EFE (Book 1 in The N. A Series)

Chapter Twenty Three

Twenty Three

"I'm really tired, if you guys get hungry there's rice in the freezer.. Help yourselves" Chioma smiled "I love you both"

"Love you too" they called after her. 

Morning...

"Remember that number I told you guys about last night? It kept calling all night and I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. I had to switch my phone off" Chioma complained at dinner

"Why didn'f yoo jus.. block dee numba?" Efe asked with a mouth full of bread and peanut butter.

"I did... But they called with another number it's creepy" she said

"I could help you with later, I know a variety of languages" David offered.

"Oouu.. That will be wonderful! Thank you"

"No problem" he smiled

"Where are we going today?" Questioned Efe

"There are a few shopping malls in the area, we could go eat at an eatery after getting you both new clothes. How does that sound?"

"Interesting"

"Is there a pool around? I haven't been in the water for a while" David's eyes lit up when his mom's response was 'yes'

"Maybe you could teach me... I haven't been swimming since that one time" She referred to the time her so called friends tried to kill her. Her face crumbled

"What one time?" Chioma's eyes narrowed at her

"Never mind it's nothing important" She raised her hands, faking a smile.

"It obviously is.. You're doing that thing with your pinky finger" David dropped his spoon to stare at her

"What thing? I'm not doing anything with my finger" she gripped her hand with the other one.

"You know what I'm talking about.. I noticed it last night when we were talking" he countered.

"Well, it's not something I want to talk about" she glanced around trying to stop the tears welling up in her eyes. Ever since she got her memories back, every bad thing that happened to her felt like yesterday, the memories were fresh and so were the wounds they brought along. Metaphorically speaking.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Chioma's forehead creased. Efe squeezed her eyes shut, she shook her head to say 'no' but stopped.

"Actually Yes" her voice shook "I want to talk about it" she stared at her mom. A shaky breath escaped her lips "Now that I think about... Uh" *phew* "You were never there for us mom.. Dad would beat me when you left for the market and when you came back you never said anything about the bruises. I know you worked for us to eat but saying a few things to him wouldn't have been a bad thing" Tears dripped down both their faces. "And about the pool stuff, I was almost drowned in that river close to our school a few days before we were sold" Both David and Chioma shot their heads up in her direction. "Yup" she sniffed "I don't think David remembers that day.. I came back to the house around after eight even though school closed by three.. Surprisingly Dad whipped me only once that day.. Anyways, when you came back you weren't feeling too well so I just kept my mouth shut" she thought back as anger boiled at her father. "I think it was God's plan that I got sold cause I think I would have been the one who tore our family apart. I swear I would've killed father if he had laid another beating on me" By this time, a thin long dagger had formed in her right hand and she mindlessly twirled it, picturing all the times she cried at the hands of her father. "I hated him!" She stated "..but I just couldn't feel the same towards you." Her tears had stopped flowing "I wanted to know why you never spoke up. And..." Her voice cracked "I still do! So please tell me why you let him hit me and why you didn't say anything about it?" Her heart cracked.

Chioma cleared her throat and wiped her right cheek "There's nothing I can say or do right now that would make up for how I wronged you kids" Chioma wailed "I was a very bad mother.. I thought I was doing great by just providing food and overlooking everything else." She paused "Look where that got me.. The love of my life sold our kids for a bottle of wine" she cried some more "There was not a day that went by that I didn't regret leaving the house that day.. I regret putting up with my foolish ex husband. I regret letting him beat my kids. I regret not helping my daughter master her abilities. I wished every single day that passed that I would get a chance to apologize to you two." She went on her knees and begged for them to forgive her. "So 'Biko gbaghara m…' Ehh… Please" She looked from one child to the other.

Translation:
"Please forgive me…"

Efe joined her on the floor "I couldn't hate you. I already forgave you, there's no need to kneel. I needed an explanation and you gave one... I'm not satisfied but 'Aghotara m' what you said" Efe pulled her to her feet.

Translation:
"I understand."

"I am really sorry Efe and David" she sobbed onto Efe's big brown shirt.

"It is okay..." Efe patted her back "Now eat, you're food is getting cold" Efe laughed a little. An anchor had been lifted off her chest.

"OK ma" Chioma sniffed and sat back down unable to eat though.

"Wow Mother and Daughter bonding.. So touching" David clapped "I can't remember a thing from what you said but I got this; you were hurt, mom fucked up big time and father was a d¡ck" he said.

"Watch your language oh!" Chioma warned.

"Yes ma" he quickly complied.

"So you don't remember anything? No wonder your brain was empty" Efe laughed

"It's not" David frowned

"What do you mean?" Chioma didn't get the joke.

"Oh! David does this cool thing where he takes your consciousness into his head but when he took me there, it was completely empty" she laughed hard.

"Haha, very funny" he added sarcastically.

"Oh" Chioma laughed too.

"Even you too" David held his chest, faking a heartache.

"Sorry I'm... not... Laughing" Chioma said in between laughs. After years of living with a torn heart, laughing with her children turned out to be the only thread that could pull it back together.

"You literally are" David chuckled along.
He actually remembered everything they said, the memories flashed through his head as they spoke but they didn't need to know that. He laughed some more.

"Hurry up and eat, we have to shop" Chioma commanded afterwards, not touching a bite of her fried beans and bread.

Enjoy... *wink*