Muhammad carelessly walked to her bedroom making sure to scatter the petals with his feet as he moved, Amirah stood gazing at the sumptuous dinner arrangement. Muhammad came into the dining room and blew out the candles, packed them all and disposed of them in the bin.
"What are you doing?" She'd asked in a low voice, he ignored her.
After he was done disposing of the candle and the huge bouquet of flowers which had been on the table, he sat down and began to eat. She quietly sat down too and dished food for herself, he'd prepared jollof•••• •••• •••• ••••The week was the longest for Amirah, it dragged on slowly and the only thing she had to look forward to was the memorial/celebration party coming up during the weekend. Maybe she'll make new friends and she'll even talk to one or two people about getting a job with her certificate.Muhammad was out of the question now because after their talk orhis talkrather because she'd only nodded her heard wordlessly and then escaped into the safety of her room when he was done, she hadn't seen much of him.He was always gone before she woke up and he came back late, long after she'd retired in her room but she could hear him as he tried to noiselessly go about his business.In as much as she hated it all, she was glad, at least he'd given her a breathing space. She wasn't sure she
•••• •••• •••• ••••Muhammad was livid but he was still trying his best to look calm, the party was going on in full swing unaware of the turmoil going on in his head."Please stay away from my wife." He said glaring at Ummul Khair, she gave him a confused look in reply."I'm escaping from this." Muhammad turned his glare to Abubakar who had already walked away from them. The idiot had been hovering over him and,Amirah all night but when he was actually needed, he just escaped."I didn't say anything to her, you were the one who'd started acting weird and said the party was large." She bursted into laughter and Muhammad mentally groaned. He felt foolish right after his large comment which had been accompanied by nerve-wrecking unnecessarily stuttering.He had no idea why she'd affected
•••• •••• •••• ••••Amirah's fist hovered on the gate before she dropped them, she was scared and her stomach was in tight knots. This was it, Muhammad was definitely divorcing her and Baba will kill her.Hours prior.As she mopped the sitting room, Amirah's phone was placed between her ear and shoulder and her neck was bent in an awkward angle to support her multi tasking."I enjoy cooking and sketching, it comes in handy especially now that I'm always bored.""And why are you always bored? You don't have anything doing? No friends?""No... I just moved here.""Your husband doesn't let you work?"She picked up the bucket, "not really, we haven't spoken about it, it's not like we talk much about any
•••• •••• •••• ••••Amirah quickly removed her hand from AbdulRahman's grasp. Her heart rate increases and her stomach churned, the urge to throw up the chicken burger she'd so much enjoyed was becoming hard to resist.Abubakar's glare sent chills down her spine, he abruptly turned and walked out of the restaurant just as AbdulRahman had turned to see what she was looking at.Her gaze followed Abubakar outside and to her greatest shock, Muhammad came out of the car, Abubakar said something to him and then he looked towards the restaurant, Amirah quickly ducked down even though the windows were tinted and he couldn't see her.Muhammad then nodded and entered the car back, Abubakar gave one last glance at the restaurant before entering the car also and they drove away."I'm guessing one of them was your husband." AbdulR
•••• •••• •••• ••••Amirah wasn't at home or she was intentionally refusing to open up the gate so he got down and used his key to open it, Abubakar drove the key in and Muhammad locked up behind him."Where do you think your Amirah went to?"Abubakar asked teasingly, Muhammad chose to ignore him and went into the house. He knocked on the door to her room and when she didn't reply after few knocks, he poked his head into her room and called out,"Amirah?" There was no answer."Man she isn't at home, stop shouting." Abubakar said from the kitchen. Muhammad closed the door and went to meet him wondering where she could've gone to, to his best of knowledge, she didn't know anyone, she wasn't a social butterfly so she had no friends."I'm going to make noodles." Abubakar declared.
