35

The chilly wind of Taraba woke her up and she felt like the pain, the ache and heartbreak through her soul in full force. She couldn’t live a finger and she sat there unmoving as she watched the sky getting clearer with each passing minute. She was only crying, not that she felt the pain in her heart but because she figured it was only natural for her to cry over this. One of the residents came walking around when he spotted Aisha and he seemed to be terrified. He spoke to her but there were only tears from her eyes, and that made him realized she couldn't speak. He rushed to the house down their floor and called his wife.

They rushed back together to where Aisha was laid, his wife assisted him and they rushed Aisha into his car. She was taken to the hospital by them and the Doctors didn’t want to accept her until the man told them she was sick and came out looking for someone to help her when she rolled down the stairs. Aisha got treated and she was sedated before sleep took over her chaotic mind. The man and wife went back to their house and the wife made breakfast for Aisha before they drove back into the hospital.

It was until hours that Aisha woke up and she kept looking around the room, flustered. It took her sometime before she recalled what happened to her, but what appealed her more was her freedom that she finally got back. It was now that she got hold of the words he had uttered while she was painfully rolling down the staircases. “You’re an ungrateful bitch, and if you’re not a prostitute; don’t go back to my family. Go and find your own family too. They’re just like you too, ingrateful and a bunch of fools. Go back to your family and see the kind of life you’ll live. A miserable and penniless life!”

The wife rushed towards Aisha and she helped her sat upright, “How are you feeling now? Much better? May you recover soon.” She patted her shoulder but all Aisha could do was stare at her beautiful face.

The woman came closer and took hold of Aisha’s hand, “Please don’t be scared. My name is Hajar, my husband found you lying unconscious in the down flow floor. We live on the same block. Should I call the doctors for you?” She asked, yet again. Aisha shook her head and kept looking at the door, afraid that Abba,might appear out of nowhere and go away with her.

“You shouldn’t be afraid, you’re safe now. What do you want to eat?” Aisha only stared at Hajar as she served to her whatever she wanted and fed her herself. It was afraid the doctors had come and gone back to their office that Hajar’s husband came into the room.

Aisha could only mumble her lips as a way of greeting for him when he looked her way. They seemed to have heard it all, maybe not just yesterday but everyday Abba decided to unleash his beast on it. The sympathetic glances they were flashing Aisha were too much that she felt as though she was going to strain herself down the bed and disappear from the world. She didn’t speak until Hajar’s husband said, “I think you need to give us your husband’s phone number so we tell him the condition you’re in. That way he shouldn’t be agitated while looking for you.”

She shook her head vehemently and spoke, “You shouldn’t…please. He’s going…to end my life here.” They flashed her confused glances but the matter took off after that because he nodded his head in an understanding manner.

Aisha stayed at the hospital until after four days and she was discharged. Hajar had been taking care of her and her husband was behind the bills and everything. She can never be even more grateful to them, they owed her a lot. They took her to their house and Aisha felt a pang of fear when she saw her own house in view. His house. She corrected herself.

She was still not feeling anything, all that she had been monotoning in her mind was Abba had divorced her and asked her to park out of his house and she shouldn’t go back to his family if she were proud of who she was. The next day Hajar sat down beside her and smiled, “Aisha, I get it maybe you guys had a misunderstanding or something, but you can’t stay away from your matrimonial home for too long. You have to go back, please?”

Aisha gulped down a lump in her throat and smiled bitterly, “He has divorced me, Hajar. I think the only thing that will make me go into that house is to get my things then I go back home.” And she did just like that, she went in together with Hajar at night and packed all that belonged to Aisha. They made no memories there, and that made it a lot easier for Aisha.

The next morning Hajar and her husband took her to the car park early in the morning and paid for her transport fare back to Bauchi, he gave her some money also to keep for herself. She thanked them and hugged Hajar. “Thank you so much, Hajar. I think you’re the best human I’ve ever met. I won’t forget you, Insha Allah.” Aisha’s car took off from the park under the pitiful eyes of Hajar and her husband.

That was a new phase, Aisha thought as she closed her eyes and leaned more onto her chair. She knew she was supposed to be crying non-stop, but she felt there was only a little to be crying for. When they arrived in Bauchi, she took a cab and asked him to take her to Mommy’s house, it was a step she took with so much aplomb. He said she shouldn’t go back to his family, and she promised herself not to. She’d rather live with her prostitute of a mother than go back to the monster’s family. Yes, she knew Mama and especially Nasir didn’t deserve that from her, but that’s just how she felt towards him and his family.

She got down from the cab and walked softly to the huge gate. She stood and stared at the gate and smiled bitterly at herself, this was the right spot she saw Mommy together with two men as she answered her unvoiced questions She pushed that thought aside and brought back the good memories of Mommy that she have. Trudging to the gate, she got down on her knees and scavenged for the extra key they always kept below the gate in case someone had lost his own while he was ou. The night was still young, and she knew it would be a miracle for Mommy to be home by now.

She can just get in and get herself ready in her room, and when Mommy is back, she can act as if nothing had ever happened, and she wasn't away from home for years. That might be hard, but she can give it a try. She brought her hands back to herself and there was no key there. She knew knocking on the gate was pointless, so she pulled her trolly to the mall.

As soon as she entered, Bilya caught a glimpse of her and rushed to where she was standing, “My Allah! Aisha?!” He asked, unsure of who the girl standing beside him was. The whole area knew that she was abducted for a year and they concluded that she might have been killed.

She flashed him a rueful smiled and shifted onto her left feet, “Bilya has Mommy bee around recently, please?” She asked.

He shook his head silently and smiled. “Aisha, your Mommy sold out that house five months after you were nowhere to be found. I guess it was hard for her to live where you lived while knowing you were killed. But how comes? You escaped?”

