Abike had woken up with a splitting headache. She blamed it on the emotional rollercoaster from last night. As she thought about the previous night, she wondered if Inioluwa was alright. Deep down, she was glad that she had cleared out the heavy burden that laid on her shoulders, but she felt that she had given those burdens to Inioluwa.
She thought again to the previous night and let Inioluwa's words sink in. Ini was right, they had to find a way forward. She didn't want to die and she also didn't want Inioluwa to be taken away.
She got off her bed after her fifteen minutes morning devotion and went into the bathroom to wash her face and rinse her sour mouth. When she was done, she walked towards out of her room and almost slipped on a paper. Her eyebrows furrowed in anger as she wondered you would litter the house, that fall would have been fatal as she was already ill.
Slowly, she bent over to pick the paper and that's when, she recognized Inioluwa's handwriting. To Maami, the heading read and Abike read through the letter, her heartbeat pacing at each word. The letter read,
Maami, I'm pretty sure you're unhappy to hear this. But I can't sit here and watch you fade away slowly, and even after that, that goddess will still take me away.
With all that you told me last night, I have gone to find a solution–one that would profit all of us–and I have strong faith that I'd find a way to liberate us and maybe even destroy Orisa.
Don't be saddened by this, I'll be back. I love you maami, more than you know.
Ini.
Abike broke down into a scream as she yelled out Folashade's name. She couldn't move, as her shoulders shook in huge gap of tears. Her daughter was heading straight for the Lions' den. If she understood the letter correctly, she knew that Inioluwa was going to Araba village to find a way. She had to stop her, that was if Inioluwa had not been almost half way there.
Despite her Ill fated self, she rushed towards the girls' room but no one was there. Where was Folashade? She thought as she hoped Folashade was not with that street rat boy that she had warned Folashade to avoid. She marched towards the living room door but stopped in her steps when she saw someone lying down on her couch.
She frowned at the sight as she could recall warning Folashade about sleeping on the couch. She walked towards her and tapped her furiously, but Folashade didn't move, and the blanket remained covered over her face. Abike thought Folashade was avoiding her and she pulled off her blanket and what she saw made her wail in despair.
Deep sleep, she remembered them calling it. As she stared at Folashade, she remembered when she was a teenager in Araba Village, she remembered seeing the young woman lying in the middle of the village square, the young woman's family instantly screaming as Baba Ade had told them her predicament. She remembered the saddened look of the large crowd that gathered around the woman. She remembered being confused and pushing her way past some adults and being shocked at the sight. The woman's eyes were rolled back, her skin had a horrific stench with tiny black spots all over, but the woman's chest Rose and fell, she was still alive and that–till present–marvelled Abike.
She remembered having nightmares for more than a month, of the same young woman chasing her around the market square. She couldn't get that image off her head and that was when her mother had told her a little about Orisa Ife. Her mother had told her that the young woman in the village square had been on her way to the river to have a cleansing bath when she stopped by the bushes and urinated. But the woman had unknowingly urinated on a sacrifice, angering Orisa Ife who gave her that punishment.
And now, her daughter was in deep sleep. She crumbled on the floor and the toxic smell filled the air of the living room. Abike cried to herself as she watched Folashade's chest rise and fall slowly. Abike remembered the young woman in the market square dying after three weeks, she never woke up.
YOU ARE READING
Ini
Paranormal*𝐀 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥* "Tell him that when the hen leaves its pen to the outside world, it must surely find its way back or else, the owner will do everything and anything to get it back." ******** Inioluwa Balogun is a ninete...