EHI

CHAPTER-NINE

Weeks later, Ehi was released from the cell after being fed once a day with a tiny supply of water.
She could feel that she had more bone than flesh.

Her injured body made a protest as she tried to move carefully back to the room where her kinsmen were kept.

She noticed her reflection in the mirror outside one of the cabins.
Her once vibrant eyes now sunk on her dark skin, and her lips were so chapped it could crack.
The bones in her neck and shoulders were protruding and begging to be let out.
Her black curly hair that once flowed down her back now hung like a nest above her shoulder.

She held back a gasp as she saw the condition of her skin. Long and lengthy stripes marred from her neck to down her back.

Ehi refused to let tears fall because this time, she was going to settle the scores.
With one last look in the mirror and a new feeling of determination, she limped straight to the prison room.
She went over her plan over and over, making sure there were no mistakes. She only had one chance to make it right.

_______________

Nothing prepared Ehi for the news of iye Ose's death.
Her kinsmen told her Ose's body was thrown into the room as a warning to the other prisoners.
His mother couldn't handle the pain of her only child dying in such a brutal way, she immediately slumped and died right after.

Their last rites were done by a chief among them before their body were deposited into the ocean.

Ehi walked away from them before they could finish the story, she just couldn't bear to hear anymore.

Oses's death left a painful mark on her soul, one that she couldn't let herself forget.
She clutched her wrist, twiddling with the bracelet she made from his hair, she whispered her promise to him as a reminder of the battle ahead of her.