WHISPERS IN THE DARK
CHAPTER 6
“Ayuk’s room?!” I asked.
“Yes, anything the matter?” Mama Etchu asked.
“Not really, but where will she be sleeping?”
“In her room. Don’t be afraid, fine boy. There is no harm. You are an adult and Ayuk is a beautiful girl.”
I actually had no choice. Mama Etchu wanted Ayuk and me to have a little bit of nighttime fun. I could understand that. I was already trapped. It was too late. It was already past midnight, and I couldn’t leave. I could have called Vera and tell her that I was in an unfavourable situation. But it was too late now. I had just one choice. I had to sleep in Ayuk’s room.
We were all in the sitting room watching a telenovela. As if on cue, everyone began saying goodbye. Ayuk’s two sisters were the first to go. Soon, mama Etchu and Ayuk’s younger brother left. It was just Ayuk and me now in the living room.
“I will be going to bed now.” Ayuk announced. “You can join me when you are done.”
“Wait for me, I will go with you.” I spoke.
Together, we moved into her bedroom. She went into her personal bathroom and washed her face. When she got back into the room, she started taking her clothes off in full view of me. She removed her blouse, then her skirt and her bra. She was left now with just her pants. She got on the bed and laid down facing the wall. She slept in a fetal position. That meant her behind was pushed back towards me. I couldn’t help noticing and I concluded that she did that deliberately. I went on my knees, said my prayers, climbed on the bed and laid beside her.
“Do you like the lights on or off?” She asked.
“Off.”
She stretched her hand and touched a switch on the wall. The room became suddenly dark.
“Goodnight, Eyong.”
“Goodnight, Ayuk. Sleep tight.”
“You, too. Do you need something to cover?”
“No, nothing for now. Maybe later.”
“Alright.”
I fell asleep soon after. The night had been a long one and I was damn tired. I needed to rest my tired bones as soon as possible. As I slept, I completely forgot that I was sharing the room with a woman. When I woke up some hours later, I realized that one of her legs was on me. I couldn’t tell if that was a deliberate act, or it was merely by chance. I however, assumed that it wasn’t deliberate and gently removed her leg from my body. Twenty minutes later, I found the leg again right where it was. I now understood that she meant business. I removed the leg again. This time, she came fully with her whole body and climbed on top of me.
We started kissing slowly and then we increased the gear. After about a minute, she wanted to go downstairs and take my thing into her mouth, but I stopped her. I didn’t want that.
“What’s the problem?” She asked.
“I don’t want that.”
“Why?”
“It’s too intimate. I don’t know your status.”
“What status are you talking about?”
“Your medical status.”
“Oh!! Okay, I understand. I have a condom. Will you?”
I couldn’t say much about how I felt. Except for Addie, Ayuk was the only other woman I had slept with. I was downcast, troubled and worried. So, the sex was a welcome relief. However, Ayuk’s screams and moans were too loud, and I was afraid that her mum was going to hear us. But she told me not to worry. I also felt guilty that I had just cheated to Addie. It was something I had never dreamt of doing. However, my hand was forced. There was nothing I could do.
“I am sorry for taking advantage of you, Eyong.” Ayuk spoke.
“Why? I should apologize instead.”
“No, you are my guest. I took advantage of you. I shouldn’t have done that. Please, forgive me.”
“Don’t sweat it, Ayuk. We are both adults. We should be responsible for our actions.”
“Alright, I promise it won’t happen again.”
That was a fake promise because in the early hours of the morning, we banged again, this time harder than the previous time. When we woke up in the morning, I went to the living room to catch an early morning telenovela I was following. When I got there, I met Ayuk’s mother, Mama Etchu. She gave me a knowing smile. She was so excited and behaved as if she was the one in whose room, I had slept last night.
That was how Ayuk became my everyday woman. Things were escalating fast. I hated what was happening, but I couldn’t go back to the village. I had to do all I could to stay in the city until I graduated from school. I had promised my mother that in three years’ time, I was going to return with a degree. I had to keep that promise, Addie or not.
Each time Addie passed in front of Mama Etchu’s house, she and her children will insult her or make faces. They kept looking for a means to confront her. However, she expertly avoided their trouble and chose to ignore them instead. I was happy she was handling things that way because I didn’t want a head on collision between the Etchus and her.
