A Promise From My Heart

20.

YUSUF'S POV

Rain splattered against the windscreen. The wiper screeched as it wavered from left to right, clearing the running water. I bent forward, while stuck in the stream of traffic, to clean the mist that had formed on the interior side of the windscreen. The honk of cars were loud over the rain. Grey clouds covered the sky, pouring their contents upon the busy earth.

I had a quick look at my side. TY sat in the seat as if she wanted it to swallow her. The dress she wore was too big and surprisingly long to her ankles. Her braids was rough, untidy that her hair had come through the red and black attachment she used. Marks, like the nicks from fingernails, were imprinted on her left cheek and forehead. The injury was beginning to heal. What baffled me the most, was how dirty she appeared.

The oversize dress was worn out, colour faded. It was an old gown I have never seen on her. The end of it was grimy like it has been soiled in dirt. What's the meaning of all this? Why does she look this filthy? She stinks kind of. I scrunched my nose in an attempt to block away the smell. As heart breaking as the sight was, it was aggravating.

"You look like you fought with a wild cat. What are the marks on your face?" I spoke up, the first conversation we had since we got into the car.

"Nothing." She stared ahead, using a hand to cover them but failed at it. "I scratched myself." She tugged at the long sleeves of her dress.

When she got down from the bus it started to drizzle, TY rushed to hug me, tiny sobs escaped her lips. The longer I stared at her, the more her appearance and the thought of where she was dampened my empathy for her.

"This does not look like a normal scratch to me." She said nothing as she sank deeper into the seat, her shoulders drooped. "Are you going tell me what happened?"

Her lower lip trembled. Since we have stopped again, I turned to look at her. Two droplets of water fell on her cheeks. She was quick to wipe them away. Sympathy married with worry crawled into me.

"TY?" I murmured. The cry that left her lips was surprising. She dropped her face into her palms. "What's wrong?" Her reply were louder wails. "Did something happen in Akure?" I gave my full attention to her. She cried more. With a sigh of resignation, I pulled her closer. "Come here." My hands went around her shuddering body.

By the time we got home, she had stopped crying. Alhaja rushed to meet us with a speed her body could allow her. She said nothing about how wrong TY was as all she did was worry and ask how she was doing. TY started to cry again. She hugged Alhaja who consoled her, her eyes watery with tears. Something happened in Akure. I was sure about it. The way TY has been bursting into tears was alarming. The tears were getting so much to the point where they begin to irritate me.

"Big mummy is around." Kenny said.

ASUU strike had stopped all federal universities activities. They were just about to start exam when the strike commenced. It was a thing Nigerian students who attend federal government universities and polytechnics would get used to. The strike can be indefinite which means they do not have an idea when they would resume.

Kenny was annoyed the day the strike was announced on the evening news. He went on and on about how really fucked up the country was. How a session would go on for two years. How greedy and money hungry our leaders are. He also said whenever he has the opportunity, he would leave the country for another where life would be better.

I really wished I had what it takes to send them to a private university or KWASU which Noor attended. I attended University of Ilorin which was the only federal university in Nigeria that does not go on strike. Mum did not want the twins to attend schools far away from her as Noor and I did which was the reason why she told them to apply for UNILAG.