Ravea had countless nightmares over the weeks that passed. Everyday she woke up screaming in the middle of the night with her body drenched in sweat. Jerome would already be awake, as if anticipating it. By then he'd have prepared a towel, cold water and a set of new sheets for the bed. Ravea would cry while he cleaned the sweat off her body. Then they'd sit, awake till the first cockcrow before going inside to try and sleep again.

That was their routine everyday for the 2 months that was left before Ravea's due date arrived. But at some point they stopped. Ravea had accepted the fact that her child was no longer hers, and she was only a vessel carrying a tribute to the gods. Whether she still had the nightmares or not, Jerome never knew, because at some point she no longer woke up in the middle of the night, even though she always looked tired in the morning. Jerome on the other hand didn't stop, he couldn't stop because he started having nightmares of his own.

Ravea once told him about some of the nightmares she had. In one, she was in labour and was just about to give birth. First the baby's head came out, then it's body, but she didn't hear the baby cry. The midwives gently beat the child to force it to cry but it was all to no avail. Ravea insisted on seeing the baby regardless, so the midwives handed her the baby. It was a like ball of flesh in the shape of a baby, with maggots casually strolling over and within it. She instinctively threw it away and awoke screaming.

In the second one, she had already given birth to the baby. They both sat outside the house while Jerome was splitting logs. When he was done, Ravea handed the baby over to him and went inside to get him some water. Upon returning, Jerome was standing a few meters away from the house with the baby in his hand. She called out to him and asked him to come back but he didn't respond. She got a little worried and decided to go meet them instead, but she couldn't move. Just then, she noticed her body was tied with a number of ropes, with each Elder holding unto one end of the rope. She turned to Jerome and begged for him to come help her but he still didn't respond. Then the Panther that had attacked Jerome emerged from the darkness of the forest. It walked up to Jerome, took the baby off his hands and ate it while Jerome watched.

The last dream she had was similar to that, except this time, it was her handing the baby over to the Panther while Jerome was nowhere to be found.

After her last nightmare, Jerome noticed that Ravea started keeping her distance from him. The frequency in which she talked reduced until she eventually stopped talking altogether. She ate, slept and worked just like a normal person would, but one day, when her eyes came in contact with Jerome's, he knew she was just a shell of her former self.

The next day, Ravea was feeling a little ill so Jerome asked his mother to help him get a maestro or midwife to come over and check what was wrong with Ravea, of which she glady agreed. She came along with both a maestro and a midwife.

While the medical professionals attended to Ravea, Hilma noticed the rift between husband and wife and immediately confronted Jude about it.

"A couple of days after her dreams stopped, she started being distant." Jerome explained to his mother. He had been updating her on Ravea's status when she was still having nightmares.

"And what have you done to fix that?" She asked.

"Uh-nothing." He replied.

She thumped him at the back of his head. "What're you, stupid?"

"Of course not!" He groaned.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Then start using that head of yours. If she doesn't talk to you, what do you do?" She folded her arms behind her back and leaned forward.

"I talk to her", Jerome pouted as he whispered.

"You do what?!" She raised her right hand.

"I talk to her!" He spoke up.

"Good. Now go inside and begin."

He bent his head. "But it won't change anything."

"What do you mean?"

He suddenly looked up, "I mean, whether I talk to her or not, we're still going to have to give the baby away to the gods." He bent his head again, "No matter what, she's still going to hate me for not being able to protect our child." Tears began rolling down his cheeks. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for not being able to do anything."

Hilma immediately hugged him and placed his head on her chest, then her laps. "It's okay, it's not your fault. There's really nothing anybody can do about it. It's just one of those really unfortunate obstacles in life that just seem to pop up out of nowhere." She brushed his hair with her hand. "But it's going to be your fault if your marriage falls apart because of it." The whole mood began bringing memories back to Hilma. She started remembering her daughter whom was also unlucky enough to be chosen as a tribute to the gods.

She remembered how she felt when she pushed for the last time before hearing her daughter's voice, her body still remembered the pain from the labour, and her heart still remembered the ache she felt when she gave her away. "I understand all too well how you and Ravea are feeling right now. When I gave away your sister It felt like fresh pepper had been grinded and sprinkled on my heart. And everyday I tried to cool it off but nothing worked", she rubbed his cheek, "Not until I had you. My big strong boy, my miracle, my healer, my rainbow after the storm. You healed my heart. You saved me. Thank you. So please be strong, for me, for Ravea and for your children to come. Your father wasn't strong enough, that's why he's the way he is. He's yet to heal from that day. I don't want you to turn out like that, so please be strong." She kissed his forehead.

Jerome got up and looked at his mother, the wrinkles on her face stood out as she tried so hard to hold back her tears. This time he took the initiative and hugged her till she stopped crying.

About a dozen minutes later, Hilma had settled down and was now watching the sunset with Jerome when the mid wife rushed outside.

"Madam, Sir, there is a problem." She said immediately.

They both sat up. "What problem?" Hilma asked.

"Is she alright?" Jerome asked as well.

"Come inside", The midwife replied and went in ahead of them.

When they entered inside, the maestro stood in front of the room where Ravea laid down. She was groaning in pain.

"What's the problem? What's wrong with her?!" Jerome was becoming agitated.

The maestro took a deep breathe, "After carefully assessing her, we realized that the shape of her stomach was irregular."

"That's because she's pregnant stupid!" Jerome retorted.

"No!" The midwife cut in. "It's irregular, even for someone who is pregnant."

"I don't understand", Jerome walked into the room and stood beside Ravea. "Come show me what's irregular here."

The midwife walked in and sat beside Ravea. "If you look here, you'll notice that the bulge close to her chest is larger than the one close to her waist." She pointed at an area on Ravea's stomach.

"Yes and so?" Jerome strong-headedly replied.

"Well in my field of work, this, alongside several other factors that I and the maestro had found while examining her, indicates an incredibly high chance of the baby being the wrong side up."

"Huh?" Jerome looked at his mother. The look of despair on her face made him extremely uneasy.

"W-Well what can we do to change that?" Jerome stuttered.

The midwife looked away. "Usually, it's no problem if the baby is upside down if the pregnancy isn't past 5 months. But seeing as she's already fast approaching 9 months, it's a big problem, especially since this is her first pregnancy. Its-"

"I know what the problem is! I'm asking you what we can do to fix it!" Jerome lost his cool.

"At this point, we can only carry-out the delivery in a way that both mother and child come out with both their lives intact, but it will lead to Ravea not being able to give birth to any other child afterwards."

The room fell silent. Only Ravea's deep groans and moans could be heard, meanwhile all Jerome could hear was the sound of his pulse slowly dying out. He turned and tried walking towards the door but immediately stumbled and fell to the ground. The maestro rushed over and helped him up. He continued towards the front door once he was back on his feet.

"Where are you going?" Hilma asked him.

"To visit a friend ." He replied.