Fiction, Historical, Romance, Sci Fi...

2 CONTINUATION

I looked at Muna as she slowly woke up. Her left eye had turned black from the hit she got and I could tell that she was hurting. She groaned in pain as she opened her eyes attracting everyone’s attention

‘Shhh….’ I cautioned ‘Muna its okay’ I whispered. She opened her eyes and sighed

‘We’re still on the road?’

‘Yeah. But I think they stopped twice to refill the tank. God we should get some ice for your eyes; it’s swollen and black’ I said with a squeeze on my face

‘Ice is the least of our problems Tonia’ she mumbled. I moved closer to her and rested my head of her shoulder

‘I know that Tonia; but we’ll be okay, we always are’ Muna looked up as if she could find some answers there

‘What time do you think it is at this moment?’

‘Its one’ a girl said pointing at Sparrow’s wristwatch. I looked at her, so did Muna and Asher and the other girl whose name I hadn’t gotten yet

‘Hi… I’m Ejiro’ she said with a tomato smile on her face. She was chocolate skinned and obviously tall judging from her long legs. Her smile showed she had a sweet, reserved personality. I smiled at her

‘Are you okay?’ she asked Muna with a concerned look on her face

‘Yes I am…. I guess’ Muna said with a smile. She looked over at Valerie, Sparrow and Job who were fast asleep

‘I wonder where we are now’ Ejiro said

‘Same here’ Muna added and let out a loud sigh after. I looked at the girl opposite me at the last side. Her head was down and she had been awake since but hadn’t said anything since. She just had a sad and confused look on her face

‘Hey’ I called to her. She didn’t answer at the first attempt. I looked away wondering if I should try again ‘Excuse me’ I continued in an unsure voice. She looked at me

‘What’s your name’ I asked. She laughed and looked away

‘My name’ she repeated and looked at me scornfully. ‘You girls don’t realize it do you? We are locked up in a van; maltreated and tied up and you’re here having an introduction party. You don’t know where we are heading to nor where we are at this moment doesn’t that bother you?’ she asked. Asher sighed; she looked towards Asher and then carried her face away

‘I’m Chastity if you must know’ she said turning to me ‘Now it’s my turn to ask you a question; how were you two taken?’ she asked. I looked at Muna

‘Our friends sold us’ Muna said looking straight at Chastity

‘They came to you at home and_:

‘No…. we were going out and well……….the rest happened’ I interrupted. She scoffed

‘My home was ransacked and I was kidnap. I never went out or looked for trouble but I was taken anyway and my dad’s leg was shot’ she said ‘did you even ask the question why me… why you in particular’ Chastity continued pointing at me.

‘Chastity; we all have all those questions in our head but we cant do anything’ Ejiro said in between laughter ‘We can dream about what we could have been eating or where we could have been but that wont change the situation’ Ejiro continued

The bus came to a halt waking Job up. He woke Sparrow and Valerie

‘It looks like we are finally there’ he said to them. Valerie opened the door for the first time in almost twelve hours; it was like we had been imprisoned and had just been released but this time we knew this was the beginning of our imprisonment. I stretched my head to see more of where we are; all I could tell from my chained position was that we were at a port; a sea port to be precise and we were going to be shipped away.

‘Okay’ Valerie started unchaining me first ‘Do not move till I tell you do and when I do form a straight line and walk down like well behaved girls like you are’ she pulled my legs roughly as she removed the shackles  then started with Muna and then the rest of the girls

‘You’ she said unchaining Asher ‘Survive’ she said with a smile. Asher nodded, for the first time I saw Asher agree with Valerie. Valerie looked at us with a sad look on her face then came down

‘Come on! Straight line!’ she commanded in a loud voice. We stood up worn out and weak and obeyed she irrespective of the fact that we were all tired, thirsty and hungry. She stood beside the door and observed us all as we walked down; Job behind Muna who was the last person. As I passed her she looked at me

 ‘She never got hit Sparrow’ she said in between laughter

‘I know, she’s the submissive one’ Sparrow answered

‘It’s really not bad out there’ she told us as we looked at the cargos lined up at the bank of the rivers. we were goods now to this people. where we going to be sold? trafficked? I had watched this in movies where girls were captured and shipped for slavery but I never imagined it happening in real life worst of all to me; We were going to be shipped but the question was to where. I looked round and found out that we were the only one. Over at different points were queues like the one we were in; all young girls probably my age. I pinched myself to wake up from the horror I was in but this wasn’t a dream; this was pure reality and I was in it. I was in this horror reality.

‘Veevee!’ someone shouted from behind turning all our heads ‘Where have you been’ continued the young lady in a bold feminine voice as she ran towards Valerie ‘The white witch of Oz has been calling and asking when the ships gonna leave. I couldn’t tell her you were the one delaying us’

‘I’m sorry Uju. We stopped for fuel and this batch of girls weren’t easy to get’ Uju looked as us with a straight face.

‘Looks like you got all of them though’ she said. Valerie nodded in agreement. They continued their discussion a little more discreetly leaving us wondering what next we were going to do; maybe just stand there. This continued for fifteen minutes till Sparrow directed us away to where a group of girls were gathered at the bank of the river seated and having a meal of rice and water. I looked back and took one more look at Valerie; she didn’t turn to look at us but walked away with Uju, what did she mean when she told Asher to survive? I wish I asked her more questions like where we were or were going to but it was too late.

We joined them and were given our own park and water bottle. On a normal day after being starved for up to twelve hours, any food placed in front of me was eaten with no hesitation but today was different. As I took every spoon of the boiled unseasoned rice, I felt like I was being forced to take down every spoon. I didn’t want their food or water or hospitality, I wanted my home. I didn’t care if it was about to be shattered and I lived with twisted malfunctioned parents. This was no suitable alternative

‘You girls think you’re in some kind of fancy restaurant having some pasta di due salmon or some fancy food!’ a fat huge extremely light woman shouted coming out of one of the cargos ‘Eat up you bastards!’ she shouted. No one told us to hurry our food. Even if we didn’t want to, we all ate quicker

‘You are not seeing any food for the next twenty four hours!’ she roared ‘So I’m going to count to ten and by the last number; I want to see you girls in a long queue with no food or water being rushed and after ten if you aren’t on the queue. Why don’t you stay out of the queue and see what happens to you’ she continued in a sharp uppity voice. We rushed our food faster as she counted by eight; I dropped the half of my rice I hadn’t eaten and my unopened water and ran to the line. My throat was stuck as I tried my best to swallow without water. By ten we were all on the queue. I looked round to locate Muna but I couldn’t find her at the middle of the line where I was. She was probably in front of behind. In front of me was Asher and behind me was a girl I had never seen before. The cargo opened and we were directed into the container lightened with two weak bulbs and ordered to sit down on the floor after which the doors were jammed and a loud padlock jammed behind the door. You know when they say between the devil and the deep blue sea? Meaning someone is confused and indecisive; well there I was seated with the devil on the deep blue sea. There was no confusion with where I stood or what was going to happen. I knew no argument was to be made on what the future held for me because of all I could consider I knew one thing; for me, Muna, Asher, Chastity and Ejiro. The future from that day was no butterflies in eden red rose beautiful experience for us. it was going to be brimstone and molten magma hell; and we weren’t ready for it………………………………TO BE CONTINUED

DROP YOUR COMMENTS RATING THIS STORY ON A SCALE OF ONE TO TEN. THANKS FOR READING