The Devil

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 16

An end and a new beginning.

” Kojo! Kojo!” Ama screamed my name from outside.

I just got back from the market, now that i want to rest a bit Ama won’t let me be, women and their many problems. I sighed and got up from my mat ” Am coming ”

” Hurry! Please hurry!”

The note of urgency in her voice had me rushing outside. Nma ( Mother) was bent in an awkward position while Ama held her. The sight of the blood in front of them made my heart skip a beat or two.

” What happened?” I said lifting Nma ‘ s frail body into my arms.

” I don’t know! i found her like this!”

I carried Nma into the hut while blood kept coming out of her mouth. Ama got a bowl of water and a piece of rag to wipe her mouth. ” Go and call Npa ( father)” i said.

Ama went out and came in minutes later with my father who had a long chewing stick in his mouth.

” Excuse us children” Npa said.

” No we are not going anywhere, we have to take her to the hospital” i was furious at my father.

” This is not a matter of hospital, it is no secret that when a woman commits adultery this is what happens to her” Npa said like he was explaining a brilliant discovery.

We have many customs and traditions in my country, in some households their girls can’t sell their body for money ( Prostitute/ Prostitution) if she tries it she will die. While in some families if you commit adultery, on your way back you will fall three times, if you don’t confess immediately you will die. In my own household, you will become sick and vomit blood for three days, failure to confess before the third day will result in death. But in a case where, your husband is aware you committed adultery and he still ate the food prepared by you or had sexual intercourse with you, he will be the one to die. When a woman confess to adultery, she is taken to the village square where every eye will see her, she will be asked by a priest to list the number of men she had slept with, if the number of men were too much, she will scoop some sand from the ground: meaning the number of men were much and she can’t remember.

In some families this rule extends to girlfriends and baby mamas too. My mother is a hardworking and a loyal woman, no way she could have cheated on my father even though he doesn’t deserve her loyalty. How could he think she could do such a thing? My father measures people with the yardstick of his own dirty mind.

” What has that got to do with Nma bring sick?” i asked him in anger ” Ama please go get a taxi”

Ama went out of the hut.

” You think i don’t know what am saying? Why will she suddenly start vomiting blood?”

” I ……” Blood spurted out of Nma’ s mouth as she tried to speak.

” You what?! You laid with another man!” Father shouted angrily.

” Innocent……innocent…..am” Nma ( mother) cried.

” Leave her alone Npa ( father)! She is innocent!”

Ama came back with the taxi, the cabbie helped me carry her into the cab. That very noon father called on his kinsmen and they went to investigate from the gods, they came back with this message : She is guilty! She has to confess! The doctors couldn’t make the blood stop, all the tests done on her came back as negative. An elderly matron called me aside that night, she asked me to take my mother back home, that the elders will know how to find a solution. Could my mother have cheated? and with whom i asked myself over and over. How could i even think of such a thing about my own mother? if it is true, she has to confess before the third day. How could i even ask my mother who lost her son weeks ago if she had gone to lay with another man? I had nobody to talk to that night, Ama had stayed back home to care for Pam. Lord why is all this happening to me? i went back into the hospital room, the bed where Nma was kept was drenched in blood.

” Nma ” i called softly. ” I know you are innocent but please say you are not, so the kinsmen can help you”

” No! …..no….innocent……Kojo innocent” She said between clenched teeth.

Another sign of a woman who commited adultery, they won’t be able to talk properly as their jaws will become locked. This is day one, two more days to go.