Ego was still lost in her thoughts when a frightened cry tore through the compound.
"He is alive oh!"
Everyone turned.
"Ndubisi is alive!"
The voice belonged to one of the maids, who was pointing toward the ground with trembling hands.
"He has come back from the land of the dead!"
Ego's heart stopped.
She sprang to her feet.
"What?"
She rushed toward the place where Ndubisi had fallen.
And there he was.
Sitting upright.
Alive.
His eyes wandered slowly around the compound as though he had been dropped into a strange place and was trying to understand where he was.
Ego stopped dead in her tracks.
Her mouth fell open.
Her heart pounded violently against her chest.
Ndu.
He was alive.
The man she had watched die was sitting before her.
She took a hesitant step toward him.
"Ndu?"
He didn't respond.
Another step.
She stretched out her hand, wanting to touch him—to make certain that she wasn't dreaming.
"Don't touch him!"
Okemmiri's voice stopped her.
"Stay where you are until we understand what has happened."
The Dibia moved closer, his eyes fixed on Ndubisi.
"This man was dead."
He looked around at the bewildered crowd.
"He was supposed to remain dead."
No one answered.
Okemmiri turned back to Ndubisi.
"This has never happened before. Never. No person who has fallen under the power of the Mmiri Ezioku has lived to tell the story."
He narrowed his eyes.
"So tell me, young man. Did you stage your death too?"
Ndubisi continued rubbing his left eye.
He seemed completely disconnected from the conversation.
"Bia!"
Okemmiri shouted.
"I am talking to you!"
Ndubisi slowly turned toward him.
"I don't know what you are talking about."
"I didn't stage anything."
"Then how are you still among the living?"
Ndubisi looked around.
His expression remained strangely calm.
"I was given another chance."
Okemmiri frowned.
"Another chance?"
"Yes."
"By whom?"
"The gods."
A murmur passed through the crowd.
Okemmiri stepped closer.
"And why would the gods give a man like you another chance?"
Ndubisi looked down.
There was no anger in his face.
No arrogance.
No attempt to defend himself.
"I know I don't deserve to be here."
He looked at Ego.
"I am probably the last person who deserves another opportunity at life."
He paused.
"But I'm here."
He spread his hands.
"What do you want me to do?"
Okemmiri's impatience was returning.
"You can begin by telling us how you cheated death."
Ndubisi took a long breath.
Then he began.
*
"When I drank from the calabash, something happened to me."
His eyes became distant.
"I lost control of my body. It felt as though something else had entered me and taken possession of everything I was."
He rubbed his chest.
"I could feel my mouth moving. I knew I was speaking, but I couldn't understand the words. I could hear my own voice, yet I had no control over what was coming out."
He paused.
"Then the pain started."
His face tightened at the memory.
"It began in my stomach."
He placed his palm over his abdomen.
"It was unlike any pain I had ever experienced. It felt as though someone had reached inside me and was pulling my intestines apart."
Several people winced.
"The pain became unbearable."
He swallowed.
"I tried to breathe, but even breathing became difficult. I could feel myself losing control."
He looked toward the ground.
"Then I fell."
"My head struck the cold earth."
He touched the side of his head.
"Something warm poured from my mouth."
A brief silence.
"I began losing consciousness."
His voice became softer.
"Everything became cold."
He closed his eyes.
"But strangely, I was no longer afraid."
"The pain disappeared."
"My body relaxed."
"I didn't struggle for air anymore."
He opened his eyes.
"I felt peaceful."
"Too peaceful."
He paused.
"Everything around me gradually became dark."
"The darkness began at the edges of my vision. Slowly, it moved inward until there was nothing left."
He stared into the distance.
"Only darkness."
The compound was completely silent.
"Then something happened."
"I felt myself being pulled out of my body."
Ego's eyes widened.
"It felt like pulling a plant from wet earth. Slowly at first…"
He raised his hand.
"Then completely."
"I was outside myself."
He paused.
"I was weightless."
"Floating."
"My arms were stretched out and my head rested against my left shoulder."
He gave a faint smile.
"I felt like a feather being carried by a gentle wind."
He looked at his hands.
"My senses became sharper."
"I could see everything."
"I could hear everything."
"Things I could never have seen or heard while alive became clear to me."
He looked around the compound.
"It was like being born again."
"But not as a baby."
He shook his head.
"I was still myself."
"Only different."
"More aware."
"More understanding."
He looked down.
"That was when I knew I was dead."
Ego's heart tightened.
"I looked around for the people mourning me."
He paused.
"There were none."
"Instead, they were celebrating."
His face fell.
"I had never imagined that my death would bring happiness to anyone."
He looked directly at Ego.
"Especially not to her."
"I went to her."
"I wanted to tell her I was sorry."
"I wanted to explain everything."
"I wanted to tell her that I loved her."
His voice cracked.
"But when I reached out…"
He slowly passed his hand through the air.
