I Know My Mother👩🏽(IKMM)✅

Truth

Landlady's right hand lay on the floor, palm facing the ceiling. Her body was frozen as she still reached out to Efezino. The cut was not done neatly; there was ripped skin and chipped bone surrounding the stump. Blood dripped on the carpet and splashed on her knees. A few pieces of bone were weaved into each other, creating a ghastly, painful sight. Baba Jide passed out. The Garia smiled and faced Landlady.

"I rearranged some of the bone, do you like the design?" It grinned maliciously; its eyes shrunk to the size of pinpoints, and its teeth enlarged. "I think you should continue, Efezino. You would want to walk out of here, wouldn't you?"

Efezino's heart clenched at seeing Landlady's hand. She pitied Landlady; the expression on her face was painful to look at. Sweat ran into her eyes and splashed on her knees, and it looked as if she was trying to bite her teeth to distract herself from the pain. Baba Jide was still sprawled on the ground, oblivious to what was about to happen. The Garia glanced at Baba Jide. Landlady's eyes were shut tightly, but she saw what happened next. A giant hand crawled out from one of the spines and headed for Baba Jide. The hand slapped his cheek with a great force, knocking out three of his teeth. Baba Jide woke up and howled like a dying pig. "My God!! Come and save me! Why!?? What have I done!" His mouth spewed blood. Efezino covered her mouth and cried. They angered the demon now. At this point, she knew that she had to survive.

After all, she was the only one with a complete set of limbs now.

She glanced at the demon, whose eyes were dangling from its sockets, and hitting each other like a pendulum. Baba Jide's moans and Landlady's agonizing grunts unsettled her. She sniffed and wiped the tears streaming down her face with the back of her hand. "Landlady was jealous, so she devised a plan to kill the twins, using a special herb." Landlady's eyes bulged out of her sockets. This time, she knew not to interfere, or she would end up walking home with no legs. "She boiled pumpkin leaf with premature female twins in a copper pot of goat droppings and fish eyes. She bought these from Iya Dorcas's husband before she killed him. The whole mix was meant to kill the babies, as they would be dumped in it. Landlady planned to steal the twins, lying to Iya Dorcas to take them to a doctor, then she would drown them in the mixture. The combination of ingredients would also make sure their souls would never come back to haunt her or Iya Dorcas."

The demon observed Efezino as she spoke, making sure she did not utter a single dishonest word. It wanted to destroy their relationship, and take one of them with it to hell. The original owner, the Garia, wanted to know why his life, and his twin's life, were terrible. He made sure that he would expose the last detail of their evil deeds, to make them feel ashamed of what they do, and to avenge himself. His brother could burn in hell, where he was. He wasn't satisfied with hurting them. He would kill at least one person and take their soul with him. He was about to find out the secret to his lifetime suffering, and he would make sure that nothing came in his way.

It didn't matter how he had to hurt them, he would get it.

Baba Jide realized how much trouble he landed himself into, and he could only regret it. The way things were going, he was probably going to die. In this way, he could not allow Landlady and Efezino to have a stable relationship if they both survived. He would drag them into the mess he created if that was the last thing he did. He would especially try to jeopardize Landlady by making sure she lost her other hand. She would more or less be a crippled juju practitioner, rendering her vulnerable to the countless people after her life, and her power. Efezino could do her thing, but he would not let Landlady go.

Efezino's nose was slightly swollen and red, but she steeled herself to speak. "Killing them would help her retain her position and power, and she wanted to do it to have fun that night. She planned everything to the last detail: inform Iya Dorcas about taking the twins a month in advance, then take them to one of her secret shacks, and kill them there. The plan was almost perfect; she forgot Iya Dorcas trusts nobody, and that Iya Dorcas has her spies almost everywhere. Iya Dorcas hated her 'bastard' children, and she wanted to dispose of them. She would rather have someone do the dirty work for her, so she secretly allowed Landlady to go with her plan. She cleared a path for Landlady in advance, to make the journey to her shack easier." Landlady groaned in pain. The story would only get darker form this point.

Efezino almost screamed as she saw Landlady's head cracked on the floor, her brain pouring out. It was only for a moment, but the demon was messing with her mind to confuse her. It wanted to test her ability, to tell the truth, almost like it was setting a trap for her. If she changed her story, it would know she was lying. The demon would spare no one any pain. "Iya Dorcas and Landlady also had a friend that stopped by once in a while. The friend, Iya Bilkis, was jealous of the two women. I heard that she remarried thrice and that now she's with her fifth husband."

Baba Jide graned and spat out blood. "Please, what does that winch have to do with them? Why are you stalling for time?" Efezino hissed at him. She vowed to tell the entire truth, and no matter how long it would take, she would. "Landlady had a lot of power and authority over a lot of people, and Iya Dorcas had twins-two male twins. Since the first husband she married, she suspected foul play from the other wives before her. She could not conceive a son, even a disabled one, no matter what she did. That woman suffered. She was treated like a slave, and the other wives bullied her. She escaped each home by killing at least one wife, and all their children. She used powerful juju so they could not trace their deaths to her. After conceiving for her fourth husband, she ran away from their home. He cheated on her and died later in an armed robbery. She found a place to live, near Landlady and Iya Dorcas. Iya Bilkis made a steady earning from selling ritual materials." Efezino stopped to catch her breath.

"Iya Bilkis was Landlady's supplier for the materials she needed. Iya Bilkis heard of Landlady's plan for the babies from her friend, who lived near Landlady. She thought selling Landlady fake materials would kill the babies. Finally, out of hate, Iya Bilkis adulterated the materials Landlady needed for the ritual. The babies were very handsome, happy boys. When Landlady eventually performed the ritual, she succeeded in destroying their capability to practice juju. Iya Dorcas was with her on that day; she changed her mind about letting them live. They performed the ritual correctly, but because the materials were fake, the boys survived. Iya Dorcas was angry because she would have to raise 'bastard' children. Landlady helped her raise the children, but they kept them secret from the world. The children grew up to be miserable, depressed and abused. That's all I know. Please, spare me." Efezino broke down and wailed. Landlady stopped moaning and crying. She looked at her wounded arm, then she fainted.

Landlady's hand was slowly growing back.

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