*
"Afrah, dear?" His voice came from the stairs.
"Yes?" Afrah dropped the remote she had been holding and hurried in the direction of his voice.
"When did you wake up?" he asked as she reached him. He was fully dressed, and seemed to be heading out.
"Just now," she replied, staring down at her feet.
"I seem to have forgotten my phone in my room, and I'm in a hurry. It's in my bedside drawer upstairs," he smiled sweetly at her. "Be a good girl and bring it to me quickly, will you? I'll be outside by the car."
Afrah nodded and hurried up the stairs, her beaded hair bobbing up and down as she did. She was eager to come back down and continue watching the animated movie she was so heavily invested in. 'A Bug's Life' had always been her favorite movie of all time.
The room was cold and dark, with the curtains drawn and the air conditioner cranked up to the maximum setting. She briefly wondered why he had his curtains drawn in broad daylight, when the sun was shining so brilliantly outside.
Her eyes fell on the drawer he was referring to, and she tiptoed towards it, afraid of breaking the seemingly sacred silence of the bedroom.
Oddly enough, the drawer was empty when she pulled it open. Afrah furrowed her brows in confusion, scratching her head. He had told her that his phone was in here, so where else could it be? She walked around the bed to the other drawer and opened it, but the only thing inside was the remote for the television.
The door opened behind her suddenly, and she jumped slightly. She relaxed however when she saw the familiar face.
"The drawer is empty," she said. "And I can't see the phone anywhere else."
He didn't reply. There was something odd about the way he was looking at her, with a shadow over his eyes. He took a step towards her, tugging at his collar. Afrah took a step back, uncomfortable with the way he stared.
"Don't scream, little girl," he said as he quickly pulled his shirt off in one fluid motion. "This will be over before you even know it."
*
*Afrah always liked the feel of the wind in her hair. It made her feel lighter, as though she didn't have any care in the world. There were times when she imagined a powerful gust of wind blowing through the earth and lifting her off her feet, into the oblivion which lay just beyond her reach.It was a typi
*Barely a few minutes after joining her mother in the kitchen, Afrah began to smell like the spices and seasonings she was using in the food. For this precise reason, she had chosen to leave the veil in her room, having wrapped her favorite and very casual-looking black scarf around her hair instead.
*It was a Saturday just like any other, and an ordinary man in his ordinary car had just dropped off his extraordinary daughter at the gates of his brother's house, on a very ordinary afternoon."Remember to behave yourself, Afrah," he had said to her as she looked up at the house. "Remember your manners, and don't do anything that would make me or Umma angry. Do you understand?" 
*Amina stepped into the room silently, pausing when she saw Afrah blinking at the ceiling. The latter briefly glanced at her before she resumed her pointless stare."How are you feeling?" Amina asked, moving towards her.
*"So," Fahad said the moment he shut the door behind him, "apparently you're my cousin."Afrah didn't reply as she walked towards the car, her heart threatening to burst from her chest.
*There was something about Kano that always made Afrah smile. For the better part of her life, she'd tried to figure out why she always felt giddy and excited whenever she found herself drawing closer and closer to the city. Alas, the mystery remained to be unravelled.Perhaps it was the simplicity in
*Monday - the bane of Afrah's existence - came so swiftly that she was left wondering where the time had flown to. It seemed just like yesterday when she was returning to her parent's home, and yet here she was now, driving into the gates of Bayero University Kano."Good morning, miss," the security m
*The theatre was a large and partially curved hall, not fully a semicircle but very nearly so. Several rows of seats were arranged so they curved with the building, facing inward towards a raised podium on which six plush, brown seats were arranged. All around the hall, several banners had been strung over the many doors, bearing the symbol of a woman extending a small bundle to a little girl, against a green backdrop.