Category: SHORT STORIES

It all comes trickling back in slides. All you see is red – there is blood everywhere, lots of blood. Your blood. There is pain. Obliterating pain that rips your insides open. The type of torment that leaves you writhing and begging to die because the agony of death is far more honourable than this torture.

I remember the weight of the odikro’s hand on my shoulder, how I flinched when he squeezed and said, ‘Your life is ours.’ I thought he meant, ‘You’re a part of us.’ I felt I belonged. But five seasons later, I understood the true meaning of his words. 

I was happy she broke up with you. You came back to me and I thought the sadness would at least make you notice me. But you still didn’t.

‘It’s too early to get divorce papers! The next time you see me, it would be about time.’

But that is his job as a father, isn’t it? To see me as perfect despite the apparent alarm in his eyes when the car genuflects as I climb in.

When Neneh has gazed at the photo for up to two or three minutes, her left hand will rise to caress the long scar that stretches from her hairline to her left cheekbone. And then, the events of that fateful day will start coming back to her in hazy flashes.

“My voice is pleading to be heard by a room crowded with people. It doesn’t care if their faces are frightening or happy. It just wants to engulf the room and be listened to.”

The letter was addressed to her. Written simply on the cover, in a bold script, was: ‘A letter to August’ and on the inside: ‘I know what you did’. She lifted off the lid from the box. Lying there was a bloodied finger wearing a wedding band.

If this was what was lurking at the back of his mind, what was the point of taking the time to reflect on the situation? If you trust someone, empower this person with your loving care, accompany him/her along toil and dreams, and (s)he still looks askance in a quest for ‘other loves’, why should you stick to that person at all?