"My hand went through her."
"I tried again."
"Nothing."
"I was like smoke."
"Like a shadow."
"Like sunlight reflected on water."
He looked at his palm.
"It was translucent."
"I could see through myself."
He paused.
"I screamed Ego's name."
"She didn't hear me."
"I screamed again."
"Nothing."
His eyes became moist.
"That was when I understood."
"I was truly dead."
"I don't know how long I remained there."
"Then something pulled me away."
"I found myself sitting inside a small boat."
He looked around the compound as though he could still see it.
"There was a man in front of me."
"A ferryman."
"I couldn't see his face."
"He never turned around."
"He never spoke."
"He simply paddled."
Ndubisi's voice became quieter.
"The boat moved across a river."
"A very strange river."
"There was no land anywhere around us."
"No trees."
"No grasses."
"No birds."
"No insects."
"No fish."
"Nothing."
"Only water."
"The river stretched farther than my eyes could see."
He shook his head.
"There was no wind."
"No current."
"Nothing moved except the boat."
"The silence was frightening."
"But strangely…"
He looked at Ego.
"I wasn't afraid."
"It felt familiar."
"Like I was returning somewhere I had always belonged."
He paused.
"I knew I was crossing the river of death."
"Crossing from the world of the living into the world of the dead."
No one interrupted him.
"Then something else happened."
"I was shown my life."
Okemmiri's expression changed.
"Your life?"
"Yes."
"Everything."
"My birth."
"My childhood."
"My parents."
"My mistakes."
"My joys."
"My hatred."
"My love."
"Everything came before me like flashes of lightning."
"It happened so quickly that I could barely understand what I was seeing."
"But somehow, every moment carried meaning."
He looked down.
"I saw the day I was born."
"I saw my father holding me."
"I could feel his happiness."
"I saw my mother smiling."
"I saw the love they had for me before life became complicated."
He swallowed.
"Then I saw myself growing older."
"I saw the day I told my father that I didn't want to take over the family business."
"I saw his face."
"The disappointment."
"The pain."
"I had never understood how much those words hurt him."
He paused.
"But I understood then."
His eyes became wet.
"Then I saw Nnanna."
The entire compound seemed to freeze.
Ndubisi lowered his head.
"I saw myself striking him."
"I saw him fall."
"I saw the life leave his body."
His voice trembled.
"That was the first time I truly understood what I had done."
He wiped his face.
"I regretted it."
"Not because I feared punishment."
"Because I wished I could go back."
"I wished I had simply walked away."
He looked toward Ego.
"If I had known that one careless decision would lead me here…"
His voice broke.
"I would have chosen differently."
He took another breath.
"Then I saw Ego."
A faint smile appeared.
"I saw the first time I met her."
"I saw her sleeping."
"I saw myself caring for her."
"I saw her smile."
"I saw her laugh."
"I saw the days we spent together."
"I saw everything."
His smile disappeared.
"And for the first time, I understood how much I had been given."
He looked at Ego.
"She loved me."
"She trusted me."
"She gave me a life when I had nothing."
"I had finally found someone who believed in me."
He swallowed hard.
"And then I remembered…"
"I would never see her again."
"I would never hear her voice."
"Never feel her hand."
"Never wake beside her."
"Never hear her laugh."
"Never watch her walk into a room."
His eyes filled with tears.
"That pain was worse than anything the Mmiri Ezioku had done to me."
He lowered his head.
"I thought that was my punishment."
"To know exactly what I had destroyed…"
"And to know I could never repair it."
He looked up.
"Then something happened."
The entire compound leaned forward.
"What?" Ego whispered.
Ndubisi stared at her.
"I heard a voice."
"What voice?"
"I don't know."
"Was it a man's voice or a woman's?"
He shook his head.
"I cannot say."
"What did it tell you?"
Ndubisi remained silent for several seconds.
Then he answered:
"You have not finished your journey."
A cold wind suddenly swept through the compound.
Several people looked toward the sky.
Ndubisi continued.
"I don't know what happened after that."
"I only remember feeling myself pulled backward."
"Faster and faster."
"Everything became dark again."
"And then…"
He touched his chest.
"I felt my body."
"For the first time since I died, I felt pain."
"My stomach was burning."
"My head was pounding."
"My lungs were desperate for air."
"I opened my eyes."
He looked around.
"And I was here."
Alive.
Among the people who had just celebrated his death.
Ndubisi looked toward Ego.
"I don't know why the gods brought me back."
"I don't know whether they forgave me."
"I don't know whether they are giving me another opportunity to become a different man…"
He paused.
"Or whether they have simply returned me to finish something I left undone."
His eyes met Ego's.
"But I know one thing."
"I am not the same man who drank from that calabash."
And for the first time since his return from the dead, Ego could not decide whether she was looking at the man she loved, the man she hated, or a stranger who had somehow been given back to her by the gods.