VILE

Chapter 18: The Past

Tomike watched Dayo from the upstairs balcony where she stood. He ran around so gleefully and played with the other kids from the compound.

She couldn't help but remember what carrying him in her belly was like. It was a 'good' pregnancy, at least that's what the doctors and those around her would tell her. The baby was always healthy and strong. Apart from morning sickness, she didn't have any complications or difficulties throughout her pregnancy despite her age. Her baby had been good to her.

But she on the other hand was terrible to the baby. Not one day in her mind did Tomike accept or admit that Dayo was hers. He was an alien that invaded her body, and in a violent way at that.

So everyday she was pregnant, she cooked up a new way to get rid of the alien.

Despite Iya Bose accepting the pregnancy- after much scolding and lecturing of course- Tomike still decided she was not having it.

She had taken alcohol, drank maleria drugs and even drank herbal mixtures but the evil child, the alien, refused to leave. At one time in her third trimester, she had purposefully slipped and fallen down the stairwell. But instead of the incident killing the child, it induced labour.

Labour

Tomike had a horrible experience going into labour. She was drowning in pain  for almost eight hours before the doctors decided to opt for a cesarean section due to her age and the excessive bleeding she was having.

As though the child was trying to punish her for an attempt to take it's life, it came out of her healthy, while she was left to fight for her life. The pain she had gone through that day and the days that followed was the worse physical pain she had ever endured.

For a long while after her experience, Tomike would still look up to the sky and murmur "Thank God I didn't die" because she was pretty sure she saw her mother that day, beckoning on her to go to an unknown place with her.

Temidayo- My own has turned to Joy.

Of course the name wasn't Tomike's idea. Left to her she would have named him sadness, or pain, or maybe even suffering. There was nothing joyous about the boy. He only reminded her of her pain and the horrors of her past life.

But Iya Bose had insisted on a good name and so settled for Temidayo. In her explanation, she says even though the circumstances in which he was born was quite shameful, his life would represent the opposite; joy. He would bring joy to her.

Tomike didn't blame her for bestowing on the child such a name. It was her ignorance to the way he was conceived that caused her to say what she said and name the child what she did.

She had lied that some boy in her neighborhood  had gotten her pregnant. It was not until Dayo was six months that she spilled. Iya Bose was astounded by the disdain Tomike had for her own child ,and quizzed her everyday to know why.

When she found out the truth, Tomike was sure she wished she had not know. It was a horrible, vile truth that tore her heart into shreds.

She was angry, disappointed, broken.
So her next idea was to march to Tomike's step father's place to pounce on him. Somehow she convinced Tomike to go along.

Unfortunately or perhaps even fortunately, they met new occupants in the tiny apartment.

"Ah, Tomi didn't you know? They moved out some months after you left. They no longer stay here oo" a neighbor who Tomike was able to recognize explained.

"Do you know where they moved" Iya Bose asked, her tone desperate.

"No, not really. I actually know where they moved to when they left here, it was a few streets away, I can direct you. But they have also moved from there. From what I last heard, they moved to Badagry or so. I'm not really sure"

"What about Isaac and Joshua, do they still live around here?" Tomike wondered if her step brothers could be any help.

"They too no longer live here. I believe they moved with their father or something."

I guess not.

"Ok, thank you ma."

And with that they visited the not so far residence, but that was also a dead end. Iya Bose tried to find him by herself later, but Lagos was a big city and Nigeria even bigger as they also had to look into the possibility of him and his family having moved from Lagos.

It was a wild goose chase that Tomike honestly was not interested in. She could care less of what happened to the man and his family.

Tomike's mind came back to the compound as a loud crash distracted her thoughts. A ball had crashed into one of the flower vases that beautified the compound.

Dayo stood still, his hands on his head. He knew he was in trouble. He slowly turned his face upward and his eye's met his mother's. Tomike looked into those deep black eyes and couldn't help seeing his father in them. For a split second fear gripped her as she was sure he was the one.
But as the illusion faded and reality set in she raised her voice at him.

"Stupid boy, see what you have done. Wait for me, I'm coming downstairs to deal with you" she shouted, her index finger pointed at him.

She ran down the stairs, her body swaying vigorously side to side as she did.

When she had him in her sights she sprinted towards him, held his right hand and began slapping him. The little boy started crying.

"Shut up, keep quiet! Omo alé" she spat. She was furious, not necessarily because he had broken a vase, but because he was now looking more and more like his father, and soon he was going to end up like him- a good for nothing bully who took advantage of young girls.

And so she would slap him silly until any semblance to his father was gone from him. Like someone who had gone for a deliverance in one of those extremist churches, she'd beat him like he was demon possessed, until the demon left. She'd beat him until every trace of his father was gone.

Omo alé- Bastard