Free Tangled Passion by Stanley Ejingiri Page B

see them as clearly as they would have seen it in daylight. Was it planning on striking? If yes, when? Was it waiting for them to get closer or was it waiting for its last meal to digest? “Come,” Jonah said pulling Ashana gently; he needed her to increase her pace. She responded reluctantly. From where they stood, there was only one way to go and that way, unfortunately, was in the same direction where they suspected the snake was.
    Ashana had resumed her humming. Jonah knew that she was totally unconscious of the fact that she was once more doing the very thing he had begged her to stop over a dozen times already. She was still trembling as she hummed. He listened to it for a while and decided not to stop her; if it consoled her, then let her hum, he thought. God help us , he prayed in his mind; not willing to vocalize his prayers, for fear Ashana might rightly interpret it as a sign of fear.
    “Please Ash, don’t cry, we will make it,” he said at the very first sign that Ashana had already started sobbing. “Don't cry Ashana, we’ll soon be out of here,” he added, stopping briefly to hold her close. She rested her head against his chest and he let his chin slowly rest on her head. “I promise you my love, I promise that everything will be alright.” He continued to reassure her, fighting to conceal his own proximity to breaking down and probably sobbing just as much as she was.
    “I am not crying for fear of this tunnel,” she said, her voice trembling like one with a noose around her neck, making her last wish. “But I cry for joy.”
    “You cry for joy?” The words took Jonah by surprise; he was scared because of the tunnel and the possible obstacle it placed between them and their much-anticipated freedom. He had thought and could have sworn that she was crying for the same reason. So when she opened her mouth and the words he least expected hit his ears, he was absolutely dumbfounded and wondered what could possibly cause anyone to cry for joy in a tunnel that was saturated with the stench of death.
    “I cry because if I have to die, it will be with you and if I have to live it will be with you also—either way I’ll be happy,” she explained, her hug around his waist tightening.
    Jonah opened his mouth but no words came out; there were emotional tremors taking place in his heart and electrical sparks going off haphazardly in his blood stream. His legs were already wobbly and his eyes overflowing with tears, “Ash.. Ashana,” he started, stuttering uncontrollably, “P…P...Please believe me, we will be all right soon.”
    “I believe everything you have said Jonah, even the things you are yet to say,” Ashana said, causing more tears to swell in Jonah’s eyes as he guided her slowly to the ground.
    “We rest a little and then we continue, okay?” he said, still struggling to bring his runaway emotions under control. She fell asleep almost immediately but he stayed awake long after, feeling her body slowly rise and fall.
    When he opened his eyes, it was as if they were still closed; the darkness he experienced with his eyes closed was no different from the darkness that he saw with his eyes wide open. How long had they been sleeping? His mind attempted to calculate but when he realized where they were, he abandoned the question and shook Ashana gently but hurriedly. “Ashana! Wake up! Wake up; we have to keep moving.”
    She groaned softly and opened her eyes, but it was pitch-darkness; the warmth of Jonah’s body next to hers reassured her of his presence and reminded her of where they were.
    “Did you sleep as well?” she asked him absentmindedly, not really waiting for an answer.
    “Yes, I fell asleep after you did, but now we must keep moving, Ash.”
    “Yes, yes,” she agreed and they both helped each other stand to their feet.
    “I love you, Ashana.”
    “I know,” she said. “And I love you too.”
    The way she held onto him told him how she felt and this made him feel