15 Miri Ezioku (1/2)
Ego didn't respond as she was deep in thoughts about what they are going to do to her. She was afraid they were going to kill her. This all started when she helped the dog, she should have just let the animal be. Or maybe she should have just helped the old woman lift her firewood without trying to carry it for her. Maybe these desperate looking men wouldn't have seen her on her way home. Moreover, who told them her location, was it the old lady, how was she able to do that? She had been with her all along and there had been no other means of outside communication. Her mother had always told her that her kindness will be the death of her; maybe this was it. It has been ages since Nnanna died, so why are they bringing up this case now? She just could not fathom anything.
One of the men standing beside her used his shoulders to slightly nudge her back to reality; with a roaring voice he asked
”Bia! Are you not the one the priest is talking to?”
”Nnayi, I don't know,” she said thinking that he would provide her with the answer; instead he asked, ”Where is your husband?”
”He is dead, he died some years back” she added wondering why she is being asked that like it was not already obvious.
”How did he die?” the dibia asked with a harsh tone.
Ego began crying; she has been holding back her tears, trying to be stolid. How can he be asking her that kind of question?
”Young woman don't make me repeat myself”. The dibia yelled at her.
In broken words, she managed to reply him saying ”He went for hunting and did not return. When a search party went in search of him, he was discovered dead and no one knew the cause of his death”.
”And you don't have a hand in his death?” He asked
”No, the gods forbid; I don't have anything to do with the death of Obim. I loved that man with all my heart”. She said with her hands on her chest, you can feel the pain in every word.
The dibia turned back and looked at her with one eye opened and asked: ”Are you sure?”
”Yes, I am. I had nothing to do with his death”. Ego said now wiping tears off her cheeks with her right hand, her eyes red and swollen.
Her in-laws began whispering among themselves. Chielo stood up and began yelling on top her voice ”That's a lie, she is lying, she killed my sweet boy…; she killed my son Nnanna with her witchcraft after eating all her children. She also used a love potion on him that's why he refused to take another wife even when this witch couldn't give him children for years. She killed him oh… she did” She broke down crying.