"...Do you plan on getting rid of us?"
That question had Temi frown deeper as she looked into her Mother's eyes.
"Mum, where did you get that, from? Where did that idea pop on from, I want to know!" Temi said.
Her mother could sense the anger in her voice she stared into her eyes.
She became quiet.
"Mum...Mum?" Temi called.
"Hm?" Her Mother answered a she looked up at her daughter.
"I said, where did you get that idea from?" He repeated.
"No one, nowhere...!" Her Mother tried to deny it.
"Mum, I'm your daughter, your firstborn girl...!" Temi said as she pouted at herself.
"I know you better than the boys of this house, I know when you're lying and when you're not...!" Temi added.
"Oh really?" Her Mother asked a bit surprised with her eyebrows raised.
Nodding, Temi answered;
"Yes, Mum, I do!"
"So can you tell me the last time you have seen me lie?" Her Mother asked trying to deviate from the topic.
"Yesterday, while you were in the kitchen, you told Dad that you were going to the market, meanwhile, you had plans for the mall...!" Temi said in a very stern voice.
Her mother was surprised.
"Ho did you know that...?" Her Mother asked.
"I'm in the same house as you, Mum, so don't try to sway away from the topic!" Temi said.
Her mother chuckled.
After some time she sighed as she looked down.
Temi looked at her, she watched her.
"I had this dream...!" Her Mother began.
Temi was all ears.
"I saw, that we were all celebrating and stuff...!"
Raising her head, she looked up and then lowered her head down a bit as she said;
"We were celebrating, we were celebrating...!" She said multiple times.
Then she was quiet, thinking whether she should say it or not.
Later, she settled for saying it.
"I saw that we were celebrating, something, we were celebrating something, and it was something huge, something magnificent, something beautiful...and it had something to do with you." She said as she pointed at Temi.
As she pointed at Temi, she turned to look at her.
Watching her, she looked away to continue her dream.
When her mother pointed at her and turned to look at her, Temi kept a straight face.
Knowing her mother, she knew your expressions firm your face.
So if you want her to know that you're not what the dream displayed as negatively, keep a straight face...
"So as we were celebrating, or about to start jumping and shouting, you moved forward as if we were sending you off to life or something...!" Her Mother said.
"So but as you moved, you turned back, and with a knife in your hand, you stabbed both I and your Father!" Temi's Mother narrated.
When she was done, she turned to look at her daughter, who appeared to be deep in thoughts with her chin resting on her fist.
After some time, Temi's Mother asked;
"That's why I want to know, do you have anything against us, Temi?"
Temi's eyes seemed to have come back to reality, because she shifted her eyes to look at her Mother, more properly.
"Do you?" Her Mother asked again.
Sighing and taking her Mother's hand into hers, Temi looked into her Mother's eyes and said;
"Mum, you're the woman that gave birth to me..." She began.
"You carried me in your womb for nine months, that's about two hundred and eighty (280) days...!" Pausing, Temi said;
"Wow, that's a long time...!" Her Mum chuckled.
"So two eighty times four, as in the four of us...!" Temi said as she began to calculate.
"That's one thousand one hundred twenty...one thousand one hundred and twenty days, a thousand and...!"
"I can't believe you carried us for that long and then I would be stupid enough to, kill you and Dad?" She asked in disbelief. l as she shook her head.
"Mum, you guys know me better than anyone else, I would never do such an irresponsible thing, that is not even in my dictionary...I don't even know how to raise a knife, talk much more if having to stab someone, much more, my parents...!"
Shaking her head as she got up from the bed and placed around the room, Temi said;
"No, I...I can't do that...I'm...I fear God, Mum, I fear God...!" Shaking her head, she said as she placed her head in her hands.
Her Mother felt her heartbreak as she stood up and headed for Temi.
Hugging her, Temi's Mother calmed her down as Temi cried.
"It's okay, Temi, it's okay, calm down, everything's alright, alright?" Her mother said as she calmed Temi down.
Amidst crying, Temi said;
"M...M...Mum!" Temi first called as she sobbed.
"You know I cannot do that...!" She said she brought herself up to look at her mother in the eye.
"You know me better than anyone to have that kind of dirty mentality."
"I can't do that, betray someone that raised me, knows me, cared for me, give broth to me, taught me...!" She said as she sniffed.
"The person that'll give me that idea or bring up that suggestion of killing anyone, anyone at all, I swear to God, I'm swearing now, I'm gonna kill that person to not spread that virus...!" Her mother laughed as she swore, as she tried to stop her.
"Baby, don't, don't swear...!" But the words have already come out of her mouth and cannot be reversed.
Refusing, Temi said;
"Mum, on this one, I am not going to listen to you in this!" She said as she turned away from her Mother, releasing herself from her Mother's hold.
Chuckling, Temi's Mother slowly followed behind her daughter.
"So if I'm the one that brought up that idea, you would kill me instead?" Her Mother asked.
The question had Temi stop and turn to look at her Mother.
"Mum, what are you saying?" She asked.
Her Mother stopped moving.
"What you're saying right now, is totally off the list!" She said.
Turning to head back to the bed, Temi gently sat down on it as she rested her chin on her interlocked fists.
Smiling as her Mother made her way towards the bed, Temi's Mother sat by her side as she placed her hand on he back and caressed her.
"Why?" She suddenly asked.
"Why what...?" Temi's Mother asked but was interrupted.
"Why did God show it?" She asked again.
"Why did he reveal it? What's the purpose of this dream, why did was it revealed?" Temi asked with anger sensed in her voice.
"If God saw any danger coming our way, why couldn't he just avert it? Why show it to us?" She said really angry.
"If God had averted it, but still want to show us that He had done it, well thank you, God, we don't need to know anymore!" She said as she looked up to the ceiling and yelled.
"Hey, hey, hey...!" Her Mother said.
"Look at me!" Her Mother said.
"Come on, I said look at me!" Her Mother said again when Temi refused to look at her.
"Look at me, Temi!" Her Mother said.
Finally, Temi succumbed and then turned to look at her mother in the eyes.
Her mother could see the pain in the eye as it broke her heart.
Maybe the way she approached the issue wasn't the best way to do it...
When Temi turned to look at her Mother, her Mother said;
"Look, it's not God's fault that the dream was revealed, okay?"
"What do you mean?" Temi asked she looked at her Mum with a frown on her face.
"Isn't God the giver of dreams, and only 'He' can give dreams, right? So why did he let the devil show this when He can avert it?" Temi asked, obviously not understanding what her Mother was saying.
"Temi, one more word, and you gonna have me believing that it was the Lord was referring to!" Her mother was stern about it this time.
Hearing this, Temi had no option but to keep shut, looking the other way in the process with tears in her eyes.
Realizing what she had said, Temi's Mother gently sighed as she looked at her daughter, who l, appeared to be in tears but was hiding it.
Sighing again, Temi's Mother said;
"Temi, I know, that, you might think that it was you that was reflected in the dream...!"
"Obviously...!" Temi said amidst sobs.
"But it's not really like that, you know...!" Her Mother said.
Turning to look at her Mother, Temi asked with a frown on her face;
"What do you mean?"
Smiling gently, Temi's Mother said;
"Don't tell me you've forgotten so easily...?" She asked.
Temi just looked at her.
Still smiling, Temi's Mother said;
"You remember that one time when you heard that you had that dream where you saw that 'you were the one that stole the teacher's iPhone and then when we told the Prophet, he was all like, it wasn't you and stuff and that they were just using your face to reflect the bad things that would possibly happen if not canceled...!" Her Mother said.