Under the moonlight

Chapter 20

Kojo's pov

I could not sleep that night. All I could think of was about marriage, thanks to my mother.

What if D rejected me?
No. I did not think so. She loved me and so did I.
I wanted to be the best I could ever be for her since the first day I met her.

I was tossing and turning in bed all night .
All I could think of was raising a family with Dembe.
Imagine having children with her. They would definitely be beautiful children.

I was lost in my fantasy world when a sharp cry suddenly pierced through the silence of the night.
I thought it would be gone because at times the village drunkards scream with no reason at all, just to disturb the peace of the whole village.

Just when I thought I would hear no more cry, another one followed and it was clear that the person was in excruciating pain.

I got up quickly and reached out in the darkness so that I could light the lamp and look for my spear.

I could hear footsteps outside while I was still searching for my spear.
My brain might have frozen for a while, because I took an unreasonable time to find it yet it was always very available.

I got out as stealthily as possible so as not to wake Mama.
I could not deal with all her questions then.

I followed the sound of the footsteps and met a large group of  initiated young men who belonged to my age group and surprisingly they were standing in a circle staring at something.
I could hear women wailing, but none of the young men was moving even a muscle, so I moved to get a closer look.

What met my eyes was enough to break me down, but I stood still.

At the center of the circle lay two dead bodies of some of the best warriors we had in the village.
Alongside their bodies were two women, whom I presumed to be their wives, crying their hearts out and shaking them vigorously as if the men would come back to life.

The pain their voices was haunting. They were too young to be left as widows, but sometimes fate decides to play its part even at the foulest of times.

The other men were busy comforting the women and trying to find out what had really happened.
All that was going through my mind was Dembe.

What if I was the one who had gotten killed?
Would she be able to live through it?
She was a strong girl, but could she handle the kind of pain that I saw in the faces of those women?

I later found out that the men were attacked on their way from hunting.
They were outnumbered by the other community and hence killed.

I am usually a very strong person but what I had witnessed that night rendered  me so weak that it scared me.
I went back home, but I could not sleep. Immediately the first rays of the sun broke through the sky, I left for the stream.
I knew that the chief would summon the whole village within no time but I needed to be alone.

At the stream, images of the first day I saw Dembe taking a swim there kept coming back.
Her dark skin glowing in the evening sun, water flowing smoothly  down her flawless back and her hair, all kinky but still very beautiful.
I could never let go of such memories

It was calming to sit there and forget all that was going on around me, even if it was just for a short while.
Seeing those dead men the previous night had shown me how short life could be.
I wanted to be with my girl  forever, even if forever would only be a minute long.

I was so lost in my world that I did not realize how much time had gone by. 
I was sure that the whole village would be at the arena by then and it would be really hard for me to go unnoticed.

I rushed there, and as if by instinct I looked around for Dembe, but could not trace her.
I was not even paying attention to the fact that all the young men my age had been called forward and I was the only one remaining.
It was not until the chief made the last announcement and I still could not see Dembe that I decided to move forward, and then, there she was.

It was a great relief to see her and know that she was safe, but the look of worry on her face made me very uncomfortable.
She was worried about me and I did not like it.

Sometimes, I feel like I was dropped several times as a child, because the next thing I did was to mouth the word 'forever'  to her.
It did not feel very smart, but it was satisfying to see how relief washed over her face.  I did not care about the awkward looks we got from everyone else, including the chief.

We went to protect the whole community without even saying farewell to the ones we loved.
I knew that Mama would be totally worried, but she would finally understand and maybe even feel proud of me.

As for my girl, I knew that she was strong enough to pull through the whole experience
She always did.

I swore to fight off the enemy with the love that I had for my mother and my Dembe.

******

I am sorry, this chapter is too short , but I promise more updates are on the way.

By the way, my brother is the one who started with the 'Kojo Man ' thing so it was only right that Amare calls him that. 😂

Thank you for reading.

Love,
Daisy. 💋