3 A good catch

The room was so dark she couldn't see her fingers spread out in front of her. She didn't cry out. She knew that he was going to come again for her when he was going to come again for her when he was ready so she waited it out. She was scared, she always was but Deep down, she hated him,wanted to kill him but didn't have the courage so she ran instead.

"Hey there you are. You couldn't wait to leave the party could you? Na wa oh, I didn't stay long did I?"

It was a sharp return to reality but Nana had gotten used to her friends trances and knew how to read the different looks on her friends face. That way, she could jump in and have a conversation.

"You took your time though but its OK. You love birds were doing your thing and I had to get home fast" she smiled at her friend.

Let's get inside." Nana tried the door. "You haven't been inside yet? She asked looking at her wrist.

"I was enjoying the night air"

"Yeah with that I-see-a-ghost look I saw on your face? Tell me something else you this girl."

"It's nothing really. I didn't want to stay in by myself but I guess it didn't help. I am never going to get rid of him. I see him everywhere."

Nana knew what her friend was talking about but felt that it was not the right time or place to discuss it. She wanted her friend to be happy-they were leaving school and becoming 'big friends' and the last thing she wanted was for her friend to carry around the baggage of her past. How was she going to handle this? Maybe when they leave school, it would all go away. Maybe what her friend needed was a change of environment, good for her she was going off to the UK later in the year, maybe that would help too.

"Let's get inside and I can make you a nice cup of tea and we can talk all about the party till we fall asleep. That should help."

"OK Doc, whatever you say"

They went into their apartment and talked till they were drowsy and fell asleep. They had a lot of drinks and Altine had gotten up to ease herself.

"Are you OK?" Nana rushed in to the toilet with her.

"Hey! What's wrong with you, did you drink anything I didn't?" Altine asked startled

"I thought I heard you shout". Nana panted slightly as she said it .

Even as she saw her friend relaxed, she still thought something had happened to her. "Are you alright Altine?" she reached out to feel Altine's forehead.

"Kai! I am fine, it is you who needs a doctor. Are you alright? You look pale."

"I am fine" she returned to the room. "I must have been dreaming. It looked real enough though. You fell in the bathroom and shouted for help".

"And you, being my 'knight in shining amour' ran to my rescue abi? No be small thing oh"

"Stop making jest of me. I love you and I am concerned for your safety that's all"

"Go to bed joor before you hear something else"

Nana knew that Altine could be in two worlds at the same time and was on the lookout for danger for her friend.

Altine sat alone in the room and slowly floated into the bushes. Pictures played in her mind of days when she knew nothing but darkness. Those were the days that were permanently etched on the walls of her heart.

How she would make the effort to run from those moments only to fall right back into them in her sleep.

It seemed like it was something she wished herself to suffer but then knew that even if she didn't want them,they'd come. So she welcomed them reasoning that maybe when she did, she made a way to master her enemy and find her escape. Her captors always pursued her to that very spot- the low bushes where she fell. Being a do-it-yourself girl didn't seem to help her at all.

On one of such times, all the pictures played in her mind but one picture stayed with her. It was his face. Dark and handsome with thick black hair. It was his face. He looked like he never smiled and always carried a clean shave. Then there was that scar on the right side of his face from his ear to his mouth. Something he always explained off as "a work hazard".

There were nights when he had come to her high on something he had taken and then on other nights,he came to her sober,it was impossible to believe that he was not a gentle man.

He was revered by his men and they never referred to him as anything else but 'master'.

Today,it was going to be different for her. She saw him, not that she never did but today,right now, she him full frontal, up close. Eyes piercing, stride demanding. He was coming for her.

Heart racing,eyes closed, she held up both hands and begged.

"Please don't hurt me, please I beg you. Leave me alone" He didn't say anything.

That was the first time she had seen him after she was taken. She at first,had cried and kicked but the men who carried her arms of steel and the harder she struggled, the tighter their hold was on her until she thought she was going to faint.

"Make sure you don't kill or maim her" was all the master had said to them.

The men had put her down and surprisingly,when she opened her eyes, the room she was placed in was nothing like what she had experienced. It was beautifully adorned. She was taken aback by what she was seeing. The room was lit with a dim red light; there was a bed in the center of the room-a very large bed. The floor was covered in lush green carpet, very soft with high furs capable of swallowing up ones feet. Some ornaments hung on the walls and some beautiful and rare-looking paintings also hung on the walls. The room she entered was a sharp contrast to the surrounding she caught a glimpse of when she was being bundled to their hideout. Outside, it was only high bushes and dry trees she had seen.

