"Wait," Ego interrupted. "What does this old woman look like?"
"She was dressed in white. Her hair was grey and unkempt. I can't really remember her face clearly anymore. Do you want to know whether she is the same old woman you met?" he asked.
Ego nodded.
"Yes. But that description isn't enough for me to make a match."
Ndubisi raised one side of his cheek.
"I wish I could still remember her face."
"No... don't worry about it. Please continue."
Ndubisi nodded and returned to his story.
"Still hidden behind the bushes, I was trying to make sense of what I had just witnessed when suddenly a woman's voice began thundering inside my head."
He paused.
"It wasn't coming from the hut. It wasn't coming from anywhere around me. It was inside my head."
Ego leaned closer.
"What did it say?"
Ndubisi swallowed.
"'Ndu-bisi! Ndu-bisi! Ndu-bisi!'"
He repeated his name slowly, almost as though he could still hear the voice.
"'I can see you. I know who you are. I know where you came from. Your beginning and your end are already known to me.'"
Ego's skin prickled.
"It was terrifying. I covered both ears with my hands, but it made no difference. The voice continued. She started saying other strange things about me—things I can't remember clearly now. Things about my family, my past, and..." He stopped and shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe my mind was already overwhelmed."
"What did you do?"
"I ran."
He gave a nervous laugh.
"I ran for my life."
"And the babies?"
"That was when it became even stranger."
Ndubisi's face tightened.
"Their crying suddenly changed."
"How?"
"They started laughing."
Ego's eyes widened.
"Laughing?"
"Yes. Loud laughter. It sounded as though they were mocking me."
He paused.
"Before I left, I turned around one last time to look at the women."
"And?"
"They were gone."
"Gone?"
"All three of them."
Ndubisi shook his head.
"It was as though they had disappeared into thin air."
"Hmmm..." Ego murmured.
She tried to imagine what she would have done if she had encountered everything Ndubisi had described in a single evening.
The old woman.
The babies.
The three identical women.
The disembodied voice.
She probably would have lost her mind.
Ndubisi seemed to read the thoughts on her face.
"You see, there are many strange creatures and spirits of the dead roaming this forest. I believe you now. That old woman you met could very well have been a spirit."
He looked at her seriously.
"You should be thankful I found you when I did."
Ego nodded slowly.
She was.
More than he could possibly know.
He had given her something she desperately needed: confirmation that she wasn't imagining everything.
And perhaps there was another reason she felt drawn to him.
She couldn't explain it yet.
She simply liked being around him.
And when you like someone, curiosity naturally follows.
"Tell me about yourself," she said. "Where are you from? What were you doing before you came here?"
Ndubisi smiled faintly.
"I'm from Umuofia, a village far from here. I am the only son of Mazi Azubuike, a wealthy trader."
He paused.
"My mother, Ogadimma, was his second wife. Her mate, Odinaka, had three daughters with my father."
"Sounds like a beautiful family," Ego said with a smile.
Ndubisi released a long, bitter hiss.
"I wish it was."
Ego's smile disappeared.
"Why do you say that?"
"There was too much hatred. Too much mistrust. Too much jealousy."
He looked away.
"My father's elder brother, Echidinma, hated him because my father was wealthy while he remained a poor blacksmith. A very poor one at that."
"And your father's other wife?"
"My mother had a mate who was jealous of her because she gave birth to a son. She believed I would eventually inherit everything."
Ego frowned.
"So everyone was fighting over your father's wealth?"
"Pretty much."
He sighed.
"And then there was my father. He wanted me to become a trader and continue the family business. I wanted none of it."
"What did you want?"
"To hunt. To explore. To see places beyond our village."
A faint smile crossed his face.
"I have always loved nature. I wanted adventure. My grandfather taught me how to hunt, but my father hated the idea."
"So how did you end up living in this forest?"
Ndubisi's expression darkened.
"One day, my father and I had a terrible argument."
He rubbed his palms together.
"We exchanged insults. Threats too."
Ego listened quietly.
"I was furious, so I stormed away from him and went to stay with a friend for about a week."
He swallowed.
"When I returned, there were people crying outside our compound."
"What happened?"
"I asked them what was wrong."
His voice cracked.
"They told me both my parents had been murdered by unknown robbers."
Ego's eyes widened.
"Both of them?"
He nodded.
"Before I could even begin to grieve, some young men grabbed me and dragged me to the Igwe's palace."
"Why?"
Ndubisi laughed bitterly.
"The Igwe asked me whether I had hired the assassins."
Ego stared at him.
"You?"
"I told him I knew nothing about their deaths."
He clenched his jaw.
"But I later discovered that my uncle had already gone to the Igwe and told him that I had threatened to kill my father."
"What did he say you wanted?"
Ndubisi's eyes became wet.
"He said I had killed my father so I could inherit his possessions. He claimed I wanted the wealth and freedom to travel around the world, squandering everything my father had built."
Ego shook her head.
"And your stepmother?"
"She supported him."
His voice became quieter.
"She gave a detailed account of every threat I had ever made against my father. Every angry word I had spoken during our arguments was brought before the Igwe as evidence."
Ndubisi wiped his cheek.
"I was heartbroken. I had lost both my parents, and before I could even mourn them, I became their murderer in the eyes of everyone."
He took a deep breath.
"I looked around for someone to defend me."
His voice broke.
"But nobody did."
"Not your sisters?"
He shook his head.
"Not my half-sisters. Not my cousins. Nobody."
He stared at the ground.
"It felt like everyone wanted me gone."
Ego remained silent.
"I was taken before the chief priest and made to swear that I had nothing to do with my parents' deaths. But I already knew the outcome."
"Your uncle had bribed him?"
"I believe so."
Ndubisi's eyes hardened.
"He found me guilty."
"What happened to you?"
"For reasons known only to the Igwe, he decided not to give me the punishment normally reserved for such a crime."
He paused.
"Instead, he banished me."
Ego's heart sank.
"Banishment?"
Ndubisi nodded.
"He declared me an Osu."
The word hung heavily between them.
"I was forbidden from returning to Umuofia. I was no longer considered part of my own people. I was told that if I ever returned, I would be killed."
A tear rolled down his cheek.
"So I left."
He looked toward the dark forest surrounding them.
"I wandered until I ended up here."
Ndubisi wiped his face and gave a hollow smile.
"And that is how the only son of Mazi Azubuike, who once had a home, a family, and a future, became a man hiding in an evil forest."
Ego stared at him for several seconds.
Now she understood the sadness in his eyes.
It wasn't the sadness of a man who had merely been unlucky.
It was the sadness of someone who had been stripped of his name, his family, and his place among the living—yet somehow continued to breathe.
She slowly reached for his hand.
Ndubisi looked at her.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Ego said softly,
"You are not what they said you were."
Ndubisi lowered his eyes.
"You don't know that."
"I know enough."
She tightened her grip around his hand.
"And perhaps the gods brought you here for a reason."
Ndubisi looked at her again.
This time, there was something different in his eyes.
Hope.