FALLEN PIECES OF THE ORACLE
FALLEN PIECES OF THE ORACLE
Part one
The day I got to talk was in the year 2005. It was a cold November in the whole city. The harmattan season ushered in the hot, dry and dusty wind that blows across West Africa from the Sahara Desert into the Gulf of Guinea. The weather was harsh on my sensitive skin. My dry skin became as dry as dust and my lips cracked but ma ensured i applied lip balms. I had to wear sweater on regular basis to keep me warm and protect me from the cold. According to Ma, a severe harmattan season was a precursor to a rich harvest of food crops in the country. It was my favourite season especially when it fell on school break. That year, ma kept a watchful eye on me like a mother hawk because of the news of the kidnapping of the chibok girls in Borno state. She had told me of the recent treacherous acts of the terrorist sect like the suicide bombing of the United Nations office in Abuja. She worried if the driver did not get me back from school at the appropriate time. She worried when the church service lasted longer than usual. She was usually on her toes worrying. I knew ma loved me but I believed she was worried for no reason because the massacre of civilians occurred most in the north and not in the south. So I wondered why she worried so much. I didn’t bother to ask through gestures because it was stressful. Most times, she got the wrong interpretation so it was a total a waste of time. Ma had gone to the market on that fateful day and left me at home with our house help, Aunt lily. Aunt lily comes in the morning to clean the house and wash plates and clothes. Basically, she does all the house chores and stays till evening but most times she leaves before evening when Ma had nothing for her to do. I liked her because she sings for me in our native language when she is weaving my hair for school. When ma returned from the Emanyi market, I ran to her to assist her in carrying the groceries into the house. Ma‘s driver dropped everything on the pavement while Aunt lily and I took them inside. Ma stood at the kitchen complaining on how busy the market was. She mumbled about how cold the weather was as Aunt lily arranged the groceries.
‘Ma’am should I start boiling the meat or should I go and blend the pepper at the house across the street’. Aunty lily interrupted ma.
I stood by ma’s side listening to her instruct Aunt lily on what she should do. After Aunt lily had finished preparing the ogbono soup, Ma instructed the driver to take Aunty lily home. Ma and I were in the sitting room watching my favourite television show when it happened. I spoke for the first time in 10 years.
***
It took me almost ten years before words started rolling out of my tongue like a baker rolling dough. I smiled when the first word came out. I remember looking at my mother’s teary eyes when she heard me mumbling my very first syllabic word. At first she withdrew back trying to recollect the word I uttered and to also verify that it came out of my mouth. I smiled back at her trying so hard to reassure her that I could speak. She took the edge of her wrapper and wiped away her tears. She ran and jumped around our four bedroom flat, singing and rejoicing. She carried me and threw me up with so much joy. When her energy was spent, she dropped me on the sofa and sat down on the edge with so much pain in her eyes. She stared at me for a while before pulling me into a tight hug. Kelvin’s mother came in at that moment grumbling on why the door was left ajar. She kept on talking about the various armed robbery raids that had occurred in the past few weeks as she trod in. As she recounted the robbery that occurred at a neighbour’s house, she saw my mother in tears. When their eyes met. My mother stood up and pulled Kelvin’s mother close. Laila, my daughter talked.
She said ‘Mama, Food, Papa’. Mama gesticulated as she explained everything to her friend Laila. Laila only stared at her with astonishment wondering if she was still sane.
‘Laila sit down. God has answered my prayers’.
She pulled her wrapper up to her chest before she started rolling on the floor and singing in pure Igbo dialect. Laila came to me and looked into my brown eyes hoping I will speak again. I saw it in her eyes. She wanted me to talk, at least to reassure herself that Ma hadn’t gone mad. I tried and moved my lips but i couldn’t utter a word except for buzzing sounds that gushed out. My mother rushed to my side, held my face close,
‘Nnenna, biko, repeat what you said’. When I didn’t she carried me and placed me on her lap while beating her chest ‘Maaamaaaa’. She stood up and flee to the kitchen. In the silverware plate she brought, there was rice with sauce beside it. She pointed to the plate
‘Nnenna, fooood, say foooood’
Laila watched my mother with concern in her eyes. She didn’t believe her. Mama stood up from her trance and started crying. Laila pulled her close to chest and rubbed her arms back and forth.
***
Several times before my eleventh birthday, I tried to move my lips but the words never came out again. Like a kitchen sink blocked, I couldn’t utter a word. I remember watching Papa and Ma argue about whether I should be taken to a government facility where dumb children are taken care of. I saw my mother’s eyes filled with tears as she screamed at papa.
‘Festus, she spoke to me and I am certain she will speak again’.
