The chants of the executors got closer, alerting Anuli to the depth of trouble she was in, but the scary thought was nothing compared to the pain she felt from the stillness... the nothingness in her arms.
She knew her children were dead; no need to look at them.
She no longer ran, but walked briskly; no more fighting for their lives, but for time to honour their deaths.
She needed to mourn her dead children, though they died from cold in her arms instead of being killed by wild beasts in the forest.
Tired to her bones, she made to sit at the foot of an Iroko tree and wait for her pursuers to catch up, when she felt a stirring, then heard a whimper.
Standing back upright, she looked at the bundle in her arms and with mixed feelings of hope and fear, opened the wrapper folds and found life and death lying together. One twin was as cold as death, and the other was whimpering and fighting for life.
New life and strength seeped back into Anuli’s body. “All is not lost,” she said, continuing her journey into the forest.
“All is not lost,” she repeated.
Wrote this for the Stach Contest #24
