I began to walk back. It was instinctive. From time to time, mighty hands would quack my back and I would momentary lose my footing. I felt another push that lunched me to the ground on my bruised knee.
I had insidiously gathered the strength I needed to run. Maybe I might outrun them or they might disappear as they did before. I had to gamble.
Without warning, I zapped. I intended to run as far as possible, but in-between my steps and the cracks of the branches I broke; I heard them rustle behind me with speed that matched mine.
This sunk fear at the pits of my stomach. I remembered Nonso, and it was quite strange that I haven't bumped into him.
I had initially broken the obstructing branches, so the path was partially run-able but I had to watch through the night, avoiding and hopping over stumps or stones.
Two tongues of light became visible at the far end of darkness. The mind was willing but my muscle were soared and my lung's appetent was critical; it seemed I was going to faint if I didn't stop running. I ploughed until I could no longer paddle my legs. My pace reduced and I heard the men shuffle behind me. They quacked me and I kissed the ground again.
Powerful hands tugged at my shoulders and raised me to my feet only for me to fall again. I inhaled deeply; my chest swelling to its limit, and down again.
"Move!"
I began to crawl. The hope in me had dried up and the force field weakened, the stale voice emanated. As much as I tried to submerge it, it kept rippling up in the sea of fear floating in me. My bruised knee scuffed the ground as I crawled, lifelessly.
I was now within the illuminated vicinity of the dim orange light emitting from the candle. I craned back and the men had disappeared. I rose to my feet and limped forward.
Another menorah stood beside the former red-clad one; the path barely able to contain them both. This menorah was dressed in a black silk robe. The tongue of flame swayed softly giving their face an eerie shade.
"One has been obedient to the wind." I have? It was the black menorah that spoke, "One has been plucked from the tree of fear." I didn't understand. He stepped forward and slowly stretched his candle occupied hand. It wasn't really in my direction so I ignored it until he said, "Take the light." I reached for it, and then I saw the emptiness in his eyes that seemed to stare past me.
He took slow steps back to the wordless red-clad menorah. They began to hum. Transported by the leaves was a piercing scream that jolted me. Then the crow of a hen; but a human mimic.
The two menorah's whirled and began to walk back; the black one holding the shoulder of the red. Yea, he was definitely blind.
'Follow the light,' that was the last thing Charles said to me. I strode behind them conscious of the vulnerable tongue of fire I held. I shielded it with my cupped hand, as an altar boy would, and we proceeded ever so slowly.
Well, we walked so far back that we tore out to the asphalt road where the van initially arrived.
This lone road was boarded by thick forest on both sides. And we were crossing to the other side. A narrow path became visible. You have to be actually looking for it, or going through it to notice it; Its tracks very narrow and insignificant.
The red-clad menorah spare headed the train, the black followed and once again, I was at the tail. We moved ever so slowly.
The path, however, began to expand with each step. Soon it widened and was enough to accommodate the three of us, but I leaped behind. The itchy pain in my knee was becoming unbearable.
There was an effulgent lightening ahead— shining like part of the sun had fallen there.
we arrived at a wide opening—spherical opening. Four pillars of fire stood in a square, burning effulgently. There were at least forty men lying stomach flat.
Who are these people?
"Kneel." The black menorah said. He walked to the side and retrieved an antic bowl arranged amidst other antic looking stuff. Standing over me, he dipped his fingers into the bowl and smeared the thick substance on my forehead. "Open your mouth," he said.
"My mou—"
"Yes...open your mouth." He had something in his hand which he retrieved from bowl. Charles didn't tell me about eating anything. My lips slowly tore open. He forced whatever he had in his hand into my mouth.
"Don't chew," he said. But I had already crushed it to register a familiar taste. Kola nut?
Someone came behind me and placed hands on my head, "One has willingly come to be born into a brotherhood." There was no mistaking the red menorah's voice, slow and heavy.
