Manifest

Fourteen

Eddie's inside felt liquified when he opened his eyes, and he was suddenly staring up at a bright afternoon sky. After spending hours within the confines of the overgrown trees in the forest, his eyes kept blotting into colors every time he tried to blink them open.

Oh, and he was also bleeding. From his neck. There was a knife in his neck and another one in his spine. He tried to groan, but the vibrations in his throat hurt even more. Enyong lowered Eddie till Eddie's chest touched the floor.

"Stay still," Enyong whispered as he cradled Eddie closer. "If I don't get it out, you won't start healing."

Eddie's mouth filled with blood. As he coughed it out, it landed on the ground, pushing sand up into his nose and eyes.

"Eddie, please."

He wasn't trying to be difficult. He just didn't want to choke. He didn't want to die. He didn't want to feel like his insides were turning against him. If this was a dream, Eddie wanted to wake up. He tried to wake up. Tried to take control. Tried to stop the pain. When none of that worked, Eddie wailed at the possibility that this was all really happening to him.

Enyong pressed down on Eddie's back, keeping him in place as he held Eddie by the neck. Slowly, he pulled the knife out.

Eddie coughed again, his hands rising to the back of his neck of their own accord. He poked the hole of the wound and nearly shouted in gratitude as it began to close.

"Edidiong?" Eddie heard his name, called from far away. "Edidiong, is that you," the voice said.

Eddie ignored the person and turned around, pulling Enyong's hands to his back.

"Please," he begged. "Get it out now."

He couldn't reach the second knife. He'd have pulled it out on his own, but it was just out of reach. Why was Enyong hesitating? A few seconds ago, he'd been determined to remove the knives. Now, he looked down at Eddie as if he was reluctant to continue what he had started.

"I can't, Eddie," Enyong said.

Angry, breathing through his mouth, Eddie grabbed the collar of Enyong's t-shirt and pulled him down.

"I swear to god, if you don't get this knife out-"

"I can't do it in front of-"

"Edidiong, it really is you."

An old woman with a walking stick appeared in Eddie's view, behind Enyong. She was wrinkled and kept squinting so hard, Eddie couldn't see her eyes. She had a white handkerchief holding her scanty, gray hair back from her face and was wearing a loose, ankara boubou. "Oh god, what happened?"

"He got stabbed," Enyong explained.

"UBONG!" the woman screamed, her tiny voice shattering what few brain cells Eddie still had, along the way. "Come here now. Come. Come."

"Don't worry," Enyong said as the woman began to push Enyong out of the way. "I can help him," he said in English.

Eddie refused to let go of Enyong's hand. Whatever happened, no matter how long the woman chose to stay at his side, Eddie wanted to be sure when they were, once again, alone, Enyong would be on hand to take the knife out.

"No," the woman replied, also in English. "I'm sorry, young man. This is Ibanga Okot's son. If he is in trouble, I cannot stand aside and do nothing."

"For god's sake," Eddie cursed. This was not the time to reap the benefits of a benevolent father. He needed this woman gone. Now.

"Yes, yes. Ubong," she urged two boys into Eddie's view. "Lift him carefully."

"I'm fine," Eddie's hold on Enyong's hand tightened. "Just leave us alone. Please."

"You're delirious with pain. It will be okay," she said, gently to Eddie as the boys began to lift him. "Please be gentle," she urged the boys.

As they moved him around, Enyong tried to follow but the woman got in the way and Eddie's hand slipped from his.

Eddie had never felt so lost in a while. His insides were healing around the knife. Objectively, he knew it wasn't healing. Enyong had said so. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling of his skin was coiling around the blade. A blade which, by the way, kept shifting and scratching. Eddie could feel it and he hated the fact he hadn't stayed still, long enough for Enyong to help him.

Luckily, wherever the woman was carrying him wasn't very far from where Enyong had taken them. Eddie could hear cars moving and children in the distance. He wondered how safe the place was. He wanted to believe wherever Enyong had taken them to, in the first place, was safe. Because he couldn't afford to worry about Uduak. Not now when he had a knife in his back.

"Put him down here."

The two boys slowly lowered Eddie onto the ground as the woman appeared with a bottle and a piece of cloth in her hand.

"Don't worry about it, alright?" she said to Eddie. "You'll be fine, I promise."

She poured the contents of the bottle into the cloth in her hand. Before Eddie could protest, she covered his mouth and nose with it. He held her hand and tried to struggle as everything became blurry. The next thing he knew, he was sinking into oblivion.