Part 7

We received the frame that day, beaming.
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This present from Aunty Juliet automatically sat up there as the best wedding gift, ever. Primarily because of its uniqueness, before it had anything to do with the person that'd handed is to us.
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The work that’d gone into making this frame to turn out as exceptional as it did was obvious.

It was also obvious that a lot of money had gone into this as well.

This frame was absolutely nothing like I’d ever seen before.

It was in that moment that I knew.

I was going to place this frame at a spot where we’ll be waking up to the sight of it, every day for the rest of our lives.

This frame was one of those items you just know would outlive you.

It was that beautiful.
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At the sight of how much we seemed to cherish this gift, from where Sandra and I stood, I could tell how very proud Aunty Juliet felt. She seemed really glad to hear; to know that we truly appreciated her present.
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It was the day before my wedding. Every arrangement for this wedding had been made (done and dusted). We were just waiting for the day to break now; to get the occasion over with.

Even though it’s now one week since Aunty Juliet presented me with that gift, I still couldn’t get enough of it. Every time it came up in a discussion, I went on and on professing my undying love.
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My friends have been at my house now, for one week straight (all in preparation for my big day).

Stacy (one of our friends) had just joined us that day. One thing led to the other, bringing up Aunty Juliet’s "early wedding present" into the mix again.

Stacy could not wait to see this frame everyone had been singing about.

Stacy was in awe; in reverence of its beauty.

“I’ll be hanging it on my wall so I can wake up to the sight of it every day for the rest of my life”. I said to my girls, giggling.

We all cheered.

Everyone was in agreement that this item was indeed, worth all the hype.

Ngozi couldn’t even hide her jealousy. “I hope Ebuka’s sister will see this one now o. And do the needful during our marriage” she said, sending everyone into an uproar.
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It was at this point that Sandra pointed towards Franka.
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Now, Franka is my best friend. We’ve been friends for the better part of my adult life.

Franka has been in my life since I can remember. We’ve always been there for each other through the good times and bad.

My shoulders have always been available for Franka to cry on, every time she'd ever needed it. This was mostly after a guy brakes her heart (which was very often by the way).
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Prior to my husband and I deciding to take our relationship to the next level, Franka had just come out of a relationship.

It was a very bad breakup.

We’d discovered that her fiancée was to marry another.

We found this out just one week to the wedding.

The heartless man was in town the day before and we'd all hung out. We had a great time before he left the next day while still making future plans with Franka.

It was after he’d left that we found out that he was scheduled to walk another girl down the aisle the following week.
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I couldn’t get Franka to stop crying.
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That was her eight failed attempt to settle down.
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It was barely two weeks after that incident that I announced to Franka, that my wedding date had been fixed.

As my best friend, she automatically got the “chief bridesmaid's” spot.
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I had no idea what it was about Franka that Sandra needed me to see but since nothing up until this point was making any real sense to me yet, I decided to play along.

I looked as pointed and that was when I noticed something even more confusing.
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Franka would smile whenever I was looking and then frown whenever I wasn’t.

As I spoke passionately about Aunty Juliet’s gift, amongst other plans my husband and I already made for immediately after I’d said “I do”, every indication from Franka’s countenance every time I wasn’t looking strongly depicted “not happy”.
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My confusion with this lied in the fact that I didn’t know whether Franka was not happy that I was getting married to the man of my dreams or the fact that I went on and on supposedly rubbing my excitement on her face.

It was “my big day” for crying out loud. How else was I supposed to have been, if not overly excited?
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Every time I (and the other girls) was not looking, Sandra would scan me from head to toe in a fast blink before she transcends into a masked smile again, whenever her face came under the lights.
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Whatever Sandra had in stock for me in this trip down memory lane, at this point, none of it was coming into perspective.

Well, none of this made any sense to me until Sandra dragged me into a room; my bedroom.
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I stood and watched in bemusement as Franka tiptoed past Sandra and I.

I stood there with my mouth agape because none of this memory was mine.

I was more than confused at the sight of this.

“I can’t remember Franka ever entering this room before fa�"

To be continued...

