Separated - Episode 8

 

Obi, Chika, Ifeanyi and Nkechi all came out of the crowd. Fear was all written all over their faces.

Four white men came forward and started accessing them one after the other.

“So these are the fresh bloods you’ve got”, one of them said to the task man.

“Yes, do you like any of them?” The task man asked smiling.

“Hmmm, let’s see”, he replied.

“Don’t forget, the highest bidder has it”, the task man clarified.

“You, come over here”, one of the white men said pointing to Ifeanyi.

“Come on, that boy looks stronger than them all, so I got to have him”, one of them said angrily.

“No, he is mine”, another opposed.

This fume continued among the four of them until…

“It’s okay gentlemen, let’s settle this in the usual way”, the task master said.

“Okay then, let’s use the highest bidder as usual”, one said in approval.

The task master then started calling prices and the fight for the highest bidder commenced.

As this was going on, the children had one last chance to talk to each other.

“Nkechi, hope you were not hurt” Chika asked.

“Not yet”, she said. “Where is Ada?” She continued.

“She’s gone”, Chika answered with tears all over his eyes.

“What do you mean by she’s gone?” Nkechi asked with her voice shaking.

“They came for her this morning and had probably been sold to one of these men”, Obi explained.

“I don’t think there’s any way out of here”, Ifeanyi said.

“My cellmate told me that it’s impossible for anyone to escape from this place”, Obi said.

“So, we are just going to wait until a miracle happen one way or the other”, Nkechi added.

“Of course; since there’s no way out of here, we just wait”, Chika added.

Just then, the winner of the highest bidding was determined.

“Tie him up, today is my lucky day”, one of the men said.

“You are lucky Bob; I didn’t come prepared today”, another said.

“Mr Tony, better luck next time”, Bob replied.

Ifeanyi was tied up like a criminal and was thrown at the back of a lorry.

His friends started crying uncontrollably and shouting on top of their voices but this made no difference to the men.

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Back to Amantu village…

The youths, the old men and the vigilante came together again

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/separated

. They were led by Sule, Abulu and Paul to the pit they saw the previous day.

“We just have to check around and see if there’s anything unusual around this vicinity”, Sule addressed the others.

They combed the area all over again.

Some of the men entered the pit while the others checked around.

“Come over here guys”, Paul said immediately.

“Are these not tire tracks of a vehicles?” Sule asked.

“Of course, they are”, Paul answered.

“This really means the children were all captured by a set of bandits”, one of the youths said.

“They were all carried away in vehicles”, Sule said.

“From the look of these tracks, lorries were used in this operation”, Paul added.

“This definitely mean that they were not from around here”, Sule said.

“Let’s go back to the palace and ask the king for permission to check the nearby villages”, Abulu suggested.

They all went to the palace and explained the whole situation to the king. The king gave them a slate that carries the symbol of the village.

They took this to the nearby villages and they were granted permissions to search the areas. They found nothing suspicious anywhere.

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Back to the base where Obi and others were.

“Now, we have three to go”, said the task master. “So Mr. Tony, Bob, Sylvester and Robin, pick your choices”. He continued.
“You, step forward”, Sylvester said pointing to Nkechi.

Nkechi stepped forward with her head bowed.

“How old are you?” Sylvester asked.

“I’m seventeen years old sir”, Nkechi answered with her voice shaking.

“Turn around”, He said smiling.

Nkechi turned around and the four men looked at her lustfully.

Obi and Chika were growing in anger as this went on but couldn’t do anything.

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Sylvester asked the others.

“This girl is highly endowed for her age”, Bob said licking his lips and rubbing his hands.

“Hey boys, come and escort her to the lorry”, Sylvester commanded.

One of the boys wanted to drag her down but was given a very hot slap.

“I said escort her and not maltreat my queen………..just tie her hands only and take her to the front seat………. We have a lot to talk about on our journey”, Sylvester yelled.

Mr Tony went for Obi while Robin took Chika.

The children managed to wave themselves goodbye with uncontrollable tears and the lorries zoomed off.