Neraya

“Neraya, wake up!” Mrs. Oloibon whispered. Neraya did not move a muscle. Her mind was a recipe for disaster. Fear engulfed her whole being.
“Neraya, if you do not..”, Mrs. Oloibon shouted sternly. Before she had even finished her statement, Neraya jumped out of the old spring bed. Her mother swiftly reached out for her hand, held it firmly while staring at her irritably.
“Mama, I can’t do it. I am fourteen. I..am sc..ar..ed.”, she pleaded with tears gushing out of her eyes. Her mother brutally slapped her making her land on the dusty floor hitting her head on the stool besides her bed. “Stupid girl! I got circumcised at the age of nine, got married to your father at the age of ten. Stop being dramatic! You will get circumcised today, then get married to Mzee Olololuke,” Mrs. Oloibon roared and walked out of their hut.
Neraya, slowly sat on the mud floor with her head held between her hands. She remembered the filthy eighty-year-old man who was set to be marry her. The day he had come to ask for her hand in marriage, he had lustily smiled revealing the six tarnished teeth he had left in his malodorous mouth. His eyes bloodshot due to the tobacco he constantly put in between his fingers, shamelessly sniffled then wiped his nose with the back of his hands. She remembered how with every spasm of laughter he snorted like a pig, how his rough if not scaly hands scratched her neck as he placed the heavy beaded necklace on her in a bid to show everyone she was his.
“She is now set to be my wife. Organize for her to get circumcised immediately as I intend to marry her before the month comes to an end,” Mzee Olololuke had instructed her father, who sheepishly nodded and signaled the villagers to break down in songs and dance without considering what she wanted. Education! To pursue teaching in college! Bring development to her village!
“Neraya, its time!” her mother sternly whispered through the cracks of the wooden door. “I am coming,” Neraya shouted. She then jumped up, speedily put a rope on the wooden ceiling. Climbed on the stool besides her bed and hanged herself. Moments later, her mother furiously kicked her door open only to find her lifeless body hanging from the roof. Not even her screams, the villagers’ gallons of tears and her father’s misery would bring Neraya back to life.