It was believed that a girl's bride price would be less if she wasn't a virgin. So, when most girls came of age, they 'kept' themselves to remain intact for their prices. This brought pride to their parents, especially their fathers who would speak with high pride while bargaining the bride's prices.
Sounds odd right?... but that was the way of the Ufik people.
So, most young girls in the land were virgins and it wasn't hard for the reapers to find what they needed for their Obong's burial.
(The Reapers were the masked men who gathered the heads of virgins for the burial rites).
* * *
Are you surprised that body modification didn't begin today?
"Take the cowries on the wooden stool and go buy gold rings, let us start training your neck ", Niso's mother said.
(Training the neck meant when they put many gold rings on a young girl's neck to get her body used to them).
(You want to see it? Check here- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neck_ring#/media/File:Kayan_woman_with_neck_rings.jpg ).
These rings are worn to create the illusion of an elongated neck which is seen as a thing of beauty- an elongated neck.
So, as time goes on... as the women get older, they add more rings to their necks down the line. It was a sign of wealth and status as not everyone could afford the purchase of gold or brass rings.
"Thank you, Mother"
Niso was just 12 years old with lovely black skin and stubborn black hair. She would cry and run all over the compound when it was time for her hair to be braided. So her mother just allowed her to leave it like a fro, and Niso liked it that way.
"Do not stay out long, did you hear me?! Niso? And don't talk to anyone on the road. Run to the market and run back. I have said my own!", her mother warned.
If Niso's mother had listened to the little voice that was speaking in her mind, she wouldn't have sent her daughter on that errand. But it was too late, and Niso had already left the compound for the market.
* * *
"Madam, I like these but the price you said is too high and I am with only eight cowries."
Niso was with ten cowries but she wanted to save the remaining two to buy something else in another market on her way back home.
"See this naughty girl. Who taught you how to bargain like this?"
"My mother,", Niso mused proudly.
"Okay... I will sell it to you for that price"... the seller said.
[Good. I won]
"Thank you". She left with seven gold rings that had beautiful engravings on them and she was so pleased with herself.
Niso got to a crossroad... the path on the left leading to her house, the path on the right, a bush path, leading to the other market where she wanted to buy Zobo.
(Zobo is a drink produced when you boil Hibiscus Sabdariffa leaves- dried Roselle leaves)
Remembering her mother's warnings, she ignored them and still took the path on the right leading to the other market.
"I will be quick, thank the gods that I am a fast runner"
* * *
It was mid-afternoon and the sun was at its highest.
[Nothing could go wrong... surely, bad people only came out at night], Niso thought.
Three and a half minutes into her race through the bushy path, she smelt thick sweat around her and she squeezed her face in disgust.
She scrunched her nose knowing that the smell was not from her body... It was too strong and manly.
[That person must have been in the sun for so long], she thought.
The smell was getting stronger as if the person was just behind... as she turned her head to look behind her, POW!
They struck her hard on the side of her head... she was so stunned that no scream came out. Niso fell.
As she laid there on the ground, convulsing a little from the trauma to her head with her vision blurry, she heard voices.
[They were more than one... my mother warned me!. Why didn't I listen? I would have been home by now]
Those were her last thoughts. Her head was taken with a swift motion.
"Bury the body. Let's move before someone passes here"... the leader of the reapers said then walked away.
One of the men saw the gold rings Niso had been holding, he picked them up and put them into his loincloth.
Another one saw what his colleague had just done, "We will share that- 50 50! otherwise..."
"Otherwise what?"
"The leader will hear about this."
The man that found the rings felt like killing the one that just threatened him.
[Why wasn't I more careful?]
* * *
In a small compound in the heart of Ufas...
"I will hide, you will look for me", Mfon said to her little brother.
"Why do I have to search all the time?"
"Because you do not know how to hide. Either I see your little feet hanging out of the small bush or I hear you cough"
They both laughed.
"Okay. I will count all my fingers, then I will come to find you", Iket closed his eyes and turned around.
Mfon went far from the door mouth of their hut, to the bush facing their compound. She had hidden there many times before.
Their parents had gone for a meeting... they were the only ones at home. Just her and her younger brother.
"Okay. Come and find me now", Mfon shouted.
"What? What did you say?", Iket shouted back.
[I know he heard me the first time... that little rabbit. He wants me to say it again so he would trace my voice]...she laughed feeling proud of her brother.
Then, she couldn't breathe.
Her hands went to her face... her nose... someone had put a cloth around her nose blocking her breathing. She began to struggle with the person oppressing her from behind but they were stronger... way stronger than she was.
[No... air... Iket... my brother... he is searching]... her eyes closed.
"Mfon! Mfon!!"... Iket called and called but there was no response.
He was never going to find his big sister this time around.
He began sobbing and he cried till his mother and father came to find him sitting near the mango tree in the compound. He had slept off after so much weeping... his eyes swollen like he had been stung by a poisonous insect.
"Where is your sister?"