I was becoming comfortable with my life at Mama Etchu’s place. I had accommodation, food, warmth, a woman (Ayuk) and it was all for free. However, something started happening that made me to start rethinking my stay at the Etchus. I started having wet dreams every night. These were not just ordinary wet dreams. The dreams looked so real and vivid. Sometimes, the women I slept with in my dreams were girls, sometimes it was elderly women. The dreams were too consistent for my liking, So, I decided to tell the matter to Vera.
Vera was shocked when I explained everything to her. She had heard that I was living with a family, but she didn’t know it was Mama Etchu. That was the first day she was hearing.
“You surely don’t like your life.” She spoke.
“How do you mean, Vera?”
“That woman is a witch. I know a lot about her.”
“Really? Please tell me what you know.” I urged.
“She killed her husband. I am surprised that you haven’t heard the stories about her. You have to leave the house before something terrible happens to you.” She was very serious.
“Is she that diabolical?” I asked, sweating.
“She is the devil itself. There are many stories about her. The most famous one is the one about her transforming into a snake to steal someone’s money spiritually.”
“A snake? You mean she transforms into a snake?” I asked, my eyes always popping out of their sockets.
“Yes, this man kept his money at home. However, each time he goes to check his money, he realizes that the money had reduced. For a long time, he kept punishing his children, thinking that they were the ones stealing his money. One day, a friend of his came visiting and had to spend the night at his place. That friend of his had spiritual eyes. In the morning, the friend told him that something spiritual was happening at his home. His friend said there was a spiritual snake visiting the man’s house every night. He told the man what to do.”
“What did he tell his friend?”
“He asked his friend to get three boiled eggs and leave the rest to him.”
“That was it?”
“No, the friend took the eggs and made some incantations on them. After he was done, he placed the eggs behind the house, along the route the spiritual snake uses to get into the man’s house. He did this at night and after that, they all went to bed. When they got up in the morning, they were shocked and alarmed to see a big snake behind the house with an egg stuck in its mouth. They were going to kill it when the woman whose totem was the snake came and begged them not to kill it. She confessed that the snake was hers and pleaded that it should be spared.”
“Hope they killed it?” I asked, shivering.
“Nope, they didn’t. If they did, she would be dead long ago. They spared the snake and by doing so, spared her life. She begged them not to tell anyone and promised that she would never do that again. But the news still got out. A lot of people know about it.”
“Jesus Christ!!” I exclaimed. “How did her husband get married to a woman like that?”
“Which husband? Her husband himself wasn’t innocent. He also died due to witchcraft, though it was his wife who set him up.” Vera spoke.
“How did it happen?”
“It was rumoured that she and her husband belonged to the same coven. In that coven, every night, they did a competition amongst themselves. The competition was about who will do the most magical thing. Every night, when they were gathered, witches and wizards will do all sorts of magical things. Some used their spiritual powers to travel to distant lands as far as Europe and America. Others walked in fire without getting burnt. Some walked on water while some invoked demons from hell.”
“This world is evil.”
“Oh yes, it is, very, very evil. Amongst the top competitors were Mama Etchu and her husband. In fact, they were always the winners and the first runners up. Mama Etchu was always the winner in spite of the fact that she was pregnant. One day, Papa Etchu wanted to be the winner. So, he did the most magical thing anyone in the coven had ever done.”
“What did he do?” I asked.
“At 10:00 PM that day, while his wife was asleep, waiting for midnight to reach before spiritually going to their coven, Papa Etchu came to her spiritually and took away her unborn baby. He put it in his own stomach and when midnight came, when all the witches and wizards were gathered, everyone was amazed at Papa Etchu’s new magic. No one had ever done that before. He was crowned the new champion, much to the chagrin of his wife. His wife became very angry and jealous and decided to make him suffer.”
“What did she do?”
“When they had left the coven and came back to their normal human selves, her husband tried to return the child into her, but she refused. That was very dangerous because if he carried the child till morning, there was no way he was ever going to be able to return the child. His wicked wife refused to take back the child until morning reached, in spite of her husband’s desperate pleas.”
“So, that’s how he died?”
“Yes. When morning came, people were surprised to see him with a swollen stomach. They thought it was liver disease. In fact, that was what everyone was made to believe. He was sick for a month and then, he died.”
“Jesus!! Vera, I can’t go back to that house. I am getting scared. I can’t go back.”
“Don’t worry, just go back there today and pretend like you know nothing. Tomorrow, pretend as if you are going to the village. Tell them you need to go to the village for a while. When you leave, come to my house. I will take you to someone who will help free your beloved girlfriend from Mama Etchu’s spell. Now, go home and get ready for tomorrow.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
