WHISPERS IN THE DARK
CHAPTER 5
“Why did you eat the food without asking me first?” I asked, alarmed. “I had intended to dispose of it.
“I am so sorry, Eyong. Am I going to die? Is something terrible going to happen to me?”
“I don’t know. I am not sure. What if she had put a love portion in it? You would now fall in love with her. I can imagine both of you in love.” I joked.
“Stop it!! You are never serious.” She was playfully annoyed.
“I am saying the truth. You guys could even get married. I hear women marry women in some countries these days. It would be Addie marries Mama Etchu. Aww!! How romantic!!”
“I don’t blame you, clown. If anything happens to me, my father will pepper you.”
“That’s true oh.” I said, suddenly becoming serious. “I had completely forgotten about your dad’s anger. If anything happens to you, I am doomed. Let’s call the ambulance for you.”
“Are you crazy? Do I look like I am in any emergency situation?” She was frustrated by the fact that I was taking the whole thing as a joke.
“Okay, let’s call Doctors Without Borders.”
“We’ll call Doctors with Borders, foolish boy. Just start praying for me, pray that nothing happens to me.”
The truth is that I was scared, very scared. However, I was just trying to mitigate the situation so that she shouldn’t be that scared. Since there was nothing we could do at that time because she had already eaten the food, we just had to pray and hope nothing happens.
A week passed and nothing happened. We became relieved that nothing was put in the food. But that was not to be. Whatever she put in that food was not to kill anyone. It was to make me hate Addie so that I could fall in love with one of her daughters, possible Ayuk who was her favourite. However, since I wasn’t the one who ate the food, the effects instead transferred to Addie, and she started hating me for no reason.
It started like a joke. One night, we were in bed and I wanted to touch her, but she wouldn’t let me. I didn’t understand. When we got up in the morning, we had a conversation and she said that she wanted s*x to be removed from the relationship. She said henceforth, we should just be normal friends. I was both surprised and confused about this new attitude of hers. I didn’t know what to make of it. Every day, things were getting worse.
A week later, she stopped cooking. For many days, I would literally starve. I resorted to buying food from outside and eating snacks. That was the only way I could survive. She was never at home. She was always hanging out with friends I didn’t even know about. We quarreled constantly and she kept saying that she felt no more love for me.
One day, I got back home, and she had turned the house upside down. I asked her what the matter was, and she said she had lost money and she was sure I was the one who had taken it. I told her I hadn’t seen or taking her money, but she wouldn’t believe me. She asked me to give back my own copy of our house keys. I handed the keys to her in shame and as she attempted to put the keys in one of her handbags, she saw the money in the handbag. Ashamed, she gave me back the keys but refused to apologize to me for the wrong accusation.
Our relationship, which was once a thing of beauty, of laughter and of happiness had now fallen to a terrible low. All this while, I hadn’t even attached the food she ate, the food from Mama Etchu to be the cause. I thought she was just a victim of what happened to most girls who move into the university for the first time. Most girls who moved into the university usually get carried away with its glamour and their relationships usually suffer.
One day, I was coming back from school looking so frustrated and dejected. As I was passing through Mama Etchu’s house, I saw her beautiful daughter, Ayuk. She saw the way I looked and decided to talk to me.
“Why do you look so miserable these days?” She asked.
“Nothing, I am fine.”
“No, you are not. You look worried and it shows on your face. You even look emaciated.” Ayuk persisted.
“I am fine Ayuk. There is nothing wrong with me. It’s just bookwork that’s stressing me. You know our exams are around the corner. Once the exams are done, I will be back to my regular self.”
“Liar, you think I have not been noticing you going out to buy food these days. How can you be buying food on a daily base when you practically live with a woman at home?”
“I said, it’s alright, Ayuk.”
“No, it is not. Let me suggest something to you. Get a flask, a dish or whatever and bring to our house. Each time we cook, I will bring you food. I will just wait when that your foolish girlfriend is not at home, and I will bring food for you. Or you could come and be eating here. You know how much my mum loves you. You are just like family to us.”
I was tired of her questions and suggestions. So, I decided to give her an answer that would satisfy her. I just wanted to go home and rest. I had actually had a long day and I needed to rest.
“Okay, Ayuk. I will do as you say.”
“More like it. Now you are behaving like a big boy. Don’t worry, I will tell my mum about it, ok?”
