SANADI

Babi Na Dari (100; Epilogue)

January 1st, 2021.

Borno, Nigeria.

"All cleared" receptionist din ta fadi fuskar ta dauke da fara'a "You can go in. Twenty minutes". Murmushi ya mata yana miqewa in his mind ya san saqon da ya zo isarwa ba zai dau tsawon minti ashirin in da aka basa ba.

Tsawon shekaru bakwai ya dauka yana preparing kan sa for this day yet Sudais found himself a bit shaken when he came face to face with her. Murmushi yayi da yaga blue hospital gown inda ke jikinta. Baya tunanin ya taba ganin ta in any colour other than white. Zaune take kan kujera gaban window guda da ke dakin, hankalin ta na waje. If not for the sound of the door being opened, she wouldn't have known an shiga dakin because she was so invested in whatever it is that was unfolding outside.

Motsin da taji a qofar ta ya sa ta juyo har suka ido. Tsayawa Sudais yayi by the door, looking at the ghost of the woman Hajia Fadime Abiso had once being. Zuciyar sa ya ji ya fara karaya, his emotions trying to get the best of him.

"Sudais" ta fadi her eyes suddenly welling with tears "Sudais ka zo". Ta fadi. Hannayen ta biyu ta miqa masa, Sudais ya matso ya riqe hannayen ta; the hands which had fed him, hands which had wiped tears from his eyes and cared for him.

Hands which had committed so many crimes; taken so many lives. Hands which had caused so much pain, so much grief.

"You look so grown. So matured. My Sudais". Ta fadi tana kallon sa, comparing him with the old Sudais, the one she had last seen seven years ago. Shuru Sudais ya zauna ya rasa me zai ce, gaba daya abunda ya dinga rehearsing a mota on his way to the hospital had vanished from his brain.

"Finally you have come for me. Na san dama zaka zo, na san baza ka taba mancewa da mahaifiyar ka ba Sudais. I knew you'd come for me".

Kallon ta yayi kan yace mata "I didn't come for you" ya fadi slowly removing his hands from hers. Kallon ta yayi dama sama har qasa yaga yadda ta tsufa, ta rame, duk tayi baqi tayi wani. "It's a new year and I wanted to put the past behind me. That's all". Ya fadi mata "I've been living with this heaviness in my heart, so much I want to say yet I choose to stay quiet but I realized there's no way I'll ever leave the past behind if I don't say them out and move on". Shuru duka suka yi ba wanda yace komi. Ringing din wayar sa ya cika dakin, hannu ya saka a breast pocket din kayan sa ya ciro wayar. Ya kai almost two minutes yana magana a wayar kan ya kashe ya maida wayar ya ije. Murmushi yike sanda ya qare wayar.

"That was sur..." Tsayawa yayi ya kalle ta kan yace mata "I got married you know". Dagowa tayi ta kalle sa, her expression unreadable "You still that girl I told you about right Ammi? I married her".

Wayar sa ya ciro ya buda ya nuna mata hoton yar yarinya wadda bazata wuci shekaru biyar ba, wadda kuma was the striking image of Sudais "Isn't she beautiful?" Ya tambaye ta. Muryar ta na rawa take tambayar sa "Is sh.she y...".

"Yes Ammi. She's my daughter. My Suraiya". Sudais ya fadi letting it sink "I named her after my mom. The real one".

"Sudais...". Be bari ta qarasa abunda zata fadi ba ya katse ta.

"You know the funniest thing?" Ya tambaye ta "She's got her grandfather wrapped round her little finger. She's happiest when she's around him. Kin tuna shi koh? Babana, Bakhtiar Arab. Isn't it funny that after all these years he still got his Suraiya back". Yar dariya Sudais yayi. Inno Marte kuwa idanun ta a runtse, the meeting wasn't going as she wanted.

"He's very happy. We all are. You tried to destroy us, you shattered us into a million pieces but somehow we learnt to picked those pieces and mend ourselves". Sudais ya fadi "Cause fighters like us, that's what we do Hajja Fadime Abiso. And losers like you like you..." Ya fadi taking in his surrounding, looking around at the tiny dingy room "You rot in this temporary hell, before you get into the real one". Ya fadi kan ya miqe, gaba daya speech inda he had mentally prepared long forgotten.