Part 6

I looked around, just to be sure that I'd woken up in the compound I remembered and yeah, indeed I had.
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I looked around to see if any of these faces looked familiar.
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I wondered why I hadn't yet gotten any attention, especially since I'd now been awake for quite sometime.
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At first, I couldn't recognize any face.

This was rather surprising and at the same time, scary because we hardly had guests over, talk more of having them turn up in these number.
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I tried to wrack my head; casting it back with the intent to remember something; whatever would make sense of this situation but the last thing I remembered at the time was smashing that frame to the ground.
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No matter how hard I tried to remember beyond that point, I just couldn't.
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At this point, I had no memory of Sandra and barely any of Aunty Juliet.
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I felt as light as a feather.
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After I'd walked passed two; three unfamiliar faces; faces of people that still seemed oblivious to my presence, my heart began to skip in irregular beats; heartbeat that soon trasitioned into a hard pound.
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I couldn't bring myself to even consider for one second, that this could in anyway be as it seemed.

Even though every indication pointed towards it, "there is no way I am dead".
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"Or I'm I? Is that the reason no one notice my presence?" I thought to myself.
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I tried to pinch myself just to be sure but I felt every bit of that pain.

"Ehen! I said it. I am not dead joor. I don't think spirits would feel pain. Not in this manner at least." I said to myself, in the quest to consolidate this positive feeling I'm trying to lash unto.
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I soon noticed that this crowd had their attention fixated at a particular direction.
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Besides staring, not a lot of movements was going on.
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Out if curiosity, I maneuvered my way through the crowd to the front of the line, in a bid to know; to see for myself what was taking so much of these strange people's attention.

And behold, to my horror, lying "in state" just a couple of feets away from me was Sandra.

Yeah! The same "very mad" Sandra.
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For some reason, I was now able to remember Sandra. My encounter with her moments ago suddenly flashed before my eyes.
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I now remembered enough but what seemed vital was still foggy.
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Now more than ever, I was confused.

I looked around in total disbelief.

I had a million and one questions running through my head in that instant; questions that were almost beginning to drive me crazy, especially as no one seemed ready to give me any answer to them.

"Who are these people? Why is Sandra lying as though dead but looks nothing like it? Why is nobody talking to me? Why is nobody answering my questions? What is going on here? Why are all these faces alien to me? I'm I dead? Is this hell?"
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I'd at a point tried to stand in front of someone, waving with all my might; with the intention to snap him back to consciousness, enough to acknowledge my presence but all my efforts proved futile.
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Though sad; scary, It was now very obvious that I am invisible to everyone on sight.
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Out of curiosity, I decided to go closer to Sandra; to take one good look at what exactly was going on in that casket she'd been laid in.

I'd even hoped that I would maybe get a clue to what was going on here, by close observation.
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I got close; so close that I could touch Sandra if I wanted to, just by lifting a finger.
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At this close proximity from Sandra, the first thing I noticed was that nothing about her, remotely looked like she was dead.

As a matter of fact, Sandra was still breathing. She could easily have passed for someone taking a nap than she would, dead.
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The second thing I noticed was that Sandra was not as dirty and unkept, like I've always known her to be.

It was literally the contrary.

Sandra was lying there neatly dressed.

Sandra had her hair done with makeup on.
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"Why then are these people staring at her and not doing anything else?" I wondered.
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I made to turn back around; to probably go inside the house in search of someone I might recognize and hopefully, get some of my questions answered when a firm grip to my hand almost had me dropping to my death, out of shock.
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It took a while but when I finally managed to turn back around, the sight I beheld got me jittery.
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I'd turned swiftly around to lock gaze with a smiling Sandra.

"Confused?" Sandra asked, now with a straight face.
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I was too startled to have found the voice to have either affirmed Sandra's question, nor nod in response to it.
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Sandra stood up from where she'd been lying in state and dramatically beckoned on me to follow her.

I did without hesitation.
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I couldn't help but notice how totally transformed Sandra was. Haven knew her all these years as quite the opposite, there was no way I wouldn't have been as surprised that Sandra could ever look anything like this.
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Sandra looked amazing. She was looking the most beautiful I've ever imagined she could be.

Sandra was beautiful dressed in a shiny silky long tight fitted, very long slitted grey gown.

A gown that seated beautifully on her body.
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"How could this even be possible? Sandra? It's official. I died and from all indication, I am in a version of heaven that Sandra is a big shot in".

