Previously on The Night Niko Turned, Niko’s father had been killed by an armed thug after his uncle Namde had staged a rebellion. Niko had hidden in an empty water pot after a manhunt was mounted for him. With the help of Nobu, his cousin, he had subsequently escaped with his younger siblings.
The story continues…
In a flash Niko, Kono and Sosi jumped down from the truck and ran toward the house situated at least 2 miles from where they were, leaving Nobu behind. Hand-in-hand they ran as fast as their tiny feet allowed them. Deep in the banana plantation, Niko couldn’t tell where they were headed, save the fact that the village was behind them. This was the farthest they’d ever been away from home without their father. If he was scared and confused, he could only imagine what Kono and Sosi would be feeling right now.
Nobu screamed from behind them. Niko took it as a sign to run faster. Sosi fell. He went back for her, carried her at his back like they usually would when playing games in the village and he was pretending to be their mother, only this time their lives were at stake. They kept running until they got to a clearing.
The abandoned house stood sorrowfully at the end of the village at least another mile away. They were exhausted. Niko put his sister down so he could catch his breath. Sosi started to cry. Kono tried to pick her up, but he was too little to carry a child. Niko knelt and Sosi climbed onto his back, still crying. Niko took Kono by the hand and they continued their run. Several minutes later, they stood in front of the house, completely out of breath. Sosi jumped off his back and reached for her brother’s hand. Niko turned to see if they had been followed. They were safe, thanks to Nobu’s intervention. Niko hoped he was okay. Hopefully, he’d see him in the morning. For now, they had to find a way into the house. The huge mango tree a few feet away, gave them the much-needed but momentary respite. “I’m afraid,” Kono whispered from behind Niko. “Don’t worry, Kono, we will be safe here,” Niko replied, eyes still fixed on the house, looking for a way in.
Standing in what was presumably the front of its yard, Niko took a moment to study the structure, aided by the moonlight. The concrete building, bereft of life, was unlike any of the thatched-roofed clay homes in their village. It was at least 5 times the size of a standard home in Sekura. The lifeless structure perched proudly but gloomily on a fractured foundation. It was worn out in every sense imaginable; less than half of the roof remained, cracks ran from the lintel all the way down to the foundation, birds had made their nests in the corners of the roof, and rats, lizards and other rodents had burrowed holes through the walls and foundations. Some had made it their home. Its walls had clearly succumbed to the pressures of weather and age. If that wasn’t bad enough, the eeriness that surrounded the house made it very uninviting. Nevertheless, it was the perfect cover. Namde’s minions wouldn’t think to look for them here as it was taboo for anyone from their village to step within 100 feet of the place. No reason was given. Taboo or not, it was the safest refuge for miles.
The main door had been barred with 2 heavy wooden boards. A way in, Niko hoped. Leaving Kono and Sosi behind, he ran up to it and tried to pry them apart with his feeble arms but they wouldn’t budge. He ran over to the side, along the wide porch, spying through each of the 5 long glass windows until he came up to a half-open window on the east side of the building. He peered through. It looked safe. He turned to his brother and sister who looked more lost than he felt and flapped his hand enthusiastically, gesturing at them to join him. Before they got to him, he had already crept in through the window. They waited for him.
Narrowing his eyes, he adjusted his vision to the room’s darkness, surveying the interior of what he presumed was a bedroom. It was dark, muggy, and uncanny. It made his scar itch. He shuddered. With just a fraction of the moonlight as his only illumination, he scrutinised the innards of the building decorated with showers of debris, chicken feathers, animal carcasses, a thick layer of dirt, and masses of cobwebs hanging from ceiling to floor. A section of the wall had been recoloured with a splatter of what he suspected was blood that had dried up over the years. What was left of a curtain hung loosely like dried leaves on a severed tree branch. Every piece of furniture had been overturned as though an army of wild bulls had taken a detour through the house, leaving nothing but ruins in their tracks.
Across the room was what remained of a large-sized bed frame. Niko had never seen a bed so big in his life. The only bed he’d ever seen was Uncle Namde’s. And that was special because everyone else in Sekura, including his father, slept on mats. About 20 feet from the 3-legged bed was what was left of a spring mattress. It had been pulled apart, revealing its entrails. Kono and Sosi watched keenly from behind the window as Niko proceeded towards the mattress to examine it. He wrestled with it, using up the little strength that remained. Eventually, he succeeded in turning it over, managing only to cover a section of the bed frame. As it fell, the mattress fanned dust up into the air and tickled his nostrils. “Aaachooo!” He sneezed. Kono and Sosi took that as their signal and wriggled their way through the window and into the room to help their big brother. After a few tries, they positioned the mattress squarely on the bed. This would be their hiding place tonight.
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Meanwhile back in the village, Namde was preparing for his coronation early that morning. According to their traditions, the enskinment of a new chief is done at dawn, before first light. First, a goat would be sacrificed and offered to the gods and its blood poured over the new chief’s feet. Each elder would have to dip their thumbs into the blood at the feet of the new chief and then mark their foreheads and chins as a sign of their fealty to the new chief.
