Iféyínwa

She was branded.

---

April 02.1890

I had an encounter. I’d say it was like a thread in a grand tapestry or a spark in my darkness. But if I had to choose a word, I would say it was an awakening. It was a moment that stirred something deep within me, a spark that ignited a journey of discovery and seeking.

It all happened in the lab with Dr. Akanbi. I watched him make the final adjustments to the time device. I was anticipating with so much excitement building up inside me. It had been a tiresome project that needed to end.

I flipped the switch, biting hard on my bottom lip as the machine whirred to life. The display flickered, showing a jumble of numbers, and codes. Suddenly, the numbers started to spin, wildly in circles, and the machine began to hum louder.

It wasn’t supposed to be acting the way it was. I became confused, taking a step back, regretting all the life choices i made leading up to that point. If for one, I wasn’t ready to die. I wanted to live. I wanted to do anything that didn’t chain me to white lab coats and my high prescription glasses. I was tired of Dr. Akanbi’s scent. I was tired of the void I always felt in the lab, trying to prove what can’t be proven.

Bringing me back to the present, Dr. Akanbi frowned, scrunching up his nose, and peering at the readings.

“The quantum fluctuations are intensifying. It’s like…it’s like the fabric of time is resisting the leap”

Kini fabric ni!

The machine’s hum grew louder and the lights of the lab began to flicker like my village people had come looking for me. Before i could loosen my tie and take off my shoes to run for my wretched life, i was pulled apart and put back together again.

The machine let out a blinding flash of light, shinier than Dr. Akanbi’s bald head. When the light faded, i was here. Wherever “here” was.

---

No date recorded.

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping almost loudly, the wind whispering through the leaves and the warmth of the sun on my skin. I opened my eyes to find myself on a woven mat made from bamboo in an open space in a forest. The air was thick with the scent of wood smoke, dust and something sweet, like fruit.

I sat up, rubbing my eyes, not gently, trying to shake off the dizziness. My head was spinning, my stomach rumbled and my mouth felt dry, yet it felt like a different kind of peace, an escape.

My mind was racing. How did I get there wasn’t the question but what year it was? I looked down at my hands, expecting to see a watch or a phone, but they were empty. My village people happened.

I followed the sound of genuine laughter and the babbling of water, from the stream a little further from where I was. I started to wonder the last time I had actually laughed from the heart, the last time I was simply me, the last time I could simply be.

When I approached the stream, I saw her. When I saw her, I saw light. She was sitting on a rock, her perfect feet dangling in the water, and I felt like I had been punched in the gut.

She was...breathtaking. I don’t know how else to describe her, in fact there are no words to describe her. She was more beautiful than art. Her skin was dark and glamed in the sunlight like hot glazed chocolate shimmering under the light and her hair was a wild tangle of black afro sitting on her head like a crown.

She was wearing a wrapper that hugged her body like second skin. She was smoking something that looked like a wrapped leave, the smoke curling up into the air.

I stood there, frozen, taking in the sight of her. She laughed at my foolishness. Her eyes crinkled at the corners, and I felt my heart stumble. Then, as she shifted to take another drag off from the leave, she wobbled, and her feet slipped in the water. She let out a startled shriek, and I sprang into action, rushing forward to help the damsel in distress.

And as I reached out to grab her, she managed to catch herself, our hands brushed and our eyes locked. Call it butterflies, call it sparks, call it fireworks, call it whatever. It was just surreal. I found meaning. I found everything that had been missing.

For a moment, we just stared at each other, and I felt like I’d been zapped by a bolt of electricity. Her eyes were...magical, brown and soft.

She looked away first, laughing, and I felt my face heat up. Her laugh sounded like a million harps. I had no idea of what I was doing so I took a step back, trying to get a hold on myself.

She looked up at me with a question in her eyes, and I realized I was just standing there, staring like a fool.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered, feeling like an idiot. “I didn’t mean to... I just...”

