Odeluwa

by Queenet Ani

Sophia was supposed to be on a flight back to Lagos, but fate had other plans for her. Her NYSC posting letter sends her to Neku, a village so obscure that even her platoon officer has never heard of it. Yet when she finally arrives, tucked between rolling green hills beneath a purple-orange sky, the people are waiting for her. They are almost too happy to see her, claiming she was the first Corper they ever received. Neku is beautiful, but fear lives there. Beyond its hills, neighbouring villages are being emptied one after another by armed invaders. Homes have burned, farms have been abandoned, and families sleep with bags packed beside their beds. Death tolls was too much yet the media publicise it falsely. And somehow, Sophia's arrival has given the people of Neku hope. It begins with a priest touching the strange birthmark on her wrist and whispering a name she has never heard before. ODELUWA. From since that encounter, strange things started happening to her, haunting her. And despite her dead mother warnings to leave the village, she couldn't. And while the horrors of Neku persisted, she met the man whom she'll fall in love with, but was destined to destroy her. With him, she dug deeper Sophia digs into Neku's past, discovered lies she's been told. And one day, when the armed men have come to spill blood on the land, Sophia would suffer the worst just to liberate the people of Neku. But the most emotional part is the part where Odeluwa leaves.