It been three days since the strange phenomenon that befell Kiya. She kept everything to herself because she did not know who to relate it to. Would her dad believed her if she had told him? Will Alisha perhaps understand her better? All these are some of the questions running through her mind.
During one of their morning devotions, her father led the reading of the Bible, he read from the book of Matthew chapter 7:7 which says "Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." After the reading of the text, her father explained thus..
"The word of our Lord teaches us to be a seeking people, seek for the truth at all times. If you do not know anything or are confused about something, you need to ask so that you can know. Whether material things, but especially knowledge on Spiritual matters, you need to ask our Lord for answers and you will receive." The father paused for a while, looked into Kiya's and his wife's face and ask "Any questions?" Without wasting any second, Kiya quickly asked; "What is a Totem?" Kiya's sudden question surprised Zibeh her father;
"Who is asking?" Zibeh curiously asked.
"Me!" Kiya blurted.
"I know you are the one asking but where did you hear that word from?"
Loosing faith on her father due to the tone of his words, Kiya replied.. "Dad can you tell me what a Totem is or not? In your word from the scripture you preached that we should ask when we need to know something right? Please i need to know what a Totem is, can you tell me?"
"Am amazed.. Your boldness is beginning to concern me young lady. I just preached to you about words from the Bible and Totem is not one of those scriptural words. We don't talk about witchcraft stuff in this house." Zibeh said that with a frowned face.
"Oh! So Totem is witchcraft stuff and you would not tell me anything about it. Well it fine, congratulations, you just succeeded in contradicting your own preaching."
Out of disappointment, Kiya got up and left the sitting room without staying for the conclusion of the morning devotion.
Zahra and Zibeh [...]
Kiya's parents Zibeh and Zahra are very kind people yet a little too overprotective than they should be. They are very religious people, zealous Church goers, moralist, and honest people. They are the good-neighbour kind of people, they abide by the rules, and are very good citizens. In their devotion for their religion, they hate anything that has to do with magic, or witchcraft or any mystical stuffs. Example of such mysterious ideas is the 'Totem' Kiya asked about. They consider all magic and mystical phenomenons as dark and devilish.
Kiya's father Zibeh is a civil servant in the State Government, he is an accountant by profession, a well to do man, a good father and a good husband. He is a simple man yet always serious, he frowns at any stupid thing, does not tolerate unnecessary noise, devoted to watching cable news, do not tolerate any fetish talk, and the only thing he loves more than reading books is confessing to his wife Zahra and his daughter Kiya how much he loves them. In one of his reading adventures he stumbled upon numbers and the power in them, a book written by a mystic, even though he hates mystical books, this one caught his interest, he went deep into it until he grabbed the wisdom in the book. His wife Zahra caught him once reading the book and she made him promise to never have anything to do with it. She reminded him of his past, how he once was into mystical way of life until he met her, and because of her, he abandoned his mystical ways and promised never to go back to the old life.
Zahra was raised in a Christian home, very devoted believer. Because of her Zibeh abandoned his old belief of mystical powers, accepted the Christian belief and became a very gentle man. Her kindness overflows, her intelligence and beauty breathtaking, and Zibeh always teased that Kiya got both her intelligence and beauty from her mother. When they got married, they made a promise to raise a family completely devoid of any corruption, any dark or gray areas, a family devoted to Christianity. It is in this light that Zibeh would not answer Kiya's question about a Totem even though he knows something about totems. It is in this same light that Zahra wouldn't help Kiya on the same totem issue, as long as it concerns mystical or magical ideas, both parents would prefer not to talk about it.
Zibeh looked at his wife and sigh.. He did his best to never tell Kiya stories about magic or mysteries, so much that her only desire is to understand science and the Gospel but now,. "What has gotten into her" he asked his wife. "If you ask me, i don't know who to ask" she casually answered, she quickly added; "Don't worry, i will go talk to her, I will find out what is going on with her and i will relate it to you" with a smile on his face he replied; "Thank you Zahra."
