Between The Brackets

FOUR

Ada- 1   Korede-1000000

Counting your chickens before they hatch is the worst mistake ever. Wait, that's a lie. Thinking the offender suffers more than the offended is the biggest mistake you could ever make. 

In this case, it's the worst I've ever made right after my mistake of thinking the bags under my eyes couldn't get any darker. You should see these things, they look like I hid four yards of ankara under both my eyes and painted it with coal tar. 

I groaned loudly pretending not to notice how inhumane I sound. 

Nightmares. The particular night, the voices, the begging; all of it was eating me up. I've had the same dream every night for three days and the same aftermath: Rotimi tries to wake me up and if he gets desperate, he results to pouring cold water on me. Then I lie about forgetting what I saw, we clean up and he gets into bed with me but I can't sleep in fear of having the nightmare with him around me. I'm starting to think I scream down the house but Korede ignores me while Rotimi runs down. 

Tayo kept teasing me with new names for my eye-bags like burnt akara and black buns because he didn't know what was causing them. I would glare at him but what's the point when I do the same thing. 

Tireni, on the other hand, gets a huge amount of homework every time he argues with me and every time he does something stupid like supply an answer without the workings. I'm sure he hates me now but who cares? I didn't sign up to be his best friend or anything. He's got a long way to go before we can even be friends. 

"Mummy did you get the CD?" Rotimi's voice drew me out of my string of thoughts and I looked up. 

"Huh? What CD?" I covered my face with my palms, not wishing to open my eyes yet. 

"Tonight is Family Night. We were supposed to watch Spies in Disguise and I said I would make the popcorn this time, remember?" 

Shit! I sat up straight and stared at him. "True, true... The problem is...well...actually-."

"You forgot to buy the CD?" He frowned. I nodded. 

"We could watch it on Box Office." I suggested, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I've been at this all afternoon; forcing myself to sleep. I slipped out of consciousness at a point and thankfully had a dreamless sleep but was soon woken by the sound of the neighbor's portable generator. I promise I actually thought those gens were long gone. Or at least banned from estates.  

"It's not on Box Office yet." He sat on the bed. 

"I'm so sorry." I groaned. I've never ever forgotten Family Night. It's like an every Saturday ritual. Rotimi stays up late every Friday night to finish up all his assignments so he could enjoy the day and the rest of the weekend. It's his one day to rebel and eat unhealthy. 

"It's okay. We could watch something random on TV and destroy it with our comments." He said cheerfully. 

"Sounds good." I weakly lifted one end of my lips in a smile. 

"I'll go tell dad the change of plans." He decided before striding out.

Mood drop. I sunk back onto my bed and groaned softly so he wouldn't hear me. 

Minutes later, I was wrapped in a blanket and propped on an armchair with half a bowl of popcorn in my arms. Korede was staring at me from his position on the sofa but I pretended to be so interested with my popcorn. Rotimi was still ransacking the house for snacks since Korede forgot it was his turn to buy some. 

The disappointed look hiding behind the hopeful look on Rotimi's face was what kept me seated here and not trying to sleep. 

"The remote." My eyes remained locked on the item which lay close to Korede's arm.