This was the only explanation I could think of that at the time, made sense to me.

I mean, at this point, I'll believe anything, as long as it gives me perspective.
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Sandra led me to the main entrance of the passage that led to the various quarters in my compound.

Sandra halted just when the next obvious thing to do was for her to reach for the knob.

Sandra asked me to "go ahead. Open it."

As directed, I reached for the door knob and turned it open to behold, light.

Very bright lights.

Lights that my eyes eventually got accustomed to and once it did, I finally saw faces I recognized.
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The first face I saw was Aunty Juliet's. She seemed very excited. She was reaching for something. At this point, I couldn’t really make anything out of what it was.

Seated just opposite Aunty Juliet was her brother (my husband) and then right beside my husband was me.

Our facial expressions depicts equally being as excited.
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I recognized this scene. It was a scene from twelve years ago.

The very day Aunty Juliet handed us that early wedding present; the frame.

To be continued...

Part 5

Sandra walked up to and halted right in front of me in a manner I’d presumed was going to be my last moments on earth.
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Sandra stood still for a few seconds, staring me dead in the eyes as intensely as possible, while at the same time, shaking her head with a facial expression that now depicted pity.
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Sandra turned back around, walked a few steps as though heading towards the door before she halted again, turned around and then beckoned on me.

I was too frightened to even make anything out of whatever it was Sandra was doing at this point.

In my head, every indication pointed towards people coming back to meet my lifeless body. "If I am lucky, someone would have seen Sandra exit our compound to at least, tie my death to her."
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“GET UP!” Sandra thundered in a manner that though, as confusing as it made me, I was standing right next to her in seconds, whimpering.

“Remove that thing from the wall and come with me”. Sandra ordered.
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“Remove what? Ha! No o...” I thought to myself but before I could even complete that thought, Sandra’s thunderous follow ups, got me sprinting towards the wall where this item hung.
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I was hesitant to do as Sandra had ordered because, besides the fact that here I was, a very sane human being suddenly taking instructions from a verified "mad woman", the significance of this particular item was such that, I couldn’t just jump at doing as commanded.

I couldn’t have a mad woman talk me into doing something I’d lose my marriage over.

I mean, how would I explain to my husband that Sandra (the mad woman he’d known all his life) made me destroy the only wedding present we still had in our possession after all these years because of the significance at which the person that’d presented it, held in our lives?
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Hmm! This frame was an early wedding present from John’s elder sister (Aunty Juliet).

It is a picture from our pre-wedding shoot.

A single picture that turned out to be the best shot John and I had ever posed for.

We love this frame so much. We hung it in our room, on the wall just opposite our bed.
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I am talking about the only woman in the family that I can literally do anything for.

All aunty Juliet needed to do was just ask and I’d go to any length just to please her.

This is all because of the love and acceptance Aunty Juliet have shown me since the very first day John introduced me to the family.
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Aunty Juliet is just beautiful, both in and out. She’d always take my side during a fight with John (her brother).

Aunty Juliet is that one woman I could go to; talk to; pour my heart out to in whatever form, however I was feeling without the fear of being judged or misinterpreted.
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I never had to bother being ashamed, no matter how dirty what I needed to talk about was, with Aunty Juliet.
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Aunty Juliet and I were that close, primarily because I don’t have parents or any sibling left alive.

Aunty Juliet is more of an immediate family member to me than a sister in-law.
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Sandra had angrily begun advancing towards me before I fearfully retrieved this frame.
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Instead of walking towards the exit door like Sandra had earlier ordered, I proceeded to point the frame at her (out of fear).

The scornful look Sandra gave me in response to this, had me immediately retracting my hand and just walking behind her, as commanded.
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“Break it! Burn it! Break it! Burn it! Break it! Burn it! Break it! Burn it! Break it! Burn it! Break it! Burn it!” was all Sandra was singing onwards.

At this point, because of how dramatic Sandra had become, I didn’t need too much motivation to do what I obviously needed to.
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Smashing that frame to the floor is the last clear memory I have of that moment.

Everything else is blurry.
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I blurrily remember feeling as though a strong force detached my body.

