Sadiya |REWRITING

Chapter Twenty-Five

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KANO, NIGERIA.

~23rd February, 2008~

It was yet another day. Another day of heartache like every other one past it. The day of the year had come, that day of the year that marked the yeartide of her mother's beinghood. The time that distinctly formed a person's backdrop in a year. A day she did not appreciate the approach of, birthdays were meant to be special after all. But still, that was not it for Sadiya. Year after year after year, and they flew by with not a single change in the storm in her life.

Sadiya had gotten home from school that afternoon. Her short 14-minute trip, being one she did not realize had already ended until a schoolmate on the bus directed a rude remark toward her. Unfortunately, the sixteen-year-old was alone – maugre her parents' presence, her life was simply blank. Only her mother, was the rainbow and sunshine in her stormy present. It was times as then she missed her brother more than every other thing.

She did not bother knocking, everybody in her fami- house- had their key. His archaic truck wasn't in the driveway, which was a good sign in truth. The welcoming, homey feeling was dimmed by the chilling silence and coldness, of the entire house. A feeling she grew accustomed to as the years passed. In spite of the several...'situations', the silence was too loud it rung her ears. She gripped the old sweater logoed with her school badge.

"Ummi?" Sadiya had whispered. But no answer came. She walked deeper into the small three-bedroom flat.

The previous year, they had relocated to a small community on the outskirts of Kano. They lived previously in a comfortable bungalow of their own, but for some reasons unmapped to them, he sprung up a homefelt decision without her mother's knowledge. Every ounce of happiness was left behind, starting to accept the fact that they had to build their lives in a new neighborhood. But it was not as easy. Luckily, their mother was sort of a private person, so it was a bonus.

The old hardwood whined beneath her old Toms as she led her feet to the one place she knew her mother was -no doubt- in. The walls with chipped wallpapers, closed in on her as though they mocked her weakness. Sadiya ignored the cold feeling of her imagination, setting her eyes before her as she walked down the corner. She gulped, swept her tongue over her chapped lips and stopped by a wooden door. She pasted a smile, then pushed the door open.

That smile slipped off her face as her eyes swept across her mother's bedroom. The bed sat on the carpet, well-made. She walked deeper into the space, directing her gaze to the small corner her mother usually prayed in. The folded prayer rug was in its right spot. No one. The place was empty. There was one more place she hadn't checked, though.

"Ummi?"

She knocked on the bathroom door. Eerie silence inrushed her veins. The crease in her brows manifested the emotions coiling in her. With pursed lips, she again, closed her hand in a fist and rapped it onto the wood. "Ummi, are you in?" Her mother was a housewife, and being a very private person, she'd never stepped a foot outside the house. The teenager was about leaving for the kitchen, when something odd did not happen to go past her hearing.

Coughs, then gags.

She knocked louder. Still, silence. Not being able to resist the part of her that wanted the door open, she pushed the wood. But what caught her eyes first, almost rendered her unconscious. Just like her mother was.