As she spoke the tears dripped to her cheek with more veracity. Ma sank into the sofa with the resolve of a broken spirit.
‘she needs time to fully heal. Time heals all wound’.
As the tears flooded her face, my father raised his voice above the rattling noise of the fan in the sitting room
‘For how Long?’
Most times I stood by the door watching my mother’s lips move, and tried to imitate her, hoping that I would quieten the storm by speaking.
***
Pa worked in one of the top tier law firm in Nigeria. He had worked in the law firm for the past 10 years. He had been hoping he would be made a senior partner in the firm. He spent most of his time in Lagos where he worked. He barely came home after our lives had fallen into pieces. Pa provided all the necessities and paid all the necessary bills but he was found lacking in one thing. He never paid attention to what happened in his home. He rarely spent time with me and ma. He was always on one field trip or the other like a pollinating insect. It was a few months to my eleventh birthday. Papa had come back from one of his conferences. Mama showed him my report card and he broke out into hysterical laughter. Papa was a tall man, heavily built and his dark skin shone at all times glistening even in the sun. The sound of his laughter shook the entire dining table as he laughed uncontrollably. Mama stared at him for a while in fear. When she got out of her oblivion, she motioned me to go to my bedroom.
I wanted to pack my plastic plates but she said’ ‘Nneka, leave it and go to your room. Your Pa and I have something to discuss’.
I hurriedly left with my heart tumbling in my chest. I feared for mama. I fear papa would raise his hands on her again. So I went to my room, shut the door with a loud bang. As quickly as I did that, I slowly opened the door to my room and went to eavesdrop on what Ma and Pa were talking about which is me. I almost woke dusty up. He was lying on the floor near the kitchen with its belly raised to the ceiling. I crossed him over with my tiny feet before he yelped with a bark. I stood at the other entrance to the dining room, the one that led to the balcony and the kitchen. Pa stood up with rage and slapped Ma. I held my hand close to my mouth to prevent me from screaming out. I knew papa would be angry if he knew I was close by. Twice he had gotten so angry with me that he almost beat me up with his belt but for mama who came to my aid. I had left the entrance to the dining room while I was lost in thought. I walked towards the balcony crying my heart out as I thought of the possibility of the possibility of leaving school and also leaving Ma. I held the railings at the balcony with my other hand as I cried. Ma believed I could speak but Pa wanted to take me to the government facility in Uyo where they treated children like me. I watched through the window as Ma handed my report card to Papa who didn’t dropped like a hot iron.
‘Nnenna is intelligent, she came first again. I know she can speak. She would speak’.
‘Your daughter needs help, Beatrice. I am taking her to uyo tomorrow’. My father said and walked away.
Before he reached the door, Ma grabbed him while pleading with him. ‘Festus, Please don’t take away my only daughter. She is all I have. She needs time to heal’.
As Pa tried to let himself go from ma’s firm grip, He saw my shadow in the dark. He started coming closer.
‘Who is there? Come out here’.
My whole body shook in fear. Papa had warned me several times not to eavesdrop while he discussed important matters with Ma. I heard him calling out to me but i feared he would beat me black and blue when he realised I was at the balcony instead of the four corners of my room. I retreated back but anxiety gripped me and I forgot that I was closed to the opening at the railings. I trembled so much that I fell off the railings. I groaned pain and then there was a black out.
In the darkness, I saw blood. Its colour painted upon the dark shadows. Then I saw people lying on the ground. Then we started running the three of us. We were running from the sound of death. I looked back at the distant buildings. No one was behind us but the sound grew louder almost catching up with us. I looked to my right and I saw a fair skin boy. His skin shone in the scorching sun and his glasses reflected the sun. He looked at me and smiled.
‘Run faster’, he muttered under his breath.
I looked to my left and I knew it was him.
Leonel .
I wanted to ask him of Papa and ma. I wanted my mouth to open so that I would also ask him why and what we were running from. He smiled at me and his grip became tighter as we ran along. Then I heard it clearer. It was the sound of gun shots. I looked down and I saw bodies sprayed on the floor. Dead bodies laid with blood everywhere. I held in my vomit. The air smelled of death and rotten bodies. I shifted my nose the way ma does when she wants me to go and have my bath in the evening. I longed to itch and cover my nose but my hands were occupied. Then we stopped running and I saw them, soldiers in green and black with their gun pointed at us. I glared at their guns and started shaking. I looked at fair skinned boy and then Leonel with tears in my eyes. The soldiers moved closer and encircled us. We had nowhere to run and we couldn’t defend ourselves either. So we surrendered and we followed them with their gun jabbing at our backs. I wished Ma was present to protect me from the soldiers just as she protects me from Papa’s wrath at home. I wondered where they were taking us to. It took three days and nights before we got to our destination. We slept in the forest for those three days. The soldiers built their camps once the sunset rose in the east and we retired to bed while one of the soldiers stayed on guard to ensure no intruder came to steal the supplies. At the first crow of the cock, we began our journey. We passed through the forests for three days with nothing but water and groundnuts to fill our growling stomachs . On the fourth day, we got to our destination. It was a small village. There was no living soul around. The village was covered with red dusts as sand. The ground was sloppy with bushes around the village. Trees were planted right in the middle of the village. I saw the baobab tree beside one of the huts. The hut had a thatched roof and on top of the roof i saw a monkey jumping on the roof. Some of the soldiers rushed into the hut while i followed their leader. The whole village was empty and it smelt of dry rust. I tried to cover my nose nut my hands were tied to my back. Once again, I looked around searching for Leonel and the fair skinned boy but they were nowhere to be found.