He asked me to repeat after him. "One shall never betray a brother, and shall by all means—in exception of Lucifer—help a brother in distress."
The black one-handed the bowl to me. "Drink." I fitted the rims on my lips and sipped the content of which alcohol was an active ingredient. I clenched my eyes as the thick liquid slipped down my throat.
"One shall die to be born again." He gestured and my gaze fell on the men lying stomach flat. 'One shall die.' I said inwardly. I sluggishly walked towards the men; each looking dirty; like I was.
I laid beside a clean-shaved man. Chills waved through my body the moment my skin made contact with the granite ground. These little particles etched painfully into my bruised knee. I didn't groan, rather I clenched my teeth and absorbed the pain.
The residues of the kola etched at the edges of my gum. The questions popping in my head were: who are these people? Moreover, where did they come from? Where is Nonso? Where is Joshua, Charles and the others?—Joshua in particular.
For the one-hour or so I laid there; it was dead silent in exception of the sneezing and coughing here and there.
A lone footstep faded in. it strode calmly and when it was directly in front of me it stopped. Then the red Menorah's voice thundered, tending to be faster than usual, yet thick and heavy. "One named David is being called upon!"
I am being called upon? I didn't know if I was to raise a hand or stand up.
"One named David is here," Somebody acclaimed. I peered over my elbow and saw the menorah approaching the average height man. He led him out of sight and moments later, a gunshot echoed around the trees. My heart pumped faster.
Suppressed murmurs waved around, but it died down immediately. The steps faded in again, it reached me and stepped over me and continued to pace. It stopped. Then little movements followed. Once again, the red Menorah's voice echoed, "One has seen the picture painted. Now, one shall see that which was not." I had totally forgotten about this. "Rise!" he yelled. I sprang up, and I was standing amidst similar unclad men all in their underwear.
I perused the faces around me, and they all shone with perspiration. I couldn't still sight Nonso or Charles. "Quiet," the Menorah said and The murmurs died down.
We were asked to queue up and I stood behind a huge man that obstructed my view. However, I could hear the chanting and hums of the Menorahs.
When the man in front me proceeded to the menorah, I saw that he knelt down and the menorah circled a feather around his head, chanting mantras and spirit-dancing to the hums of the black menorah. After a minute, the huge man rose and literally stepped into the stomach of the bushes.
I fell in motion immediately. I was next. I knelt and my knee itched. He danced around me chanting mantras. After a few minutes, he asked me to rise, "Enter the Devil's passage." He said gesturing to the weakened path that was disvirgined by the men that entered before me.
If I had clothes on, they would have tangled in the bushes and I would have to be extricated, but my bare body slipped through; ducking, tilting my body horizontally and so on. Yet the inevitable branches scuffed my body.
This was not a narrow path, it was a kind of screen and I just emerged on the other side. Concrete walls stood on both sides. It was like a corridor that didn't have a roof. Pillars of fire rowed to the end on both sides, and in-between these pillars were men wielding different weapons: canes, machete, thick branches and so on. At the end of this passage stood a lone white figure.
What is this?
The men began to sing and from the looks of it, they were waiting for me to pass through the aisle.
I took the first step, not sure if I should proceed slowly or.
The men were obviously not statues and the weapons in their hands were not for fancy. I ran because that was what my instincts told me, and that was what has kept me alive. For what I know, Nonso and Joshua were dead.
Every path of my body, from my thighs to my head transported sharp pain to my brain. It was happening all at once, one stroke after the other…then I felt a lethal stroke to my head and I crashed to the floor. It momentary distorted me. I shook my head and sprang up. The strokes continued and soon I fell to the feet of the white figure.
I was immensely appalled when I craned up. This wasn't the initial visage of Joshua. He had this eerie calm expression glued to his face. "Rise…" he said extending a hand to me. "One has survived the devil's passage and shall be known as Mika. Mika, You have been born again." He embraced me and said, "Welcome."
**END**
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