Terrorists (1)

The sounds were shocking as she came awake. She looked around in confusion. Were these not....men? In the hostel...? What is going on?! Her friend slapped her awake and asked her to stay still as a pair of rough hands grabbed and pulled her from the bed. Her wrapper fell off and she saw the leering look the man gave her. She felt confused but felt her friend tug at her to wear a dress she was handing her and to come in the opposite direction to which the man was pulling. Her friend screamed to alert the other men and they turned and herded them out into the trucks waiting outside the hostel. 

She saw so many other friends and the noise....she could barely hear herself think. She felt this was another in the line of punishments for attending boarding school, she was becoming used to them now but she then heard the distant rattle of gun fire in the distance and several chants of something she thought might have been 'Allahu Akbar'. A cold chill went down her spine as she watched her hostel being set on fire by these men. 'What the hell is happening, she pondered'

After travelling a while, they arrived at a camp of sorts and were asked to alight. She did with questions in her eyes, confusion making it hard to move as fast as she wanted. She tripped and fell and one of the men rushed forward to help her up. She looked up and saw the same man who had grabbed her from her bed in her hostel. He smirked, you could not call it a smile and it made him look even more sinister. Where are we and what is going on?

Its been a month and we have settled into a routine of sorts. Wake up, get food ready for the men, chant some prayers and whatever takes the fancy of the Leader ( she was of the personal opinion that he was not all there in the head but she had never shared this opinion with another). The soldier who had grabbed her from her bed had since appropriated her and had kept her for his personal use. He was close to the Leader and allowed to do what he liked mostly except when he infringed on the Leader's perception of Lord & Master. She called him her Soldier in the catalogue of events she kept in her mind.

The days turned into months and she despaired of ever seeing her family and friends again. She was tired of always packing up and running, especially since her belly started to swell like her friends'. She was tired a lot and her Soldier man helped by rubbing her back but it hurt! Oh! How it hurt! All she wanted was her Mother. She could imagine her Mother telling her ways to make this burden easier as she had done for very many women in the village where she lived but she was too scared to even ask her Soldier Man if that was a possibility. She had seen him in a rage once when some of her friends had escaped in the early days. She didn't want that rage directed at her. She kept a low profile and prayed that birthing her child would be easy and without complications. She had watched her friend labour for days on end to birth hers. She really hoped hers would be easy. She truly wanted her Mummy!

The days were easier now even though it was harder. She had her son. She loved him to bits and cared for him as best as she thought she should. The men were scared and running. Food was scarce and this was an added strain as her son did not get the memo. He always wanted milk. Sometimes she had not had anything to eat for days and still he suckled but she was determined he would be fine and so she fed him. Whoever was responsible for the anxiety of the men, she both loved and hated them. The soldiers huddled and talked more often and there were more fights among them which usually ended with one of them getting shot.

Another rousing from the bed to gather the meagre belongings in a wrapper and run for it! She knew the drill now and was good at it. She reached for things in order of their importance to her. First, her son whom she usually strapped to her front rather than the back as she saw the women of her village and other women do. Then his feeding things, usually, some dried grains which she soaked and pounded whenever she could to supplement the milk she made which was becoming truly inadequate to feed him with. He cried often and she knew it was because her milk was insufficient but recently when she asked her Soldier for food, he screamed and so she ate sparingly herself. 

The sounds were really close. She had a bad feeling about this time. And her Soldier was screaming at her. He grabbed her roughly and she was transported back to that night. The night of her abduction from her bed. Only this time, she had her son to protect so she could not be afraid. She had to be strong. For him. She decided to leave her other things. Some of the places she had fled from, she had returned to and sometimes, she found precious items that made up for the loss of things she called hers. she was not particularly attached to any item. Not since her abduction.

Stepping outside their makeshift hiding place and she said a quick prayer for safety. She stopped short! A man just called her name! Her given name! Not what her Soldier called her. And he had a gun pointed at her Soldier who looked sadly at her. He called her again like he was asking her a question. She looked up and recognised him instantly. She remembered him from meetings with her father about the village security. She stumbled towards him and disbelievingly asked when he had joined 'The fighters', he responded that he wasn't one of them. He was part of the Village security force that had been expanded to help the Army. It took only 3seconds for the import of what he said to sink in. Then...............she screamed!