•Aaliyah

"I'm about to board the plane. You better cook something before I come back."

"What would you like to eat?"

"Stupid girl! What else will I want to eat?"

I listened in silence for her to finish ranting. She didn't explain and she wanted me to just know magically. Do I look like a psychic to her?

"Can't you hear me?! Abi you've turned deaf?"

I really didn't have anything to say because she always did this. I ask what she wants, she makes noise, insults me and at the end she'll still say what she wants after all the noise making. Crazy woman...

"Oh because I'm not there you think you can disrespect me ko? Be expecting the greatest beat down of your life when I come back. Cook jollof rice and make chicken pepper soup. If you like make it too little. Me and Mairo will be coming together. Idan kika ga dama kiyi bacci ki bari ya kone (if you like, sleep and let it burn) I'll kill you." She hissed.

"Ok."

"Is that what you're supposed to say?"

What does this woman want now?

"Sorry. Yes ma."

She hung up.

I enter the kitchen and start bringing out the ingredients I'd need to prepare what she said she'd requested.

I brought out the green peas, carrots, chicken from the freezer and the spices.

When the rice was almost cooked, I put all the vegetables I chopped into the pot and waited for it to cook all together while simultaneously trying to make the chicken pepper soup.

I was putting the food inside a container when Aunty Raliya came in. She walked hastily passed the kitchen and into her room with Hajiya Mairo behind her. I couldn't welcome them since she had already locked the door so I continued packaging the food.

Minutes later she comes back out and before I could even say a word, she slapped me.

"You saw me and you couldn't come to even take our bags. You-stupid-girl. Rashin kunyan har ya kai haka? (Has the disrespect reached this level?) You didn't even greet us." She tied her veil to her waist the way women in the village did in preparation for a fight then fixed her head gear.

"Mara sa kunya (Shameless girl). Who do you think you are? If not for your father, do you think you'll still be alive?" Aunty Raliya turned towards the door. I actually thought she was leaving until she looked towards my direction with a menacing look and that was when I knew I was in for 'the greatest beat down of my life' as she had said earlier.

And she didn't stop there. She was literally bouncing on me. I felt her hands hold my hair in a tight grip and she threw me to the other side of the kitchen.

"I was talking to you on the phone and you were even answering the way you liked. You think I don't know that it's all those your friends that are teaching you how to be disrespectful?" Her hand smacked my face this time as she spoke, breathless.

Blood dripped from my nostrils and my head ached from the collision it had with the cabinet below the sink. I couldn't even cry because I was getting tired of it. I just watched as she continued to shower me with different flavours of pain.

She brought out a large whip that resembled the one malams used in Islamiyya's to hit kids for not reading or paying attention in class just that this had more fingers. Four to be precise.

The moment it came in contact with my skin, I felt my skin tear open. The pain stung. She continued to do it till she saw blood soaking the arms of my already torn dress.

It was today I knew I had to run away from this house. At a point I realised I couldn't breathe properly and she choked me to make it worse. I screamed in response but she couldn't care less. I used my last breathe to scream the loudest before I passed out.

The last thing I remembered was Hajiya Mairo putting my head on her laps and holding my hand.

****

I can't even lie and say the cliche 'I woke up in a room with white walls and I had no clue about where I was'.

I was in a hospital and I knew who sent me here!

I looked around and noticed that no one was there beside me. I wasn't surprised to be honest.

That was just how empty my life was.

Surprisingly, someone dropped a small box beside my bed and had plugged my phone to charge.

I tried getting up but was too weak. Thankfully, a nurse came in some minutes later.

"Good morning Aaliyah." She greeted.

"Good morning." I managed say.

The nurse held my hand and I noticed a thick coat of bandage wrapped around my arm. She brought with her a tiny kit that held needles, cotton wool, a bottle of spirit and tweezers.

She touched my head, making me realize there was also a bandage wrapped around it. Now I was really starting to think about the extent of the damage she had brought upon my body.

So, one, she extensively damaged my left arm.

Two, she almost broke my bones entirely because I could feel pain whenever I tried to move my legs or turn my neck to look sideways. Alhamdulillah, she didn't break my body entirely though I had marks from being flogged with a whip.

Thirdly, she turned my head into a bowling bowl and luckily it wasn't broken after it literally flew to it's expected direction.

Wow! This is like a movie. I never imagined myself lying in a hospital or even being bandaged at all. I've gotten a few injuries as a child and the doctor usually cleaned it with antiseptics and would put a medicated cream that'd help it heal faster.

Here I am, lying in a bed thinking about my dead parents who are probably in a better place. Sometimes I actually think of suicide but is leaving this world worth entering Jahannam (hell) for?

Definitely not.

Sad isn't it? But it's not like the movies where there'll be a twist to my story and I'll have a happy ending.

Reality had already knocked me more than twice so I know that my only way out is to keep begging Allah to answer my prayers.

The nurse cleaned my injury and wrapped a new bandage around my head then took a few minutes to examine the arm with the bandage on it.

"Aaliyah a woman came earlier and said these were your clothes and they contained a few essentials for you. So feel free to use the bathroom whenever you're ready and if you need any help don't hesitate to hit that red button beside your bed to alert us." She smiled and left the room.

I fell asleep not long after she left and I woke up to see Hajiya Mairo sitting on a chair beside my bed. Too scared to react, I looked away too quickly not to let her see my face. As if the bitterness in my life wasn't enough, pain surged through my entire upper half, making me wince.

I watched quietly as she smiled and brought out a plate and a large spoon from a basket I didn't notice earlier. She took a few spoons and dropped them on the plate then took out a smaller spoon before handing it to me.

"Aaliyah ya jiki? (How are you feeling?)"

"Da sauki (I'm feeling better) Aunty Mairo."

I didn't know if this was a joke or she was this nice and I just didn't know. This was the longest conversation I'd ever held with her. Whenever she came to Aunty Raliya's house she would enter her room and they'd talk till she was ready to leave. I usually greeted her and that was it.

"Masha Allah that's good to hear."

"Hmm." I looked down and pursed my lips.

"Aaliyah look at me."

She lifted my chin.

"What my friend did is wrong and I apologise on her behalf. She couldn't come here because she had a little business that needed handling urgently but she'll be here to see you soon."

"I know how she can be and I don't support it but I can't take you to my house because I have a daughter I'm trying to raise and I have too much on my plate right now. Try and exercise patience for a little while. Everything will be alright." She patted my back.

I sipped from the cup of Orange juice she gave me and nodded my head as she stared at me pitifully.

All she said sounded genuine but I don't think I can trust a friend of my aunt's so I'll just listen but that doesn't mean I'll believe.

She unplugged my phone and handed it to me then gave me a pocket book that held a few dua's she recommended for me to recite then left since the time was approaching midnight.

Immediately she left I called the one person I knew I could call whenever I was in need of help. He didn't pick the call till after I called the third time then he answered.

"Bilal I'm in trouble. I need help!"
_________________________

Yay or nay?

~Aisha Safiyanu🥀