(...continued)
“O my God!”
she exclaimed.
“What is
it?” Cynthia asked.
“I have 35
missed calls and 13 messages.”
“From your
friends?”
“Let me
check.”
Mabel
went through the ‘missed calls’ and ‘SMS’ list.
“Yes,” she
answered. “They are from my friends, especially Glory. Your ‘missed call’ is
here too.”
“Ok. What
are the messages about?”
“Let me
read them.”
Mabel
read the messages out. Apart from three that were unsolicited messages, the
rest where her friends asking about her welfare.
“Since when
did Ebere start sending me SMS?” Mabel asked after reading one message and
hissed. “She is just looking for gossip from my mouth.”
“Na so.”
“She must
be laughing where she is.”
“Don’t mind
her. Please continue reading.”
Mabel
continued until she read all of the messages.
“What do I
do now?” she asked.
“About?”
“About the
missed calls and the messages.”
“Return the
calls.”
“No. I am
not in the mood for that.”
“Then reply
the messages.”
“Is it
necessary?”
“Yes it is.
They will be very worried by now.”
“Oya do it for me.”
She
gave Cynthia her phone.
“Tell them
I am fine but I need some time alone,” she told Cynthia.
Cynthia replied all the messages.
Some of them called back.
“Don’t pick
any call o!” Mabel told her.
Glory
didn’t stop. She kept calling.
“You can’t
ignore her call,” Cynthia told Mabel.
“Ohhm. Okay
you can answer the call.”
Cynthia
picked and told Glory that Mabel was not in the mood to pick calls but Glory
insisted on speaking with Mabel. Mabel hissed and took the phone from Cynthia. She
reassured Glory that she was fine as Glory tried to cheer her up. When Glory
realized Mabel was truly not in the mood for calls, she promised to come and see
her the following day, and then hung up.
“Please
don’t pick any other call,” Mabel told Cynthia, giving the phone back to her.
“What about
mummy?”
“Call her
let me speak with her.”
“You are
sure your voice will not betray you?”
“No. If she
picks up signal of anything wrong, I will tell her I have cough. Simple.”
Their
mother answered her phone and Cynthia gave it to Mabel. She spoke with her mum
with as much calmness as she could muster, yet her mum sensed that something
was wrong and asked her what the matter was. Mabel covered up immediately with
her ‘cough’ story which her mum bought. She promised to see her mum the
following day, in the evening. Her mum reminded her to be in church for the
Sunday service. Then she hung up. She gave the phone back to Cynthia.
“Please
plug it back to charge,” she said and lay on the bed.
Cynthia plugged the phone back to
charge, put it back on silent mode and lay beside Mabel on the bed. Soon, Mabel
slept off. Cynthia surfed the internet for a while and slept off too.
That
night was a terrible night for Mabel. She had a rough sleep. She had nightmares
and kept turning from side to side. Cynthia was woken up by her moaning. She
felt sorry for her sister who was visibly in pain. She checked the time. It was
3:11 am. She decided not to sleep so as to watch Mabel. However, she couldn’t
cheat nature and so slept off. The next time she woke up, it was the sound of
the bathroom door that woke her. She turned to where Mabel was lying and didn’t
see her. She jumped up from the bed and checked the time. It was 5:54 am. She rushed
to the bathroom, pushed the door open and met Mabel washing her hands.
“O sorry.”
Cynthia said and went out, but stood by the door.
“Mcheew.”
Mabel hissed and smiled. “My body guard. What are you thinking?”
“Don’t mind
me.”
“If I still
wanted to kill myself, I would have done it since. Do you know how many times I
got up in the night?”
Mabel
came out.
“I couldn’t
sleep,” she said.
“At all at
all?”
“Anytime I
slept, I would have a bad dream and wake up.”
“So sorry.”
“I am glad
you stayed with me. The nightmares got me scared but whenever I opened my eyes
and saw you, I relaxed.
“Don’t
worry, you will be fine. It is just a matter of time.”
Mabel
looked out of the window. Darkness was speedily giving way to daylight.
“It is
almost dawn,” she said. “There is no need trying to sleep again.”
“I will
still sleep but let’s do morning devotion first,” Cynthia suggested.
“You and
sleep.”
“What can
one do?”
“Then
sleep. When you wake up we will do our devotion.”
“Let’s do
it now. No need waiting.”
“Today is
Sunday na. Every devotion will be
done in church.”
“Are you
going with me?”
“I am not
sure.”
“Then let
us do the devotion briefly.”
They got their Bibles and got set
to start. When they knelt down to pray, there was a knock on the door. They
paused for a while. The knock came again but this time it was accompanied by
the voice of a woman calling Mabel.
“It is Mama
Risi,” Mabel said and got up from her kneeling position.
“What will
she want at this time of the morning?” Cynthia asked.
“I don’t
know. She always comes to ask for one thing or the other but she came too early
today. I just hope all is well.”
Mabel
opened the door and met Mama Risi dressed for church holding a gele material.
“Good
morning ma,” Mabel greeted her.
“Morning my
dear,” Mama Risi said. “Sorry for disturbing you this early.”
“Is it the gele?”
“Yes o. My
daughter mistakenly spoilt the one you tied for me last time.”
“Risi sef. Always spoiling your things.”
“My dear eh.”
“Come in.”
Mabel
stepped aside and let her into the room.
“Good
morning ma,” Cynthia greeted, still clutching her bible.
“Morning
Cynthia. Oh, I interrupted your morning devotion? So sorry.”
“No problem
ma.”
“Today you
are going to church this early,” Mabel said. “What happened?”
“I need to
be in first service,” Mama Risi replied. “So I can meet up with preparations
for my village association meeting in the afternoon.”
“Ok.
Mabel
brought a chair to the center of the room and asked Mama Risi to sit. She took
the gele material from her.
“Do you
need mirror?” Cynthia asked her.
“Not
really. I am not doing a professional one. Just something simple and good
enough for a Sunday service.”
“I want to
look fine o.” Mama Risi interjected. “So as I am passing, other women will be
looking at me.”
“I know,”
Mabel said, laughing. “I will do a nice one for you.”
“I forgot
to check the gele until very late
last night, and there was no way I could come to disturb you by that time.”
“Mama Risi
please stop explaining and keep your head straight,” Mabel said and started
working on the gele.
As
Mabel tied the gele, Mama Risi gave
them tit bits on some neighbourhood gossip while Mabel and Cynthia fueled the
gist with questions.
“What are
people saying about me?” Mabel asked.
“A lot o,”
Mama Risi said. “Especially yesterday.”
Mabel’s heart skipped a beat.
(...to be continued...)
Nedu Isaac
For the continuation, click here
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