Someone opened the door and the blinding light of the morning flooded the room they had been kept in the previous day.
"Outside!! "A thick voice bellowed.
Halima felt her stomach rumble in protest and recollected that she had had only Kunu for breakfast the previous day. Nevertheless she stood up, ignoring the hunger that threatened to make her faint and left the room alongside girls that had resigned to their fates. When she stepped outside, the harsh breeze blew against her face and she ran her tongue, despairingly, over her cracked lips. They were in some sort of camp in a deserted Forest.
"Sit! On the floor!! "A masked man commanded, heavily armed like the others, who also had masks on their faces.
Halima sat beside Hadiza, who was already sitting, her face buried in her palms.Halima nudged her angrily.
"Stop crying. Don't worry, Allah will save us"
Hadiza looked up with her tear-filled eyes, sniffing loudly. She was a stunningly beautiful Fulani girl, her hair, a long black one that reached her shoulders but hunger and despair had suddenly made her look like an old woman.
"My Mother....she sick... No know what do her" She was very bad at speaking good English.
It was then Halima remembered why Hadiza needed to cry. The poor girl's widowed Mother who was diagnosed with breast cancer was battling for her life in a poorly equipped hospital in their community. Halima was sure that if the woman heard about
the kidnap, she'd die, not from the disease, but from the shock.
"Oh... My Mother" Hadiza shook visibly.
"Ssh...look!! Food!!" Halima said, happily as a plate of two slices of bread and a puddle of beans was shoved into her hands. The Armed man who gave them the food pointed at her and Hadiza and yelled "Share" like they were deaf.
"Go on, I'm not eating" Hadiza said in Hausa.
"Come off it, I won't let you starve to death. What if help comes out way? You don't want to be dead before that happens" Halima objected.
"No help, Halima"
"Don't be too pessimistic! Eat! " Halima commanded and Hadiza, reluctantly, took a slice of bread.
Just then, a loud shriek filled the air. They looked up to find a fat, black girl, clinging to the arm of one of the men, trying to bite him. He kicked her, trying to shove her away from him. Another man came to help him and he yanked the girl's hair. He slapped her three times, threw her to the ground and proceeded to kick her until he was satisfied. This was followed by murmurings and cries from the girls.
"Shut up, by Allah, if anyone tries this again, I'll not hesistate to shoot" The man whom she had tried to bite, said furiously.
The girl whimpered and moaned on the ground, her face and clothes stained with blood. Hadiza yelped and clutched her mouth. Halima looked at her.
"What?"
"Zainab!! Zainab!!" She pointed frantically at the girl on the ground. Familiarity dawned on Halima and she realized the beaten girl was their
friend, Zainab Amuda. She felt tears well up in her eyes.
"Continue eating!!" The same man barked at them.
They had not gone three minutes on their food when another loud scream startled them. From afar, the huge man, who to Halima seemed to be the leader, carried a lean, tall girl on his shoulder who was scratching and kicking him. When he got to them, he dropped her on the ground and forced her on her knees.
"This girl will serve as a lesson to you all. She tried to escape and no one can, I repeat, no one can escape from this place"
Before they could register in what was about to happen,he brought out his gun, pointed it to her head and blew her brains out.
Screams filled the air, Hadiza fainted and knocked over their plate, Halima watched in horror as the blasted head of the girl and her body fell limply to the ground. Her head swam, her throat turned dried and her mind wandered far back to a very dark terrible night when her mother had been killed the same way........
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