Fiction, Historical, Romance, Sci Fi...

3

The Den as we named it had two opposite windows that gave excess ventilation on the breezy sea irrespective of the fact that we had no thick clothes on. On the shelves above us were packages wrapped in brown papers neatly arranged in rows. Two dim bulbs lightened the place a detachable toilet was at one extreme end. There was no chair or table just a stool at the extreme end where a first aid box was rolled under and a twenty five liter keg was beside filled with water. Nurse Vivian as she introduced herself was the care taker kept to watch us. She was an average sized ladies probably in her thirties. She was dressed in a while nurse uniform and had a cream cardigan on. She was pretty with a bright smile, gap teeth and very soft spoken. To me she was practically the only person that knew how what we were going through at that moment
‘Trust me; I know how you girls feel. Most of you are scared and confused if not all’ she said walking round ‘Most of you have been injured while on your way here because you refused to comply or you asked too many questions or you tried to run or save the day’ she continued
‘I bet you got that knee injury from a fall’ she asked a mixed race girl the girl nodded timidly ‘and you; where did you get that black eye from’ she asked walking up to an ebony slim girl that was two people away from me and stooping in front of her
‘Was rude to Uju if you know who that is’ she said plainly. Vivian smiled
‘What’s your name?’ the girl paused
‘None of your concern’ the girl replied rudely looking straight at Vivian. Vivian smiled and stood up
‘You’ll need each other’ she continued ignoring the girI’s comment as she stood back up ‘I’m sure the bus trip gave some of you a little bonding moment so I want you to reshuffle; sit beside that girl you bonded with. This trip isn’t easy it’s gonna get colder, uncomfortable and harder. Some of you will fall sick and a few of it might not last these two weeks’ as she talked; everyone reshuffled. I couldn’t stand up because Asher held on to me but Muna came to sit beside me, Ejiro sat beside Asher and Ebun sat beside Ejiro. All except Chastity who remained where she was 
 ‘Excuse me ma’ someone called; Vivian turned to the dorky looking girl in glasses ‘You haven’t told us your name’ she continued. 
‘Vivian’ Vivian answered. The girl nodded and went back to picking her toe nails
‘And you are’
‘Oh! ...Kike…..or just call me Kiki’ the girl replied in between giggles. We all looked at her surprised. Who dared to laugh in this kind of situation? Vivian laughed back.
‘Tonia’ Asher called me diverting my attention. Her eyes looked tired and sunken. I looked at her worried
‘Are you okay’ I whispered
‘Put your hand on my neck; do you think I’m developing a temperature’ she asked. I obeyed. Yes she was
‘No… I think you’re okay’
‘Well I don’t feel okay. My shoulder hurts so badly’ ‘And I’m feeling dizzy’ she continued breathing out hot air on me.
‘Well…. I’m sure Vivian can handle that’
‘Excuse me’ I called to Vivian, she looked towards me ‘Asher…..My friend here isn’t feeling too good’ a worried frown came on her face as she approached us
‘What’s the problem dear’ she asked as Asher’s shoulder attracted her attention
‘My shoulder and I’m feeling tired and weak’
‘We all are’ a girl from the other end said. Asher sighed
‘No this one’s different’ Asher continued. Vivian stooped in front of her and put her hand on her neck.
‘You’re running temperature sweetheart’ she said. Asher nodded. She pulled down the hand of Asher’s clothe and looked closely at her wound.
‘Wow… this must be deep. How did you get this’ she asked in a concerned sad but angry voice.
‘The lady we came with. Her hair pin’
‘Uju?’
‘No; Valerie’
‘Valerie did this?’ she asked removing the dressing on the wound and signaling to the girl beside her stool to move the first aid box over ‘This isn’t Valerie’
‘Well she did’ Asher mumbled
‘Christ’ she sighed as she picked up some cotton woll and dipped it into spirit ‘Valerie should have known better’ she moved her shoulder making Asher sigh in pain
‘Stop! My hand hurts’ Asher said crying
‘I know… just trying to confirm. How big was the pin?’
‘It was kind of fat and spiral ish’ Ebun said ‘I saw it’ she continued. Asher nodded
‘There’s a possibility your bone might have been affected so stitching it won’t be advisable’
‘So……what are we going to do’ Muna asked
‘We’ll tie it and redress it and hope it doesn’t get infected’
‘Infected?’
