₦airaland Forum

Enoquin:
That's the only reply you deserve.

*swaggers off into the mist*

BoboYekini:
*swaggers off into the mist*

You don't want to know the picture I created in my head of you swaggering off into the mist. If NL had a rotf icon, it'd have been perfect.

Enoquin:
You don't want to know the picture I created in my head of you swaggering off into the mist. If NL had a rotf icon, it'd have been perfect.

Let me guess...Johnny Bravo.

Weldone enoquin am here to stay

Hope u don't mind me saying, buh for her sake I hope dis is not the last time Grace sees her sister cos I don't think she will be able to bear the guilt to come... BTW did u see any fans in Davido's 'fans mi', I'm thinking more like Olamide's 'awon goons mi' or phyno's 'Alobam'

a woman destroyed is my favourite
keep it up

My friend, Lara came over the next day. She was as brilliant as myself and was top of her class too. We were in the same school but not in the same class. We had both decided we would do our university education abroad. There was nothing Nigeria could offer us again. I was far prettier than her and she was always gracious enough to admit that I was the better in all things except one which she always refused to say no matter how much I pried.
After, we had played scrabble which I won as always, she asked about Hannah.
“She is in her room,” I replied sighing. Hannah always had a way of dampening my moods.
“I heard she is dying for sure this time.”
“Death is inevitable at every point in our life is it not? She is sick but would be better as always.”
“Not from what I heard, this time was pretty bad. I have always admired and liked her.”
“You have always liked and admired a sick person? What kind of a sick standard have you got?” This was the nuts-unscrewed-lara, saying things that didn’t make sense.
“You can say what you like but on this I won’t budge. We don’t have to like the same things.”
Jiggling the scrabble bag, I made to change the conversation. “Another game?”
“No, I want to say hello to your sister and then go home. I have to help my mum with something.”
“Suit yourself but your mum should know you are too young to help her out with things.”
“But not too young to kiss a boy,” she retorted.
I gaped at her in amazement, “you kissed a boy?”
“No, a boy kissed me,” her face was deadpan.
“When was this and why didn’t I know?”
“I looked for you on the final day but you were nowhere to be found. It was the night before school closed.” We weren’t in the same hostel room.
“But that’s the point of owning a mobile phone, to communicate with one another.” I was envious but tried not to show it.
“Let’s not dwell on that. Come on, let’s go and say hi to your sister.”
“No, I have to tidy up my room.”
Lara obviously not buying my story didn’t bother to persuade me. She just stood and walked out. I was not only disappointed in her for keeping a secret but also that she didn’t do enough to persuade me.
I silently opened my door and tiptoed to my sister’s room. The door hadn’t been properly closed and the mirror opposite my sister’s bed enabled me to see them. She was hugging my sister that was all I saw till the nurse closed the door but not before I heard Lara’s laughter. She never laughed that way when she was with me. This was an unrestrained laughter right from the soul.

royalguest:
Hope u don't mind me saying, buh for her sake I hope dis is not the last time Grace sees her sister cos I don't think she will be able to bear the guilt to come... BTW did u see any fans in Davido's 'fans mi', I'm thinking more like Olamide's 'awon goons mi' or phyno's 'Alobam'

I no see fans sha but I see , was teasing. Glad you've got a sense of humour.
Come, why you dey pity Grace self because una be kindred spirits?

mistytohcute:
a woman destroyed is my favourite

keep
it
up

Thanks Misty

I yawned as I woke. This was going to be the most boring summer holidays. Lara was going to visit her grandparents and go for summer lessons there as well. I was stuck in the house with people that didn’t seem to have my time or even know I was there. I had my bath and tidied my room. Putting on my headphones, I slipped my iPod into the back pocket of my jean shorts.
The kitchen was empty when I got there, not a surprise. Cook was probably with mum, dad or perhaps out gossiping with Suleiman. They always seemed to have something to say to each other especially when cook was less busy. They talked to each other like they were siblings even though cook was Edo and Suleiman was from the north.

