By: Virtue Ethe-Oghene
“Hey! Let me go!” Banny screamed. The re-echoes of her screams filled her nerves with fear and gutted her guts. So she crawled back to the corner where she hugged her legs and placed her weary head between her knees. Her cries reverberated in her head. They were loud but came out through sniffs. She had been in the dark room for a passing of time where time didn’t pass at all. It was darkness throughout, she didn’t know when the sun rose or when it set. The only thing that was different from black, was the cap that was always pushed into her prison. It had infrared light. The first gift she received for Valentine from Jerry. Sometimes the cap moved and Banny thought she saw it shaking once, as she continued muffling screams in her head. She was tired of screaming, no one would hear her anyway. Sometimes she felt like she was in the attic because she heard voices from downstairs and sometimes she thought she was underground. Sometimes she dreamt the prison was moving, and other times it was like she was in a bottomless pit.
Her red eyes shut out and she continued sniffing her running nose. There was no handkerchief like she was used to, so she blew her nose into her hand and cleaned it on the hard substance beneath her that sometimes felt like rusted metal or sand. She had not seen her menses so she had probably not spent up to a month in her little prison. She had set her eyes on no one and fell asleep each time she ate, probably from exhaustion and weariness. Each time she woke, her head spun and her prison felt more like a bottomless pit.
“Send the cap in now, I always wanted it.”. Banny jerked up from her position when she heard the voice. Was someone there to save her? It was a female. The person that was sending the cap always wanted it? The voice jolted through her spine and Banny’s eyes widened. Her breath hitched and she let out gasps of breath like an asthmatic patient, to steady her racing heart. The only person who always wanted her cap was Betty; her best friend. She wanted it because of the infrared light but Banny never let go because it was a gift. The cap was shifted in again and Banny reached for it with tears in her eyes, and heaviness in her heart. The heaviness of betrayal. She took the cap and put it to her nose. She threw it away as if scared of the realization of the truth or disgusted by it. That was Betty’s scent. She would know it anywhere. The voice that sounded earlier was so far away that Banny couldn’t tell whose voice it was. It sounded like a cracked CD. But.. Betty had done this to her? Because of a cap? Or because of the person that gave her the cap?
The next voice made her strain her ear more, and it was the voice of a man. “Let’s get married now. Leave the cap with her, I’ll get you another.” the ground beneath her was stable but she felt it shaking and opening. She gripped her big stomach which was bigger than her head like a kwashiokor patient. She was about to pass out when she saw a ray of light, and men in uniform rush in. Was she dreaming? They had come to save her just when she knew her captors; her best friend and boyfriend.
The traitors followed the Policemen in and Banny almost revolted in disgust, “traitors” she muttered. They tried to move near her and were asking questions, “are you okay?”, “we’ve been so worried.”. She wanted to strangle them and cry out but she was too weak. “please you have to leave, she has been here for six months. She needs treatment. And she looks pregnant. “ They were about to argue when the policeman continued, “you just flew in from Africa Mr Jerry, and Miss Betty you just flew in from New Jersey. You shouldn’t worry.”
