Motherhood ๐๐ Part 12.
Coincidentally, when the kids reprinted their jamb forms, they were all scheduled to write their exams same day. Although it was in different exam centers and different time.
Jude and Julius went on their own to their exam centers. I drove Eunice myself to her center. I waited till Eunice was done with her exams and drove her home.
Few days later, their results came out.
Jude Scored 312, Eunice scored 219 while Julius scored 178.
“Why is your score so low Julius?”. My husband asked.
“My computer malfunctioned during the exam”. Julius lied.
“It’s never your fault. You always have something to justify your misbehaviour”. I shouted.
“You will have to reseat for jamb next year “. My husband said.
“No daddy, I can’t stay at home for a whole year. I will go to a polytechnic instead”. Julius insisted.
I had to talk to my husband to please let Julius buy a polytechnic form. The truth is that, I was already tired of his troubles. I needed a break.
Few months later, they all sat for the POST-UTME exam of their various institutions.
They all finally gained admission into the university.
Julius got admitted to Delta State polytechnic, Oghara to study SLT.
Eunice got admitted to Uniben to study physiotherapy (her course got changed from nursing by the school).
Jude on the other hand got admitted to study Medicine in Uniben.
Around September that year, they all left for school. At first I was so happy. My work load reduced drastically and I was having a breath of fresh air. But after a while, the house became too quiet and lonely especially when i’ve taken Judith to school and my husband has gone to work. Omo! I started missing my children. I would always call them to ask them when they’ll be coming back home.
During Christmas holidays, Eunice and Jude returned home but Julius refused to come back home.
We called to the point that he blocked our lines. I used both Eunice and Jude’s phone to communicate with him but he also blocked their lines. He was completely incommunicado.
I couldn’t enjoy my Christmas. I was so worried. My husband told me not to worry myself about him but I just couldn’t bring myself to do that.
To make matter worse, I was having series of nightmares that someone died.
On the 28th of December, I got a call from an unknown number to come to one hospital in Delta. I screamed.
I was told that Julius was in a critical condition in the hospital.
It was almost 8pm when the call came in.
I insisted that I will go to Delta that night. My husband had to calm me down and promised we’d go first thing the next day.
None of us slept that night, even Judith couldn’t sleep because the atmosphere was indeed pensive.
The next morning, my husband and I drove to Delta. I left Judith with Eunice.
Through the help of one of his friends, we were able to get to the hospital where he was admitted.
Immediately I saw two his friends, my heart skipped. They wore earrings and looked unkept with dreads. You know those kind of people every mother would warn their children not to associate with. I couldn’t believe they were friends with my son.
You needed to see the condition of Julius. He was brutally injured.
“What happened to my son?”. I asked one of his friends.
“Dem use am count scores mama. But no worry, we go retaliate”. One of the guys said.
“What does that mean?”. My husband asked. They didn’t explain further.
I later got to know Julius got injured during a cรนlt clash.
He’s a cรนlti$t ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ.
My heart broke into a thousand pieces.
To be continued.
Judith Onyoyibo
