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Rights are the domain of men and boys—not women, and certainly not alaki.
Keita is just like all the rest, giving us impossibilities and calling them choices.
The cry echoes from jatu to jatu. “Release the alaki!”
Elder Durkas always told us that’s because they’re trying to show us how to live happy, righteous lives. What if they were meant to cage us instead?
That’s how it was back in Irfut, me always accepting everything because I thought it was Oyomo’s will. Was it Oyomo’s will, the village turning its back on me, the elders dismembering me so they could sell my blood? Was it His will for them to cut out my tongue so I couldn’t scream? What about all the things in the Infinite Wisdoms, the rules against running, laughing too loudly, dressing in certain ways—was all of it His will?
“The truth is, girls have to wear smiling masks, contort themselves into all kind of knots to please others,
“The way I see it, we all have a choice right now. Are we girls, or are we demons? Are we going to die, or are we going to survive?”
“Demon. I am a demon,” each girl declares, bleeding herself to display her golden blood.
There are several types of monsters in this world.
The physical body—it heals. The scars fade. But the memories are forever. Even when you forget, they remain inside, taunting you, resurfacing when you least expect.”
If they did it once, Deka, they’ll surely do it again, no matter the flowery promises they give.”