‘It’s an open wound Asher. There’s a possibility’ She put the cotton wool on the wound making Asher growl in pain
‘Shhh… shhh’ she commanded ‘It’s just a wound you’re not in labor’ she scolded. Asher cried out but nodded in submission nevertheless. She removed the cotton wool and put fresh ones on the wound
‘you’ll be okay’ she encouraged as she dressed the wound 
‘Asher right’
‘Yeah’ Asher sobbed
‘I’m gonna tell you this point blank. To this people outside you’re an investment, a source of income. You’re like chickens that lay eggs; anybody that dies is just mortality, a number nothing more. No burial no God be with you till we meet again. The minimum amount of time we spend on sea is a week after which take another transportation. In my time there’s no time when we’ve ever taken in the exact number of girls that go on. There’s always a lesser number but if you survive it to camp you’ll be given the best treatment you just have to survive it there’ she said in a low clear tone to Asher. With that she stood up
‘Anyone else with any injury’ she announced
‘I haven’t eaten’ a girl said
‘I’m sorry sweetie; the only thing I can offer you is water. Is that okay’
‘Not for long. My ulcer attack isn’t pretty’
‘What of the food they offered us’ a girl asked
‘Didn’t have a spoon out of it. Had the impression that it was poisoned’ Vivian giggled
‘What’s your name’ Vivian asked 
‘Boma’ she replied
‘Well Boma, if they wanted to kill you, they would’ve. I’m coming let me ask them if they can help’ Vivian said picking out a walkie-talkie 
‘Muna’ I called. Muna looked towards me
‘I don’t know where we are going to or what they are going to use us for but if I ever get out of here; neither Fola nor Slim will see the next daylight’ 
‘Same here. Let’s just try to survive whatever they plan on doing to us. do you think Asher will be okay’
‘I don’t know Munachi. She’s getting weak’
‘Nothing can happen to her. Lets all stick together through this horror’ Muna encouraged. The padlock was heard and all of us looked towards the door
‘I’m coming girls’ she said leaving the door and shutting beside her. Her exit welcomed silence into the cargo. We all just kept quiet and looked round while some girls whispered discretely to themselves. My head was empty; didn’t know what else to think. One thing was confirmed I wasn’t dreaming. This was very real even though I hoped it wasn’t. a girl laughed out scornfully attracting all of our attention. It was the young lady that had the black eye and was rude to Vivian
‘You all have gotten relaxed haven’t you. We are all in this cow dung being shipped to wherever God knows if its Nederland or Peru and you seem all relaxed and okay with it. Let’s even try to escape this bullshit at least we’ll know we tried and didn’t just sit there. Not less than ten people are in this cargo and we’re fifty girls. We can take them out with a good plan’
‘How many shades of stupid are you’ Kike asked rudely
‘Excuse me!’
‘Abigail no’ the girl beside her cautioned ‘No fights or arguments’ she continued
‘Thomasine please’ Abigail interrupted
‘We’re in the middle of the sea. Where the hell are we gonna run to even if somehow many one out of zillion case we escape’ Kike continued
‘My father has a boat; I know how to control one’ a girl said
‘This is a bad idea’ Muna said. I covered her mouth.
‘Good, I don’t expect everyone to go with the plan. There are always failures in a class’
‘This is not freaking real life classroom drama don’t you get it!’ a girl said. Loud murmuring started in the boat. 
‘We’ll any plan of escaping this cargo I’m in’ someone said
‘Same here’ another girl said
‘Here too’ Chastity volunteered followed by the girl who claimed her father had a boat.
‘When Nurse Vivian comes; we’ll knock her down’ Abigail said standing up and walking to the first aid box
‘I can’t live in whatever shithole they are planning to throw us in. only a fool agrees to endure crap’ she said bringing out the pedicure set that was in it and pulling out the scissors, forceps and other instrument. They handing them over to the girls that agreed
‘These girls think this people are stupid’ Ebun said. ‘wasn’t it just food Nurse Vivian went to get. I’m sure she waited and they are watching us to see what stunt we’ll try to pull’ she continued
‘We try to act normal’ Abigail said sitting down. I looked towards her and in my head I kept on laughing as the thought of what might happen went through my head………………….TO BE CONTINUED