had to swallow whatever pain they left.
Grief-stricken parents laid curses on the dead Obong.
"May his soul knows no peace"
"May his generation know only sorrow"
And, they hadn't even completed all they needed to bury the Obong.
They had just five virgins and they needed seven in total.