Anas
"Abu is back again"
I let out a silent breath after reading Safiyyah's message. After settling the bill, I grabbed the nylon containing the groceries Ummi ordered me to buy.
Yeah, your twenty eight year old nigga still runs errands for his mum.
I pushed the phone into my front pocket jeans and headed home. The market was roughly ten minutes from home so I came by foot.
Thanks to that, I was able to balance my thoughts.
Ummi is not a kid, she has received treatments and so, she's mentally healthy. I cannot force my opinions on her and I believe she won't ever take a decision that will harm us one way or the other.
With another sigh, I stepped into the house with a salam and put the lock in place.
"Ya Anas!" Saf quickly walked up to me and held my arm.
Like the other day, Abu, my father was comfortably sat on one of the sofas.
He had the tv remote on his left hand and the startimes remote on the other while he jumped from one channel to another.
Deciding to play cool and not let my anger overcome me, I said another salam. He turned his full attention to me and with a particular smile I've failed to get out of my head,
"How about a change of decoder? The channels here are anything but interesting. " he mocked, both remotes now on the centre table.
"Ina yini,Abu." It tasted awful on my tongue but Ummi's gaze kept me in check.
He was taken aback by my action. He cleared his throat numerous times probably thinking of what to say.
"Um...lafiya. Ya aiki?"
"Alhamdulillahi."
I found it difficult to keep up the act so I dropped the nylon in the kitchen and went to my room.
In the comfort of my bedroom, I allow myself to go down memory lane .
It all started ten years ago, when I was seventeen.
On the day of my graduation from secondary school, I came back home after the after-party at my friend's house which was hosted by his parents.
I was about to unlatch the door when I heard raised voices. Those voices undoubtedly belonged to my parents.
My heartbeat quickened and my palms start to sweat. My hands shook as I put my ear to the door in order to hear what was going wrong. Raised voices was something I've never witnessed between my parents. Scratch that, I've never seen my parents have a serious argument in my presence. The only ones that happened when I was there were those I derived entertainment from.
"Wai kana hauka nei? How dare you label me as a prostitute? " Ummi's voice was loud,so loud I could've heard without the need to lean on the door.
Prostitute?
"I saw you with my two eyes,Sadiya!"
Surprisingly, Abu's voice was so calm this time around.
What really is going on?
"Where's the trust we've built for years? Is this how you want to throw it away?"
"How about I ask you about the loyalty we've had for each other? This is how you want it to end right?" Abu's humorless laughter made the hair on my skin stand.
Want what to end? My brain lost the ability to process information.
"It's not what you're thinking, Ibrahim." Ummi's voice was now lowered but the anger couldn't be missed.
"I swear to God karya kike yi. Idan ba iskanci ba meye sa zai aza maki hannu akan kafada"
His hands on her shoulder ? Just who was this guy causing such a rift between my parents?
Ummi didn't respond but I could hear her silent sobs.
"Who knows what you've done behind closed doors? I don't know what to do with you!"
"Is this how you plan to cover up what you've been doing? I thought I let it slide Ibrahim?"
"I don't know what you're talking about "
"Oh really? You want me to remind you about the numerous women you've been committing atrocities with? Allah bai taba nuna min munafiki irin..."
Ummi's voice was replaced with a sound. A sound that I recognized as a slap.
I pushed the door open without thinking. I caught a sight of my mother with her hands to her left cheek second.
The first, was my eleven year old sister, observing everything from the stairs with a tear stained face.
That was the birth of domestic abuse in my house.
The strings of accusations came first, followed by the slaps.
Then came the kicks which led Ummi to go through miscarriage, twice.
Not long after, Abu beat her black and blue whenever he was upset.
They were days when he never bothered whether Safiyyah and I were there or not.
My mother became a punching bag unwillingly. All she signed up for was to be loved and shown mercy in her marriage. Little did she know that her husband was a beast hidden in human skin.
At the age of nineteen, I realized that my mother was taking it all in because she had no one to fall back on financially, assuming she got a divorce.
Then and there, I vowed to get my mother out of this abusive marriage.
I studied so hard it felt like I was losing my mind. On the side, I had part time jobs that had a good pay.
With help from my Lord, trust in Him, and effort fueled by the need to succeed, I am who I am today!
My phone pinged and brought me back to reality. It was a WhatsApp message from Ibrahim telling me that we've landed a deal with IT legends, a company we approached earlier this month. His message also contained a location and after it was another message, telling me to be there by 7:00PM in order to meet with the CEO.
It was a Sunday for God sake, I was supposed to be resting. I sent a simple okay! , not my complaints.
I haven't gone through my WhatsApp messages in a while so I decided to do that.
Among my unread chats were two messages from Miss Fauzeeyah. I could only see a question mark so I entered the chat to see what she was asking about. I dropped her at home on Friday, just the day before yesterday, I wonder what it is.
Hey, hope you got home safely
?
Ohhh. That's so nice of her.
Yes Alhamdulillah
Sorry for replying late, I'm just seeing this.
I sent two messages too, to balance.
No problem ð
She replied immediately. I expected her to leave me hanging since her first message got delivered since Friday but she proved me wrong.
Now what do I say? I totally have no idea.
I also didn't want to leave her on read so I reacted with a ð.
~â¢â¢â¢~
See you leraa