She was bound to a tree with a rope made from woven straws. People surrounded her, some laughing, some murmuring. She doesn't know what she did to deserve to be beheaded as a punishment. Two sturdy men came forward and freed her. They wore no shirt but red clothes were tied to their waists. Their head shone in the sun because they were ordered to shave their heads completely due to ritual that was about to take place. She was dragged forward to the head post and forced to kneel on the ground, she looked at the crowd but her brain didn't recognize anyone.
Suddenly, a woman ran out but was held back by other sturdy men surrounding the shrine. The gele on her head was already loose and her woven hair which was Koroba got exposed. She struggled with the men who held her back but to no avail. She had cried for a long time that her eyes were now bloodshot.
A man came out with an axe in his hand followed by a priest who wore animal skin with a lot of cowries on it. He held a short staff gotten from the horn of a grown goat. He walked towards the girl and placed the staff on her head before reciting some incantations. He moved backwards and allowed the man with the axe to do his job.
The girl in the head post could not describe the sorrow she was feeling, her heart was beating fast and she started hoping someone would save her. The man with the axe raise the axe up ready to strike her and the girl spared the woman in the crowd a last glance. The woman was screaming something but she couldn't hear what she was yelling.
She closed her eyes when she saw the man with the axe bring the axe towards her head.
Ewade gasped when she woke up from her dream, her heart was still beating loudly in her chest. She felt her neck and checked if she was still alive. She let out a breath of relief when she turned and saw her grandmother laying on the bamboo bed beside her. The woman looked peaceful in her sleep, she covered her body with an ankara wrapper.
The girl stood up from the bed and walked towards the window which the moon was peeking from.
' Why does she have the same dream over and over again?'
She rubbed the red beads on her hand. It was a bracelet she had for a very long time.
She heard footsteps behind her and she turned. Her grandmother came to stand beside her staring outside. Everywhere was quiet and peaceful but one should know not to go outside of their shelter at this time of the night.
" Is it the dream again?"
The woman had tied an ankara wrapper above her bossom to cover her body. She patted Ewade with on her back. The girl could feel the cold touch from the the woman's wrist, she has the same bracelet as hers.
The girl nodded her head.
" I told you it's nothing. It's a place your soul goes to in another dimension."
The woman's voice came out slow and clear. Ewade giggled at the superstition her grandmother still held to.
" Mama, it's just your belief"
The woman smiled knowing fully well how her granddaughter argued a lot.
She walked towards the bamboo bed and gestured for the girl to sit.
When Ewade sat on the bamboo bed, her grandmother walked towards the oil lamp which was placed on the floor. She lighted it with stones which was placed beside it.
The woman sat on the bamboo bed which creaked due to her weight and the girl chuckled.
" There is something you need to know."
The woman said with a serious expression. Her face showed in the dim light from the oil lamp
" What is it mama?"
The woman sighed and paused as if she was reluctant to talk.
Ewade stared at her grandmother waiting for what she is about to say.
" You see, there is this tradition women of our family does whenever they come of right age."
The girl frowned her face. Seems like her grandmother was really serious.
" The women in the family starts worshipping the great goddess when their age turns seventeen."
Ewade blinked severally before speaking.
" I thought we are worshiping Orummila "
Her grandmother sighed and stared at her pitch black eyes which held anxiousness in them.
" Yes we are Orummila worshippers but, there are some things our forefathers did to goddess, Yemoja which requires for all the females in the family to worship her for the rest of our lives" It's like paying off our debt. The woman completed her statement in her mind.
Ewade looked confused. What was grandmother talking about?
" But why I told you this, is because it has something to do with your dreams"
The girl widened her eyes.
" I know you don't believe about your soul going somewhere else in another dimension but the truth is...."
The woman sighed and bowed her head. She had thought about her granddaughter's dreams a lot of times but she came to a final conclusion.
" I think you see the future"
Ewade's face fell. Her heart started to beat loud and fast in its ribcage. If it wasn't her grandmother telling her this, she would never believe.
Noticing her expression, the woman quickly finished her words.
" But it's not yours, I mean the person in the dream might be you but it's not you. That dream was a vision about someone you don't know about. But the goddess took the person's life.
" I thought of it, the main reason you kept on having that same dream was because you didn't know the purpose or the meaning of it."
" Is it all related to the goddess?"
Her grandmother nodded her head.
The girl only wished what her grandmother said was not true. Who's about to die by beheading? Why would the goddess redirect someone's life to end through beheading? She thought of every possible person in the village who are troublesome but none of the people she thought of are troublesome enough to face a punishment as beheading.
The woman placed her hand on the girl's hand.
" Nothing is going to happen to you.... I promise."
What her grandmother said is nothing, she isn't going to serve someone who takes other people's life for nothing.