I blurrily remember suddenly feeling as though drunk. I couldn’t stand properly; I couldn’t hear a single thing. I saw Sandra’s lips parting for words but unlike prior to this moment where I could hear her mutters and chatters, everything was now radio silent.
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I blurrily remember Sandra opening the keg I’d brought kerosene in.

I remember Sandra motioning at the shattered frame, probably directing me on what to do with the kerosene she’d now handed me.

I remember pouring the kerosene on the frame, while still on spaghetti legs.

I remember Sandra handing me the matches and signaling me to light and throw.

I blurrily remember doing all of that and that was it.
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I woke up to observe that a huge crowd had now gathered.

The sun was blinding.

I was confused and scared at the same time.
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Though everyone seemed to be talking, I could barely hear a thing.

I tried to open my eyes in readjustment.

I tried to strain my ears to pick up a word; anything at all.

I tried to make my way up; to understand what exactly was going on.
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I finally did and to my utmost surprise, I was not even the one that'd attracted this much crowd.

As a matter of fact, no one even seemed to notice that I was awake.

To be continued...

Part 4

Nothing about Sandra's utterances made any sense to me.
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"Go inside where? Bring what out? Break wetin, Sandra?" Was all I could scream as loud as my lungs could project. Probably in my bid to let Sandra know that I was not being adamant in carrying out her instructions, it's just that I had no idea what she was talking about.
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I'd hoped that this would probably get Sandra to being specific with whatever it was she was trying to tell me but it didn't.

The more I asked for clarity, the more her whip landed on my body.

Each strike was more intense than the last.
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Sandra had had me in one spot for a little over two minutes now, whipping me mercilessly without any effort from me to even, at least, defend myself.
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I'd thought about defending myself before.

Hey! I'd even tried one time to be defensive but that only ended up infuriating Sandra even more.

"See this mad woman o. You say suffer no dey tire you, abi? You wan fight me ba? You wan show me say you sabi fight; say you get power, abi? But why na only my power you get? Na only me you fit show? If you strong like that, you no supposed dey where you still dey like this na!"
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It was after that one failed attempt that I resolved to simply protect myself from Sandra's lashes by shielding my face or any other body part that Sandra's whip could leave a lasting mark on, as best as I could until she hopefully tires out.
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From all indications, Sandra was not done with me.

I was not moving a muscle towards the right direction; towards any direction even (besides shield my face) so I guess Sandra assumed that this tactics of hers was not working; she was not getting through to me in the way she'd probably hoped, so she decided to change tactics.
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Sandra threw the whip she had in hand down.

This was rather confusing.

I tried to wrap my head around what was going on.

Even though this was what I'd wanted, I still wasn't sure it was actually happening.
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I didn't know whether or not Sandra had indeed, tired out and would be leaving our compound right that moment or even better, whether or not Sandra was now going to be more specific about what she'd been blabbing about now.

I wish it was any of the above.
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Sandra dropped her whip and began using her bare hands on me.

Sandra was throwing those punches violently at me with everything she's got in such a manner that again, anyone who'd seen this would have easily assumed me a thief; a husband snatcher or even worse, the cause of Sandra's madness.
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Sandra's facial expression at this point; the whole time, was now more of frustration.

"Na life you dey leave so? Shey you know say as you dey like this ehn, you be empty vessel? You just dey waka among who dey live but me and you know say no be life be this. So if I decide to kee you now, for here, I'll actually be doing you a favor. I'll be saving you from the torment of having to wake up to your present situation, every morning."
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Sandra suddenly stopped punching me. Her neck began to turn in all directions as though in search of something. When her eyes supposedly landed on what she seeked, she dashed towards the location and behold, just like a scene from a horror movie, Sandra reemerged with a machete in hand.
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I was too weak; in so much pain to even do anything at this point.

I swear I couldn't feel most part of my body, my legs especially prior to this moment but at the sight of Sandra approaching me with a machete in hand, how I sprung up and dashed into the closest place I thought could be my shield from this crazy; mad woman is still a misery to this day.
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I sprung up and dashed into the room my husband and I shared.

I was too terrified to even know to shut the door behind me, which was supposed to be the point of running in here in the first place.
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Sandra was now dramatically walking towards me, slowly paced.

