Chapter 1: The death of sefakor Agbeli.
People keep doing the wrong things for the right reasons, not in my case. I was the most intelligent in my school, the good girl amongst my siblings, calm and diligent. I had two incredible friends; at least that’s what I thought. I grew up with one and met the other friend in a different country. I gave in all I could as a friend. I did the right things for the right reasons until this happened. Until I became a target for them. My name is Enyonam and this is how it all began.
Somewhere at Dzodze in the Volta region is my hometown and I’m a seven-year-old child. My mum was a petty trader and my dad a juju man. He did no other thing than to chant. He was powerful at granting the heart desires of his customer and this made him popular in the town. He would grant every customer’s request, but not always because some of the requests, he could not do anything about it. Mawusi, my best friend, always comes to me at home and, together with my siblings, we play till evening before Mawusi goes home. Mawusi was ten (10) years old. My siblings were all boys, namely Edem, Ewenam and Sedinam.
I was very brilliant at school and all the teachers really liked me. Mawusi is exactly the opposite. I would say, not intelligent, and I would always find time to teach her whenever she needed my help with her studies. We were all in class two then, but because of my level of intelligence, I was promoted to class three and Mawusi was still in class two. Due to this, I didn’t see her always, even though she was still my best friend. At age fifteen, I moved to JHS 2 and Mawusi, JHS 1.
We were the best of friends. Because of our unending friendship, our parents also became very close to each other, especially, Mawusi’s dad and my dad. Because my dad was a juju man, they attended functions together, especially during the Hogbetsotso festival and the annual yam festival known as the Asogli yam festival. My hometown was the best, and my dad and Mawusi’s dad were also very good friends.
Things were moving on well until one day, early in the morning at 6 (six), when my three siblings and I were about to go to school, I heard noises; a fight between my dad and Mawusi’s dad.
Dialogue:
Mawusi’s dad: Sefakor, how could you do this? You call yourself a juju man, but you could not do this simple job for me. How could you call yourself my friend, an irresponsible juju man?
Enyonam’s dad: How could you say that papa Agbeli? How on earth could you say that? You want me to kill your only daughter? You know very well I do not do that. If things are not going on well, work harder than to use your daughter for ritual. Stupid fool. Who gave you the effrontery to come here and bark like a dog in my house? Shame on you, you are the same person who will say we are not good people. Get out of my house. Out! Out!!
Mawusi’s dad: You have the guts to talk? We shall see……
Angrily, Mawusi’s dad left the house so ashamed of himself. After we heard this speech between the two, we became stant as to whether to tell Mawusi or not. We did not know what to do. Well, we kept it to ourselves.
Three days after the quarrel, we were all home relaxing as a beautiful family on a Saturday morning. My mum and I were in the kitchen as always, my three brothers had gone to the farm and my dad was at his juju headquarters.
We were singing our usual song:
Akpe ma da na mawu
Akpe mada na mawu
Akpe mada na mawu
Mada na mawu
Mada na mawu
I loved singing the song because in some few hours we would be enjoying my favorite food; the Akpele with Fetri Datsi soup with some Abobi, Wele and Crab. It was really delicious. My mum and I were always grateful.
Within a split second all we heard was…… Kpo! Kpo!! Kpo!!! My mum and I had to hide ourselves under the bed until we could hear no more noises of gunshots. We quickly rushed outside, only to see my dad lying on the ground lifeless.
Ahh! Ahhh!! Ahhhh!!! My mother wept and asked who had done this to me? She cried bitterly. People surrounded our house and cried together with us. I also cried with my three brothers when they returned from the farm. We quickly rushed my dad to the hospital, but unfortunately he was already dead when we got there. My father died as a result of not fulfilling Mawusi's father’s plea to kill Mawusi for a money ritual.
My father was given a befitting burial. Everyone was present except Mawusi’s dad. An eye witness had also testified about seeing Mawusi’s dad and his g**g entering the house on that fateful day of my father’s death. The police carried on their investigations and looked for Mawusi’s father. He was arrested for first degree murder then later sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor. Mawusi and her mum cried but couldn’t do anything about it. Both families were torn apart for a while, but Mawusi and I were still good friends. Little did I know that she had plans for my family.
Mawusi's exact words;
she spoke as she cried: “This family has caused me a lot. I hate Enyonam with passion and her whole family. I will kill everyone, with the exception of Edem. I love him and I have always loved him since childhood. I will console him after killing his whole family”.