2 Diary of an abused wife episode 1

Diary of an abused wife episode 1

My name is Kameela. I am nupe by tribe and I hail from bida local government of Niger state,Nigeria.I have been through many hurdles in life and this is my story.

You must be wondering how I got to this point in my life. A point where I had nothing and nobody. A point where I couldn't move forward or backward. A point where I felt stuck. Well then let me take you down my memory lane.

Four-years earlier

I am an only child to my parents Mr and Mrs Abdulraheem. My father is a gateman who has been working almost all my life for Alhaji Abbas who is popularly known as ndagi abbas (ndagi - uncle). Ndagi abbas is a 45 years old man that is very rich, he has never been married and barely stays in Nigeria. Presently he hasn't been around for 10 years now. My mother on the other hand is a hairstylist, she has her own little shop at the end of the street and also does house calls for the big hajiyas in our area. As the only child they spent their money, strength and energy into my education and training. Unfortunately I couldn't go pass secondary education but I promised myself to work hard to be able to further my education. I immediately joined my mother in her shop once I finished school to have more hands on deck.Everything was going smoothly for a while until

One terrible day.

My mum woke me up in the wee hours of the morning. We prayed and she started cleaning around. I on the other hand started making breakfast which was pap and groundnut cake ( kunu and kuli kuli ).My dad was probably on his way back from the masjid down the street where he normally leads prayer so I hastened up. I heard his voice and I quickly poured the pap into his favorite kpanu(a bowl locally used for taking pap ) and put his kpantoro(a shallow locally made spoon) by the side. I brought it to where he was already seated in the veranda and greeted him good morning as I set them down. He replied and started eating. I left to go call my mum from the backyard where she was putting away the dirts she had swept up and I told her breakfast was ready. She looked up and gave me her beautiful smile and I smiled back. She then said the usual line that she's so proud of me and that even if she dies today she knows I would be able to take care of myself and my father. I simply chuckled and told her that she won't be dying anytime soon because I was yet to make plenty money to take her on a world tour as I always promised her. She said okay okay let's get going. We went back inside gossiping on the way about some neighbors that are always causing trouble. We all ate breakfast and everyone retired to their various rooms to clean up for the day. I had my shower and dressed up for another day of hustling. I was applying Vaseline on my lips when I heard my mum shouting my name from the other side of the house so I hurriedly got my bag and off we went to her shop as usual. My father on the other hand had gotten ready to go to work on a building site few blocks down and left before us. We got to the shop and I greeted the lady in the shop close to ours. I entered the shop and got the broom and started sweeping. We had few customers just like everyday and my mum had one house call job so I was left in the shop attending to them.I was rounding up with the last lady when my mum came in looking all tired but happy nevertheless. She must have been paid heavily I thought. I greeted her and she asked if I was done so we could finally go home. I told her to give me a minute and I closed the door and off we went. We got home and baba wasn't home yet, he probably wasn't done at the site because sometimes they stay a bit late working. My mum had gone inside to pray and since i observed mine in the shop she asked to me go ahead and start cooking. I started preparing white rice and vegetable soup which is my fathers favorite food. Everything was coming to a boil on fire and I sat down on the little stool we placed in the cooking area. I was quite lost in my thoughts about my life and my future plans. Mama came to ask how far I had gone with the cooking, everything is on fire and would soon be done I said. She said that's good and went inside to bring her own stool. Bismillah she said as she sat down. She started narrating what happened where she went to plait hajiya Maimunas hair. That her housemaid has started stealing her money and was soon caught unfortunately the money couldn't be retrieved as the foolish girl had spent it on little things. All of a sudden Mallam Abu my fathers best friend and co worker at the site rushed in looking disheveled, breathing roughly and was sweating all over. He stopped abruptly when he saw us as we were already standing. Mama asked him "what's wrong and why do you look this way".Mallam Abu replied by saying "Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un(Verily we belong to God, and verily to Him do we return.) your husband he he he " we both looked at him because he wasn't making any sense. Mama said " what happened to him , where is he, what's wrong, Abu talk before I go insane here with worry". I looked at him expectantly . " abdulraheem is dead. He fell off the ladder while passing some cement to the workers at the site" he replied hastily " we were taking him to the hospital but he passed on the way there" mallam abu said. My eyes were wide open and I shot my gaze to him as I felt my heart open and close continually, my throat tightened up and I felt like I couldn't breathe, I heard some ringing sounds in my ear as I was thrusted back to reality by loud scream my mum made as she fell to the ground. No,no,no she continued saying. " Abu it can't be true, what do you mean. No, my husband can't just leave me like this. Abu tell me the truth, I really don't like this prank". She kept saying. She stood up abruptly and held mallam Abu by the collar of his shirt and asked again" tell me you're joking . Please where is my husband? where is abdulraheem ?where is he? Tell me. I'm asking you something and you're just standing there gaping at me. Where is he". " some of our coworkers are bringing his corpse, I just wanted to break the news to you before they arrived " he said and just then a taxi drove in with many other people looking grieved. Alas Abdulraheems corpse was brought out of the car. His cloth was looking bloodied and his face was also covered in his blood. He was dropped on the floor. I and my mother rushed to see if it was true. Certainly, here he lay on the floor with his eyes closed and not breathing. He looked so at peace as I kept my gaze trained on his face. Here he was not moving. My father, my protector, my savior, my guardian. He was gone just like that. I couldn't believe it even with the evidence right in front of me. I turned and saw our house was full and some women were holding my mother as she kept on wailing and bawling her eyes out. She kept on muttering incoherently with grief. Her eyes had gotten so red and she looked like she was going to pass out anytime soon. I stood there frozen until my friend Amina shook my shoulder and said it's okay to cry and let it all out. I held her so tightly it felt like I was letting out my frustration on her body and I started crying. I cried for my dead father, for my grieving mother and for my hopeless self.

     Several hours later he was bathed and prepared in the islamic way and was buried in the burial ground near by. That was all he was gone.