‘Let’s take her to the oracle before she slits our wrists’. One of the soldiers said.
I looked at him with questions in my mind.
‘Once you see her you will understand’, he looked down at me reading my mind.
For the past three days I had cried my eyes out so I didn’t know what else to do but to follow willingly like a lamb being led to be slaughtered. We got to the oracle coven. The soldiers pushed me inside and hurried away. I entered the coven and I saw skulls all around me. The floor was slimy like an earthworm. I retreated back but the door was closed. I sat down near the wall and looked around. The whole place was damp with a small fireplace right at the middle of the coven. The whole place was decorated with animals’ skull and a few charms. Then I saw her. She stood by the fireplace then she started dancing around the dark room. She had a small frame. I couldn’t see her clearly because of the smoke rising by the fireplace. As she danced with a burning cloth on her hands round the fireplace, she motioned for me to draw closer. She grinned at me but I kept still afraid of what she might do to me. Then she drew closer with the burning cloth in one hand and ashes in the other hand, she pulled right away from the wall and surrounded me with the ashes and then she threw the burning cloth beside me. The smoke from the clothes caused me to start coughing before the ashes lit up with fire and then I screamed. I screamed louder and I fainted.
I opened my eyes to see ma. I smiled and uttered ma. She looked at me and smiled. She hurried off to call the doctor that I had woken up from coma. I found myself on a bed and beside me was a bedside lamp. The room looked nothing like my room. I kept on looking around wondering where I was.
‘You are at the hospital Nne, the doctor said you will be discharged once you have woken up’.
I tried to sit upright but ma told me to lie back. I tried turning to the other side but I couldn’t. I attempted to raise my legs but it didn’t move any inch. I felt as if a heavy stone was resting on my legs. Then I saw it my legs were wrapped with big white clothes.
‘The doctor said in a few weeks, you would be able to walk without your crutches; it was a really bad fall, nne’. Ma explained.
I nodded as the tears slid down my cheeks. That evening, the help ma’s driver, and ma Kelvin came to wish me quick recovery. Some of our neighbours even came but pa never came to visit me in the hospital. I felt sad but I knew he must have travelled out for one of his conferences. The doctor that treated me advised ma to get me a therapist for my speech deficiency.
Pa didn’t come until the third week of my return home. He came during the weekend and left on Monday morning and that was the last I saw of him. I remembered the dream I had while I was at the hospital. I couldn’t tell ma because, I didn’t know how even after the first time I spoke to her. So I started to relate the dream to my life. Ma had said our dreams sums up our present, past and our future. I began to relate my present to the dream. Pa was the oracle that encircled me with ashes for the sacrifice. My hatred for pa grew like burning flames and it spread like wildfire. I avoided him like a plague when he came the last time on that sunny evening. He came bearing gifts like Santa clause but I didn’t want his gift. I wanted him to stay and abandon all his conferences. I want us to be a big happy family. Pa came to my room but I pretended to be fast asleep. He knocked and knocked but I didn’t open the door. He finally walked in, found me sleeping and he ushered himself out after dropping the gifts. Although I had began to develop hatred towards pa, a part of me felt happy that he was home. I turned on my bed unable to sleep and sincerely wishing my family had been a normal family. I was still on the verge of trying to quietly unwrap the gifts when I heard ma’s muffled cries. It made me cry myself to sleep that night.