Then there was a stream somewhere and maybe a farm…? she wasn't very sure what she was a farm or an orderly array of bushes.

"Leave the room" came his gruff voice jerking her back to the terror she felt.

Why had they taken her and where were they? These were the questions in her mind.

The room grew silent as she reclined to a corner and waited. She wasn't sure what she was waiting for or what was expected of her. She was crunched on her knees holding tight her mid region as pangs of pain shot up from where she had bounced on her captors shoulders.

He was looking at her. She was rather small at closer inspection. Pretty, endowed in the right areas but one thing stood out, she was very young. She couldn't be more than 15. She will do perfectly ''exactly what I need for this mission.'' ''What is your name?'' he asked. She only looked at him. ''What is your name girl?'' this time his impatience was evident in his voice. Something about the way she looked at him kept him back from yelling at her the way he would usually do in a situation like this one.

Everything was played out today but all out of her control. Many times this had happened, she had known exactly what she wanted to see and how long she would see it for but today there was no saying how to stop the scenes from coming one after the other in a more definite order that gave the experience it's flesh even though it was old. It was as though an evil hand of fate had taken over and decided to give her everything she relished in bits and pieces in one big chunk-a chunk she would find most difficult to chew

It was weird because she could almost accurately tell what her captors had been thinking. Maybe it was the fact that it had become such a part of her so much that she now owned the experience and knew the minds of everyone involved or maybe she just imagined what possibilities there were in their actions and hence speech. Whatever the case, she was sure what she saw was correct account of the whole experience.

He was still looking at her. An emotion passed his eyes. Could it be compassion or tiredness, she thought as she seized her moment to plead again.

''Please sir, don't hurt me. I just want to go home and see my parents. I haven't seen them since I was six. Please let me go, in the name of God.'' She said in Hausa- the common language used in the north.

''One more word from you and I'll make sure you never speak again.'' Was his curt respond. He walked up to her, grabbed hold of her hand and motioned her to the bed in the centre of the room. He made her lie on it and that was the beginning of how she was going to spend her days in that beautifully awful place.

Everyone had his responsibilities as she also had her's and there was nothing else required of her but to be ready for the master anytime he wanted her.

It was not long till he was done with her and mentioned for her to leave the room. Out the door, she was directed to her room, a quaint little room in the corner, not far from the master's bedroom.

It had been awful what he did to her but she had only begged till he made her shut up and lay still. She cried her eyes out as she was not sure she would ever be able to leave this place. She tried in vain to replay the way to this dwelling from the road where she was abducted. How the trail was lost on her as she was not allowed to look out when they moved. She tried hared and wondered at the possibility of escape. She thought about her parents, her brother in Minna who had no idea where she was. What would anyone think when darkness came and she was nowhere to be found? She was being expected in Yola today and she was trapped in this place and there was no way anyone would know where to find her. She would have to get help the first chance she got. It'd have to be dark; yes, she would wait till midnight and make a dash for it. She fell asleep and didn't wake up until the sun was almost up.

The thought of the day before made her shiver even as she lay steadily on her bed. The pain she felt from her mid region came from the bounce on her abductors shoulder but was nothing compared to the new pain she felt when the master had torn at her or the knot in her chest as she thought of her poor father and mother. It was more than she could handle and she burst into tears. Deep rasping sobs as she had never done before. She was in mourning. Mourning the brutal and premature loss of her virginity, the ignorance yet deep concern of her family over her disappearance and the freedom she would never again relish.

Nana would have loved to shake her out of her reveries but something about Altine's set jaw and tear stained face stopped Nana dead in her tracks. This had never been the case before. Somehow, there was always a point where her friend either just got up herself or fell asleep. Even Nana had to know today was different. For the first time, she believed that perhaps if Altine could live this thing over in her mind or dream the way it was going on now, then she could be completely cured of it and they could move on with their lives.

''See how troubled she looks….in good time, all in good time'' she muttered to herself and left the room.

''Ah! That was a good catch master, better than all the times we have been out.'' Abdalla was saying.

The master shot him a glance that silenced him and anyone else who dared say anything about the girl. For some reason, only the master could say anything about the girl to anyone. Once it was whispered among them, the rest was silence.

