--Mermaids

Yet stood within nnanyi’s very definition of sin the air felt fresher, and a song filled the air, heathen, sacrilegious, yet invoking. I could tell that it got louder with every millisecond, and the louder and closer it got, the more my soul calmed.

“ Mmasichi, this one you’re here today?”

The sound of laughter followed, and a warmth spread within my chest. Chinwe, heathenism personified according to nnayi, but I loved her. Her hair, always held in beautiful, eccentric weaves, sometimes held in by rubber threads. Ebony skinned, long, and beautiful. A darker, older version of Nene, beautiful, lively. And just like most days she

came in, calabash upon her head, hips swaying, and laughter on her lips, and most of all she smelled of wealth, she reeked of success, something nnanyi had failed to attain, or attempted to attain. The men of the village called her a mamiwater, and she looked the part, he shining beauty of the water, for she was one of Uhammiri's priestesses.