I have been indoors for about two days now, on daily basis Aunt Nkem would prepare and go for work while i stayed home with nothing to do other than loads of work. The past three days has been with nothing other than a petit meal as breakfast and nothing more for the rest of the day. I spent the better half of my day crying into my pillow as it seemed to be my onluy forte. My eyes would become all red and bulgy. This was then accompanied by a head splitting ache. My heart felt like it had a thousand swords plunged into it, my being always felt like it was going out of my body. At some point, i began to question the cxreator who took mum and dad and left me to such a cruel fate. I began wondering why dad left me without atleast a quick notice. Reminiscing over sweet memories made withg mum and dad seemed to plung my heart into great anguish'i began to contemplate suicide, but thank God for rationality, i often thought of what Helen would do and what would be grandma's lot and even how disappointed mum and dad would be if i gave up without a fight; I remembered what mum once thought me, she had said that the test of a strong and brazen spirit was time spent in tough conditions", I thought perhaps, my persistence and resistance would be my only escape route, above all, I remember God still loved me.
I had not heard from Helen since her reply letter and therefore wondered what she would be planning on doing as a line of action. I prayed day and night and hoped that she would come up quickly with solution. As I turned in bed, i fell asleep.
Half-asleep, i heard a distinct car horn, it soumded familiar, i felt very close to reality, felt far from waking up. And then it struck me, that was Aunt Nkem's car horn. I sprang up from my bed and dashed to the gate...the asaying 'once biten, twice shy sure' was true.
As i walked towards the gate, aunt Nkem walked into the compound, the look in her eyes were as hot enough to set an ice berg on fire without the need for furl or anything of the sort. I knew that look, it was a savage look before as horrific beating. Surprisingly, she did not say any curse word not toi tsalk of pouncing on me as i had expected. She pushed the gate open and slide back into the driver's seat of her car and drove into her parking lot. I shut the gate behind her with the speed of light and waited for her to alight from her car. She alighted gracefully from her car and up until now, she still had not said a word to me. She opened the back door of her and brought out hewre son, no wait, he could not possibly be her son because he was walking, Chika was still less than eleven months old; taking a closer looking, the boy looked older, probably three or four years old. She called him Chikaima. I just watched as she walked towards me. She lookrd me in thew eyes and said
"Take out the grocery bag from the front car seat and get Chika as well" Her voice was distsnt from what i knew, her aura was cold; as she walked passed me, i felt goose bumps cover my body, she wrecked of evil.
"Yes ma" i replied with fear.
As i brought the grocery bag down while holding Chika in my arms, a lot of thought was going through my head. Thoughts of where the young Kaima must have come from? Why was he here? Who was he? To whom did he did he belong? Why was he with aunt Nkem instead of at home? Were zooming in and out of my head.
"Helen" i was brought bback to reality by aunt Nkem's calls for me.
"Maaaaa" i answwered as i hurried iontothe house tpo know why she called me. As i walked into the living room i saw her sitting in the double-saeter cushion.
"Take out the food stuffin the bag and begin to cook"
"Mmmmmhhhh" I uttered in disbellief. This was because she would only let me do the picking, washing and cutting of vegetabvles and other little things in the kitchen like pounding the crayfishn in her mortar and pistle when there was no light, while she did teh cooking; she often complained of my poor cooking skills and also criticised the size of the vegetables i had caught saying that it ead either too small or too big. Here was the same aunt Nkem instructing me to make supper. Something certainly was not right. Was she asking me to cook so that she could find a reasom to transfewr her agggression on me? Was she testing me or what? What in the world was this about?
"Go and start preparing supper" she repeated. I dropped littlr Chika in her arms and walked into the kitchen with the grocery bag still a bit far away in my own thoughts. As i was busy picking the vegetables after washing the meat carefully and put them in the pot and adding a little salt, two maggi cubes and cut half of an onion bulb into it, i set it on the gas to boil. I heard aunt Nkem's voice on the phone ring loudly, she answered the call and began talking softly, something about the call piqued my interest, so i tiptoed to the door of the living room to listen . it was not a habit, God forbid such, my mother never thought me so, however, something about it was calling me, at least the latest happenings needed an answer.
