As a
rationalist Ebuka had always believed that two and two made four, that life was
simple and there was nothing really that could make it more complicated than
that. Life had its rules and it followed them logically; well, that was until he
met Nneli and found out that there was nothing simple or logical about life.
The first
time he saw Nneli, she was washing her clothes by the village stream mmiri ndu which literally translates to ‘water
of life’. In the past, barren women were said to have had their bath in a fertility ritual there at
midnight on the first Sunday of April every year if they wanted to conceive.
But that was long before the Irish missionaries brought Christianity to Umuoma
and expelled such fetish practices.
That afternoon,
the sight of Nneli scrubbing innocently at the stream bank, her anthill
complexion glowing in the twilight sun, and her straight long legs modestly
tucked to the side was a beautiful vision that stole Ebuka's attention beyond
anything else he had ever seen. At that moment he knew she would be his bride.
Being a city
boy with a buddng future he wooed her in only the way he could, with the
promise of love and loyalty, in spite of several wealthier but older suitors
who fell heavily at her feet. Unlike other rural maidens Nneli wasn’t materialistic; it was hard to imagine that a
beautiful girl who could have asked for anything she wanted was merely contented
with his fidelity. However, Nneli had just one request, to be allowed to stay
in Umuoma where her family was.
This request
baffled Ebuka very much, he couldn’t understand why his new bride wouldn’t want
to join him in the city where his work and friends were, where the big dreams
and opportunities lay; it was just the right thing to do. Traditionally it was
the usual thing for the wife to do.
But Nneli
insisted, it was the only condition if they were to be married. And without
further ado, he eventually agreed. He would visit her every fortnight when he
could.
The first two
years were blissful; life was good, Ebuka made progress at work and rose
quickly to management roles at his firm, a feat unheard of at the company for
somebody so young. Somehow everything in his path seemed to give way to his
good fortune. Soon enough he became quite rich. He had often heard of blessings
that came with marriage but this to him was simply arcane.
Nneli
remained in the village and his visits were as agreed, every fortnight weekend.
They were however, yet to have a child. Before long, the excitement and
distractions of being rich caught up with Ebuka and his regular fortnight
weekend visits to Nneli became less fevered. There were months when she wouldn’t
even see him and whenever she called, his excuses were always the same; work.
One
evening while working late at the office, he noticed one of the new associates,
Laide was working late too. Pretty and ambitious, she had her reasons for being
at the office that late. Before he could think twice about his vow of fidelity to
Nneli, Laide’s soft seductive charm clouded his consciousness and will-power. He
gave in; after all it had been long…
He shouldn't have.
When
Laide didn’t show up at work the next day everybody thought it was the usual
flu or something, however news soon reached the office that Laide had never
made it home the previous night, in fact she was brutally murdered in front of
her house. Her assailants remain a mystery to this day.
Things
didn’t fare well for Ebuka either, the office security revealed that he was the
last person who left the office with Laide the night she died and autopsy tests
confirmed he had had sex with her too. In order to avoid the scandal of the
investigation, the company fired him. After exhausting his savings on numerous litigation
fees he lost everything and had to lie low in the village for a while.
Nneli
didn’t ask for much explanation, he was even surprised at how understanding she
was. He had after all failed to keep his promise. Instead she maintained her
wifely duties and went on about her work without so much as bringing up the
topic again.
One
dry harmattan morning, when Nneli had gone to Afo’oru market Ebuka decided to change
the sheets and noticed that there was a single muddy footprint on her side of
the bed; at the time he didn’t think much of it until he saw it again few
nights later. Perplexed, he meant to ask her about the muddy foot prints that
kept appearing on the bed-sheets but he forgot.
One
night he woke up to notice that Nneli’s side of the bed was empty, assuming
that she had got up to use the toilet he went back to sleep. Another night he
woke up suddenly again, or maybe something had woken him…it was the sound of
Nneli leaving the room. As he watched her, he observed the odd manner in which
she walked, it was the way someone would walk if they were in a trance and he decided
to follow her, wondering why he had never noticed her sleepwalking before.
Nneli
was barefoot; now Ebuka’s mystery was solved but was that all?
As
he walked behind her he became worried, if she was asleep should he wake her?
