Zakia - Episode 11

 

I was mercilessly flogged and dragged into the same room that harboured the Baytu-Naheem girls. 

Everyone seemed shocked by what I'd dared to do to Kabir. I'd never seen the Amir (leader) so dumbfounded, I'd never seen him get emotional. The death of his right hand man had affected him more than I thought it actually would, and he was too concerned about the burial arrangements at the time, to issue whatever punishment it was that I deserved.. 
 
In the mostly dark room, I got to see the girls more clearly, I got to count them one by one over and over again, and if my calculations were as accurate as I thought, there were 46 of them,- with age groups ranging from probably twelve to twenty. 

For over an hour, they all kept on staring at me with a mixture of the same curiosity and unfamiliarity that was probably evident on my expression too; No one said a thing, the room was dead silent.. until one of them eventually spoke up. 

"Why did they bring you here?" She asked in a low, hushed tone . The girl in question looked nothing less than fifteen years of age, and as I slowly analysed her features from top to bottom, it really didn't take long for me to notice the baby bump. 

"You're pregnant.." I said instead, completely ignoring her question. At this, her expression immediately went sore, and so did that of the rest of the girls, because apparently, she wasn't the only one

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

. There were seven other pregnant girls too. 

"Who's responsible?" I inquired, facing the particular girl who'd spoken to me earlier. Frankly, I knew it wasn't the smartest nor the most sensitive of questions, but at the time, I just couldn't control my tongue. And this time, they all laughed weakly. 

"It's hard to tell who's responsible when you get raped by different people every time," another girl replied bitterly.. 

Instinctively, my mouth dropped wide open, so wide that I had to cover it up with my shaky hands. There was an inevitable silence from thereon, and at that moment, some of the girls were already in tears, most definitely recalling the bad incidents all over again. 

"Who are you guys? And how did you all get here?" I found myself asking much later. And at that point, the reply was so fast, I felt like they trusted me already.. 

"Hey," a light-skinned girl began. "My name is Riskiyah.. Every single one of us here, used to attend the same school; we are the Baytu-Naheem girls.." Her voice trailed off. 

Shortly after, and someone else continued. "It was past four that day, school had long ended, however, we stayed back for our extra classes.. and that was when they attacked. Every single teacher in the school premises at that point were shot to death, but we didn't suffer that same fate. Instead, they captured us all; brought us to this hell-hole we've been living in." 

"And for how long have you all been here?" I inquired even further, but no one spoke. Instead, they all kept on looking at the wall, as I soon found myself looking towards the same direction.. "Three years, three months, four days," I whispered; the figures were boldly written on the wall. 

"We have absolutely nothing else to do in here, and so, we count every single day," Riskiyah said. "Although we don't think we can ever get out of here.." 

Three years. For three good years they've all been locked up in a makeshift prison, all for doing absolutely no wrong.

Read " Preordained " by the same author ( Ishola Ubaydah )

. Then what about me? I thought to myself. What about me who'd just killed one of the Amir's most loyal follower? 

"Ya Allah (Oh God), help me," I whispered to myself. 

"What about you?" One of them asked me again. "How did you get here?" 

This time, there seemed to be no escape for me from the incessant question..  "Trust me, my story is more complicated than yours," I responded honestly. "For six months, I've been in this so-called empire. For six months, I've been killing innocent souls just like the rest of them out there.."

"So it means you're Usaynah," a very young girl chirped.

"How did you know that?" I asked, as curious as ever. 

"Iman told us about you.." she returned quite easily. "But since you're more or less one of them now, why then did they lock you up in here with us?"

"First of all, my name is not Usaynah. My name is Zakia," I corrected. "And I'm here with you guys  because I killed Kabir.." I dropped the bomb.

Honestly, I couldn't pinpoint exactly what reaction I'd been expecting from them. Perhaps, I expected them to be scared of me, for being a murderer. But instead, they seemed excited by what I'd just revealed. 

They all pulled me in for a group embrace.
 
"For the three years we've been in this prison, the death of Kabir is the best news we've ever received."

Inspired by my amazing Mum :D