You are not their mother,
You are not my mother,
You're not a mother,
You can never be a mother…
Weeks after the altercation with both Mike and my nephew, those words they'd left in wake of their cruelty still haunted me in both my sleep, my subconscious and even my wide-eyed consciousness.
I had been severely shocked at Stephen's outburst, in fact, I still was astonished, and it all led me to wondering how long he had held all those poisonous thoughts in his head. Was it because I was too strict?—not that I didn't give him his space or anything—or was it that I was not doing the raising thing well?
Mokunfayo Badmus:My vision initially blurred when I heard my brother's children call out their mother in what seemed like excitement, but when she sashayed further into the auditorium and my brother's kids rushed towards her like long lost lovers reuniting, I suddenly felt the surroundings whirling.If it wasn't for Mike suddenly appearing by my side to support my weight, there was no saying what would have happened had I fallen down the stairs and hit my head on the marble tiles the stairs had been made up of."Are you okay?" I heard a voice of Mike's worry echo from quite a distance, but I was too busy focusing on the excited giggles and hugs and kisses the trio busied themselves with to reply the man holding me to his side.And because this new intruder and the strangers
Mokunfayo Badmus:"Let's go kids," Chioma piped up as Madam Peju,the officiating ministers and the rest of our well wishers filed out of the cathedral and began to drag Stephen by the ear and Amaka by her arm towards the nearest exit in the room."If you even dare to move another inch without a permission from the children's guardian to leave with her ward, trust me when I say the consequences will be dire." And Mike was quick to respond with his infamous threats, only that this time, he looked as hell, like he wasn't going to hesitate to carry out his threat.His caveman approach to preventing the sudden exit of my latest enemy seemed to have worked perfectly, as the woman halted with shock and slight fear evident in her features.All that was until Stephen pulled out a gun
Chioma must have thought it was a ploy of mine to change her mind, for she piped up almost immediately. "Amaka is going to leave this pace with her mother–""I believe Aunt Rain has earned the right to say a proper goodbye mom. You owe her that much." I was proud of Amaka when she interrupted her mother in a polite manner. It was quite a relief that I'd at least, one of my wards has turned out fine.Chioma had no other option but to nod her approval with a watery smile plastered on her face.I blatantly refused when Mike offered to drive me and settled for hailing the next available cab I found after wobbling my way out of the cathedral with my niece in tow.The ride back to the apartment complex we sta
Mokunfayo Badmus:Chioma must have thought it was a ploy of mine to change her mind, for she piped up almost immediately. "Amaka is going to leave this pace with her mother–""I believe Aunt Rain has earned the right to say a proper goodbye mom. You owe her that much." I was proud of Amaka when she interrupted her mother in a polite manner. It was quite a relief that I'd at least, one of my wards has turned out fine.Chioma had no other option but to nod her approval with a watery smile plastered on her face.I blatantly refused when Mike offered to drive me and settled for hailing the next available cab I found after wobbling my way out of the cathedral with my niece in tow.The
Mokunfayo Badmus:Chioma must have thought it was a ploy of mine to change her mind, for she piped up almost immediately. "Amaka is going to leave this pace with her mother–""I believe Aunt Rain has earned the right to say a proper goodbye mom. You owe her that much." I was proud of Amaka when she interrupted her mother in a polite manner. It was quite a relief that I'd at least, one of my wards has turned out fine.Chioma had no other option but to nod her approval with a watery smile plastered on her face.I blatantly refused when Mike offered to drive me and settled for hailing the next available cab I found after wobbling my way out of the cathedral with my niece in tow.The ride back to the apartment complex we
Mokunfayo Badmus:I didn't understand what was going on anymore.I mean; I tried, with every brain cell I had, to comprehend what Richard was trying to tell me in the medical director's office, but it still didn't make sense.It had not even been up to four hours since I'd spoken to Bisi, yet he claimed to have met her unconscious and seriously wounded when he got to the room.Now he, in conjunction with some four eyed man that introduced himself as the medical director, was trying to convince me into giving my permission for taking my sister off life support as she would barely make it even after 'wasting' money on treatment and stuff.My fingers tightened around the piece of paper that would seal my sister's death, should I pick up a
Mokunfayo Badmus:Even though I hadn't found a way out of my recent predicaments, I still felt like a heavy load was taken off my chest when I was done sharing the past few days with Trigger.A problem shared was half solved indeed.I felt oddly at peace, surrounded by arms. I didn't mind his stench of sweat and cigarettes, I was grateful that he was there; happy that for the first time in a while, I really had a friend to lean on.That was, of course, until Almighty Mike decided to make his triumphant entry into the hospital room. He stopped short when he realised I was practically seated on Trigger's lap, on my hospital bed and cleared his throat as an order for Trigger to pull away from my embrace and bolt out of the room.
Mokunfayo Badmus:I should have been happy about Mike's absence for the past few days, I really should be, but as I brushed my hair in front of the tiny mirror of the equally tiny motel room that was now my abode, I realised that I wasn't only unhappy that he hadn't even bothered to contact me since our argument three days ago, I also missed his Almighty presence.I terribly missed him.However, I was grateful that things were beginning to look up; I'd picked off my stuff and Bisi's from Madam Peju's security point three days ago, after signing my discharge papers. I'd assured Stephen of my safety and warned him against accepting palliatives from unknown sources… from anyone basically after hearing the good news of Amaka's miraculous recovery.I'd begun online searches for aff