I opened the fridge, took out some bread slices and added three pieces of fried meat and a piece of fried chicken to the bread, deciding against tea; I took a full juice pack instead. Taking sardine from the cupboard, I opened and poured the contents into a plate. Cook would certainly be livid if she saw me with the fried meats and chicken. I was hurriedly backing out of the kitchen listening to Beyonce’s ‘love on top’ when I heard the scream.
Part of me wanted to run up to my room and hide my food first and the other part wanted to know who had screamed. I put off my iPod and heard…
“…gone. My baby is gone! Hannah please come back.”
No, it couldn’t be. Was this a prank or what? Dropping my breakfast on the counter, I dashed up the stairs, my heart pounding. I ran to Hannah’s room and opened the door. The room was crowded as everyone was there even Suleiman and some people I hadn’t heard come like the pastor. My dad was holding my mum in that way an anchor held a ship at bay not willing to let go whilst mum wailed beside her sleeping daughter. Hannah laid peacefully still. She looked beautiful and happy as if glad to finally leave and then I couldn’t breathe. No one saw me when I entered and no one saw me leave. I ran down and out of the house. I ran and ran and ran. I couldn’t stop, for to stop meant to believe and I didn’t want to believe.

Hannah was buried a week after. Everyone except I wrote loving tributes. Her death had affected me badly and I couldn’t sleep for two days. There was something so empty inside me and I couldn’t dare to probe it lest I fell into a void of despair where no one could save me for I had come to realize that I didn’t hate Hannah after all, I had subconsciously blamed her for allowing the cancer have that much hold on her, I felt she didn’t even want to fight it.
I hated that she didn’t scream and rail and seemed to take everything in stride, I hadn’t hated her but the sickness which plagued her. And yes, if I who was brilliant, who proclaimed herself a genius couldn’t reach out to her to tell her these things, how then could I have put that in a tribute? It was something that was to be shared only with Hannah just so I could see her smile as I said it and so I had slipped a folded paper that explained how I felt into her cold hands after she had been dressed and before the casket was closed. I couldn't bear to look at her while I did it.
The service was a blur. My mum had my dad even cook had suleiman but I had no one. Lara couldn't come down. They tried to include me but I had alienated myself so much that I felt like a third wheel.
And as the casket was being lowered with Hannah going away and beyond from my reach, I wept; I didn't weep for the dead alone, I wept for that which I had lost was gone forever.

THE END

Haaa! I said it ooo! Wat a waste of emotions, sorry my dear Grace I weep for you also for the lifetime of heartache you single handedly caused yourself,the guilt and regret dulls buh it never ever leaves...
Eno... wherever ur inspiration comes from may it never cease, I love d way ur brain works so will u elope with me to America so I can legally tell u how deeply in love with u I am?

"My mom had my dad (comma)"

Had a hard time figuring that sentence out so punctuate it accordingly. The rest is awesome as usual

Pls come and update ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

U are doing just exceptionally well

Enoquin:
My Love,

Yesterday, I renounced God. I cannot tell you that I felt any different. Knowing you, you would probably shake your head and call it one of my stupid dramatic acts or better still, you would probably laugh out loud. Whatever you do, know that I will be glad I got a reaction out of you.
‘Why,’ I can hear you ask ‘after all this time?’
Why not? How else can I get your attention? I’d like you to think that I am no more that terrified girl worried about the afterlife, worried where I’d end up.

Two days ago, I laid the bed just the way you liked it. I expected to hear your voice saying how perfect I had become and no I am not becoming melancholic, I know how you hate that. The edges were tucked in just the way you taught me. And after smoothing the sheets, I couldn’t lay on the bed. I just couldn’t, afraid that if I did, the creases might just wipe your memory away, wiping our memory out - leaving no traces of us.

Three days back, I yelled and kicked Dreamy, he was quite surprised and looked at me as if I had lost my mind, he yelped and ran far away from me and didn’t come back even when I coaxed and coaxed till when he felt hungry and even at that he took his food with such suspicion that I just sat there and cried. He came to bed with me later though; I think he understood what a rough place I was in.

You know what? I am going to tear this letter right after writing. I can imagine the look on your face, when you realize that you’d won and were right that I’d come begging. Well, there’s no shame in begging, but you probably don’t know that. ‘No one should have to beg anything or anyone’, you’d say with so much contempt. It’s why you hated the idea of God; it’s why you left me.

Today, I tried to pack all your clothes into that old box you hated and then haul it off into the bush, burning them all but I was too weak. I told myself I’d do it later but here I am it’s getting dark and I am nowhere close to burning them, I couldn’t; not after sniffing it, sniffing you, remembering us.

Tomorrow, I will scrub everywhere; scrub you out of this room, the other rooms and my heart.