•••• •••• •••• ••••It hurts! It hurts so much. Make it stop hurting, anyone please... Help."He raped me! My brother raped me and you let him, that's what he did to me, that's what you both did to me."With that Amirah ended the call, switched off her phone and began sobbing. She was shaking as the tears poured down furiously.What did she do to deserve Hajiya as a mother? Such a callous person. Her mother was a beast, she's denied her mother's true nature for as long as she could but now it she couldn't anymore."You're just making a big deal out of something that happened years back, you and your stupid nightmares." Her mother's words echoed. She covered her ears with her hands to block out her voice but she could still hear them even louder,You and your stupid nightmar
•••• •••• •••• ••••It was evening and Amirah was still not back. Abubakar was long gone, Ummul Khair's was incessantly calling him, Amirah's phone was switched off and Muhammad was going crazy with worry.He finally picked Ummul Khair's call,"Assalamualaikum." He greeted curtly."You said you'll come. You promised!"He sighed wearily, "I'll come, just text me the address of where you are now.""Thank you." She ended the call and few minutes letter a message from her came in.He wore a black shirt over his sweatpants before picking up his car keys from his bedside and leaving the house.The drive was longer due to traffic. She didn't live that far from where the hospital they both worked at was located so he was a bit familiar with the environ
•••• •••• •••• ••••Seeing Amirah safely gladdened Muhammad more than he could imagine, he enveloped her in a hug that shocked them both.He pulled back and held her by the shoulder, "I was so worried when I came home and didn't see you."She looked different, sad. He watched her look around the compound before asking him, "have you been back home long?""No, no. I just got back. Where were you?"He saw something akin to relief cross her features, "I just went out for a stroll and got lost."He stared at her dubiously, "stroll? For how long?""Not long." She gave a small laugh, "didn't you just get back? I was out for two hours I think. What time did you get back?"He was still in shock, it took him awhile to answer her question, "I
Ya... Ya Adnan?" She asked stuttering, her eyes widened when from the moonlight illuminating the room, she noticed he was naked."sshhh..." He said quietly as his hand gently pulled her closer, she moved back from him, her heart beating fast."Wh... What are you doing?" She asked with a stutter. Amirah was sweating more now and she wanted this to be a bad dream, she also wanted to wake up from it already."Calm down, you'll enjoy it." His large palm grabbed her breast and she immediately pulled away with such force, it shocked them both.Adnan gave her a deafening slap that muted her for few seconds before she let out a scream that was interrupted with another deafening slap, she let out a whimper as tears ran down her cheeks."Ya Adnan please, please don't do this.""You'll enjoy this my little Mirah, you will."His hands were rough on her, pulling her b
April 3rd 2003"What's that noise?" Khadijah asked Amirah, they just got back from school and were yet to enter inside the house.Amirah shrugged as she chewed her biscuit nonchalantly while they both made their way into the compound.Hajiya was shouting and cursing aunty Amarya yet again, was there ever a day Hajiya didn't have an issue with aunty Amarya?"Not again." Khadijah groaned. Her mother was on a stool, sitting quietly as Hajiya dished her insults upon insults."Useless fool, stupid woman. Better go and look for where to sleep tonight because wallahi you won't step a foot inside this house." Hajiya swore. Aunty Amarya still didn't flinch.Amirah simply stared at her mother while Khadijah left and went to meet hers. Baba had travelled to Katsina the previous day, he was due to be back in one month time.She knew
"Ramadan shopping list completed!" Amirah announced before dropping the pen on the table dramatically."I've been thinking." Muhammad said coming out from the kitchen with a bowl of cereal, "we should get a house help."Amirah looked at him surprised, "why?""Which one is why?""Why should we get a house help?""Well to help you with the chores after all, we're having a baby.""Oh Allah, not again. I'm not sure yet so drop it until it's confirmed.""I can feel it, my instinct about this one is strong." Muhammad insisted with a broad smile on his face. It's been two months since Amirah had started seeing symptoms of pregnancy but she was scared of confirming so she'd told Muhammad about it yesterday and that's all he's been talking about."I'm tired of you already.""You'll come to the hospital for a test aft