"Bring it out! Break it! Burn it! Bring it out! Break it! Burn it!" Was all I could make out of Sandra's mutter, as she approached me with that machete in hand.
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"I beg you in God's name, Sandra. Just tell me what you want me to bring out and I will. I am tired. I am too weak. Please don't do this. Sandra please. Sandra No! Please! PLEEAAASE!"

To be continued...

Part 3


The way Sandra went at this, it was obvious that she had no plans to stop, anytime soon.
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As i laid on that floor rolling from end to end screaming, scratching, clawing and begging Sandra to let me be, I tried to look around to see if I would luckily see someone; anyone at all who would either come to my aid or help raise an alarm (to be delivered from Sandra) but there was no one in sight.
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Sandra kept on lashing at me while still maintaining her scornful facial expression.

Deep into this act, Sandra began to mutter words I had to listen very carefully to make something out of.

"Shey you dey like sufferness? Stupid woman! Mad woman! Suffer no dey tire you, abi? I go beat that crase commot your body today. Yeye dey smell."
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The more Sandra muttered these words, the more aggressively she lashed at me. When it dawned on me that it was unwise to expect that Sandra would eventually get tired and let me go, I managed to make it to my feet before I took to my heels.

Again, Sandra took to chasing.
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I was running and screaming my lungs out yet, for some reason, no one seemed to either hear me; be around to help me or maybe they just didn't want to be a part of this.

I'd rounded my house in two laps before I remembered that the right thing to do was probably try to open the gate, then run in.

I'd hoped that it'll keep Sandra out when I did but I was never as wrong.
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I was the only person left at home before I'd decided to go out to pluck those leaves for herbs. I'd just locked the gate with a padlock when Sandra earlier attacked me.

For fear and the agonizing pain every lash from Sandra's whip was sending all over my body, it took me a while before I found the right key to the gate and another minute or two just to open it.

Immediately I made it inside the compound, I attempted to close the gate behind me, with the intention to shut Sandra out but that didn't work.
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Sandra flung open our gate effortlessly with one hand; in a single push.
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I've always heard that mad people's strengths are unreal. Sandra confirmed that, that day.
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The horror at the sight of this; the shock, got me tripping over again but because I was more than determined to get as far away from Sandra (even though at the moment, that seemed very impossible), I managed to get to my feet again.
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At this point, I'd run out of breath.

I should be too tired to even move a muscle.

It was very obvious that I was now operating on pure adrenaline and even at that, I think at this point, I was already exhausting my adrenaline's "reserve".
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Sandra boxed me in and began another round of violently flogging me silly.
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Then Sandra again began to mutter words.

This time around, they were directions.

"Get inside! Bring it out! Break it! Burn it! Get inside! Bring it out! Break it! Burn it!"

To be continued...

Before I could even get the chance to ask Sandra what she'd meant by those words, she'd long let go of her grip on me and in seconds, transitioned into what we've always known her to be (a mad woman).
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I got home that day completely spent.

Besides the fact that the little I'd managed to gather (in arms) at the market was barely enough to feed one person, Sandra's words kept ringing in my ears.

I didn't know what to make of it.

"Was she just in her usual mad woman mode? Maybe she was just being dramatic and none of those words really mean anything." I thought to myself.

But she'd touched a lot of sensitive spots in my personal life; points that just couldn't have been sheer coincidence.
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For some reason, I couldn't discuss Sandra with my husband or anyone for that matter.

I mean, how do I tell them that the mad woman they've known all their lives told me something that was worth pondering over?
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For the weeks that followed, I barely slept at night. I was usually awake, wondering; trying to figure out what Sandra could have been trying to tell me.

I barely went the whole day without Sandra's words ringing in my ears (literally).

“I weep for you Juliet! Indeed, you have really suffered. The heart man is terrible but you had to have been a fool not to have seen this coming. You are a fool to have assumed that everyone can be as pure as you at heart. Only if you knew! Only if you knew that the root of your problem has been staring you right in the face; every second by the minute of every hour, for the past eleven years. Only if you knew! Get rid of it and you’ll be shocked how much goodness you and your husband will experience in such a short period of time”.

These words almost ran me mad.

I almost went nuts, trying to decipher it.
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At first, I tried to interpret Sandra's words in a "literal" term but those words led me to a part I knew couldn't have been right.