He had often heard that people who sleepwalked were not to be woken suddenly or
it would affect their mind orientation severely. With that in mind he resolved
not to wake her up but to guide her carefully back to bed, but that was going
to be hard as Nneli was already several steps ahead of him. She didn’t walk
like she was sleepwalking anymore, she moved like someone with a purpose…a
destination.
Curiosity
got the better of Ebuka and there in the dead of that moonlit night he decided
to follow his wife’s trail which now led outside into the forest. With her extremely
long hair draped over her white sleeping gown, Ebuka shivered at how ghostly
Nneli figure had suddenly become now that they were in the darkness of the
village forests. He didn’t bring a torch, he hadn’t expected them to walk this
far. He was also finding it hard to keep up, she seemed to hover rather than
walk.
She
walked past the empty village square, the town halls, farms and further into
the bushes where there were no more houses or living quarters. He recognised
the route she was taking and suddenly realised her destination; Nneli was going
to the village stream…mmiri ndu.
When
they finally arrived there she slowly disrobed from her sleeping gown and began
to walk naked into the water. The moon light bounced off the waters, shimmered over
her smooth skin and accentuated the softness of her delicate curves. Her moonlit
nudity was a glorious apparition of womanhood. All this time she had never
looked back once.
Ebuka
hid himself behind a tree and watched his wife, hoping that only he could hear
the sound of his pounding heart. Midway into the stream when the water had
risen to the level of her hips she paused and began to sing. She sang a
sweet soulful tune; Ebuka had always known Nneli had a beautiful voice but this
was different, the voice he heard that night could tame ferocious lions and put
rabid wolves to sleep. It was truly mellifluous.
Immediately,
three other girls like her emerged from the waters and they all began to dance.
In the moonlight Ebuka could see that their wavy long hair did little to cover
their mango-shaped breasts. They were just as beautiful as Nneli, in fact they
could have been sisters. Somewhere at the back of his mind he wished he was
dreaming but he knew he was not. These were water nymphs just like Nneli; he
had married a water spirit, an mmuo mmiri.
He
watched them dance and splash water at one another, and afterwards they groomed
her hair; combing those long tresses he had always played with while they made
love. Then it hit him, the realisation of it all; that for more than two years
he had shared his bed with a spirit being. Aru!
The panic came in strong and he tasted it on his tongue, it was bitter. He
flinched backwards and accidentally snapped a dry twig, drawing the attention
of the nymphs. He quickly withdrew into the forest and began to run…
He
ran so fast, he ran so hard. He ran like a pack of wild dogs were after him, he
ran like he had never run before. Most of all, he ran from the truth; the truth
that he knew running was futile, unfortunately. The knowledge of this increased
his fear even more and his head seemed to expand on his shoulders, and by the
time he got home he could run no more. He opened the door to find Nneli in the
sitting room, waiting for him.
“We
need to talk”, she said matter-of-factly.
He
couldn’t find his voice, either because of fear or from running so fast, he wasn’t
sure so he nodded his agreement. That night Nneli confirmed what he had just seen and more.
Years
ago her ‘human’ mother was barren and couldn’t have any children so she went to
mmiri ndu one April night and dedicated
her loyalty to the water spirit. Nine months later Nneli was born, she had
reluctantly left her ‘water family’ to live in the human world but the nne mmiri (Water goddess) had allowed
her to come back every three nights to play with her sisters whom she loved so
much. She could also marry, and whoever she chose will come to great wealth and
fortune, granted that he remained faithful to her otherwise he would suffer a grave
misfortune. That was the fidelity vow Ebuka had failed to keep.
“As
it is now, you can never succeed anywhere outside this village, you shall stay
here with me and farm. Our destinies are tied together; if I die, so do you. Every
three nights I shall join my sisters for the night and there is nothing you
will do about it.”
“What
if I tell someone about this?” Ebuka asked
“If
any harm comes to me, be assured that you will suffer the same fate too.” She
answered coldly.
*****************************************
After
that night Ebuka accepted his fate. He couldn’t risk anything happening Nneli;
he was trapped. When I went to the village last week he confided in me about
his dilemma and made me promise not to get involved. Unfortunately after seeing
my formerly successful friend tying wrapper
and using chewing stick like a village farmer I couldn’t not do something about it.
Please
if you know any way or something Ebuka can do about his situation without
losing his own life let me know so that I can help. I just miss my friend.
If you enjoyed this story, you will like this one The Curious Case of Otenkwu Okeke