The next day, I decided to explain the whole issue to a friend I had made in school. Her name was Vera. She had always been looking out for me and I liked her a lot. In fact, she was like a sister to me.
“She is cheating on you.” Very said after listening to my complaints.
“What? Addie? Cheating on me? No nah, Addie can’t do a thing like that.”
“I am telling like a fellow woman. She is cheating. For how long have u guys not slept together?”
“Almost three months now and counting.”
“You see? She is cheating. I am positive on this. No woman will just do that for nothing.”
“Jesus Christ!! What am I going to do?”
“Talk to her. Don’t relent and don’t give up. She will change.”
I had run out of money. The small money that my mum sent to me was finished. Addie had stopped cooking. There was always no food in the house. I was literally starving. Sometimes, it was Vera who gave me money or bought food for me at the school canteen. Addie didn’t care about me. She was hardly ever at home.
One day, I contemplated going back to the village. I decide that instead for me to go through that kind of humiliation, it was better if I go back to the village and live with my poor mum and lovely sisters. However, my love for school wouldn’t let me. I was a visionary and I had already envisioned that my life would be different once I become a degree holder. How was I going to abandon school now? I decided to make a decision that I didn’t want to. They say desperate times called for desperate measures. I decided that I would take Ayuk’s advice and start eating in their house.
Ayuk was very happy that I was now coming to their house every day to eat. She, her mum and her other sisters welcomed me as if I was one of their own. They started telling me to leave Addie. They said she was a bad girl and that she was cheating on me. They told me that I deserved more. They said I deserved a girl that would love me and take good care of me. All what they said didn’t get to me. That was because the more they spoke ill about Addie, the more I loved her.
One day, Addie was coming back from school when she saw my slippers in front of Mama Etchu’s house. She waited until she had gone a few meters away, then she called me and asked me to meet her at home. I was actually eating when she passed by. I waited until I had finished eating before going to answer her call. When I got home, I met my bag by the side of the door.
“Addie, why is my bag packed.” I asked, afraid of the answer.
“I want you to live my house.”
“What? What am I going to do? I have nowhere to go, and you know that.”
“How is that my business? I am tired of living with you. All you do is stay in this house and eat my food. You don’t contribute to anything in this house. You inconvenience me a lot and I can’t live my life freely. So, I have come to the conclusion that it is time for you to go.” She was very serious.
“So, what becomes of my education? Where do I go?” I asked desperately.
“How is that my business?”
“Please Addie, reconsider.” I begged, getting on my knees. “We have something beautiful going on. Please, don’t destroy it. I love you like I have loved no one else. Why would you allow this to come between us. Please, I am begging you to reconsider. Let me stay and I promise that I will never do anything to annoy you.”
“Get out of my house. I don’t want to hear anything. Have I not tried? I have been feeding and accommodating you for months. Is it easy? How many girls can do that?”
“But remember that you were the one who brought me to the city. You were the one who made me enroll in school. How do you want to destroy something that is not yet finished?”
“Abi you say I am the one who brought you to the city?”
“Yes.”
“I was also the one who enrolled you in school.”
“Yes.”
“Good!! Now, I have changed my mind. What is the big deal about it? Is it a wrong thing for someone to change their minds? Haba!! Please, just go and take care of your miserable self. Wetin sef!!”
I got my bag and left the house sadly. It was getting late, and I didn’t know what to do or where to go. Luckily for me, she didn’t take back the phone she bought for me. So, I called Vera and told her I would love to see her that evening. She told me I should come to her home. However, I didn’t tell her what had just happened.
As I was passing in front of Mama Etchus’s house, she saw me, called me and asked what had happened. After I had explained everything to her, she asked me to sit down. She said I shouldn’t bother. She said I could stay in her house until the end of the semester. Then I could go to the village and sort myself out.
Because I was desperate, I had no choice but to accept Mama Etchu’s proposal. I was going to start living with her henceforth. At least there, I wasn’t going to have the problem of feeding and accommodation. I called Vera and told her I wasn’t going to be coming. I told her I would see her the next day.
It was time to sleep now. Up until now, no one had shown me where I would be spending the night. So, I asked to be told where I was going to be sleeping.
“Fine Boy.” Mama Etchu said. There was a little mischievous smile on her face. “You will be sleeping in Ayuk’s room.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
