The Witness of Usehjiki

Kuwin opened his mouth to speak, to refute his claims with affirmations and God’s word, but nothing came out. He had grown up, taking for granted the privilege that being a clans-blood afforded him. Now, here he was, on the cusp of his death, forced to question everything he knew. How could such a small key give them wealth, power, and protection from commoners? How could the key pose a threat of doom and hope for salvation, at the same time?

Enechi groaned and slammed his small hands on the couch next to him.

“We don’t have time for this, Pastor Kuwin. No one has heard from Oseki ever since the second sister died and now all our keys are gone. If they’re trying to do something stupid, it’s going to affect all of us, so we need to stop arguing over nonsense.”

Before Kuwin could reply, his bell rang again. Sighing in frustration, he went to the door, expecting the bodyguards, but was shocked to find three women standing out there. All of them, with Osa’s face.

“Good evening, pastor,” the one at the center said. “Can we come in?”

Two of the women slowly began to raise their hands in surrender as their eyes shifted from Kuwin till they were all looking over his shoulder.

When Kuwin turned back to see why and was shocked to find Ahimad and Enechi standing.

With guns in their hands.

“WHY DO YOU HAVE GUNS IN MY HOUSE?” Kuwin yelled, facing the other two men as Enechi’s hand went into his jacket and came out with another gun.

“We need your help,” the woman in red said as she stepped forward, limping on an injured leg. “If we don’t all work together, we could be dead within days.”

That had to be Osa.

Kuwin had spent months thinking about that voice. He couldn’t miss it anywhere. It had to be her.

“You’re seeing three of them, right? I’m not imagining three of them, abi?” Ahimad asked.

“Give me my key,” Enechi said.

“We don’t have your keys anymore,” the woman in a blue sweater said.

“Are you crazy?” Kuwin asked, standing between the men and the women. “You’re not going to shoot anyone here. Put the guns down, now!”

“No!” Ahimad said, holding his gun with both hands. “You don’t know what she’s-you don’t know what they’re capable of.”

Osa had handled Kuwin very easily that night, tossing him to the ground with a suspicious lack of delicacy that she’d used when they made love just minutes prior. It almost seemed like Osa was a different person.

“I’ve seen what she can do, but you’re not going to shoot anyone.”

“Please excuse me, Pastor,” Osa said as she pushed Kuwin down on the couch and rolled him to the floor. By the time Kuwin understood what was happening, Ahimad’s gun was in a woman’s hand as she pointed it at Ahimad. The third woman wearing purple seemed to be in a tussle with Enechi, who slipped out of the woman’s grasp, turned her arms around, and caught her in a headlock before he placed his gun on her temple. For someone so small, Kuwin was incredibly impressed by how easily Enechi handled the woman.

Meanwhile, presently, Kuwin was on his back, on the ground, while Osa remained on top of him. When he tried to push her off, she resisted.

“Stay down, Pastor. You’re safe here.”

“Give me my key or I will shoot your sister,” Enechi said.

“We’re all clans-blood, here. You can’t kill any of us,” the woman in Enechi’s hold said.

It was common knowledge that members of the four clans couldn’t be killed. It was a common belief in Usehjiki. One that was held up by the fact that there was no record of a clans-blood dying from murder or suicide. They either grew old or died in accidents or went to sleep and never woke up.

Some people said it was because they were descendants of the gods. Others said it was because of a unification ritual from centuries ago. And yet, some linked their protection to the keys. The possibility of their safety being the keys was incredibly viable. That had to be the only reason.

However, they didn’t have the keys anymore. These women had taken the keys. And from what Enechi had said, without those keys, they were all vulnerable. One of them could die if someone decided to test fate and Kuwin didn’t want that sort of experimentation happening in his home.

Enechi pressed the gun to Purple’s head.

“I bet a bullet in her head will still hurt, regardless.”

Oh God!

“NO BULLET. NO HEAD. NOT HERE!”

“Let my sister go and I’ll let your friend go,” Blue said, pressing the nuzzle of Ahimad’s gun into Ahimad’s head.

“He’s not my friend.”

“Guy?” Ahimad asked Enechi.

“I just want my key.”

“We don’t have it anymore,” Red said.

“Then where is it?”

The three women shared a look.

“Drop your gun and we’ll tell you,” Blue said.

“No,” Enechi shook his head. “Drop your gun first.”

“How do I know-”

“Ifiso drop your gun,” Osa said, looking up at her sister.

The one called Ifiso looked at Osa as if she was crazy.

“He’s not going to-”

“Drop your gun right now,” Osa insisted as Ifiso hesitated. Eventually, she let go of Ahimad and unloaded the gun before she tossed it across the room. “Your turn,” Osa said to Enechi. “She’s dropped hers now drop yours so that we can have a civilized conversation.”

“You stole from me,” he said. “I don’t owe you a civilized conversation.”

Kuwin sat up as Osa knelt and stood, using the couch. She held out her hands as she faced Enechi.

“Shoot me, then,” she said. “Shoot all of us if you want, but we’re not telling you anything until you drop that gun.”

Enechi narrowed his eyes at her, as if about to argue. He looked from one sister to the other, gauging them. Kuwin wondered what there was to think about.

“Just drop the gun. It’s not like they’re refusing to talk,” Kuwin said.

Finally, after a long wait, Enechi dropped the gun and let go of the woman. As he stepped away, the sister he’d held hostage kicked the gun out of reach, rubbing her neck in discomfort.

“Now where’s my key?” Enechi asked.

“It’s in Osekoni.”

“Are we supposed to believe that?” Ahimad asked.

“We used it to wake Seneseba and she wasn’t too happy about that, so we had to run.”

“I’m sorry, you did what?” Enechi asked furiously as Kuwin rushed to hold him back from the woman who just stood there, unwilling to defend herself.

“Calm down.”

“YOU FOOLS!” Enechi shouted. “What were you thinking? She’s going to come after all of us now.”

And the tale of horror just kept growing and growing. Because it wasn’t enough for Kuwin’s life to be upturned by a magical key. That complication had to come with another complication in the village of the witness of Usehjiki.

With the way Jiki’s history tended to be, it was often hard to distinguish between myth and reality. A lot of the things in history were too fantastical to believe, but there were still events that could be tracked by actual evidence. A prime example was the presence of the keys and clans-blood kept dying before they turned forty years old.

This was why Kuwin was a little worried about the actuality of a supernatural, super-strong, super-wise enforcer who was somewhere out there, looking to kill him.

“Jesus,” he muttered under his breath.

“Your family…” Enechi breathed angrily, hands clenching in Osa’s direction. “We should have kept a closer look at your mother. You people never listen to anything. After your father died, we thought we were safe. Your filthy, wretched clan!”

Enechi kicked a couch and walked away.

“Are you done?”

Enechi shot Osa a sharp stare as she looked right back at him, unafraid.

“I haven’t even begun to vent,” he said.

“Yell and do whatever you have to do because sooner or later,” Osa said. “We’re all going to have to face the witness.”