Icelamb

Chapter 17

I notice there are vertical groups of girls and boys on different lines. Girls on one side, boys on the other.

As I fill a spot behind a group of girls all lined up, I calm down grateful to have made it to the line in one piece. No guard is in the arena, I wonder why that always happens. One minute, we are guarded, the next minute, we are left alone.

    I look around the arena and I remember my first time in the arena, how 'the boy' died.

I blink my eyes when my vision gets blurry, I should focus, I should not get emotional. Somehow, I feel like I want to see Naade, but I guess I already 'cracked' under pressure so he probably doesn't even care.

Well, I can at least live a little today. I don't see him anywhere anyways. I however observe that everyone is behaving strangely today, I did not notice anything before though as I was trying to get past the crowd.

Everywhere is bustling today, Everyone has a tight smile on their face yet they are smiling as they talk.

Am I the only one that is seeing things? The girl in front of me is chewing gum with so much vigour and she is smiling through it. I hope her gums don't bleed out.

  The sound of her lip smacking and wild chewing grates me out. I ignore it at first but when I cannot take it anymore, I gently tap her shoulders trying to control my anger, she is lucky I tapped her lightly because my mind is not thinking lightly.

  "Hello, um are you okay?" I ask hesitant at first because I don't know her.

She smiles so widely to the point where I think her Jaw was going to break.

"I cannot hear you, the music is too loud" What are you even saying, The only music I hear is the one coming from your mouth. I want to tell her but I hold back my tongue.
"What?"
"The music is too loud" she repeats loudly this time.

I want to ask her what she means but I leave her alone(she is not even behaving normally, so she probably does not even have an answer) when I notice Bayo, the boy with the thick Ibadan accent whom I met in the arena few days ago. He is on another line full of boys. He is the last on the line.

      All the boys on the line are all expressionless, they just stand there looking poker face. I don't recognize anyone except Bayo.

My mind wanders to Naade actually, even though he can be mean, he is the one with experience here and like it or not, he is the boss son, so he will definitely have 'privileges' because he is not even here.

Although the only 'privileges' I have seen is coming late to the arena and the Cigarette burns on his body.

Back to Bayo, I see him bending over and shooting his hands in the air.

He moves his hands and legs rhythmically similar to the traditional 'bata' dance and he dances to a tune only him understands because pfft
I see no drummer beating a tune for him.

   'Seems like everyone is high on cheap weed this morning, I wonder in my head. I berate myself for using a bad slang I picked up on the streets a long time ago.

It then dawns on me that I am probably right in a weird way. I mean, I may not know anything about drugs, but I  do remember the drug education class we took, not in this class in 'Aye', when we haven't even done anything in this class. All they keep saying is that there is class yet they cancel.

Well, I took a class in my secondary school and I remember my teacher saying some things about the signs of when someone is under the influence.

And right now, everyone is behaving weirdly and this is 'Aye', things happen here.

   Someone grabs me from behind and twirls me. I am about to react when I notice it is Naade. I look at him and shrug my shoulders expecting him to say something.

I am a bit relieved at his presence though I don't show it. He however has his usual stone face. His face looks bruised, his left eye is swollen to the point where I can't see his eyes because they look closed.

"Come with me" he starts dragging me by my elbow.

"No, what do you want with me? Didn't you hear the bell to assemble here? Also, we can't trust each other" I ramble in one breath. I decide to stand and hold my stance.

"I really don't have time for this right now. Come to the room, I will explain" he says in a tense tone.

"What about them?" I gesture to the crowd. They don't look fine to me.

"They are drugged. They will be fine" he assures me.

"Why are they even drugged in the first place? Why wasn't I drugged? Won't 'Aye' notice we are gone? What is happening right now?"

"Ara, keep quiet. You just follow me. I am not this patient" he says through clenched teeth.

I decide to keep quiet. He doesn't leave my hands even after I decide to follow me.

We pass our 'high' mates and we leave for our room. Everywhere is silent and I calm down a bit when I see no one on sight.
     
We go to the room and I yank my hands from his grip immediately we are alone. I don't bother to sit down as I still think someone is going to walk through the door. Naade does the same.

I place my hands akimbo and look at him and I put my hands in the air and look at him for an explanation.

"What is happening here? Why are there no guards? Why do you even care what happens to me?"

" Everyone 'Aye' captures becomes a 'soldiers'. Some people give 'Aye' contracts to eliminate people and sometimes 'Aye' dishes the contract themselves. So 'Aye' is contracted to assassinate whoever is on the 'chopping block'.

They are short on 'staff' because a lot of 'soldiers' were killed the last time during a failed operation because a rival operation attacked us first. So the guards are not enough.

Don't worry,  They won't see us leaving the arena because I will be able to access the camera room from my dad's house and I will be able to erase the footage.

They feel safe that none of the captives can escape because the technology behind the security and structures are unbelievable. Even I have to admit" Naade says.

Ara is about to discover something about 'Aye'. What do you think It is?