A Promise to Aabidah (#1 Natives series) #ProjectNigeria

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

          AABIDAH ALI COULDN'T HELP THE nerves that ranked through her body as the car drove through the fence welcoming her into her hometown.

She was back. After all the years of being away, she was finally back home.

She turned in her seat in the passenger front seat to take a look around her. Bilal was tucked at the seat behind hers, a seatbelt around his middle and was fast asleep. Rafiah who had promised to come along and help was also tucked in beside the sleeping form of her nephew. Her eyes glued to the screen of her phone, ear pods stuck in her ears.

Idris' parents had kindly offered to have their driver take the trio down to the small town instead of boarding a public transport. The elderly man drove very carefully that it was easy for Aabidah to take in all the developments and changes she had missed.

Nostalgia filled her throat, threatening to choke her up. As Aabidah watched the crowded student area pass by, a tear slowly slid down her left eye.

How had she managed to stay away all this while without thinking about this place? Without breaking with the memories she had made since she was a little girl? Aabidah's heart ached for all that she had missed, all that she had not been able to see growing up in her hometown. But most especially it ached because a lot of her childhood memories were bursting out of the surface, like drowned spirits, now forcing themselves free of the anchor that had kept them underwater.

A sob escaped her lips, causing the driver to look almost instantly at her.

"Hope no problem, ma?" the driver asked.

Aabidah shook her head. Realizing that the gesture could either mean she was 'fine and that he shouldn't worry about her' or that 'no, she was not', Aabidah whispered "No, everything is fine."

I'm just not able to handle it yet.

—————

     Aabidah couldn't be more thankful that the car glass was tinted, yet as the driver turned into her street she knew she was not having an easy entrance.

She asked him to stop as they got closer to the house she had spent her childhood and early teenage years before dialing Basmah's number. She was certain she had told the girl not to say a thing, so why was her gate packed with people muttering amongst themselves?

Basmah picked on the third ring, her voice was strained, from yelling all day, she told her friend. Bilal was still asleep. Rafiah had perked up in her seat and was asking with her eyes what was wrong. Aabidah spoke for a while into the phone asking her friend to help her get rid of the crowd outside.

Slumped in her seat, Aabidah watched as the newly painted gate of her family home burst open as Basmah stepped out. She spoke to the people for a while, smiling indulgently at them at first then scowling like one of her older aunt's had just suddenly appeared. She flung her arms in the air and pointed for everyone to leave.

It took Basmah Hussayn less than five minutes to get everyone out of sight. Then after making certain that the area was clear, she called Aabidah to inform her that she had taken care of the problem. Aabidah gestured to the driver who had been waiting patiently. Rafiah sighed and fell back on her seat, her eyelids fluttering close. Bilal was still fast asleep.

It wasn't that she hated crowds or communicating with the locals, it was just all too sudden for her to be taking up the role of a smiling-and-excited woman whom the people hoped had forgotten who they were so they could stay longer and count off their family members while revisiting memories from the past.