May 30, 2081

"It's a brand new day, beautiful and all so special," I sang as I danced into the hut after just taking my bath. I stopped when I saw Tobi glaring at me with his hand covering his ears. I narrowed my eyes. "I'll have you know I won several singing competitions so I know my voice is beautifuuul," I said, singing the last part.

He gave me a cold look and said, "Not everything is about you." before walking away, using the other door in the hut.

I frowned, wondering what was wrong. After our truce the day before, things had become better between us. Weird but better. When I had entered our hut in the evening after spending time with Wunmi and her parents, Tobi's smile had caught me off guard. It took me a while to remember our truce. He had a charming smile and I was sure I hadn't noticed it because it hadn't been directed at me before. Behind me, Wunmi had started chocking and Mrs. Abimbola looked like she had gone into shock. Everyone was surprised at our new behaviour and I felt tickled by that. Tobi also looked like he was enjoying the shock on people's faces. People watched us as if thinking we were faking it and waiting for us to fight again. Even after I had explained our truce to Wunmi, she still seemed skeptical about it. The day had ended quite fine so I was wondering what had brought the change in Tobi now. When I had talked about winning singing competitions, I had only been joking but he seemed to be offended by my statement. He probably thought I was bragging, I thought.

I was already getting cold standing by the door with only a wrapper around me so I pushed away my worry and went into the room to dress. After pulling on a short gown, I stepped out of the room and was surprised to see Tobi standing outside.

"April fool," he said, a wide smile on his face.

It took a while for me to realize this meant his earlier behaviour had been a trick. "It's May, dummy."

"Then you are a May fool."

I rolled my eyes. "That's a dry joke," I said even though I couldn't stop a smile from spreading on my lips. "I can't believe you did that to scare me."

"And it worked," he bragged.

I glared at him and made sure to stomp on his foot as I walked out of the hut. His muffled groans made me a bit satisfied. Though I felt like knocking him over head for making me worry, I was glad that it was just a prank and we were still in speaking terms.

"What's got you grinning?" Wunmi asked and I looked up, realising I was standing in front of her house. She was sitting on a bench, stitching her cloth. When I remained quiet, she raised a brow at me.

"It's just something that happened between me and Tobi." I tried to wave it off as nothing but the mention of me and Tobi made her eyes brighten.

"Tell me everything," she said.

I rolled my eyes but did as she said, telling her about the prank. Her eyes twinkled, looking amused but her face looked like she was trying to solve a difficult puzzle.

"I still don't understand how you guys agreed on that truce. One moment you were at each others throat and the next, you are shaking hands. Now, you are behaving like best friends. I'm happy for you guys but I must confess, it feels so weird."

I smiled. "Yes, but it's a good weird."

Wunmi was just about to say something when we noticed a group of people rushing somewhere. We turned to look at each other and then followed them, curious to know what was going on. Everyone we asked seemed to be unaware too. We stopped in front of the chief's house where a crowd was gathered. Wunmi and I squeezed ourselves through, trying to get to the front to see what was going on. When we finally got to the front, my eyes widened.

Our chief was writhing around on the ground, ink coming out from his eyes. His eyes that usually held much wisdom now looked like they were filled with so much pain. People stood around, looking at him, not knowing what to do. It was obvious he was already doomed, there was nothing to do to save him since he was infected. His wife and children were on their knees beside him, crying, and my eyes watered as I remembered my parents' death too.

"Move! Stand back!"

Wunmi and I moved just as the elders and the village priest came through. The elders were four men who were grey haired and pretty old. This place was already a village before the earth became inked, it was a really small village and after the inky rain, a lot of their people had died. They accepted a few uninfected people and moved deeper into the forest. Mrs. Abimbola had a friend who came from this village so she had invited her to join them.

"He has been infected," an elder said after taking a look at him."He has to be separated."

Chief's wife cried louder. I felt bad, Chief had always had to make difficult choices to send others to the secluded hut and now he was going to be taken there. The village priest sprinkled some things on him and muttered a few words and then four youths came and took Chief away on a stretcher. The wife followed after them crying but everyone else was quiet. The death of someone had that effect on us all.

The eldest elder, assuming the position of the new chief, came to stand in front of us. "Another taken from us. He was a pillar of strength to us. May his soul rest in peace."

There was a chorus of Amen as he left. Slowly, the crowd dispersed. There was no message of hope, everyone had lost hope. We all just lived, waiting for our own turn. Many took their lives themselves while the rest of us just waited. My mind went to Angela Cassey, the hope we had. The others didn't even bother thinking about her, they didn't believe she was going to come to Nigeria, or even save us. I hoped she would but deep down I knew it was a big dream.

©Jesutofunmi Fekoya

AUTHOR'S NOTE
The chief is infected : (

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