Ma was a teacher in one of the missionary schools in reel road. She taught government in the school. She had her work clothes separately from her casual wears in the wardrobe because teachers had a dress code. Ma worked diligently in her school. Every year she was given an award for her teaching skills and her amiable behaviour. The school had planned on appointing her as the principal before the tragedy that befell us. Most people wondered why I was the only child in my family. The fact was I was never the only child. I had a twin brother who as joyful and playful as a butterfly. I loved him more than anything in the world. When we were 6, we would play in the yard. Our favourite game was the hide and seek game. There was no one that didn’t like having him around. He was as cute as a newly adopted puppy. We laughed together, ate together and went to the same school together. I remembered how much the teachers loved him until one day. Ma had taken us to one of the amusement parks in the city. Ma took us on various rides at the amusement park. We also visited the zoo where I fed the giraffes. One minute my twin brother was with us, the other minute, he had vanished. We started searching for him all around the park but he was nowhere to be found. The security men looked around but we couldn’t find my twin brother. Ma called pa who was on one of his field trips at the time to inform him of her turmoil but he didn’t pick up his cell phone. It was later in the evening that the police found a body floating in one of the swimming pools in the restricted zones. Ma was called to identify the body immediately and it turned out to be my twin brother. It took two years for ma to recover from the death of her little boy and pa never forgave her for losing his only son. Ma stopped working in the high school and became a full time house wife. I also stopped talking because my brother was no around anymore. Four years after my twin brother died, pa opened a supermarket for ma at one of the commercial areas to keep her occupied. Pa came home less and withdrew from ma and me as if we stank of urine. Ma and pa remained married and that was all it was to it. It was a title, nothing more. They never went out together and they never laughed together. The night Pa came back bearing gifts for me was the last day I set my eyes on him.
That same night he gave Ma the divorce papers to sign. Ma signed it with muffled cries. Pa also filed the custody papers. It took 2 months before ma was granted full custody of me. The court allowed Pa to visit whenever he chose to, only after my mom had been made aware of it. Each time I faced turbulence in my family, I wished my twin brother had been present. He would have made a joke of everything, at least to clear the air. Pa wasted no time in marrying another woman immediately after the whole divorce proceedings. He got married to her while she was heavily pregnant so I heard from Ma and Ma Kelvin. Pa never visited me neither did he bother t call or check up on me. I felt lonelier than ever before until our new neighbours moved in. Their eldest son was in my class so we went to school together. His mom also brought also back together. He was always happy and he made me smile every single time he was around. He made silly jokes and knew how to make faces. To me he became my twin brother only that he was resurrected. I began to speak in monosyllables to him. We played together and went to places together. He brought out the light in me and quenched the darkness. I still think of the dream I had while I was in coma and I saw him, my new twin brother as the one that rescued me from the oracle. Ma sponsored my education with the little she got from the sales at the supermarket and the stipends Pa sent to her for my welfare. Ma became content and happy when I started talking. We talked and talked for hours without getting fed up. Ma became my companion. I finished high school and then proceeded to study law at the university.
One of the basic reasons I chose law was because my dead twin brother loved law. I wanted his dream to be achieved through me. Besides with time. I started having passion for law. My twin brother went out of the country to study pharmacy. We talked and kept in touch. We became closer when he travelled out than we were when he was around. I still remember our first kiss when we were teenagers. It was beside the oracle herself. We had finished early from school that afternoon because it was the literary competitions day. We had forgotten to inform his mother that we were going t close earlier than before. We couldn’t call her because students were not allowed to bring their cell phones to school.
We stood beside the newly constructed fountain. The structure of the fountain had always reminded me of the dream I had during coma. The fountain had the same slender body as the oracle and its eyes were also of the same burning flame as of the eyes of the oracle. The fountain was scantily dressed in a rugged gown that seems to have torn at the edges. On its hand it held a calabash and in it was a nun and from the nun the water came gushing out. We sat beside the fountain because it was our favourite spot. It was a secluded now that the whole school was almost empty. So we talked as usual about the competitions. He made mention of his favourite oral speaker and so did I. We talked for long hours about various things including his dream of becoming a renowned pharmacy. It was on that day I told him about pa and how he maltreated ma before the divorce. He came close and wiped my tears away. We sat so close to each other and he looked intently into my eyes. He angled his head towards me and then we kissed. I had never kissed anyone in high school until then. At first it felt strange but after we indulged in the act for a few minutes it felt good. I had heard stories from ma of how with just one kiss several girls had gotten pregnant. I liked him but I stopped him from kissing me. I feared I might get pregnant. That was how I had my first kiss right underneath the oracle that tried to sacrifice me. We went home and never talked about the kiss we had under the oracle. It was awkward for a few weeks but later on we resumed our friendship like nothing had happened or changed between us. I never told ma either. Before he left the country to study pharmacology in Canada we spent so much time together. We were like lovers afraid of being pulled apart. We couldn’t get enough of each other. On the day before he travelled we had a send forth party for him. On that day we both slept in the same room and there I gave up my virginity to him as my own gift to him. We might never have said it to each other but we loved each other deeply. On that night he gave me a promise ring which I held so dear to my heart. Years after he came back home with his wife and kids