Namde — anxious about the uncertainty of his enskinment with Niko still missing — paced up and down the Community Centre, surrounded by his guards. Sitting a few yards away from him was the Seer — who would perform the enskinment ceremony — and her assistant. All the elders were seated on the floor around the fire. Sullen. They quietly contemplated the loss of peace the village had suffered within the last 24-hours, particularly the death of their chief. Now Namde wanted to impose himself on them as their new chief and they were powerless to stop it.
In came one of the mercs, dragging in a reluctant goat, which he tied under one of the sheds at the Centre. Shortly after, 2 of the mercenaries brought in Nobu, kicking and screaming, and cast him at his father’s feet. Namde stopped in his tracks and looked into the boy’s face disapprovingly.
“Betrayed by my own son”, Namde said turning to stare into the fire and poking it with a stick. Nobu said nothing in return. He simply knelt before his father, snivelling. “Take him away. I’m ashamed to call him my son”, Namde said as he spat into the fire.
“He told us where the boy and his siblings are”, one of the guardsmen reported.
“So what are you still doing here? Go and bring him to me. Now!” The men turned around to leave. “Wait, stop. Go with Zito.”
“Zito!” Namde called out to his favourite henchman, the one who shot Chief Seko. “Get 3 of your strongest men and follow this man to fetch me that worm, Niko.” Zito tapped his chest three times with his fist and bowed to Namde. He signalled to 3 of his men who followed him without question. All 5 men headed out into the plantation armed with machetes, rifles, and kerosene lamps to Niko’s foxhole.
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A few hours after settling in, Niko had woken up and left Kono and Sosi to sleep. He wanted to continue his exploration of the mansion. Truth was, he couldn’t stay still. The distant howl still gnawed at him and made him tensed and jittery. It felt close. Really close. He tiptoed to the next room through an adjoining door and faded into the shadows.
Out in what he gathered was the living area, Niko stood facing the village. A place he once called home. The debris-stained windows through which he looked refracted the glare of the moon and scattered its lustre across the room. Through its broken panes, Niko could see the smoke from the village fires masking the atmosphere in mystery. So much had happened today that he couldn’t wrap his 8-year-old mind around. Just as he was about to walk away from the window, he made out 4 perhaps 5 dark figures at the clearing holding lamps. He was certain it was Namde’s men coming after him. Startled, he hid behind one of the building’s walls and hoped that if he stayed still and silent in the shadows, the men would give up their hunt and return to the village unsuccessful. But they didn’t. They charged toward the building.
Niko slid down from the wall onto the floor so he could spy through the window unseen. Suddenly, he heard a loud howl. It was no longer distant, it was right there, no more than 50 yards away. Then came pained shrieks, followed by a series of gunfire; then loud thuds as bodies hit the ground. Instinctively, he lay still on the ground and held his breath, anticipating a rude entrance by one of his uncle’s rebels. Instead, loud shouts of help came from one of the rebels running towards the house. Then a stomping of the wooden deck that skirted the building and a pounding on the door. Niko peeked through the window. It was Zito. Niko recognised him from earlier that day. He killed his father. Zito was bloodied from whatever attack he had fled from and stood pinned at the barricaded door, firing shots into the mist.
Niko’s heart raced with fear. He hurried back to Kono and Sosi sliding across the concrete floor to the bed. They were huddled together under the 3-legged bed quivering, Sosi almost choking on the tears she tried to hold back. He slipped under the bed and joined them, throwing his arms around Sosi to calm her. After what seemed like a very long time, they heard an air-rending howl — the same spine-tingling howl Niko had heard all night, followed by more gunfire. He became restless. Strangely, he felt the howling call out to him but at the same time, he was afraid of what he might find if he dared go out there.
Overcome by his curiosity, he slid across the dust-layered concrete floor towards the howl. Sosi grabbed a fistful of his shirt. He pried her hand away, freeing himself from her trembling grip. Then he raised his forefinger to his lips. “Shhh.” They nodded. Wriggling his way across the floor back into the living area, he inched his way up to the window sill, levelling his eye to its bottom frame. Through the window, he saw the dismembered bodies of Namde’s henchmen strewn across the floor. Limbs dangling from tree branches, heads severed and five little fires from the kerosene lamp dying in the stillness of the night. Besides the mist that filled the air, nothing else moved. The tingling was back, stronger than he’d ever experienced.
Just then a strange shadowy four-footed creature appeared from the haze. It was twice as tall as anyone Niko had ever seen. Even bigger than all the men who had stormed into the village earlier that day. Niko rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The wolf-like creature standing before him was Bonsasa — the monster from his nightmares!
(to be continued)
>>>The author is a writer, poet, and pocket philosopher. She can be reached on [email protected] and or 0244691124