•••• •••• •••• ••••Her therapist was a pleasant faced woman, she smiled at Amirah who was tell very nervous but somehow her smile seemed to ease Amirah's nerves but only a little.All along she'd kept asking herself what she was doing, numerous times she'd almost changed her mind and gone back to the safety of her home and enjoy her solitude but curiosity won against her fears so here she was in this annoyingly bright office."Hello. Please sit." She said motioning to the chair opposite her. Amirah sat down slowly."I'm Tara, how're you doing today?""I'm fine, good." Amirah said her heart racing, she wanted to leave. This wasn't right, she wasn't crazy, she should get up and leave now, Muhamm
•••• •••• •••• ••••The rest of the drive was silent, Amirah relaxed on her seat and closed her eyes listening to an old school hit playing. Muhammad regularly turned to stare at her, he felt bad about how he'd spoken to her and he didn't know what to do next.Ummul Khair was almost alone, she had sounded frightened when she'd called and he wanted to be there for her? How could he continue with his outing and go have fun knowing that someone close to him was in such state, it wasn't about him having feelings for Ummul Khair or anything of that sort, she was his friend and he wanted to be there for her.He couldn't deny that there wasn't a special tenderness he felt for her but nothing more, it may have resulted from the fact that she was always there for him and how pitifully lonely she was. She was his friend now and she knew stuff about him e
•••• •••• •••• ••••Few days after her breakdown, Amirah was feeling better, she and Muhammad planned to spend the day together doing lavish outings and she was excited for that.Muhammad had made an appointment with a therapist for her and it was in three days time, she had mixed feelings about that one but she was hopeful now that she was atleast getting somewhere."You still won't change your mind about us watching the scary..." The words died on his lips and his steps halted as he came into the room and saw Amirah's bare back, she hurriedly tried to cover up but it was too late.She'd come into the room to pick up her phone but then decided to change her blouse which was why Muhammad had barged into her room, he wasn't expecting to see her topless."What was that?" He asked coming close to her. S
•••• •••• •••• ••••Ten years ago when Adnan was a student at the Sokoto state University, he was arrested for raping a girl, his parents had paid heavily to not let the news go public and they'd also paid to have him released but his expulsion was inevitable.When he'd come back home, his mother treated him like an egg and even though Adnan had confessed to raping the girl, Hajiya insisted it was a conspiracy, that was how much she supported him in everything, she refused to believe he'd ever do anything bad without provocation. "My Adnan would never do that on his own." She'd say, "something must have happened."And when he'd started touching seve
•••• •••• •••• ••••Amirah unlocked the gate with her key, as soon as she got into the compound, she noticed Muhammad's car wasn't anywhere around indicating he wasn't in the house, she didn't know whether to be relieved or worried. Since he'd left, she had been thinking of how to resolve the issue, telling the truth wasn't an option... Apologizing seemed like the best thing but he'd requested for an explanation and in all honesty, she had none to give.She regretted what had happened with AbdulRahman, it wasn't worth the troubles aftermath. She liked her job far too much to consider quitting, working made her feel better, whenever she stayed home, her thoughts ran wild but since she'd started working and kept busy, she had buried all thoughts about her mother and brother. The only person she'd spoken to from home
•••• •••• •••• ••••"Aunty Amirah." Ife her co-worker said sashaying towards her at the canteen.Amirah sighed, "just Amirah.""You're my boss so I have to call you aunty." She said laughing as she settled herself on the seat opposite Amirah who had a plate of chips and egg and a strawberry smoothie."Is that all you're eating?" Ife asked."Yes, I get full easily." Amirah really enjoyed being alone, her team members had tried their best in the past one month to get as close to her as possible but it'd been futile. Ife stuck."So I've been hearing juicy gists o..." Ife said leaning towards her to whisper, Amirah rolled her eyes uninterested in office gossip.Ife continued "... I heard from someone who heard from someone that they've been seeing the boss in your office