Part one
The day I got to talk was in the year 2005. It was a cold November in the whole city. The harmattan season ushered in the hot, dry and dusty wind that blows across West Africa from the Sahara Desert into the Gulf of Guinea. The weather was harsh on my sensitive skin. My dry skin became as dry as dust and my lips cracked but ma ensured i applied lip balms. I had to wear sweater on regular basis to keep me warm and protect me from the cold. According to Ma, a severe harmattan season was a precursor to a rich harvest of food crops in the country. It was my favourite season especially when it fell on school break. That year, ma kept a watchful eye on me like a mother hawk because of the news of the kidnapping of the chibok girls in Borno state. She had told me of the recent treacherous acts of the terrorist sect like the suicide bombing of the United Nations office in Abuja. She worried if the driver did not get me back from school at the appropriate time. She worried when the church service lasted longer than usual. She was usually on her toes worrying. I knew ma loved me but I believed she was worried for no reason because the massacre of civilians occurred most in the north and not in the south. So I wondered why she worried so much. I didn’t bother to ask through gestures because it was stressful. Most times, she got the wrong interpretation so it was a total a waste of time. Ma had gone to the market on that fateful day and left me at home with our house help, Aunt lily. Aunt lily comes in the morning to clean the house and wash plates and clothes. Basically, she does all the house chores and stays till evening but most times she leaves before evening when Ma had nothing for her to do. I liked her because she sings for me in our native language when she is weaving my hair for school. When ma returned from the Emanyi market, I ran to her to assist her in carrying the groceries into the house. Ma‘s driver dropped everything on the pavement while Aunt lily and I took them inside. Ma stood at the kitchen complaining on how busy the market was. She mumbled about how cold the weather was as Aunt lily arranged the groceries.
‘Ma’am should I start boiling the meat or should I go and blend the pepper at the house across the street’. Aunty lily interrupted ma.
I stood by ma’s side listening to her instruct Aunt lily on what she should do. After Aunt lily had finished preparing the ogbono soup, Ma instructed the driver to take Aunty lily home. Ma and I were in the sitting room watching my favourite television show when it happened. I spoke for the first time in 10 years.
***
It took me almost ten years before words started rolling out of my tongue like a baker rolling dough. I smiled when the first word came out. I remember looking at my mother’s teary eyes when she heard me mumbling my very first syllabic word. At first she withdrew back trying to recollect the word I uttered and to also verify that it came out of my mouth. I smiled back at her trying so hard to reassure her that I could speak. She took the edge of her wrapper and wiped away her tears. She ran and jumped around our four bedroom flat, singing and rejoicing. She carried me and threw me up with so much joy. When her energy was spent, she dropped me on the sofa and sat down on the edge with so much pain in her eyes. She stared at me for a while before pulling me into a tight hug. Kelvin’s mother came in at that moment grumbling on why the door was left ajar. She kept on talking about the various armed robbery raids that had occurred in the past few weeks as she trod in. As she recounted the robbery that occurred at a neighbour’s house, she saw my mother in tears. When their eyes met. My mother stood up and pulled Kelvin’s mother close. Laila, my daughter talked.
She said ‘Mama, Food, Papa’. Mama gesticulated as she explained everything to her friend Laila. Laila only stared at her with astonishment wondering if she was still sane.
‘Laila sit down. God has answered my prayers’.
She pulled her wrapper up to her chest before she started rolling on the floor and singing in pure Igbo dialect. Laila came to me and looked into my brown eyes hoping I will speak again. I saw it in her eyes. She wanted me to talk, at least to reassure herself that Ma hadn’t gone mad. I tried and moved my lips but i couldn’t utter a word except for buzzing sounds that gushed out. My mother rushed to my side, held my face close,
‘Nnenna, biko, repeat what you said’. When I didn’t she carried me and placed me on her lap while beating her chest ‘Maaamaaaa’. She stood up and flee to the kitchen. In the silverware plate she brought, there was rice with sauce beside it. She pointed to the plate
‘Nnenna, fooood, say foooood’
Laila watched my mother with concern in her eyes. She didn’t believe her. Mama stood up from her trance and started crying. Laila pulled her close to chest and rubbed her arms back and forth.
***
Several times before my eleventh birthday, I tried to move my lips but the words never came out again. Like a kitchen sink blocked, I couldn’t utter a word. I remember watching Papa and Ma argue about whether I should be taken to a government facility where dumb children are taken care of. I saw my mother’s eyes filled with tears as she screamed at papa.
‘Festus, she spoke to me and I am certain she will speak again’.
As she spoke the tears dripped to her cheek with more veracity. Ma sank into the sofa with the resolve of a broken spirit.
