ADÉNIKÉ - EPISODE 1

15th March, 2011.
Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.

Adenike's puffy red eyes stared at the empty space, why was she still alive?

Her body trembling, her soul searching and gripping nothing in particular. Her mind wandered.

Why did the universal choose her...why? She thought, as tears flowed down her eyes. 

She had heard stories about grieving but she never thought it would be this painful.
She laid there on her little bed reminiscing on what had happened that morning.

“Adenike”, Maami shouted for her that morning. “Ma! I’m coming, let me quickly pluck out these green leaves, for the èfóriro soup”. she answered back.

The farm was few metres away from the little hut, in which she and mama stayed. 

Their farm wasn’t the best in Ife but the little they had was enough for her. 

She plucked the green leaves for the èfóriro soup she was looking forward to preparing. 
Satisfied with the quantity of green leaves she had plucked.

 she walked back to their little hut humming, enjoying the sound of birds whistling and the air that blew her long flowing gown. 

She could see a lizard coming out from one of the holes on the wall of their little hut. She recognized it has agama lizard. Those ones were more stubborn she thought, so she didn’t bother chasing it.

Getting to the front of their little mud house, she contemplated between starting off with preparing firewood for the éfòriro or going inside to know what maami needed first. She finally decided on checking up on maami.

“Im here maami”. Her eyes drifted towards the old vase that sat on the rusted table, which laid at the middle of the mud house, she admired it once again.

Though quite old, the vase still looked very beautiful and attractive. Maami said it was a family treasure that has been passed down from generation to generation. 

Smiling, she remembered her saying, “My mother passed it to me, her mother passed it to her, it's customary that I pass it to your mother, but since she is no more, it would be passed to you. Shey ógbò? She asked asked in yoruba.

Better take good care of it, our ancestors have been keeping it very well, that is why it is still existing. Because you children of nowadays do not value traditions!" Returning her mind back to why she came into the house, she looked at her maami. A bit surprised that she hasn’t given her any response. 

She walked closer to the little bed in which she laid, “maami, you called me”. Still no response.

Adenike decided that she must be sleeping, she almost started making her way back outside when she thought it would be best to know why maami had called her. She decided to wake her up.

Gently Adenike tapped her, “maami, I’m here”. Wondering why she didn’t seem to react to her gentle taps, she gently persisted. yet nothing. 

Her muscles began to give in to fear, her throat tightened, her palms sweating. she shook her roughly “maami!”. She shouted on top of her voice.
Confused and panicking she ran to mama rafiat’s house, which was the closest near theirs.
..............

Shocked at how the door flew open, mama Rafiat was ready to pounce on the person who would open her door like that. 

"Ah ah, ah ah who is that na? Ta ni yen. Kuku break the door". Mama Rafiat retorted.
Raising her head to give the person a taste of her venom, she paused at who it was. 
What was this little girl who lived in the house nearby doing at her house and why would she open her door like that. 

She didn’t care much about the girl but she really likes her grandmother. That woman has helped her a lot when it comes to knowing what to do when something was wrong with any of her children.
With curious eyes she looked at the little girl.

Adenike tried to slow down her breathe before speaking. “maami, maami, she…she refused to wake up, she…..is not answering....answering....”.
Mama Rafiat didnt wait for her to finish. Alerted she jumped to her feet “where is she?”
“On her bed in our house” Adenike said.

Mama Rafiat pushed the little girl aside and rushed to see what was going on with her friend. Pushing the door, she shouted, “iya arugbo, iya…iya”. 
Bending down, she placed her ears on her friends heart. “Ahhh mama ti lor….eeeehhhh, kilòse? What happened?

Adenike stepped backward slowly, she didn’t want to believe that her own maami was really dead. How was she going to live without her? Where does she start from? She was just fifteen and the only relative she knows in this entire world is maami. How can mama just leave her alone in this world, she thought. 

Her mother had died while giving birth to her. She didn't even know who her father was. Maami told her that he was against mother having her baby and didnt want to have anything to do with it. So he left without a second thought. Tears streamed down Adenike's eyes few hours later as she sat down on a huge stone, in front of their house.

Mama Rafiat had alerted the community people and words had been sent to mama's two children that lived in the city.
The community people covered mama with a white wrapper from head to toe. They performed a ritual on her. Adenike couldn’t tell what the ritual was about because she was sent outside.

And there she was three days later still trying to believe that maami had really left her alone in this world. 

She didn't know maami's other two children. The only time they came to visit was when she was four years old, so she couldn't even remember their faces.

She wondered what they looked like and what they would do when they came, all the while they had not bother to visit her and maami and now that she is dead, she thought about how they would react.

By 7pm in the evening, mama Rafiat came to take Adenike to her home, she gave her food and showed her where she could sleep. 

Adenike stared in fear, taking the details of the house for the first time. It was just a little bit bigger than their own, although as old as theirs with many cracks on the wall. In front of her, a small rusty radio stood on a little table, the wrapper used in covering the window was daggling and the little bed in which she was given to sleep stood there like a lifeless wood.

Adenike laid on the bed still shaken at the day's ordeal.

Here she was at 3am, three days later still feeling as empty as she was when everything happened, she stared at the wall blankly, will her life ever remain the same again? She thought.
Her supposed uncle was taking her to the city tomorrow. 

Uncle Femi seemed like quite a reserved person from afar. Probably because of his face that looked calm or maybe because he didn't talk much. 

One thing Adenike could not put away from her mind was the feeling she got, when she touched her hands to uncle Femi's stretched slim hands for an handshake earlier that morning. She knew something was wrong.

Her mind squirmed, what might be wrong?

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Thank you for starting this journey with me. Kindly comment your thoughts below.

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Click to read Episode 2