"Yes the boy is with me" She said as she listened to the person at the other end of the phone speak, then she replied
"The boys did their part of the job, i just have to do mine and the deal is done". She occassionaly paused and listened to the person at the other end of the phone. It seemed to be a 'he' and a superior to as as she responded politely and at intervals with a 'sir' attached to her sentenves. I beagn to wondewr what in the world could be going on.
"How long does he have to stay here before the buyers come?" she queried. At thgis poiunt, i felkt my body freeze. It seemed like Auint Nkem was part of a kidnapping gang . i hoped my imagination was playing tricks on me agai
"ok, they will be here in three days?
"Ok sir, let me contact them immediately and let them know our location.."
"alright sir, thank you sir"
She hung up and shortly after,,i heard her phine booze and tgius ntime, it was on loud speaker.
"Hello good evening sir, I'm Nkem, am i with Mr Ben?"
"Yes please go on"
"Mr Bryan asked me to call and notify you that the good is here" she continued.
" Ok when do I ncome and pick it up?"
"In two days time sir" she replied
"Ok then, NO problem"
"alright,bye" she hung up the call.
I was still shocked and surprised. By the goods, did she mean Kaima? I could not comprehend what was going on. Was aunt Nkem part of a gang? Since ehen did such begin. As i returned to thge kitchren that very day, only one question was hovering in my head... what do i do?
"Stephenie!" screamed aunt Nkemjika.
I froze in my tracks, had she seen me? What could it possibly be this time?
"stephenie!!" She called again.
"Yes ma" I answered as I walked nervously to the parlour.
"Take Kaima and my cute little son to your room and put them to sleep. I left some of Chika's dirty cloth in the laundry basket, wash them with the washing machine and hang them to dry at the clothe dryer."
I was stunned and relieved at the same time. At least she had not seen me. Then it struck me, she must have sent me to the kitchen so s to secure a conducive atmosphere to make her calls. She was indeed a scheming psychopath.
"Do you understand?"
"Yes ma" I replied and took Chika from her grip, and carried him carefully in my left arm; and with my right hand, I held Kaima and we began to walk to my room.
Chika had just eaten, so a lullaby would put him to sleep. Kaima looked like someone who had just concluded several rounds of crying, his eyes were red, bulging out of its socket and his face generally looked drowsy, my heart ached for him, that feeling of freedom and wanting to get out this house was once again renewed. I felt the urge to leave this hell-like prison for good, but I could not afford to make a mistake and endanger myself, I had to wait for Helen. It was our best shot at gaining freedom.
I made Kaima lie down on my bed and had Chika still in my arms, I began to sing them a native lullaby.
"Tata rahura nwa nto nto…"
"Stephanie!!!" That was aunt Nkem calling my name once again.
"Maaaa" I shouted a response as I began to walk the kitchen. The tone of her voice was a frightening one. On getting there, the look on her face was as neutral as it could be, no trace of smile on her lips nor a frown on her head. It sent chills down my spine. These were one of the treacherous moments I avoided.
"All the while you've been here what were you doing?" she asked snapping my head back to reality. As usual, I kept quite my body was all shaky. She asked again and I still gave no reply.
"I chiri nti, are you deaf? What were you doing?" She asked a third time, this time around, I replied.
"I just washed the pot and sliced the meat and cut the onions into it." I replied fearsomely. It was visible that my body was fidgeting. I was not ready for another round of beating. Her voice alone sent chills down my spine.
"What flimsy reason is this? For nearly fifteen minutes you were not able to boil the meat? What really were you doing? Were you listening to my calls?" she roared
My heart beat stop, I was most certainly a dead meat at this point.
"No…nnnnoooo mmmaa" I stammered a response. She took Chika from my grip and took him to the parlor. Rest assured, I was already dead meat. I waited for her to return with her Cain or her belt as was the usual, but she did not, instead, to my shock, she came back empty handed. I began to wonder if she was going to let this slide, before I could conclude, a slap had been sent across my face…I could see stars. She pulled the wooden-spoon for stirring and smoothening of garri and lashed at my back, I let out a bewildered scream; once again, I was scourged and purged of my offence. My heart was at the verge of shattering. I would not say breaking because it had long been broken; I just had to hang on till Helen would help. As long as her beating lasted I endured, when she felt satisfied, she let me sob my fate out of my eyes, before going back to baby-sitting Chika and Kaima.