‘she needs time to fully heal. Time heals all wound’.
As the tears flooded her face, my father raised his voice above the rattling noise of the fan in the sitting room
‘For how Long?’
Most times I stood by the door watching my mother’s lips move, and tried to imitate her, hoping that I would quieten the storm by speaking.
***
Pa worked in one of the top tier law firm in Nigeria. He had worked in the law firm for the past 10 years. He had been hoping he would be made a senior partner in the firm. He spent most of his time in Lagos where he worked. He barely came home after our lives had fallen into pieces. Pa provided all the necessities and paid all the necessary bills but he was found lacking in one thing. He never paid attention to what happened in his home. He rarely spent time with me and ma. He was always on one field trip or the other like a pollinating insect. It was a few months to my eleventh birthday. Papa had come back from one of his conferences. Mama showed him my report card and he broke out into hysterical laughter. Papa was a tall man, heavily built and his dark skin shone at all times glistening even in the sun. The sound of his laughter shook the entire dining table as he laughed uncontrollably. Mama stared at him for a while in fear. When she got out of her oblivion, she motioned me to go to my bedroom.
I wanted to pack my plastic plates but she said’ ‘Nneka, leave it and go to your room. Your Pa and I have something to discuss’.
I hurriedly left with my heart tumbling in my chest. I feared for mama. I fear papa would raise his hands on her again. So I went to my room, shut the door with a loud bang. As quickly as I did that, I slowly opened the door to my room and went to eavesdrop on what Ma and Pa were talking about which is me. I almost woke dusty up. He was lying on the floor near the kitchen with its belly raised to the ceiling. I crossed him over with my tiny feet before he yelped with a bark. I stood at the other entrance to the dining room, the one that led to the balcony and the kitchen. Pa stood up with rage and slapped Ma. I held my hand close to my mouth to prevent me from screaming out. I knew papa would be angry if he knew I was close by. Twice he had gotten so angry with me that he almost beat me up with his belt but for mama who came to my aid. I had left the entrance to the dining room while I was lost in thought. I walked towards the balcony crying my heart out as I thought of the possibility of the possibility of leaving school and also leaving Ma. I held the railings at the balcony with my other hand as I cried. Ma believed I could speak but Pa wanted to take me to the government facility in Uyo where they treated children like me. I watched through the window as Ma handed my report card to Papa who didn’t dropped like a hot iron.
‘Nnenna is intelligent, she came first again. I know she can speak. She would speak’.
‘Your daughter needs help, Beatrice. I am taking her to uyo tomorrow’. My father said and walked away.
Before he reached the door, Ma grabbed him while pleading with him. ‘Festus, Please don’t take away my only daughter. She is all I have. She needs time to heal’.
As Pa tried to let himself go from ma’s firm grip, He saw my shadow in the dark. He started coming closer.
‘Who is there? Come out here’.
My whole body shook in fear. Papa had warned me several times not to eavesdrop while he discussed important matters with Ma. I heard him calling out to me but i feared he would beat me black and blue when he realised I was at the balcony instead of the four corners of my room. I retreated back but anxiety gripped me and I forgot that I was closed to the opening at the railings. I trembled so much that I fell off the railings. I groaned pain and then there was a black out.
In the darkness, I saw blood. Its colour painted upon the dark shadows. Then I saw people lying on the ground. Then we started running the three of us. We were running from the sound of death. I looked back at the distant buildings. No one was behind us but the sound grew louder almost catching up with us. I looked to my right and I saw a fair skin boy. His skin shone in the scorching sun and his glasses reflected the sun. He looked at me and smiled.
‘Run faster’, he muttered under his breath.
I looked to my left and I knew it was him.
Leonel .
I wanted to ask him of Papa and ma. I wanted my mouth to open so that I would also ask him why and what we were running from. He smiled at me and his grip became tighter as we ran along. Then I heard it clearer. It was the sound of gun shots. I looked down and I saw bodies sprayed on the floor. Dead bodies laid with blood everywhere. I held in my vomit. The air smelled of death and rotten bodies. I shifted my nose the way ma does when she wants me to go and have my bath in the evening. I longed to itch and cover my nose but my hands were occupied. Then we stopped running and I saw them, soldiers in green and black with their gun pointed at us. I glared at their guns and started shaking. I looked at fair skinned boy and then Leonel with tears in my eyes. The soldiers moved closer and encircled us. We had nowhere to run and we couldn’t defend ourselves either. So we surrendered and we followed them with their gun jabbing at our backs. I wished Ma was present to protect me from the soldiers just as she protects me from Papa’s wrath at home. I wondered where they were taking us to. It took three days and nights before we got to our destination. We slept in the forest for those three days. The soldiers built their camps once the sunset rose in the east and we retired to bed while one of the soldiers stayed on guard to ensure no intruder came to steal the supplies. At the first crow of the cock, we began our journey. We passed through the forests for three days with nothing but water and groundnuts to fill our growling stomachs . On the fourth day, we got to our destination. It was a small village. There was no living soul around. The village was covered with red dusts as sand. The ground was sloppy with bushes around the village. Trees were planted right in the middle of the village. I saw the baobab tree beside one of the huts. The hut had a thatched roof and on top of the roof i saw a monkey jumping on the roof. Some of the soldiers rushed into the hut while i followed their leader. The whole village was empty and it smelt of dry rust. I tried to cover my nose nut my hands were tied to my back. Once again, I looked around searching for Leonel and the fair skinned boy but they were nowhere to be found.
