“But you still haven’t left? What language do you understand? Take the child with you and go back to the village. I will come and see you by the end of the month.”
“Why are you making me go through all this, Emeka? Why did you lie to me and use me when you knew very well you didn’t love me? Even though I have your child, you have no compassion for me.”
“Listen, I’m already late and I don’t want to talk too much. If I find you still here when I return from work, it will end badly for you.”
He left angrily.
Ogei started crying again. She sat on the ground in front of the hut looking lost. Suddenly, a female army officer passing by noticed that she was crying and came toward her.
“Good evening, young girl. Are you okay? Are you looking for someone? You can’t stay under this burning sun with a child. What’s wrong?”
Ogei explained the whole situation to the woman. She was so compassionate that she decided to help her. She took the child and walked toward a hut, asking Ogei to follow her. Ogei picked up her bags and followed her inside. Once there, the woman bathed the child and then gave food to Ogei.
“You can stay with me while we look for a solution. It doesn’t bother me because I live alone here. You can call me Aunt Uzoma.”
Ogechi’s eyes filled with tears.
“Thank you so much, Aunt Uzoma. I truly don’t know how I would have managed without your help.”
For several weeks, Ogei stayed with Aunt Uzoma.
One day, while she had gone out to buy sugar and was returning to the hut, Emeka’s wife blocked her path.
“Listen to me carefully, ugly girl. Whether you are Emeka’s sister or his wife, I don’t care. I just want you to know that I am the one who is now his wife, and I am the only one he loves.”
Ogei tried to leave without listening, but the woman grabbed her arm to stop her.
“I’m not finished yet. Are you deaf on top of being ugly? I never want to see you passing here again. This place is reserved for respectable people like my husband and me, not for dogs like you.”
Ogechi walked away, trying to hold back the tears threatening to fall. She was deeply hurt, but she tried to stay strong.
Ogechi did not know that Aunt Uzoma was Emeka’s superior in the army. If she had known, she would have reported him long ago.
Consumed by loneliness and sadness, she decided to return to Baba’s village. Even though Emeka’s mother mistreated her, she at least had Baba, who had been a great support to her. Aunt Uzoma did not want her to leave and had tried to talk her out of it, but Ogechi had already made up her mind. Aunt Uzoma gave her some money so she could take a taxi.
Very early the next morning, Ogechi went to the station with her child to take a taxi. During the trip, while they were crossing a forested area between the two villages, the car was attacked by robbers. The driver swerved in panic and ended up deep in the forest. All the passengers jumped out of the car and ran to save themselves. Some people abandoned their belongings.
Ogechi took her daughter in her arms and ran as fast as she could, going deeper into the forest. She finally stopped in the middle of the forest looking panicked, while the child began to cry in her arms. Suddenly she heard a voice behind her.
“Who is there?”
Terrified and drenched in sweat, she dropped to her knees and began to cry.
“Please, don’t hurt me.”
Suddenly, an older man came out of the bushes and approached her.
“Get up, young girl. I mean you no harm. I just came here to look for medicinal herbs. But what are you doing alone in the middle of the forest with a child?”
Ogechi stood up and briefly explained her misfortune to him. The man felt sorry for her.
“I live here. Follow me. I’ll shelter you for the night.”
The man took the child from her hands and asked her to follow him. She followed him to a small house in the middle of the woods. He gave her food and water.
While she was eating, she overheard the man and his wife talking inside the hut.
“Who is this girl you brought? Have you forgotten that the Festival of the Spirits started yesterday and that it is forbidden to shelter strangers? Tell her to leave. I don’t want trouble.”
“But who will know she is a stranger if we say nothing to anyone? You just have to keep quiet,” the man replied.
“I warned you. But if anything happens to me, I will hold you responsible,” she added angrily before leaving.
Ogechi heard the whole conversation and became afraid. She wanted to leave, but she did not know where to go and knew nowhere in that forest.
A few hours later, the man’s child ran to him shouting, “Father, Father, the spirits are coming! I saw them heading toward our house!”
“Everyone, go hide in the room,” the man ordered his wife and children.
Ogechi followed them and the whole family hid in the room, terrified. Ogechi began to pray silently, hoping her little girl would not wake up.
A few minutes later, the spirits arrived.
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