MAMIWATER

Ocean.

That was her name, the new girl. Her skin glistened like refined gold, shinier under the sun's rays; if you looked closely enough, you could spot the glitters.

Her confident struts could be captured in slow motion, it was as though she took her time before each step with complementary sway of wide hips; I sometimes catch myself holding my breath.

She had an air of elegance blowing all around her, the appeal of her aura was unexplainable. I couldn't tell if I was jealous of her or attracted to her; maybe both.

The boys swooned over her that grudges were held against her by green eyed girls. I used to wonder what it felt like, heads turning as I walked by, but my anxiety never let me finish the thought.

One day, it was a lecture free day at the boarding school so we all had a lot of free time on our hands.

Ocean conferred at a near distance, with a group of girls, some boys joined too, schmoozing for her validation. I watched with arms folded, occupied with meaningless lost thoughts not likened to the chattering bunch in front of my eyes.

"Ify, you're here." Nmesoma emerged from behind me, breaking me free from my daze. She had noticed my line of sight and heaved an unobstrusive sigh.

"Don't you think there's something seriously wrong with that girl?" She was referring to Ocean, a look of disdain washed over her face for mere seconds.

A knowing smile spread across my lips, and I shook my head. "I don't think so, I think she's just very beautiful, she's new and we are all jealous of her."

"You and who is jealous of her?" A quick defense left her mouth with a hint of offense taken. "Well, her beauty is one thing, her name is another. I don't think she's human."

"Nmesoma!" Disbelief spread across my chest, I turned to her immediately knowing fully well that my eyes would give it away. "Saying things like this just because someone is very beautiful is telling, I think you're jealous of her and I understand, but don't start making things up in that your overthinking head. It is unfair and bad."

She waved me off with a faint hiss, then she tugged on my wrist and pulled me gently away to a reasonable distance. After scoping the Area with her eyes to check for nosy ears and getting a satisfactory result, she gave my arm a light tap to prepare me for the gossip she was about to spill.

"Hmm," she uttered with a grunt, "sleeping in the same dorm as our fine madam hasn't been easy oh."

I itched for more information as my interest piqued, so I inquired, "how so? Tell me more."

"I can't keep it to myself anymore, every night I have strange dreams." A sudden look of fear washed over her countenance causing me to worry, "in my dreams, I see water, and I see people inside the water. Some of them are scary, sometimes they do sexual things with each other. This have been happening ever since she arrived."

Ridiculous, I thought. A mere coincidence, it had to be. I too have had one or two sexual dreams on occasion. They meant nothing.

"You're overthinking it, again," I countered, "it makes no sense, there is no correlation. Sex dreams are normal."

"Ify, listen to me. I am not overthinking anything." A frustrated sigh escaped her mouth whilst she looked helplessly at my nonconforming frame, "nobody knows this but Njideka wets the bed, and it started the day Ocean arrived."

Nonsense. Must be. I shook my head adamantly because nothing she said made any sense to me; it was jealousy.

"What if she had always bed wetted but you happened to start noticing after Ocean arrived? Do you see now, that it doesn't make any sense?"

"How normal do you think it is that whenever I wake up from the nightmares, Ocean is always staring at me in the middle of the night?" 

"Well, have you confronted her about it?" I inquired.

"I don't have the courage to," she wailed, "what if she harms me? Or worse, kills me."

"Nmesoma you are taking this thing too far, she might be a sleep walker. None of this makes any sense, and you know. Else, you'd have approached her and told her about it." 

Her big brown eyes pooled with tired tears - staring at me. Defeat or hope, I was unsure of what I saw in them that they saw in me. I could feel myself swaying on the path of being convinced that she may be on to something after all. 

A pang of guilt struck me as all of these could have been mere speculations and innocent Ocean was being falsely accused of something preposterous.

"If you won't believe me, that's fine," a defeated Nmesoma sagged her shoulders, "Ocean is a mami water, I am sure of it. If she tries anything against me, I am sure my mother's prayers will deal with her."

I ate my words. To be frank, I had no words in the first place because my head was muddled with Nmesoma's tattle.

Saved by Ozioma, who ran to inform us that they planned on sneaking out that night, a rendezvous led by Ocean. I felt relieved. The information she delivered entailed that Ocean was going to show the small group of invitees the stream where she bathed which was the source of her glistening skin and abundant beauty. After Ozioma left with an acceptance from Nmesoma, she turned ever so quickly to me.

"Stream? You see? We will go, so you will see for yourself."

I was never one to break rules or go against authority, but that night I was eager to go see what Nmesoma feared. I'd hoped to see nothing, that she was wrong.

We bypassed the security guards easily, Ocean had taken credit for it; she claimed to have spiked their water with sleeping drugs. A knowing look was shared between Nmesoma and I.