‘Let’s take her to the oracle before she slits our wrists’. One of the soldiers said.
I looked at him with questions in my mind.
‘Once you see her you will understand’, he looked down at me reading my mind.
For the past three days I had cried my eyes out so I didn’t know what else to do but to follow willingly like a lamb being led to be slaughtered. We got to the oracle coven. The soldiers pushed me inside and hurried away. I entered the coven and I saw skulls all around me. The floor was slimy like an earthworm. I retreated back but the door was closed. I sat down near the wall and looked around. The whole place was damp with a small fireplace right at the middle of the coven. The whole place was decorated with animals’ skull and a few charms. Then I saw her. She stood by the fireplace then she started dancing around the dark room. She had a small frame. I couldn’t see her clearly because of the smoke rising by the fireplace. As she danced with a burning cloth on her hands round the fireplace, she motioned for me to draw closer. She grinned at me but I kept still afraid of what she might do to me. Then she drew closer with the burning cloth in one hand and ashes in the other hand, she pulled right away from the wall and surrounded me with the ashes and then she threw the burning cloth beside me. The smoke from the clothes caused me to start coughing before the ashes lit up with fire and then I screamed. I screamed louder and I fainted.
I opened my eyes to see ma. I smiled and uttered ma. She looked at me and smiled. She hurried off to call the doctor that I had woken up from coma. I found myself on a bed and beside me was a bedside lamp. The room looked nothing like my room. I kept on looking around wondering where I was.
‘You are at the hospital Nne, the doctor said you will be discharged once you have woken up’.
I tried to sit upright but ma told me to lie back. I tried turning to the other side but I couldn’t. I attempted to raise my legs but it didn’t move any inch. I felt as if a heavy stone was resting on my legs. Then I saw it my legs were wrapped with big white clothes.
‘The doctor said in a few weeks, you would be able to walk without your crutches; it was a really bad fall, nne’. Ma explained.
I nodded as the tears slid down my cheeks. That evening, the help ma’s driver, and ma Kelvin came to wish me quick recovery. Some of our neighbours even came but pa never came to visit me in the hospital. I felt sad but I knew he must have travelled out for one of his conferences. The doctor that treated me advised ma to get me a therapist for my speech deficiency.
Pa didn’t come until the third week of my return home. He came during the weekend and left on Monday morning and that was the last I saw of him. I remembered the dream I had while I was at the hospital. I couldn’t tell ma because, I didn’t know how even after the first time I spoke to her. So I started to relate the dream to my life. Ma had said our dreams sums up our present, past and our future. I began to relate my present to the dream. Pa was the oracle that encircled me with ashes for the sacrifice. My hatred for pa grew like burning flames and it spread like wildfire. I avoided him like a plague when he came the last time on that sunny evening. He came bearing gifts like Santa clause but I didn’t want his gift. I wanted him to stay and abandon all his conferences. I want us to be a big happy family. Pa came to my room but I pretended to be fast asleep. He knocked and knocked but I didn’t open the door. He finally walked in, found me sleeping and he ushered himself out after dropping the gifts. Although I had began to develop hatred towards pa, a part of me felt happy that he was home. I turned on my bed unable to sleep and sincerely wishing my family had been a normal family. I was still on the verge of trying to quietly unwrap the gifts when I heard ma’s muffled cries. It made me cry myself to sleep that night.
