Feelings

CHAPTER 7

FEW MINUTES later Aunty Onyi called back to inform me that she tries my mom’s number, but she wasn’t picking her call.

That night I had an episode, but no one was around to help me; I felt feverish, so I I went into the cupboard and hid myself.

“My little space” I call it.

I lay down there and covered myself with a blanket; it felt as if I was hearing someone push our Front door, as if trying to open in. It wasn’t my mom because she always had her spear key with her everywhere. I was so weak to move around, not to talk of going to check who was on the door.

“what if mom lost her spear key and can’t get inside; what I’d she stays outside and something bad happens to her all because I couldn’t open the door for her” I wondered

It was Aunty Onyi, she came to my house knowing that I would be scared staying alone in the house; she wanted to check up on me, and I couldn’t go to her because I was weak.

She pushed our door continuously, but all to no avail; she called her husband and he rushed and used his work equipment and opened the door and they ran inside.

The neighbors heard the noise and rushed out to see what was happening, or should I say “The topic for new topics”.

she carried me to the bed, brought cold water, paracetamol and towel to suppress my fever. I became unconscious that instant, but I knew that Aunty Onyi was there and Mom wasn’t.

“she left me alone in the house to die”
“I bet she was already tired of me” I thought

When I woke up I saw Aunty Onyi sleeping on a stool that was standing by my bed; her husband went back home that night to stay with their son. I was very happy that at least I wasn’t alone in the whole house that night.

“where could my mom have gone to”
“who were the friends she went out to meet, and why don’t I know them”.
“why isn’t she back”
“Why is it that it is Aunty Onyi who has to be there for me all the time I was in a mess.

I had a lot of questions that I needed answers for, but non was given to me and that spited me more.
Mom came back not long after; immediately she saw the key case spoilt she rushed in as if to say she was concerned about me.

“I bet she didn’t give a fuck if I died or stayed alive, so why is she pretending to care” I wondered.

She abandoned me alone in the house, so I hoped she had a good explanation as to why she did that.

“Where did you go to that you left Vera alone in the house; she could have died, you know?” Aunty Onyi said sounding really pissed off.

mom couldn’t give an explanation, all she said was that she was sorry, and thank you.

Her hair was scattered and she was behaving like someone that just came out from a dungeon or saw a ghost.
The funny part was that I was still worried for her, even though I was angry at her for leaving me.

“You better answer me now, unless I am not leaving here” Aunty Onyi told her.

“What happened to you” she paraphrased.

Aunty Onyi dragged my mom out of my room to her own; I guessed that she suspected that something was different about mom that morning.

Aunty Onyi is a wise woman, and I love her a lot; she isn’t like the other women in the neighborhood who spends their time gossiping.

My mom was arrested, and slept in the police station, and that was why she didn’t return home as planned.
She got a tip off from someone that dad sold out our house in Ajah and our Land in Oshodi, so she went to confirm if the news was true or false.

When she got there it turned out that Dad had not just remarried, but then he also sold off our properties to settle down over there. Mom insisted that the new owners of the place should vacate the properties; she insisted that the land was hers.

The new owners called the police on her and she was locked up in the cell.
That morning they now confirmed that the story was half true; the other half is that it has been sold to the new occupants, and the change in ownership papers was issued to them as soon as they paid for the house.

Hearing those made me understand why mom was in a hurry for us to leave the state as soon as possible. I had a hunch that something was wrong initially, and finally that something wrong came out to light.

I never knew that dad sent a divorce paper to her a year ago, but she refused to sign them; I was guessing she was hesitating because of me.