I can hear singing from that church down the street. Oh, what a beautiful sound; pure and melodious. I should get up and make preparations for service just to clearly hear the voices. Of course, that doesn’t mean anything…it doesn’t….oh, I don’t know, I just feel you are putting me under pressure even from afar, trying to make me feel guilty for enjoying that song, shaking your head and probably saying I am a lost cause…

Someone is coming. Someone has broken in. Dreamy is pretending to be asleep, he should be up and barking. I have nothing of value that can be taken save this letter, I wouldn’t want my weakness out for anyone to see and even you won’t get to see this letter. I just….oh, they are here.

The footsteps walked towards the room where the woman was in. The woman seeing nowhere to hide her letter sat on it. The door opened and two men walked in.

“What do you want? I have no money, nothing of value.”
The two men did not answer. One goes to Dreamy and picks him up. Dreamy, the lazy dog snuggled further into the arms of the one who had picked him.
“How are you today Sandra?”
One of the men finally spoke while sitting down on the other chair in the room. No answer from Sandra, she stared straight ahead as if unaware of the men in her room. The man with the dog went out but left the door open.
“Sandra?” The man moved to touch her hand.
“Don’t you dare touch me! My neighbours might be out but I’ll still scream for those down at the church to hear. I have nothing of value, what do you want with Dreamy?”
“The teddy needs a wash, he’ll be back once he is dry.”
Sandra did not reply.
“Are you still having hallucinations?”
“None of your business…what happens to me or not, what I see and don’t.”
“But it is…how else will you get well? Besides Daniel is coming tomorrow.”
At this news, her eyes lighted up and her look was transformed to that of a child, trusting and open.
“He is?”
“Yes and I know you would like to see him but you know he wants to see you…well, he loves to see you improved…”
“But I am! Look, I even wrote him a letter…” standing up slightly, she brought out the paper.
The man looked at the paper a long while but said nothing.
“You think I showed too much weakness?”
“No, I think it’s beautiful what you have written…”
“Really? Read it to me, I like to hear how I sound; perhaps I might be able to edit it.”
“I don’t think I can, this looks too personal for a third party.”
Sandra’s smile brightened. “Well, it’s obvious you’ve never been in love before.” Stretching out her hand, she snatched the paper back and smoothened an imaginary crease, leaving it lying on the table between them. “You didn’t say anything about my well-made bed.”
The man looked towards the bed, the blanket was on the floor, the bed sheet had been taken off the matrass and dumped in one corner of the bed.
“Now don’t mind the mess by the bed, wanted to burn Dan’s clothes but it was in a moment of anger that has passed. What’s the use of carrying around so much anger, when we can as well carry love?”
“Sandra, who am I?”
She shrugged, “A thief, a rapist, a murderer….you could be anyone of those”
“I really had hoped you were getting better but it seems you might have to be transferred out of here. I am sorry, I failed you Sandra.”
“Lie, lie, lie!!! You want to take me away from Daniel. Nothing I do is ever good for him, nothing! He prefers those unclean whores to a clean and sanctified one as myself. Tell him he hasn’t won.”
As her voice rose, two men came in with a woman. The woman had a syringe in her hand. As the men held the screaming female, the woman quickly injected the liquid contents from the syringe into the unwilling female’s veins. The injection calmed the female and she sat looking listlessly at her captors.
“Sandra, Daniel is dead. You killed him after accusing him of cheating on you.”
“You lie…” spoken with resignation this time.
“To achieve what exactly?”
“To make them believe I am insane…”
“Are you?”
“No, I am not. I didn’t kill anyone, why would I write a letter to someone I killed?”
“Because that’s how your mind wants to deal with it. Can I keep the letter?”
“No, it’s personal…”
The man looked away helplessly. He stood up and with the attendants shuffled out of the room.
Sandra picked up the letter she had written and smoothened more imaginary creases. Her mind didn’t see what everyone else had, the paper had no words written on it except angry slashes drawn at random.