Ma was a teacher in one of the missionary schools in reel road. She taught government in the school. She had her work clothes separately from her casual wears in the wardrobe because teachers had a dress code. Ma worked diligently in her school. Every year she was given an award for her teaching skills and her amiable behaviour. The school had planned on appointing her as the principal before the tragedy that befell us. Most people wondered why I was the only child in my family. The fact was I was never the only child. I had a twin brother who as joyful and playful as a butterfly. I loved him more than anything in the world. When we were 6, we would play in the yard. Our favourite game was the hide and seek game. There was no one that didn’t like having him around. He was as cute as a newly adopted puppy. We laughed together, ate together and went to the same school together. I remembered how much the teachers loved him until one day. Ma had taken us to one of the amusement parks in the city. Ma took us on various rides at the amusement park. We also visited the zoo where I fed the giraffes. One minute my twin brother was with us, the other minute, he had vanished. We started searching for him all around the park but he was nowhere to be found. The security men looked around but we couldn’t find my twin brother. Ma called pa who was on one of his field trips at the time to inform him of her turmoil but he didn’t pick up his cell phone. It was later in the evening that the police found a body floating in one of the swimming pools in the restricted zones. Ma was called to identify the body immediately and it turned out to be my twin brother. It took two years for ma to recover from the death of her little boy and pa never forgave her for losing his only son. Ma stopped working in the high school and became a full time house wife. I also stopped talking because my brother was no around anymore. Four years after my twin brother died, pa opened a supermarket for ma at one of the commercial areas to keep her occupied. Pa came home less and withdrew from ma and me as if we stank of urine. Ma and pa remained married and that was all it was to it. It was a title, nothing more. They never went out together and they never laughed together. The night Pa came back bearing gifts for me was the last day I set my eyes on him.
That same night he gave Ma the divorce papers to sign. Ma signed it with muffled cries. Pa also filed the custody papers. It took 2 months before ma was granted full custody of me. The court allowed Pa to visit whenever he chose to, only after my mom had been made aware of it. Each time I faced turbulence in my family, I wished my twin brother had been present. He would have made a joke of everything, at least to clear the air. Pa wasted no time in marrying another woman immediately after the whole divorce proceedings. He got married to her while she was heavily pregnant so I heard from Ma and Ma Kelvin. Pa never visited me neither did he bother t call or check up on me. I felt lonelier than ever before until our new neighbours moved in. Their eldest son was in my class so we went to school together. His mom also brought also back together. He was always happy and he made me smile every single time he was around. He made silly jokes and knew how to make faces. To me he became my twin brother only that he was resurrected. I began to speak in monosyllables to him. We played together and went to places together. He brought out the light in me and quenched the darkness. I still think of the dream I had while I was in coma and I saw him, my new twin brother as the one that rescued me from the oracle. Ma sponsored my education with the little she got from the sales at the supermarket and the stipends Pa sent to her for my welfare. Ma became content and happy when I started talking. We talked and talked for hours without getting fed up. Ma became my companion. I finished high school and then proceeded to study law at the university.
One of the basic reasons I chose law was because my dead twin brother loved law. I wanted his dream to be achieved through me. Besides with time. I started having passion for law. My twin brother went out of the country to study pharmacy. We talked and kept in touch. We became closer when he travelled out than we were when he was around. I still remember our first kiss when we were teenagers. It was beside the oracle herself. We had finished early from school that afternoon because it was the literary competitions day. We had forgotten to inform his mother that we were going t close earlier than before. We couldn’t call her because students were not allowed to bring their cell phones to school.
We stood beside the newly constructed fountain. The structure of the fountain had always reminded me of the dream I had during coma. The fountain had the same slender body as the oracle and its eyes were also of the same burning flame as of the eyes of the oracle. The fountain was scantily dressed in a rugged gown that seems to have torn at the edges. On its hand it held a calabash and in it was a nun and from the nun the water came gushing out. We sat beside the fountain because it was our favourite spot. It was a secluded now that the whole school was almost empty. So we talked as usual about the competitions. He made mention of his favourite oral speaker and so did I. We talked for long hours about various things including his dream of becoming a renowned pharmacy. It was on that day I told him about pa and how he maltreated ma before the divorce. He came close and wiped my tears away. We sat so close to each other and he looked intently into my eyes. He angled his head towards me and then we kissed. I had never kissed anyone in high school until then. At first it felt strange but after we indulged in the act for a few minutes it felt good. I had heard stories from ma of how with just one kiss several girls had gotten pregnant. I liked him but I stopped him from kissing me. I feared I might get pregnant. That was how I had my first kiss right underneath the oracle that tried to sacrifice me. We went home and never talked about the kiss we had under the oracle. It was awkward for a few weeks but later on we resumed our friendship like nothing had happened or changed between us. I never told ma either. Before he left the country to study pharmacology in Canada we spent so much time together. We were like lovers afraid of being pulled apart. We couldn’t get enough of each other. On the day before he travelled we had a send forth party for him. On that day we both slept in the same room and there I gave up my virginity to him as my own gift to him. We might never have said it to each other but we loved each other deeply. On that night he gave me a promise ring which I held so dear to my heart. Years after he came back home with his wife and kids
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