The Apprentice Boy Part II

The following day Oliaku brought food to feed Ike. As usual, he refused to eat. The girl became upset. "Why won't you eat?" she shouted at Ike angrily. "Do you want to die before the time?" Ike held his breath in awe. A strange tingle ran through his spine. “Die before the time?” he repeated in his heart. This struck him hard. He was startled. He turned his head, for the first time, looking at Oliaku’s direction. What does she mean by ‘die before the time?’ Before what time? Before the time, before the time; he kept repeating in his heart. He tried to raise his head, but he couldn't. There was a sharp pain on his shoulder. He turned again and looked at Oliaku. That was the first time Ike had looked at the girl in the face. Does this mean I'm actually going to die here? he thought. Does it mean I'm waiting to be killed? So I'm going to die in the hands of these brutes? His heart began to pound. His head whirled, quivering with the pangs of remorse. He wished that the incident at Okuiyi had not taken place. He wished that things could be reversed. There was no way he could contact his people for help. He had no communication with anybody except the King’s daughter who came to his cell to feed him. Oliaku noticed the shock on Ike’s face following her comment. She realized that the statement she made about “dying before the time” had evoked anxiety in this man. She perceived a feeling of fear, suspicion, and confusion in him. She realized that the prisoner did not even know why he was being detained. "What did you say?" Ike asked the girl between trembling lips. That was the first time he spoke. When Ike spoke, Oliaku knew the ethnic group he belonged to. His accent was that of Okpanam, the natives where her grandmother came from. Ike’s dialect was the same as her grandmother’s. Oliaku began to view the prisoner with a mixture of anger and curiosity. "Oh, you can now speak?" she said rudely. “I've been talking to you for the past three days, but you didn't want to respond. Do you feel you can talk now? What made you decide to talk? You might as well eat." Ike did not reply, instead he looked away. His anger and hatred went up. His heartbeat rose with astounding rapidity. His brain whirled round and round in turmoil. As he summarized Oliaku's statements inwardly, his emotion kept oscillating between indignation and despondency. He wished he could free himself. But the bands that held him onto the pillars were too strong to be broken by sheer human strength. Not even the stamina of a superman could break the ropes. His limbs were beginning to swell and the rope was eating into his skin, almost shutting off circulation. "Since they brought you here," Oliaku began, "you have not eaten anything; you don't want to eat; you don't want to talk; you keep ignoring everybody. The prisoner in the other barn eats very well. He talks too, even though he is aware of what will happen to him. Do you understand why you are here? You had better take some food. In any case, whether you eat or not..." Oliaku cut short her words when Ike switched his head to her direction to hear the rest of her comments. Real fear gripped Ike. "What will happen?" he asked the girl. “They will kill you. Your life is hanging by a thread." Ike's heart stopped. He became restless and began to sweat. When his heart resumed beating, the speed was alarming. "Kill me for what?” he asked the girl. “Which people will kill me?" "Does it matter?" she replied sarcastically. "You'll die whether you eat food or not." When Ike realized why he was cast into prison, his spirit crumbled. His heart sank into the depths of his guts. His trunk shook convulsively. This frightened Oliaku. She picked up her food and hurried off thinking that the prisoner was dying following her disclosure. She regretted giving out the secret. Well, he may eat if he wanted, Oliaku said to herself after leaving the barn, it doesn’t really matter. Is there any sense in renovating a house that will soon be demolished