Storms of the Forest by Dele Daniel

Author:Dele Daniel [Daniel, Dele]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stewart & Potter
Published: 2019-11-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

A total of seven girls had been placed into my group of water gatherers, or the Water Team, as Rashida had called us. After Rashida had demanded everyone get going with their tasks, all the women had scattered, not wanting to cause any problems with her. Her beady eyes had gleamed in pleasure at the sight of everyone scurrying to obey her orders, making it apparent where her son had gotten his power-hungry ways from. The apple certainly hadn’t fallen far from the tree.

Taking orders from Rashida was almost as bad as having to listen to her son, but given our current circumstances, none of us had any other choice.

I trailed behind my group, five girls walking a short distance ahead of me while two lingered behind alongside me. It was a nice day, the sun shining with a comfortable breeze in the air. Yet, we carried our buckets in silence, the only sounds being our footsteps and the twigs snapping under our feet.

I stared off into the distance as we walked, wondering how things had come to this. I still had a hard time wrapping my mind around how drastically life had changed for me within such a short time span. Sometimes, it all felt like a cruel joke that I was waiting for to end. It would be a miracle if I could just wake up to discover that all of this had been one long nightmare. To wake up and find out that the only thing on my agenda was going hunting with Remington, competing to see who could score the most game to deliver to the food bank for the day.

Funny how life had seemed so mundane back then and how I would have given anything to return to those days. It was a shame that I had never fully appreciated those simpler times until they were over.

I’d been mindlessly staring at the ground, watching my own feet when my eyes darted upward. My heart skipped a beat and I glanced around, peering through the trees surrounding us. Positive that I’d heard someone, I almost came to a halt but then realized the sounds were simply coming from in front of me. The girls. They were whispering to each other.

I relaxed, despite feeling slightly irritated. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I could sense the tension running through their conversation. Their voices were low but their facial expressions tense and serious. It was obvious to me who they were talking about.

My suspicions were confirmed when one of them, tall and big-boned, angrily glanced back at me.

“I think they’re talking about you,” one of the girls beside me said. I refrained from saying, “No kidding.”

With a sigh, I switched the bucket I carried to the other hand. I suddenly wished Dolly was with me; she would have been better company to me than these girls, that was for sure.

It seemed like it had taken an unnaturally long time, but we finally reached the stream.

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