Don't Rock The Cradle - Episode III

Don't Rock The Cradle - Episode III  (Josh Ziregbe)

Previous Episodes
Don't Rock The Cradle - Episode I
Don't Rock The Cradle - Episode II

Witchcraft is the most hated art in this town. No explanation, no discussion, once the finger is pointed, the solution is fire. Fire cures all things. Witches are the standard unit of evil, the cause of all misfortune and death; they are agents of Ekwensu, the one who brings confusion, the devil.

Killing is the only way to disable and destroy a witch. These blood sucking soul eaters, or whatever you want to call them, are pythons in the belly. They transmit their evil by feeding in the dream.

But really, who is a witch? 

Chidinma: See her there! I told you, I told you!

Once you're considered different or people don't like you for whatever reason, you are a witch. Whenever there is a ghastly accident or things just go wrong, maybe the year's harvest is wiped out by pests, people will find a witch. The funny thing is, it's mostly women being fingered. They are forced to drink all sorts of concoctions before being severely beaten and murdered in cold blood.

Kelechi: This scent is different, I have never come across it before. A new dimension of evil is at play here, we must burn her before she spreads her wickedness!

Kelechi is the town's number one witch smeller - smellers are people skilled in the art of hunting and killing witches. He is the man with the deep, muscular voice and now he sights Omalicha floating in the sky. The name 'witch smeller' came because witches can turn into nocturnal animals, usually cats, that give off a certain 'smell' that can be identified with training.

People call anything they don't understand, or want to understand, witchcraft. If they cannot explain it, it must be spiritual and witches must be involved.

Today is still the third day of the week, Afor, and I fulfilled the last requirement to receive what I asked for from the old lady at the edge of the village on the first day of this week, on Eke.

Old lady: You must mix your blood with dust from a fresh grave in a goat-skin bag and throw this into the deepest end of the river.

My father just died so this wasn't difficult to find but it took so much from me that I lost my appetite and didn't feel the last four days of my fast, the first requirement.

Right now, I feel lost, I can't really tell where I am, I feel light and I don't really know what I'm doing. Still, there's this strong feeling swirling around inside me, it feels like it's coming from my stomach and exploding throughout my body. I can hear voices that sound very familiar, they sound like voices I should know but they seem agitated.

Kelechi: She killed her mother at birth and no one has seen her father in days! This girl must be a witch and we must do the work of the gods! We must smite her before she brings more evil to this land!!

"Question: What happens when mice attack a god? 

Answer: Their death is sure; a god may forgive many things but insolence is heresy.."

- Unknown

I feel rage building up now, I don't know why. This rage feels hotter than boiling water and I feel it seeping out of my pores, pouring out onto my skin. I hear screams now, I don't know why. The agitated voices seem to be the ones screaming now, I hope they're okay. I've never felt anger like this before, it feels like it's consuming me.

*Muffled Clang*

The mob attacks Omalicha who is still hovering mid-air. Someone has shot an arrow straight for her head. The water hovering around her responds and blocks the shot, the sound coming off as a muffled clash of metals, as if the water was now harder than steel. It begins to change form. From a random flow, the pool of water splits into five and each of the five smaller pools turns into a rod with the ends facing the mob taking the shape of the tip of an arrow.

Unknown woman: Chineke!

*Too Late*, *Break* *Pierce* *Stampede* 

The onslaught has begun. Kelechi is the first to lose his hat as the watery quiver shoots clean through his chest. Another smeller and his machete are quickly dismantled and now Chidinma.

The expression on Chidinma's face says it all, "This is it". There is an arrow coming straight for her, she has turned tail and is trying to run. The tables have turned.

Lights out. 

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