I Could hear the distant beating of the popular Bata drum “Iya ilu” ( Mother Drum) being beaten and the Shallow sound of the Omele Ako ( a smaller drum) as I drove my Jeep towards Igbonla… Igbonla was a village known for festivities…. There was always one party or the other….We had no worries, in fact there was a popular saying that ” Why don’t you have any worries like people from Igbonla”.
As I drew nearer, Something gripped my heart, what it was, I couldn’t tell… Was it Fear? Or Anxiety of not knowing what to expect, or was it the Holy Spirit telling me not to go back to Igbonla… I suddenly stepped on my brakes and my mind flashed back to hours earlier…
The day had been an eventful day for me, as Doctor Jack had called me very early to inform me he had done the Mercy Killing. He gave me instructions to get out of town immediately and switch off my phone for now as my angry mum in law was on her way to the house. No wonder Doctor Jack had sent me home last night insisting I should go home and rest, while my mother in law stayed with Daniel. I suspected he was going to carry out our plan… So waking up to his phone call this morning with the news that my husband Daniel was dead didn’t come as a surprise.
I had my minutes of weeping as the realization that Daniel was gone hit me… I rose up quickly after few minutes when the thought of being whisked off to my husband’s hometown for the widow’s dehumanizing ritual hit me. I parked a few things, took my documents, Papers concerning properties I had secured myself.
To be fair to Daniel I left all his properties for his family. The only thing I took that wasn’t mine was the Jeep he got me for my last birthday.
I dropped a note for his mother…
“Mama, I am sorry for the loss, I know You never loved me from the start and staying behind will be an unwise thing to do, You will take me to your village for the widow’s ritual which will not be healthy for the baby. I have gone into hiding in other to deliver the baby in peace…all your son’s documents for his properties are in the Locker beside the bed in the master bedroom. I am sorry for your loss… ” Your Daughter, Grace…
I dashed to the bank and withdrew 1 million Naira in cash in other to start a new life in Igbonla, but here I was few metres to Igbonla and I was having the strong feeling this was a strong move…
Tears,Tears,Tears. …. and I began to scream to heaven on the lonely road to Igbonla….
” God!, You told me you will keep watch over me lest I dash my foot against a stone… Larry was a big stone, why didn’t your angels send him away from me????, Why? Why?… God why did you let me have feelings for him, Why! Why did I get married when it wasn’t the right time, I got married when I was just 19…Why was Maami diabetic?… I had to rush into marriage to take care of her and my sisters, God you promised me a good Life with you when I was just 13, when I gave my life to you, but you have not been fair….
” Just always trying to Justify their bad deeds”…I turned around to see who spoke, It was “Saawawi”….The popular mad man of Igbonla, It was surprising to still see him mad after all these years… He kept ranting in my local dialect…
” You fell on the ground in shame, instead of getting to yours knees to try and rise again, You tried to use the mud to cover yourself in shame so no one will see you”…Saawawi said looking ME straight in the eye…
He asked me for money, which after I gave him, he said, ” You have no place here again”
But who was Saawawi( A person who speaks nonsense) to give me an advice, God had failed me, It was time I started taking care of my life… This was the end to Grace the Gospel Musician, I am returning back to who I was before, Orishamuyiwa (the gods brought this one) … I removed my sim card from my phone and threw it into the bush….
My mother was going to help me Kill Larry and the traditional healers would give me Local herbs to flush out the baby….
There was no peace until I had accomplished these two important things first, before taking my own life….God had failed me, because I committed just one sin, he let all these disaster befall ME….
Hang on for the next Episode…..
©Opeyemi Akintunde