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My Story๐ญ๐ญ
I was surprised at the manner the woman was smiling at me and at the same time, I wondered what she could have in such a big bag.
“Ah ah, Nina why are you not responding, I’m greeting you now”. She said.
“Who are you talking to?. How do you even know my name?”. I asked.
She hummed a smile.
“Why won’t I know the name of my neighbor?”. She smiled, holding unto the bag once again.
“So you even know me as your neighbor, yet, you don’t answer my greeting?”. I asked.
“I’m sorry, you know all these things now, the kids and husband”. She smiled
“Must you rub it on my face that you’re married with children?”. I asked.
“Okay, I’m sorry. She apologized, still smiling.
….. the only beautiful Nina!. This your attire today makes sense oo”. She continued hailing me.
“I don’t understand, are you saying my dressing doesn’t make sense before?”. I asked.
“No oo, not what I mean. I want to say you look good”. She smiled.
“Thank you. I blushed.. There is nothing I enjoy like compliments, It makes me go crazy.
….By the way, what do you have in that bag?”. I asked.
She looked at the bag and hummed.
“This bag?. This is trash oo, I want to go dispose of it”. She said.
“Humm, You’re going to dispose dirt?, you madam?. What happens to your house help?.?”. I asked.
“Hmm, that one?. Do you know that I have not seen that girl all evening?”. She said.
“Seriously?, where did you send her to?”. I asked.
“Nowhere oo, I didn’t send that girl anywhere. When I beat her now everyone including my husband will start shouting. ‘Anna, you beat that girl too much, you do this, you do that, yenyeyen. Nobody will see this now oo”. She said with her two hands raised in the air.
“Hmm!, children. Don’t worry, she will be home soon”. I muttered as I proceeded to going in while she continued dragging the bag all the way out of the compound.
Two days after, I got to learn from Nmachi that Amaka has not been seen.
“I never knew it is serious like this oo”. I exclaimed.
“It’s oo and as far as I’m concerned, that girl is dead”. She said, with confidence.
“Why will you say that?”. I asked.
‘You self check am now. That girl has been missing for like three days now. Where do you think she is? . Of course, she has fallen into the hand of evil men, I’m very sure of that”. She continued saying.
“No, please, let’s hope she went back home to her family” I said.
“No oo. Do you not know that girl?. very little, I doubt if she is ten years . And besides, they picked her from the East. How do you think she would find her way home?”. She asked.
“Okay. Let’s pray she was in a kind of danger and someone saved her and she is still unconscious in the hospital. Let’s just be positive. She will be back soon”. I said.
“No pray that kind of prayer oo”. She warned.
“Why?”. I asked, surprised.
“Because even the girl herself would not like it. See, let me tell you something, anywhere that girl is now, whether dead or unconscious, she would be so happy to be there. Don’t pray for her to come back home, don’t say such prayers oo”. She frowned.
“I still don’t understand”. I insisted.
“The thing is, that woman doesn’t allow that girl rest. As little as that girl is, she does all the work in that house, receives little food which is always followed by beatings or can I say, butchering. She beats that girl with any object around her, hammer, knife, cutlass, gun… name them. There was one time she starved the girl for complete two days. It was my sister that gave her food secretly”. She continued.
“Is the woman that bad?”. I asked.
“Mummy Becky?, that woman. I told you, if there is any award going for the most wicked of all the women in Rivers, the crown would definitely not elude her”. She said.
Just then her sister’s voice could be heard from upstairs calling out to her.
“Yes sister, I’m coming!. She answered.
…. na one of them be that”. She whispered before running out to answer the call.
This girl sef. I laughed.
Three days later, I was coming home
in the morning when I met Nmachi waiting in front of the compound with her sister’s kids… seems they were going to the salon, judging from the way they left their hair unpacked.
“Ehe, aunt Nina, good morning”. She greeted as well as the children.
She looked so excited, but I wasn’t in the mood for gist. If you care to know, I was duped by someone, a client. Before I could wake up that morning, the guy man has already taken to his heel…no payment. I even had to trek from the hotel back home.
“How are you children?”. I said, casually.
“We are fine thank you”. They replied in unison.
“Aunt Nina, this one your face is like this, hope nothing?”. Nmachi asked.
I shook my head, as I walked passed them.
“I get gist oo!”. She shouted back, but it was late because by then I was already inside the compound with the gate banging loudly behind me.
Walking down my flat, I passed two neighbors talking in low tunes.
“Ndi asiri(gossips)” I muttered under my breath.
When I got into my apartment, I threw my bag aside, laid down and let the tears flow.
Port harcourt boys are ev!l. You needed to see the way the guy was spending at the club, making me loose guard, thinking I got the right client, only for me to wake up to this heartbreak.
Wasted night!. I cried.
From where I laid, I could see my cream container, almost empty, no money to replace it. In the kitchen, my cylinder stood, empty for some days…no hope.
I cried till I fell asleep. I woke up around mid afternoon, took my bath, soak gari and afterwards, I went to sit in the veranda for fresh ventilation..we never had light in three days.
Not more than five minutes after I got seated, Nmachi came down with a bucket of clothes she was going to dry at the backyard.
“Aunt Nina, good afternoon”. She greeted.
For a response, I smiled.
“Have you heard?”. She asked.
“I heard nothing”. I replied.
She dropped the buckets on the ground and hurried into the veranda.
“Did I not tell you that that mummy Becky’s house help is dead?”. She muttered.
“How do you mean?”. I asked.
“Mr Fred said the police discovered a decomposing body in the refuse dump many streets away from here and after examination, it was discovered that it belongs to Amaka”. She was saying excitedly, like it was something to be happy about.
I felt goosebumps all over me.
“So that little child is dead?, just like that?”. I found myself tearing up.
“Yes oo, she died. Those evil men, I’m sure they r@ped her to death. And to show you how wicked people can be, they stuffed her body into a bag to make it difficult for anyone to discover”. She said that last sentence shaking her head in sympathy.
“People are mean, how would they put someone in a bag?”. I asked.
“Yes, a big ghana-must-go, they said…..”.
At the mention of the word ‘ghana-must-go’, my mind travelled back to the past that I wasn’t able to get the rest of her narrations.
“Did you say she was stuffed in a ghana-must-go?”. I asked, somehow scared of the answer.
“I didn’t go there oo, but Mr Nicolas and the caretaker said it was a ghana-must-go, a blue ghana-must-go”. She explained.
I let out a loud scream that caused a stare from some neighbours in their various balconies.
Nmachi hurried out immediately.
“Let me spread this clothes and go pick the kids from the salon” She was saying as she leaves.
I knew she was scared her sister might come out too and see her talking with me…..she said she was warned to stay away from me.
But that was not the point.
Blue ghana-must-go?. I was sure that was not a coincidence…. it was Amaka’s corpse in that bag that night!. What wickedness!. I couldn’t stop imagining how a woman could be that mean.
I picked up my hand fan and went back inside.
I paced up and down the room, thinking of what to do. At the end, an idea flashed into my head….a very wucked idea..
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ยฉ Joy Ifunanya
