IJE AWELE 5

She considered running away, perhaps landing at her aunt Umeadi's doorstep. This she knew would hit Mother hard as Mother considered her step sister Umeadi, the only living family she had, as nothing more than a witch who had refused to stop worshiping the idols of her father's house and serve God. But she did not want to leave, she wanted them to love her, and that urgent, frustrated desire was her prison.

 Later that night, she heard her father's raised voice in the study. This was not a new thing but on this night, he seemed more angry than usual, hurling insults and hurtful accusations at Mother.

 "Serves them right," she thought. "Let them fight themselves, it's none of my business anyways."

 But she was drawn forcefully out of her room by her mother's piercing scream and the sound of glass being smashed on the wall. She only managed to tiptoe down the hallway, now frightened than angry, when Mother burst forth from the study and stormed past her with blazing eyes and a bleeding nose.

 She stood outside the study in the hallway, weighed down heavily with trepidation and fear, the kind of fear she saw in Mother's eyes mingled with fury. Father came out of the study too without giving her as much as a glance as he went after Mother. Their raised voices could be heard from even four houses away as Father called Mother an '*ashewo,' 'lying adulteress' and '*okwi ko minister' while Mother screamed at him that he should leave her alone.

 While they engaged in a shouting match, Awele's eyes were misting with tears and she wished she could do something to stop them from saying such terrible things to each other. She had never seen them so angry at each other, or more precisely, she had never seen Father in such a violent fit of rage.

 Aunty Lana came to the hallway and took her to the boys quarters and away from the madness that was her house.

 After she left, the house was quiet. Then she heard someone bang the outside door and then bolt it as they left. She heard the roar of a car engine as it came to life and then her mother's unnaturally high-pitched voice as she shrieked for Ekwutos to open the gate. She also heard Father shout "Nneka!" and a few minutes later, he started his own car too and drove out of the compound.

 After they left, Awele felt a dull sharp pain in her head like there was a drum pounding away. It was probably from all her crying. Aunty Lana soothed away her tears and rocked her to sleep. And while she slept, both her parents died.

 She did not feel, as it was often said that children did, a break in the thread between them. She did not experience a premonition or dream of disaster. She slept on as most children did, deeply and carelessly while the people who gave birth to her died tragically in a fatal accident.

 According to what she heard Ekwutos and Aunty Lana discussing earlier, Father's brakes failed while he was going after his absconding, adulterous wife and he ended up ramming the both of them into an oncoming trailer. The trailer was carrying a size-able quantity of fuel and so it burst into flames on impact, setting almost five other oncoming vehicles on fire. Thus, they ended the lives of more than twenty people, excluding themselves, with the tragedy that was their marriage.

 While she slept, she was blissfully unaware of what was happening to her parents. When she woke, the sun was up, she was back on her bed and her parents were gone.

 She was alone.

Glossary

Efulefu: (Igbo) worthless person (usually a man) in the eyes of the community.

Kitikpa racha gi anya: (Igbo) a curse

Inugo: (Igbo) have you heard?

Eji'm: (Igbo) I don't have

Anuofia: (Igbo) a curse literally means bush meat or animal

Ashewo: (Yoruba) a Nigerian street word meaning a slut or whore

Okwi ko: (Igbo) a woman of easy virtue, a prostitute

Okwia: (Igbo) is that it?

THE END