***

The Present.

It turned out Anaya saying yes to Dembe's one date request was a yes to a series of other dates. These young couples were on fire and there was no stopping them.

On the first date, Dembe took Anaya to an Art studio of sorts.

It was still early in the morning when they emerged onto a street near the Kolontou University of Science and Technology. The world was still silent and the sun was still hiding behind the somewhat dark clouds of the night before. The street was as dark as some 80's black and white movie scenes. Anaya couldn't understand why they had to start the date so early in the morning but she comforted herself with the answer Dembe gave when she asked him some minutes before they set off.

"We have a lot of places to be at today. Today is our day! Best we start it off very early." She recalled Dembe's explanation as a smile escaped her lips.

"What is that smile I see?" Dembe, who was looking at her the entire time, asked, pulling Anaya from her thoughts.

"Oh, nothing. Just a random thought of something. Nothing important." She lied.

"Ok. If you say so. We are here. The studio is located in the heart of Abikiali." Dembe announced, his right hand pointing at a building in front of them.

It was an old storey building with about four floors. The paint on it was a bit washed out and the roofing was crying for new ones. In fact, the whole building was crying for renovations. This made Anaya doubt what sort of art could such a building house. But she resorted to the not-jumping-into-conclusions train. After all, don't judge a book by its cover, right? Who knows, the building might actually have the best art the entire world has ever seen.

Hanging on rectangular-shaped white canvases, all the paintings waited for people to stop and look and admire them. Anaya walked directly to one of them the second they entered. She watched, admired, praising the elegant use of brush strokes and bright colours in creating the piece of art she stared at.

It was the painting of two blue coloured birds on a green Marula tree set in a very bright afternoon scene - a blue sky with a very cheerful sun making impressions.

The art was natural, beautiful, deep and spoke to her. As her eyes travelled over its details, Dembe walked over to her.

"Beautiful, right?"

"Yes, it's amazing. Is the artist here?" She inquired.

"Not yet but you will meet him. Now come have a look at these too."

Dembe held her hand and walked her to a different set of arts at the very far end of the studio. These arts were different from the other paintings. They were hand-drawn symbols of God knows what, nicely and intricately drawn on a brown kraft paper and framed.

"Does any of these arts ring a bell in your mind? Do you know any of them? Their meaning?" Dembe didn't wait for long when they got there before dropping these questions on Anaya.

She recognised some of them from the shrine and in the book she had been reading but instincts guided.

"No. Not at all." She replied.

"Oh, really?"

She didn't miss the look of disappointment that briefly appeared on Dembe's face before disappearing.

"Do I have to know them? Like...are they any important?" She asked.

"No...no...don't worry. They are just some random symbols from our continent, Africa, and some other parts of the world. I just like drawing them."

"Wait. I? You mean you drew all these? You own this place, don't you?" Anaya sure didn't miss the hint and her surprise, and perhaps happiness, was felt through her voice.

"Yes, this is where I spend my free time when I am not opening doors or carrying luggage at the hotel." He explained.

"Wow!"

"Now understand why this was the first place we had to come to? This is all me. Almost everything you must know about me is here, love."

As much she wasn't expecting everything that was going on between them to escalate that quickly as she didn't know exactly what the future was for her with all that was happening around her, Anaya was glad Dembe took that step or made that move - whatever it is that they say. She was glad it happened.

***

Next on their dating spree that day, Dembe took her on his bicycle and drove out of town to the outskirts of the Abikiali township, passing by a river and between trees until they got to a valley that revealed the entire township in one tiny look.

Up there, they could see every part of Abikiali and it looked magnificent. It was a beautiful clearing on the valley with no other souls around.

After taking in the breathtaking scenery from up there, they laid down under a tree, listened to the silence that reigned up there and watched the birds on the trees as they went by their daily business.

Yeah, cliché but it looked like people still did those these days and it was a perfectly peaceful moment - nothing else mattered in the world.

They talked; shared childhood memories, shared life experiences, basically anything they could think of.

After laying there talking and probably falling asleep for a while, they brought that phase of their date to an end, both of them happy.

***

Last on the list was a dinner date at the hotel's restaurant. It was a perfect choice and Anaya couldn't agree more. By choosing to have their dinner at the Emerald Courtyard Hotel and Resort, Dembe could make good use of his employee discount.

The night sky was aglow with bright lights of the town and from where their table was positioned, they could see the pale crescent moon shone like a silvery claw in the night sky.

They sat, engrossed in a conversation and eating. They had both ordered a bowl of Egusi soup and pounded yam. And as they are eating, one of them would occasionally ask a question between bites. It was as if they weren't satisfied with the conversations they had earlier. There was more to know about each other but they weren't going to know everything in one day. They would have to give up at some point.

As Anaya sat in front of him, memories of their encounter of years ago flooded Dembe's mind.

He wondered how come it was the same person sitting in front him but seemed to be clueless about everything. Was she acting? She wasn't supposed to be alive. What had they done? Did he fail at what he did? But no, he saw everything with his own eyes. There was no way she survived.

These and other questions flooded Dembe's mind until it finally hit him! It looked like all of a sudden, he could finally think of a way all these could be possible.

"Excuse me, dear. Gotta pee." He said and stood up abruptly, making his way to the bathroom.

He brought out his phone the second he got there and dialled a number. He took the time between waiting for the other person to answer the call to actually pee.

"Hello?"

"I think I figured how she's still alive and still seems clueless about everything."

"Yes...yes...they did exactly that. It's not her in there."

"Who? My best bet is, it is the second of the three. The one from Tékala."

"Well, I was there when she died too but..."

"It seems they haven't succeeded in fully waking her up. She is still oblivious of everything."

"I will have to get rid of her before it happens. Tell the others to get ready. We've got another tree stump to uproot."

***

Back at the restaurant, Anaya continued eating - enjoying every bit of the melon seed, the pumpkin leaves, the dried fish, the meat - until a lady walked to her table.

"I would stay away from him if I were you." The lady said, the second she got there.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Anaya's shock was visible on her face.

"The Son of Man arrives. Beware..." she paused, looked around to see if Dembe was out of the bathroom and once she was assured that the coast was clear, she continued.

"Guard your heart and open your mind to the truth. Search deep within you for answers and never close the door to your instincts." The lady said, more like recited, these words and asked, "Does any of these ring a bell?"

Anaya tried to understand what was going on. She knew those expressions from her earlier instructions and also from Nia Afriyie's book but who was this lady? How did she get to know about them? What did she mean by "stay away from him"?

***