Anaya: A Dark Voyage [#1 LightBlood Series]

Chapter 6 - On the Eighth Day

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The Past.
Eight Days After Birth.
27th December 1998.

Death wasn't kind and Olamide knew that. Everyone did. It plucked where it could, taking people who were far too young, far too good and even mothers who had newborns. The hooded vale of death had long stood over the world, constantly threatening. It did not make any distinction — not even with Olamide.

He had never been touched by death so near but this time, death took a part of him — a part he cherished most. He didn't know how he was going to live life without Nia even now that she had left a little one behind.

Olamide's world threatened to collapse but he made a promise on his wife's grave that he was going to be strong for their daughter and that was exactly what he planned on doing. As to how he would do it or even if he would be any good at it? No one knew. But one thing was for sure, life had to continue.

***

The cock-a-doodle-doo of the rooster thundered through the Amaechi household as the first sun illuminated the blue sky. It looked like a flame igniting the most perfect frame of blue. And with its presence, it was as if it was calling the entire household to rise and prepare for what day it was — the naming ceremony of Olamide's newborn.

It was the eighth day since the newborn fell from her mother's womb to the land of the living and as per the Abikialiian tradition, a newborn is named only on the eighth day after they were born.

They waited that long as a way to confirm that the child had come to stay on the land of the living and wouldn't be returning to the world of the ancestors. If by the eighth day the baby was still alive, they would then proceed to give him or her a name to validate their stay in the human world. Until that day, the child is regarded as a "stranger" and no importance is given to them because they wouldn't want to get attached to what wasn't theirs yet.

Nana, the oldest woman in the Amaechi household, was seen knocking on every door at the sound of the morning rooster. The day wasn't like any other day and every one was needed to put in their best effort to ensure the success of the ceremony. Everyone, especially the young lads of the household, needed to be awake and she had to make sure of that.

Relatives both near and afar had trouped the household the night before. And since it was Christmas Day, the entire family gathered to have their usual annual family gatherings before retiring to their beds. Way to kill two birds with a stone.

Nana was old but not the kind of old you pity with old bones and feeble limbs, but the kind who could still run a marathon given half a chance. At her age, she was expected to have one foot in the grave but she stood rather tall and strong. Her short grey hair had been neatly styled and she had wrapped around her upper body, a white cloth — a sign of victory.