''What do you think is going on with the master today? He of all of us should be the happiest but did you see the look in his eyes when he went out earlier?'' Abdalla was saying to Taofeek.

''Kai, I wouldn't be making any insinuations about the master's mood oh. You know how he gets when he is testy. You are right but please keep it really low.'' Taofeek offered in respond.

''I guess you can say he is a bit hung-over. Who wouldn't be with that kind of beauty for the taking?''

''Shhh, be careful fa! I will not be caught discussing this with you or anyone else and I suggest you do the same.'' With that, Taofeek left for a walk leaving Abdalla to wonder if he was the only one with these thoughts.

Today was not particularly a busy one. The cook, Okon, was the only really busy person. He had been abducted himself a few month ago at another raid near Ogoja. It had been tough but he had adjusted to his role as cook because it made his life easier and also made him feel like part of the group. He performed his duties well so that he was not killed for being useless.

They always had food and all they needed to make a good meal anyway, so it was not very difficult satisfying these men's appetite. The only problem was that a few of them had very strange appetites as well, and every once in a while, he had to give in to one or two of their demands. On days when they were all in the cam and bot on the roads, these demands were incessant.

On this day however the master had come to his tent with a request "A warm bowl of pette for the girl" he ordered. Okon jumped to his feet like he was stung by a scorpion. Even with the quizzical look on his master��s face, he had managed a smile as the cook's actions always amused him. Pette which was made of 'hungry rice' is a delicacy and reserved for the master himself on special occasions.

The day had gone by with everyone lazying about with not much done. They had kept house for the most part of the morning though. That has come as an order from the master at a close inspection of the living quarters of his men. It had not taken them too long and they were idle again. The master knew that it was dangerous to keep armed men idle so he engaged them in a word game. That went on for awhile until few of them decided to go hunting."A fresh kill could do us some good" they had argued.

They rested and held fort. They constantly had to be on the look-out as anything could happen to disrupt their operations. Their hideout was well tucked in the bushes so that it will take a garrison of men a whole week to find. They were quiet confident of that but still held fort taking turns on sentry duty.

The master had headed back to his room after he had given his lunch orders and Okon set to work. It was rather unusual but anything could be expected of the master especially when he was in a foul mood like he was in today.

A look at his way and one knew enough not to ask questions. His orders were usually to be followed without question. He typically didn't concern himself with what the cook did in the kitchen as long as his food was served to him in good time, so, giving meal orders was a bit off even for the master.

Back in her room Altine had cried herself to sleep. She was grateful the master had not called for her that morning. She still didn't know what else she was expected to do but had got quite the idea what she meant to the master. The only thing she could think about now was a way of escape. As she lay there, plans kept crawling through her mind, some of which made even she laugh in frustration. She had to try though was all she kept telling herself. ''Who better to save me than me?'' Even as she made her plans of escape, the master had his own designs for her. Shadow was to take her to a local seamstress to have her measurements taken for a dress he wanted for her. Along with the dress would come a nice pair of sandals. Since all her bags had been forgotten at the scene of the crime the day she captured, the master thought it a great idea to have new cloths made for her.

It was customary for everyone to get a treat every now and then from the master so it didn't come as much of a surprise when he had given orders to Shadow. What Shadow couldn't understand however, was the urgency in his voice. It was not habitual for the master as he was naturally melancholic.

It had also been a while since the master brought back any woman from a catch. They all agreed in the camp that this particular girl was a catch indeed and maybe the master liked her but that of course wasn't a topic to be discussed openly so he was quiet.

That night she didn't go to bed as usual. She went into her room but kept awake till the late hours of the night. She wanted everyone to fall asleep before she made her way out. When she thought everyone had gone to bed, she peeped out the window to make sure of it. She opened her window just enough for her head to pop out and looked around. It was not too dark out as she could still see shadows of trees and bush. She slid out the window and started to make a dash in the direction she thought they must have brought her.

Even as she made her way back to the hide out, she knew it was not over for her. She was going to try this again. It came as a shock to find out that she was heading in no particular direction at that time. It was even worse when she had heard all that hissing afar off. Her skin crawled as she thought of it and hastily found her way back to her room. Could they have been kept there by someone? What reason would anyone have to keep a colony of snakes? Was it really that close to the hide out and would she have to watch her every step around and within the house?