Aisha felt a tightening in her chest and she nearly lost her balance. She felt as the bags under her eyes deepened and she felt more hollow from her inside. “Please Bilya, do you know where she lives now?” She asked with so much eagerness. Knowing of their acquaintance with him, Mommy might’ve told him where she relocated to.

“I don’t know, Aisha. She spoke to no one about it, you know she doesn’t interact with people so much. We knew when we saw a truck taking all your belongs. You might’ve seen someone from the new occupants of the house if you knocked.” He was sure he saw a meteor of pain ran across her eyes before she closed her eyes and gripped the wall she was leaning on.

“Thank you so much, Bilya. Don’t tell anyone about me please, I’ll take my leave now.” She turned around and left, not minding how Bilya had been calling her back. She hailed a cab and sat back on the seat, closing her aching eyes.

“Where am I taking you, Hajia?” The cab driver asked for the umpteenth time, they had been roaming around the town for almost ten minutes with no precise location to drop her.

She looked up and her lips uttered the address of Baba’s guest house. That was the only place she knew after Mommy’s house and Mama’s. She didn’t know where to find Mommy, and going back to Mama’s house was like stabbing herself twice from the back. That was the only place she could stay without anyone knowing about her whereabouts. She had wished to hide away from the world, and now she would even more peacefully. She didn’t want Nasir together with her, she had to fill up this hollow soul of hers.

When she got down, she looked around and the people were praying their Isha prayer. She knew the gatekeeper was also in the mosque and that made it even more convenient, he wouldn’t testify that she was in the house when she was being looked for. Because she knew Mama would raise an alarm when she called Abba thrice and he didn’t connect her with her. She slipped into the house as silently as she could and stared at the main entrance.

She put her hand in her bag and pulled out the key to the house. It had been with her from the day she got married to Abba after she was conveyed into the house. She was the wife of the house and hence she was handed the keys. Abba had his keys too, but she knew he would never come to this house for the time being. She had to stay here before she found a way out for herself.

She unlocked the house and got inside. She walked directly to her room and sat down at the edge of her be. Everywhere was dusty and gloom, just like her heart was or even more. She stood up and walked towards the frame Fatime hung for her the day she was brought in this house and she dusted it off with her hands. ‘May you be my wife in Jannah.’ She read the last sentence and a painful smile carved itself on her lips. “Ameen,” She softly muttered and sat down back with a heavy breath.

She took a look around the room and started calculating the first things to clean off, which to dust and which to wash. This was all an excuse to evade from the horrific battle she was having in her mind. It was too loud, too painful and crowdy that she didn’t think she can pull through.

She washed the toilet first and had her bathe before she had her bathe and prayed. She cleaned her room after that, despite how she was tired, sick and wanted nothing but to lay down and silently feel as her thoughts surge through everywhere in her soul and end her life. The rest of the house can wait till after tomorrow. She moved to the kitchen and made a snappy dinner for herself, what she was glad for was that the store was fully stocked with foodstuffs Baba bought for them and also the fridge had all that she will need in cooking ingredients.

She was finally done and as she snuggled her head into her pillow, her hands holding the edges of her duvet, Aisha silently felt tears gushing down her eyes. They were tears for the loss of Mommy, tears for the life she had lived and the one she was yet to uncover. She broke down completely and cried until she felt her lungs tightening and she stopped herself from crying too hard. She was just a twenty years old girl, but the moments she had spent in her life felt like forever to her. She had lived the life of a fifty years old woman in what seemed less than three years.

❃

Today was the naming ceremony of the child Firdausi had given birth to, she was a little beautiful girl. She was named Farha. Firdausi came back home for the delivery, it was only tradition to give birth at home for the first time but Mama was so persistent that Khalid had to let her come back home for the delivery.

Firdausi looked up at Mama with a worried expression on her face when she walked in, “Mama, Khalid just called me now that more of his relatives are on their way. The house is already full as it is.”

Mama’s lips hung down as she sat down beside Firdausi, she dramatically brought her hands to her chest and sighed. “Oh ni Maryama, can someone please help me tell these people that this isn’t a wedding but just a naming ceremony?” Even though panicked, Firdausi had to laugh at the face Mama made.

Nasir walked in and met them like that, he sat down while playing with Farha, “What happened, Mama? Why do you seem agitated?” He asked, not looking up from Farha’s face.

“Nasir, can you drive back to Kano today?” He looked startled.

“What? Someone died or is dying?” They all laughed and Mama shook her head at him.

“No one is dying. More of Khalid’s relatives will soon arrive and I have nowhere to take them but your chamber, that can’t happen when you’re around.” Mama answered and Nasir looked relieved.

“Oh, I’ll go and clear some of my things then. I can go to Abba’s house since they aren’t allowed. I’ll only be here for two more days, it’s only because I love this little pumpkin.” He pinched Farha’s cheeks and laughed at the childly gurgle she made.

“Or you love her mother so much.” Firdausi chirped in, smiling mischievously.

“Keep dreaming.” He glared at her and walked out of the house. As soon as he left the room he walked directly to his and moved away from all the things he new would catch their attention from his room and sat down at the edge of his bed. He picked up the frame Aisha gave him on his 25th Birthday. He always walked around with this. Sometimes it spent months in his office, but sometimes he took it back home. But it was constant that whenever he was either going to Bauchi or Katsina, he took the frame with him.

‘I love you so much-Dr, Allah hears that a lot.’ He read the last line and smiled sadly to himself. It had been long, but he still couldn’t get Aisha out of his mind. Still couldn’t believe she wasn’t his. “I’ll forever love you, Aisha.” He mused to himself and brought the frame to his chest.