THE END

wow

Enoquin:
And so here I was, alone. I was lucky this happened during the holidays, I got in touch with an uncle and escaped there. My uncle had a separate guest house so I didn’t have to put up with appearances. I had been here for two days and rarely ate the food that was brought. I just wanted to be alone to grieve for what I had lost. My phones were off and except for the maid, no one came to my door.
I wished someone would but was glad no one did. Had I been selfish? How was Ralph doing? Did he grieve for me as I did for him?
The knock was light at first. I pretended not to hear. Then it increased slightly till I couldn’t ignore it, standing, I approached the door cautiously.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me Nami,”
I pasted a fake smile and opened the door. My uncle’s wife swept in, her yellow gown lightening the room, her fragrance theraupatic; she didn’t return the smile or pretended not to see it.
Scanning the room and raising an eyebrow at how disheveled the room was, she turned to me. I sure looked dreadful. We weren’t close but I heard she was a pleasant but blunt woman.
“You don’t dress the room neither do you allow the maid in to dress the room Nami, is there a reason why your sadness should interfere with cleanliness?”
I opened my mouth but no words came out. That was mean, whoever said this woman was nice needed their head screwed on correctly.
“Please try and tidy up, look at that food tray…”
“Aunty, please what do you want?” I didn’t need this especially not from someone I barely knew.
“I need you to stop hiding in here like something is wrong with you. Do you know how many times your mother and brother has called because they couldn’t get to you?”
In my grief, I had forgotten how worried, my mother and brother would be.
“What did they say?”
“You would have to switch on your phone to find out.”
Moving to the bed, she pushed the rumpled bed sheets to one side and sat down and then with a smile, patted the space beside her. The change was so sudden that I found myself beside her.
“Nami, you have been terribly wrong,”
Confused, I looked at her. What did she mean? What was I wrong about?
“You have been scared to live that you are merely existing. Now it is terribly wrong to run from a challenge. Tell me, what do you want from this life?”
“I…I…want…would like to be free…free to live”
“So, what’s holding you back? Why do you choose to live in fear?”
“Aunty, you do not understand, these visions I have…”
“Nami,” she interrupted; “your vision is just that, a vision; what you do afterwards is more of a determinant than your vision.”
“Aunty, how would I have stopped my father’s death or my sister or how can I hold back time for Ralph?”
“You could not and you cannot but you should also not cower in fear waiting till whatever is bound to happen does. Regardless of your visions, some of us have a limited time on earth but we strive to make the most of it by…”
“Aunty, what do you mean by some of us? Are you or uncle ill?”
“Well dear, since you came in; you havent been to see the children; you would have seen that Tina is near death’s door.”
“Tina? When? What is wrong with her?”
“Tina has leukemia, she has less than three months left and want to spend it at home. I never thought this would happen to me ever or never knew how we were going to carry on but we do. We laugh with her, try new things and don’t think about that day.”
“I am so sorry but your situation was thrust upon you, mine is affected by the decision I make.”
“So, you are saying; Ralph would live if you do not marry him? And what if he is destined to die young regardless of whether he marries you or not? Would you carry on knowing you could have shared more time with him? If you had Tina as a child, would you have been in tears everyday or would you have tried to make her remaining time as pleasant as could be?”
I didn’t need to ask how she knew the story, Ralph must have told everyone who cared to listen. Everyone kept saying the same thing, that I needed to live and not be in fear always.
“Well, you really have to tidy this room. We have guests coming over.”
This woman was really a confusionist.
She looked at her watch and stood. “Tina and I are going shopping for something I forgot to pick yesterday. You should come in and say hello to her and the rest of the children when we are back.”
“Thank you aunty, I am so sorry.”
“It’s alright, see you later” And with that she swept out of the room. Yes, she was right but before I switched on my phone, I needed to tackle the mess in the room.
My spirits had somewhat lifted.
45 minutes later, I was done. I even used the perfume after my bath and nearly put on yellow till I refrained and picked another colour.
The knock came and I glanced at the time. It was nearly five, time for dinner. I needed to tell the maid, I would be joining everyone this evening.
Smiling, I opened the door and there he was, his hand lifted to knock again. I know I should have asked what he was doing here and how he knew I was here and all that but I couldn’t. I was already in his arms sobbing.
“Ralph, I am so sorry.”
“And here I thought you didn’t miss me as I did you,” he said patting my hair just the way I liked it and making that hushing sound that made me a baby all over again.
I loved this man terribly. I loved him and damn whatever was going to take him away from me, I will love him, be his wife and the mother of our children till then. I lifted my head to kiss him and just then saw my brother who had just come round the bend grinning. I turned away shyly and laughed.

THE END

Dedicated to Teamplayey

I know this might be coming in late and all but I just got to make this comment.

Babe, you are an unapologetic realist, just like you described yourself in one of your comments earlier.

Even when your story is having a happy ending, it still has that little tone of life's reality and unpredictable suspense hanging around it. Truth is, "happy ever after" is but an illusion. Life is all about moments. A combination of both happy and sad moments here and there. It is what you make out of it that matters. So, double kudos to you my lady. One for your writing prowess and the other, for being an unrepentant realist. And yes, I can actually relate with this particular story of yours. I would not like to dwell much on how it relates with me though, not everything is good for public consumption.

So, thank you once again.

^^^