Naomi
After my parents got separated, my childhood as I knew, came to an abrupt end. Mum left the house, taking Junior, our baby brother, and leaving my younger sister and I with our daddy
Mummy and daddy have never been at peace since I know them. There has never been s peaceful moment with the two together in one place. The last I remembered, mummy has bruises all over her( sustained from domestic violence) yet she wouldn’t stop talking back at daddy neither would she stop stalking his every move.. Whenever they fight, my sister and I would stand behind our mummy, crying and begging daddy to leave her alone. Most times, I do run out to get the neighbors to intervene.
I was ten when they finally call it quits. One night, before reading our betimes story for us, she broke the sad news to us๐
“My angels, I have something to tell you”. Mummy began…they have been processing their divorce, unknowingly to us.
“What?”. I asked.
“Your daddy and I are separating”. She said.
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”. I asked.
She started stroking our hairs lovingly.
“It means we are not going to be married to each other anymore”. She explained.
I looked at my sister. She was just staring at her and smiling… she doesn’t understand anything.
“So what is going to happen now?”. I asked, still confused.
“The thing is, I will be leaving the house”. She said.
That was when I felt the pain, so did my sister.
“Mummy, are you going to leave us?”. I asked.
She nodded.
“Mummy I am going with you”. Didi began to plead with her.
“Me too, mummy please, don’t leave us”. I begged her.
“It’s okay, it’s fine. Now go to sleep”. She said.
She went ahead to reading the stories to us. After that, she gave us a good night kiss and left the room. When we woke up the next morning, she was gone, with baby Joshua.
Didi and I developed instant fever that morning and daddy had to drive us to the hospital instead of school.
Daddy tried his best, combining his bank job and taking care of Didi and I, but it wasn’t easy for him. He had to wake us very early in the morning to make our breakfast and also package our lunch in the flask, he would then struggle with waking us up to get ready, it was always hectic that we were always late at school in the morning and he was also the last parents to come pick their children in the evening. Before she left, mum had been the one doing the school runs with her personal taxi man.
“Daddy, I missed my test today”. Didi complained on our way home from school one evening.
“I also missed a very important presentation in the office today. He retorted, angrily.
…. two of you are becoming a burden to me. The other day, I almost lost my job because I had to take you to the hospital before going to the office…”. He went at length to complaining about how we have turned his life upside down.
“But all these wouldn’t have been happening if mummy didn’t leave us. Is it not better you bring her back home?”. I had suggested.
He brought the car to an abrupt halt in the center of the road, and turned to look at me.
“Hold you ears. You too hold your ears!’. He commanded the two of us.
We did as he instructed.
… Let this be the last time you will ever in your life mention your mummy anywhere around me!”. He yelled.
Just then, started hearing cars and honking continuously from behind.
“Will you remove this wheelbarrow from the road?”. An angry voice yelled from behind.
“Did I make myself clear?”. Dad asked, ignoring the intruders.
“Yes, daddy”. W chorused.
He kicked the engine back to life and we drove off.
One day, mummy’s younger sister, aunt Sandra visited us. The next morning, she left, taking Didi along with her.
I was left alone with daddy. Two months after that, he came back from work with a young woman.
“This is aunt Tracy. Your new mum’. He said to me.
“Hello”. The lady smiled, opening her arms for me to embrace her.
I did.
With aunt Tracy in the picture, my life became a living nightmare. She started behaving like we were competing for who would have daddy’s attention. She wouldn’t want to see me with my daddy for any reason at all. She always finds a way to getting me out of his side whenever she sees out together.
“Go inside and read your book. Go and wash the plate in the sink, this story belongs to Joy Ifunanya, go and check if the cloth I put in the washing machine is still washing”. She would say any of the above to me.
At night, she send me to sleep very early, and without a bedtime story or goodnight kiss. She wakes me up every morning by sprinkling a cup of chilled water all over me on the bed. She gives me very little food and beats me at the slightest provocation. Whenever I complained to daddy, he would say he doesn’t see anything wrong with what she does.
“She is training you. That is how a godly woman raise children not that n0nsense your mummy was busy spoiling you and your sister”. That would always be his response.
During weekdays, she would make daddy drop her off at her work place early morning before driving me to school. Some times, I would miss first and second lesson. Daddy on the other hand would be very late for his own work.
When it was becoming very unbearable for him, he started giving me money enough to find my way to school and also find my way back home. That was when I started taking public busses.
One morning, I mistakenly broke a glass cup while doing the dishes. After spanking me, aunt Tracy demanded for my transport fare, I brought it to her, she took half of it, and give me back the other day.
“You will walk to school today! That is your punishment for being careless’. She had said to me.
With the remaining half, I boarded a bus to school, then in the afternoon, I joined a group of other kids to trek back home.
After a fifteen minutes of tiring walk, I finally arrived a junction that led to our house so I waved my friends goodbye and started walking the rest of the way alone.
I was feeling so thirsty and hungry. A loud sigh escaped me as I remembered there won’t be any food at home for me until madam returns from work in the evening. As I walked down the lonely path, I came upon a clearing. A woman and a small boy of my age, I guess her son, were sitting on it. They were eating banana and groundnut.
I started salivating instantly.
“Good afternoon ma”. I greeted as I passed by.
There wasn’t a response from her, but that didn’t bother me. I continued moving until her voice interrupted.
“Do you care for some?”. I heard her ask. I turned sharply to know if she was actually talking to me. To my happiness, she was looking at me.
“Yes” I nodded as she repeated the question.
She motioned me to come join them. I was given four big fingers of banana and a handful of groundnut. I sat down on the carpeted grass, poured the groundnut into my oversized school uniform, and started unpeeling the banana..
“Thank you ma”. I said, already devouring the food.
After I was done, I was given a bottle of water which I emptied under a second, and belched loudly.
One thing I observed while eating the banana and the water was the gummy texture I felt as it travels down my throat, but that doesn’t matter at that very moment.
I laid back on the grass, closed my eyes and dozed off. When I opened my eyes again, they were gone. I took my bag and headed home to avoid troubles from my stepmom.
From that day onwards, strange things started happening in my life.
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Written by Joy Ifunanya
