Which was why, two days later, escorting her uncle to the park, she still had the woman on her mind. Despite herself, she'd felt the urge to go back to that place and help the woman, but she hadn't had the chance to leave the house since that day. She'd just have to forget she ever saw anything. 'Eniiyi, are you okay? You're unusually quiet.' Lastborn observed. She looked at him. 'I'm okay.' 'Are you sure, maybe you should go back home?' Uncle Felix looked worried. 'Uncle Felix, I'm okay.' She frowned up at him. Uncle Felix chuckled. 'Oh, I see. You're going to miss me.' Eniiyi looked blasé. 'It's not too late to take me along.' She'd spent all morning begging him to take her with him but he'd refused. Then she'd gotten mad at him and avoided speaking to him. The only reason she was escorting him now was becaus

A day after . . . 02:16 pm, September 11 Kogi State.   Eniiyi limped down the porch steps down the street towards the neighbour's house, headphones turned up to a high volume just to block out her surroundings. She was angry, frustrated and sore from yesterday. Grandma had come home later in the day, dragged her out of her hiding place by her ears with a long, slender, flexible cane in her hand meaning to flog the life out of her, but she'd been saved by the person she had least expected to: Taiwo. Why, she'd tried her very best to be extremely rude to him, but he'd obviously not taken her behavior to heart. He'd spent about twenty minutes giving Gma reasons she shouldn't punish the nine year old. Which was all good for the girl. She'd been planning to pull fainting act anyway but had doubted it'd work on her grandmother. It ha

Eniiyi gulped nervous energy and futilely tried to disappear into the folds of her grandmother's wrapper. What had she done wrong? And why was it so serious as request the attendance of every pair of eyes in the village?'Grandma,' she whispered, keeping her gaze focused on the space between the ground and where the assembly was, 'I swear, I didn't do anything. Believe me.'There was a slight break in her grandmother's movement, other than that she made no indication of having heard the young girl.The escort stopped in front of the platform where the high chairs were and prostrated flat on the floor in greeting to the group of six elders decorating the furniture. A dark-faced man sat separately from them farther to the side and he so very much looked like it was all he could do from stomping down and beheading the girl.'Here they are, Baale, elders; the possessed child and her grandmother.'Eniiyi almost spit out blood at that statement. What on

The crowd sat back in their seats and watched the village native doctor and his pages set up the rites for the exorcism. Nobody stood up to defend the scared, small girl bound and on her knees in the middle of the white chalk circle.It was an uncommon occurrence for a child to be exorcized; it was usually the old women that were found out as witches.The pages finished setting the oil lamps and other miscellanea according to the rules of Feng Shui. They all stepped back and let the herbalist take their place in front of the girl, forming an outer circle. The said man started to chant in a strange tongue and sprinkle a thick, black liquid inside the chalk-line — and on the girl, in the process.Eniiyi, head bowed, surreptitiously wiped her face on her sleeve. She tried not to breathe in the foul-smelling liquid. She wondered again what was going to happen to her now. The woman who gave birth to the man who gave birth to her, who was supposed to be her gran

06:30 am, September 15,Kogi State. Waking up before the sun Eniiyi rubbed lightly at her eyes and tried to stand up but she was very weak and couldn't push her weight down to. So instead she settled for sitting up, pulling the blanket aside.Everywhere was still cast in a misty blanket that filled the air thickening to fog in the distance.Come to think of it, she was feeling a little okay now, still sick nevertheless, but not as worse as the previous night.Then she remembered the events of the previous day. She sighed. Her suffering couldn't continue like this, she had to do something about it as soon as possible. The Decorated Bull had promised her more punishments for today. She'd only survived yesterday's by luck, if it continued today she'd die before the sun reached overhead.She had to think of something if she wanted to live. If only she could find a way of communicating with her parents, maybe she c