Three hours later, in GHS Jos, a teacher is teaching mathematics in Kiya's class. Kiya sat quietly as if following the teacher but her mind had already flew to the realms of thoughts. She need answers to the bulk of questions running through her mind, since the appearance of that strange horn, Kiya's life seem to never be the same. Her fear increased after her Dad refused to provide an answer to her question about a Totem, now she kept wondering what he would do to her if she'd mentioned anything about a mysterious horn that came with flames, thunders and flashes of lightening. While deep in her thoughts, her mathematics teacher spoke to her but she didn't respond, the teacher shouted, "Kiya!" startled, Kiya snapped out of her thoughts and quickly answered, "Yes Sir?"
"Find X." He nonchalantly asked her.
"Hmm? Where?" Kiya asked confused.
The teacher frowned his face;
"What do you mean where? In the equation on the board of course" he replied in a husky voice.
"Am sorry Sir, I must admit I was not following." she sadly replied back.
"You mean you sit in my class and not follow my teachings?" He angrily shouted.
"I am very sorry Sir, no disrespect meant, I was bothered by something that all."
The teacher smirked.. "Haha! Well then, kindly go outside, when you finish thinking, go ahead and find X, only after which you can come back to my class."
Kiya felt sorry and bad for being absent minded while Mathematics was going on in the class, she tried to make her teacher reason with her but he refused and insisted she get out of the class.
Ten minutes passed, Kiya sat at the school garden where she and Alisha meet often, still lost in her thoughts until the faint sound of footsteps woke her up from her semi slumber. She quickly turned to see Alisha approaching her, without her realizing why, her face flushed with blushes, Kiya couldn't help but ask herself; "Why am I blushing at the sight of Alisha?" a tiny voice in her head answered, "Maybe it because you are happy to see her."
"But she is a lady like me, should I feel the way I am feeling for a fellow woman?" she asked herself again.
"Maybe it because your feelings is mutual." the tiny voice answered.
"No, It is because we are BFFs and we truly love each other as sisters nothing else." Kiya whispered back to the tiny voice in her head.
"Well then why do you blush at the mere sight of her?" the tiny voice persisted.
Kiya stood quiet, she could not believe that her own mind is trying to confuse her or even challenge her feelings, she held her head with both hands and aggressively whispered back to her mind, "Stop! Just stop it, you are just my mind trying to confuse me, this is only but a trying time for me, don't make things worse for me please, just stop it." the conversation between Kiya and the tiny voice in her head may seem much but it only happened within a very short pace of time. While still trying to shut off her own mind from thinking a voice interrupted her..
"What is my baby doing here all alone in the middle of school time? Shouldn't you be in class?" Alisha asked in a joyful tone.
"I got sent out of the class, and by the way, I have never been so happy to see you." Kiya calmly answered.
"Ok, tell me whats up?"
"Can you sit down first?"
[Alisha sat close to Kiya]
"Kiya are you ok? What is going on?" She asked.
"Well something been bothering me. I didn't call you because I just didn't want to bother you with my problems, in fact I contemplated calling you but decided not to."
"Come on Kiya. You and I have gone past this, I mean we share everything, why not this one, whatever it is that is bothering you, you could have just give me a call."
"I know but this one is too hard to simply call you for it.. nonetheless, first thing first, what is a Totem?" Kiya deliberately asked.
Alisha kept a straight face, the question didn't phase her at all..
"Where did you hear that from?" she asked Kiya.
"My question did not surprise you?" Kiya asked in shock.
"No, it didn't.. but what surprised me is why a question would bother you while the internet is right there for you. Have you tried asking Google what a Totem is?"
[KiyaFelt dumb] "Uh No! I didn't even think about it. I guess I was too sucked up inside my problems, but wait, you know what a totem is right?"
"Yes i do.. but i won't say anything until you tell me everything. Three day ago I tried calling you on phone but something really weird happened, my phone broke completely, I just got a new one yesterday that why i couldn't call you, I do not know your house either, imagine, a best friend who doesn't know her best friend's house. I think am a bad person." Alisha explained.
[Kiya smiled] "No you are not.. I will come to your lodge tomorrow after school, I will show you something and I think that may explain everything. I have so many questions that need answering, so many truths i need to know, maybe you can help me."
"It ok then, I will be waiting tomorrow, whatever it is just bring it on.. we will find answers together my young seeker." [chuckles]
"Haha.. Seeker huh?"
[Alisha Playfully] "Seek and you shall find girl.. It is written. Now go back to the class and I will see you tomorrow, bye.."
"Thank you.. bye!"
Both ladies left.