I narrowed it to a couple of options and seated at the top of it was John, my beloved husband.
So you see why I couldn't have believed that Sandra spat those words with no special coding to it?
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A whole year passed and as expected, our situation worsened.

The one room apartment that John inherited at his family house now seemed too big for us because of how empty it had became.

We obviously had no properties to our name and we barely even had three pairs of clothes, each.

We'd sold the ones that we could while others had worn out, leaving us with what everyone now referred to as "wash and wear".
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I woke up this particular day feeling uneasy. I felt sick and knew that I needed to treat myself early, else I risk breaking down. Since we couldn't afford proper medication, I decided that I was going to pluck some leaves and hopefully, concoct something out of it.

I dressed up and set out.

I reached for our gate and threw it open but the moment I made to turn back around after I'd short it close, rains of lashes began to fall on me.

Whip from all angles landed on me, sending unimaginable pain through my entire body.

This person was lashing at me so mercilessly, you'd have assumed that I'd stolen something very important.
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I managed to look up; at least to see the face of my attacker and to my horror, it was Sandra.
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Sandra was flogging me with all her might and the scorn she had on her facial expression was one I couldn't understand.

But I couldn't wait to ask.

I ran as fast as my legs could carry, yet Sandra wouldn't let me be.

She ran after me.

For fear; shock and irrational thinking, I ran passed my house

Sandra continued in her chase.

I ran as fast as my legs could go (which was not far by the way) before I tripped over, giving Sandra a perfect opportunity to finish what she'd started.
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And No! None of these was a dream.

To be continued...

I’ve come to accept the fact that my husband and I might just be cursed.
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Since the very day we got married, it has been from one bad situation to the other for us.

It’s been eleven years and our situation is only getting worse by each passing day.
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People have even gotten tired of pointing accusing fingers at me.
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My husband was doing very fine before we got married. So I guess it was just normal for people to have assumed that the drastic “nose dive” in his affairs had everything to do with me.
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"She has very bad luck! She is possessed! She has a spirit husband!” Are words on the street, referencing me.
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It was the very next day after our wedding that my husband lost his job.

Prior to this sack, he had taken a loan to facilitate a project and had used his house as collateral.

Our house was repossessed along the line because of my husband's inability to pay his debt.
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My husband had to sell his car too at some point. He used some of the money he realized from this sale to set up a business for me but this business crashed before it even began.
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For this eleven years, I've never even for once had a miscarriage. Not even one.

You know, at least, that would have even given us something to hold on to; something to keep us hopeful.
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I was called barren. I was called a witch. I was accused of eating my unborn children.

I was called a lot of unprintable names.
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We'd gone from one prayer house to the other and for the past eleven years, our condition has only worsened by the day.
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We now feed from hand to mouth.

Any day we get to eat twice a day, we have to give a special thanks to God almighty because days like that are very rare.
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On my way from the market one day (where I’d gone to beg for whatever I could lay my hands on), a firm grip to my hand snapped me back to consciousness. Apparently, I’d drifted away again in thought.

This was something I did a lot.
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Jerking from the scare that this firm grip had caused, my eyes went wide in utmost shock to the discovery of who exactly had gotten a hold of my hand in that grip.

It was Sandra, the very popular mad woman in our neighborhood.
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It is one thing to have been assumed a witch all these years, primarily for the circumstances that'd surrounded my life but another thing entirely to be seen with Sandra, interacting in any form.
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I tried with all my might to break loose of Sandra's grip but I couldn’t.
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Sandra went ahead to utter words that ought to have been nonsensical; random. Words that ought to have been as crazy as she is but yet, these words were soul piercing; hair raising; mind bugging.

These words were to leave me spellbound and more curious than I've ever been in my entire life.
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“I weep for you Juliet! Indeed, you have really suffered. The heart man is terrible but you had to have been a fool not to have seen this coming. You are a fool to have assumed that everyone can be as pure as you at heart. Only if you knew! Only if you knew that the root of your problem has been staring you right in the face; every second by the minute of every hour, for the past eleven years. Only if you knew! Get rid of it and you’ll be shocked how much goodness you and your husband will experience in such a short period of time”.