While we all strolled down a lonely path, Nmesoma nudged me with her shoulder. In a shaky whisper, she leaned in as we shared similar heights, "earlier, there was a particular recurring dream I didn't tell you about."

"What is it about?" I inquired in a whisper.

"In the water, my hands are tied tightly behind my back," she begun, "there are a few others too, I see that they use leaves; palm leaves, I think to tie our hands but I can not make out the faces. Ocean is there, but she looks different Ify, I swear it. She's half human, half fish, she's even more beautiful than her human form, with long golden hair."

"Hmm," I pondered, unsure of what to make of it thus far. "Continue."

"I don't know how we were able to breathe under water. All of a sudden, every beautiful mami water turns into something else, monsters, their nails grow long and sharp like ugly claws; their mouths tear even wider and their teeth turn to fangs, including Ocean. They scream, pointing at us, demanding for our souls, some called us slaves."

She stopped narrating to observe if anyone had their ears glued to her words, but everyone else seemed occupied with their respective chatters. The girls seemed particularly excited to become as beautiful as Ocean who led in front of the group oblivious to the two girls, gossiping about her.

"Ocean swims to the first person, we were five in number I think. She shifts his head back, then she uses one of her nails and slowly scoops his eye out. He tried screaming but there was no sound, then she did the same thing to the other eye. I can not move, so I'm thinking others couldn't either. Ify, when she was done, she left him alone, but this time, you can tell that he is drowning and in pain. When he stopped moving, his body disappears, but you can see someone else standing in his spot with a chain around his neck, naked. I looked closely, this person has no eyes, so it must be him. His blind soul became their slave, I realized the same horrible fate was going to meet the rest of us. Everything else seem to happen in a flash until it gets to my turn, but I wake up before she can try anything."

She spoke of it in present tense, I noticed but chose to ignore. I understood her terror, I too will lose a few screws if I had to dream such a horrific dream every night.

"What about his eyes?" I asked her, "what did she do with them?"

"I don't know, I only watch the first victim. Everything else is a blur until it gets to my turn and I wake up."

"It is well," were the only words I could think of, as it all seemed bizarre to me. "We'll see."

"Yes."

We journeyed through the bushes until we were near the stream. We could hear voices, of singing and sounds of cheerful hands clapping. I had never heard voices as sweet as theirs, enchanting is the word. They seemed to be coming from the direction of the stream. I panicked, more people spelled danger. I couldn't be expelled from School because of some ridiculous reason.

I discontinued my journey, I also attempted to persuade Nmesoma to end the quest which proved futile. She told me of her prediction about me backing out that she had bribed Chukwumerije, one of the junior boys and collected his Android phone to collect evidence against Ocean. Ugochukwu had heard my argument with Nmesoma and decided that I was right, he chose to follow me back.

The rest of them ventured on; six in total. Four of which were girls. Ugochukwu and I made our way back to our respective dorms.

Sleep seemed far-fetched that night when I tried to hit the blankets. I tossed and turned, sitting on the fence between relief and regret. At least I was on the safer side, evading any looming consequence.

They never returned.

There was an unspoken agreement between Ugochukwu and I to never be tattletales. Exams approached and I had to find acceptance about one thing, Nmesoma was probably right.

If they had been kidnapped, ransom would have been asked. I feared that they may have encountered a notorious cult, or a gang of organ harvesters and Ocean was their agent.

I had become Nmesoma with my theories. I missed her, I'd cry myself to sleep on most nights but not a single tear was valuable enough to be exchanged with my friend's return.

I had seen her mother that day, in a fit of rage. Her father was calmer, his countenance was drawn but his eyes told of his sadness. Same with the other parents who rushed to the school after hearing the devastating news of their children's disappearance. The school was in a meltdown. Nothing remained the same.

Exams were over and students were gathering their things to leave for the holidays, when I heard a ruckus outside in the Hallway.

"They found them!" "They have been found oh!"

My chest constricted after hearing the positive news, the beat of my heart could be heard and felt in my ear drums. In a haste, I rushed to hear more.

I'd see my friend again!

I stopped a junior by her arm and demanded for more details.

"The bodies of the missing senior students have been found. They were found by a stream."

Bodies? I couldn't prepare myself for the wave of heat that spread throughout my body.

Nmesoma, a body.

"H-how?" I searched her eyes, the more I looked, the blurrier she got.

"According to what I heard, when they brought the bodies out of the water, their hands were tied with palm leaves and there was blood running down their eyes."

"My God." She was right; Nmesoma.

If only I had believed her, she wouldn't have gone out of her way, risking her own life to prove anything to me.

Can you imagine, they found only five bodies. The voices start to fade, as my consciousness drives sluggishly into a slumber.

What? Who was missing?

I felt my legs giving into my loss of touch for reality.

Ocean, the beautiful girl.

I knew it! That girl is a mami water!

That was the last thing I heard before I lost control. My body fell while I slipped away, slowly, into darkness.