………..For the first time during such moments, the door of papa’s room creaked open. The door was never silent. It just never was, it was always announcing when you come in or go out. Mr. Donald(Tosin’s father) was stepping out. “He is probably going to his favourite bar on the next street to drink himself to stupor and is not going to return until late that night or the next morning” Tosin thought.
“Useless man” she whispered under her breath. “I hope he’s happy now”, “Rubbish”.
On the contrary, he wasn’t leaving the house, he was just going to the sitting room. He picked up his phone. “Who’s this mad calling again?” she wondered.
It was the ambulance…………………………………………
Why was an ambulance needed?, couldn’t mama be driven to the hospital with a car? What was going on?.
For the first time it occurred to her that her mum had not come out of the room where the fight took place, she hadn’t even coughed or sighed out of despair. Was she so weak?.
She decided to find out for herself.
She sneaked into the room. Her father must not meet her there. It wouldn’t be funny………………………….
She took a quick sad look at the bruises on her mother’s shoulder and sat beside her on the floor. She wanted to talk but the words wouldn’t just come out so she decided to tap her but there was no response. It was as if she had tapped some dry leaf on the floor. She wanted to feel her mum’s hot body(she always had a week of fever after such episodes of fights) and rub it, saying that everything would be fine. She didn’t actually expect mama to answer because she was either weak, too tired or unconscious to answer. There she went placing her fingers on her mother’s conrows that she had made two weeks earlier, admiring its beauty and moving her fingers to her face, neck, chest and at that point she jumped back in confusion. There was no pulse, none at all. She pretended like she didn’t just notice what she felt, so she decided to start again. This time, much more slowly than before, so that no mistake would be made. She wasn’t admiring the conrows anymore, no, she wasn’t, she was now anxious and very much tensed. She got to her chest again and realized that her pulse had actually seized. The first notice was true, at least, as she had found out now. Finger marks were all over mama’s neck. She looked like she had been strangled again but this time, more fiercely than the usuals.
She began to panic……then she bent over to her heart to try to hear her heart beat as there was no stethoscope in the house. “Was she still breathing”, Tosin wondered, she wasn’t sure any longer. She was praying and hoping that what her thoughts and fears must be proved wrong. Mama’s body was getting very cold, very fast. She was right. An abomination was before her. Her father had killed her mother. What would become of her life now?, what?.
She was shattered.
She wanted to scream but no sounds came out, she wanted to cry but the tears seemed to have travelled that day. They didn’t show up despite her heavy heart. So, she just remained confused and shattered.
She was shocked……..
That day changed her life forever. She just wasn’t going to be the chocolate-skinned and brown-eyed girl who would chat continuously in class and play base ball and tennis during long break anymore. She just wasn’t going to be the girl who loved rocket science, introductory technology and art again. She was quiet and lonely. She was just 10 years old, she was to be 11 the following month.
She turned back in a flash and there stood their maid, Minna.
Minna was speechless. Infact, speechless was an understatement…………
She also heard their incessant fights but what could she do?. The door was always locked during the episodes of fights and besides Donald was stronger than them all.
Two hours later, at about 5pm, the ambulance arrived and took the body away. The slain woman was buried 3 weeks later after duely informing her relatives, at least, the few ones she had.
Now, this loneliness and void that Tosin felt went on for months upon months. It seemed like forever to her.
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Donald never made things easier for his daughter. As far as he was concerned, she was no longer his daughter. He was just housing her.
He might probably soon throw her out. Never for once did he think it a bad idea to maltreat his once beloved daughter. Not even once.
They basically just exchanged greetings and glances. They no longer ate together, gisted together, played together or joked around.
The woman of the house was gone…………..
There was a void to fill. There was an empty space, a missing part of that house, a missing part of Tosin’s life……………………………………………………………………..
To be continued………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
