I met my Own Mother, Knelth down, her Body burnt down on her.
I was in 300level when my Father died, Even as a medical student, I couldn't bring him back to life. He died after loosing so much blood on the head he used to hit the bathroom tiles he went to fix for a client , My Father, Munachi went cold on my hands because the Hospital demanded for a deposit we couldn't get immediately.
That was how he left us, He left my mother and I in this insensitive world all alone. Continue to rest well FATHER. I use a hearing aid. I was told I had measles while I was 8 years old that nearly permanently robbed me of my eyes and ears, sadly, it spared my eyes but took part of my ears. If I don't read lips, sign language or my hearing aid, I feel dead.
My mom owns a shop where she sells foams,pillows in the main market. After Father died, she had to double her hustle and she added bed-sheets and pillow case. It was a rough journey throughout the remaining two years I had left. Temptations here and there just to pay up fees before the school portals closes down.
A day to my convocation, Mother already cooked everything cook-able , as the only child , she was over elated I guess, even if not. Who wouldn't want to be associated with a child she'll boldly be calling "DOCTOR NDUBUISI? Funnily, she made sure I didn't touch anything. She kept saying " You went to school and graduated?? Nwam, Chukwu gozie gi"
She already returned from shop earlier than she does to come and pepper the chicken she earlier fried when she remembered she left the pepper in the shop.
" Mama ,let me go and bring it for you, you look tired already"
"Mba mba, nwam. you are like the bride, tomorrow is your day, don't do anything, I will fly a bike to the market now to bring it"
She retorted with a beaming smile.
" okay mama"
"The shop is just 30 mins to and fro , so what's keeping mum late? Did she see a friend on the road as usual to share her good news, did she wait to do more shopping, did she ............"
I kept murmuring.
I wasn't feeling comfortable again, she already left her phone at home , how do I call her? I wore my hearing aid to go out in search of her, immediately I stepped out, my hearing aid communicated several sounds to me. Amidst it, I could hear wailing, gunshot and shouting.
I rushed back in ,straight to the balcony , and all I saw were dust,while people ran halter shelter.
I kept shouting,
"what's happening"
" hey, answer me
"Look at me"
"Did you see my mother"
"Hello"
Would I say no one answered or they didn't hear me? But I'm not that worse, even if my voice isn't that clear , my mum hears me perfectly without me repeating a sentence..
I picked my phone again to message a friend of hers when a message popped in in a group i belong to on WhatsApp.
" Plenty fired dead , shops burned down, as IPOB Members attack Aba market"
No!
My heart jumped practically out of me. I ran downstairs, tried coming out of the gate when neighbors held me down.
I tried communicating to them that my mother is not home and there is a fight in the market she went to. They kept calming and assuring me she must have ran for her life.
I was told I can't go in search of her as a curfew has been declared so Mum probably would have hid somewhere.
" Could this be Another BIAFRA"??? I rhetorically asked.
............
Till 4am the next day , mother wasn't home. Immediately I could see a clear morning, I went straight down to mummy shop, while going, I kept jumping corpses on the road but I was so sure mum would be in her shop,must have locked herself there for safety.
I wasn't wrong , I wasn't wrong, YES, I wasn't wrong....
I met my own mother, knelt down ,both hands joined together, in a way she prays ,her elbows on the chair, her heads bowed, her body burnt to death.
The only one that hears me even when I'm silent is gone, her shop was burnt on her.
Where do I go from here?
Am I the one to bear the brunt of the division of a country I belong to?
How do I get out this ?
Can I be made whole again?
Can I ever get back to shape?
Is war the answer???
I.AM.SHATTERED......
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