She smiled, and it was like the sun came out. “It’s okay,” she said, her voice husky and her eyes sultry. “I think I got a little too close to the water.”

I laughed, feeling a little more at ease. “Yeah, I think you did.”

We stood there for a moment, just looking at each other, and I felt like I was drowning, drowning in a million galaxies. Somehow science couldn’t explain how I felt. I didn’t know what was happening, but I didn’t want it to stop.

“Who are you?” she asked, her voice low and smooth, like the water flowing over the rocks in the stream, like the early autumn breeze in the morning, like chills of harmattan in November.

I hesitated, unsure of how to answer. I didn’t know who I was, not really. Not in that place, at that time. I didn’t know who I would be after such encounter, if I’d be back in the lab the same person I was before “here”.

“I...I don’t know,” I said finally, feeling a little more stupid than before. “I do know I’m not from here. I just...woke up here.”

She raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “Do you know your own name?”

I shook my head. “No. I don’t even know what language I’m speaking right now.”

She laughed, a low, throaty sound. “You speak the language of the gods, perhaps.”

I smiled, feeling a little more at ease, yet wondering if it was all supposed to be happening. Wondering if I was supposed to meet such a person almost perfect.

“And you? What’s your name?” I asked rubbing my elbows nervously, trying so hard to snap out from the dream. If it really were.

“My name is Ifeyinwa,” she said, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “And if you want to know me, you’ll have to know him first.”

I blinked, taken aback by her words. “What?”

She said
“The one who made the trees
the rivers and the stars.
The one who gives us life 
and takes it.
If you don’t know him
you don’t know me”.

I felt a shiver run down my spine. The depth of her words had me more confused. If anything I hated the perplexity of hearing strange things.

“Tell me more”
I said curiously
She smiled, her eyes
twinkling with secrets.

“The river flows,
but the source remains,
The tree grows tall but its roots are hidden
Know the source
And you will know the tree.

I frowned, even more confused than before. I didn’t want to but I found myself already lost in curiosity, her certainty had gotten the best of me.

“I’m listening”, I told her
Not taking my eyes off her.
Her smile deepened
“Then listen well, stranger.
For the words of the wise are like
seeds planted in the soil of the heart.
They grow slowly,
but their fruit is sweet”.

She spoke words I couldn’t understand. I was a scientist and not a believer. She wanted me to believe in something, more like someone that isn’t relatively human, someone redefined as life itself.

“Ify,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “I want to know you. I want to know more of this person.”

She looked at me, her eyes piercingly calm. “Then seek the one who holds the keys to the universe. For in knowing him, you will know yourself, and you will know me.”

“For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?”

She said 
When he made her, he made me
Her loins were craft’d from eve in Eden
Known, written
Written into existence. 
Through eternity.

She’s eve
She’s flaw’d 
A completion of everything 
made wonderful 
In her veins, grace flows.

She called herself his bride
His betroth’d 
His daughter
His beloved
His vessel
His instrument.

She’s as beautiful as the roses
of Ecuador 
With her curves in display as she 
gazes at the corridor 
She’s everything and more
Her words are true and pure.

She sees herself from his lenses
She’s as cloying as honey
A goddess basking in glory
Even more admired in her folly

The fragrance and
glow of her skin like the jasmine flower
Her lips are indeed more sweeter
She’s a fountain fresh from living waters
She’s color splatter’d on earths canvas

A queen greatly cherish’d and adored 
She’s dear to me and so is her love.

She’s light and his love 
She’s calm in a storm
She’s peace in chaos 
She’s grace among the living.

Where beauty lingers
Her grace abounds. 

I don’t think I deserved even a 
blink from her
I imagin’d my hereafter and 
she was in it.

No other maiden could be 
weigh’d up to her. 
Iféyínwa…
Nothing can be compared to you
Nothing can!

Tell everyone 
I’ve found my own.
I found her when I found him.
They were both “LOVE”
Love in its most purist form
Love in truth
Like oil above water. 
Find HIM!

Sculpted from the sands of time, imprinted in my heart.