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DARKNESS overcame my family the very day Ógù took the life of his twin brother. My compound soon swarmed with sympathizers who wore gloomy faces and came to say, ‘Ndo. Sorry,’ after looking at us intently. Then, they hissed, shook their heads and shrugged in pity and shock.

It is a taboo to commit such a heinous offence in our land, and the punishment that awaits the offender, unless his action was not premeditated, is death by stoning.

The execution is carried out by young men who tie the offender to a stake and stone him to death. Then, his corpse is disposed of in the evil forest because it is believed that the curse that follows it would infect the family if the body were interred in the family compound or any land inhabited by man.

But no one had set their eyes on Ógù after the tragic incident. He was like a nightmare that haunted one at night and disappeared in the morning. The young men of Obodo Nta searched all nook and cranny of our town for him, but he was nowhere to be found. They burned with fury, and were ready to cut him down at first sight.

Ofo, together with other fallen men of ours, was given a heroic burial. But, unlike the bodies of others, Ofo’s sent jitters down the spine of everyone that beheld it: a headless body that mystified familiarity!

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