Bauchi,

Bauchi State.

7th July 2007.

A woman hastily walked into a hospital with a limp girl in her arms. "Help! Someone should help me please" She yelled as she ran to the emergency section. Her voice cracked at the end of the sentence as tears sting her eyes.

A couple of nurses all but ran towards her, taking the girl out of her hands and onto one of the empty beds there. The woman tried to follow them but one of the nurses held her back. "I'm sorry ma'am, I can't let you in. Let the doctors do their job"

The woman hesitated but nodded after a while. She glanced at where the girl lays, with the doctors checking up on her, cleaning the blood that stained her body. "Please help her" She pleaded, eyes moving back to the nurse in front of her.

The nurse nodded, "Are you related to the patient ma'am?"

This time around, the woman didn't hesitate, "Yes. She's my daughter" She lied, letting it roll off her tongue ever so fluently. Maybe she shouldn't have lied in such a situation but she felt like everything will be much easier to explain if she claimed that the girl is her daughter. Whomsoever her real parents are, they'll deal with that issue once she's out of harm's way.

The nurse nodded again before she walked back to the others to help them.

The woman gulped and watched them from a safe distance as they did their job. All the while, all she could do was pray to Allah to save the girl's life.

That was the least she could do at the moment. So, she prayed over and over again.

~*~

"I know right. It's so sad what happened to her" One of the nurses said to her colleagues as they stood over the girl's body. A look of sympathy etched on all their faces.

"Abun ma ba dadin ji. She just a little girl for Allah's sake" Her friend replied. "How could someone rape a twelve-year-old?" The woman hissed as she shook her head, muttering some curses at whoever did it—who was still unknown at the time.

The other nurse that stood with them raised the sheet that covered the girl's clad body and covered her face with it while she blinked back her tears. She doesn't think she could ever get used to such cases.

This made the other nurses snap their eyes towards her.

"Kinyi hauka ne?" The first one asked, yanking the sheet back to its original position. "You'll make people think she's dead or something for Allah's sake" She scolded the woman that looked down. A newbie they got from ATBUTH. This is one of the reasons they hated having newbies from the teaching hospital these days. All they do is flaunt around with their empty brains forming 'big girls' when in reality, they have nothing in their head.

The doctors and nurses they graduate these days could kill someone. It makes one wonder how they graduated to begin with? They couldn't prescribe anything without searching up in the internet.

Ajebo doctors. Or better yet, Oyinbo doctors.

"Sorry" The nurse muttered, not really meaning what she said. Her mind was too occupied with what happened to the girl. She might be dumb when it comes to the field she claims to have studied, but there's no denying the fact that it was saddening to say the least.

One of the nurses hissed, fixing the drip attached to the IV in the girl's hands when they heard a thump. This made them all snap their heads to that direction, and behold laid a girl there—another patient that was brought in the day before.

Before they could rush to help her, some other nurses did. So, they stayed back and watched over the girl for a while before they went back to work, leaving the woman who claimed to be her mother by her side.

~*~

10th July 2007.

Bauchi,

Bauchi State.

The woman that claimed to be the girl's mother watched her almost lifeless body on the bed. Three days had passed and yet there has been no improvement on the girl, physically that is. Mentally, the doctor said that she's healed and gotten the required rest. That she would wake up any minute now.

He said that three days ago and still, she hasn't moved a finger moreover woken up.

She used a wet piece of cloth and wiped the girl's hands with it. Something she has been doing since the day the girl was brought there. She felt she could at least do this much to the girl after everything that happened. Since the girl couldn't bath, she resulted to cleaning her face, hands and legs.

She turned around to soak the wet cloth in the tub of water beside her. Putting it in the warm water, she rinsed the cloth out of the old cold water and soaked in the warmth of it before turning around. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw the small almost unnoticeable movement.

She could've missed it if she wasn't looking up close.

She dropped the cloth back into the water, eyes widened slightly she watched the girl up close, waiting to see if what she saw was correct or she was hallucinating. At that point, she wouldn't be surprised if she was. After what happened, she could barely close her eyes. The peace just wasn't there.

The girl's finger moved again, then again, and again.

This had her flying out of her chair and down the hallway, calling the first nurse in sight. By the time she returned back to the room along with a doctor, and a nurse; they found the girl sitting on the bed, arm on each side of her.

The doctor walked towards her first, his footsteps being the only thing heard in the room. This made the girl look at him, her brows furrowed in confusion as she looked behind him to the two women that stared back at her.

"Who are you?" She asked, her voice hoarse. However, that wasn't what shocked them all to the core. It was when she asked, "Who am I?"

~*~

"I don't understand what you mean"

The doctor sighed, taking off his spectacles. He massaged his temples, keeping the spectacles on one of the numerous files on his desk. "Ma'am, your daughter has what we call PTA" He repeated the same thing he told her earlier.

"Which is?" She asked wanting him to elaborate. Surely he doesn't expect her to understand what he meant by just stating some acronym.

"Post Traumatic Amnesia" He added. The look on her face told him that she still didn't understand. So, he explained further, "It's rare but at the same time a common type of amnesia. It's common in other places but rare here because we hardly see people with them. Basically, it means a condition in which a person temporarily loses his or her memory due to some traumatic experience. They tend to forget what happened"

The woman's brows furrowed closer than earlier, "But she doesn't remember who she is"

He nodded, "It happens at times. The trauma must be so much for her that she forgotten who she is to begin with"

"And when do you think she'll regain back her memories?"

He shrugged, "It varies. Some it takes them a week, or in some cases, a month"

The woman nodded, so faintly that the doctor didn't notice it, "When can she be discharged then?"

"In about a week. Until then, she needs to stay here for further observation"

"Alright then"

~*~

Bunza,

Kebbi State.

21ST July, 2007.

Eventually, the woman got tired of staying in Bauchi with no achievement on the girl's part. She hasn't remembered anything. Yet, she had this firm belief that the woman is her mother—a complete stranger that lied about being her mother.

The woman on the other hand couldn't leave the girl just like that. Maybe she was being selfish when she took her back with her to her hometown but it wasn't like she had any of other. This was the only thing she could think of. Besides, the girl didn't seem to have a family or anyone that cared about her since no one came to look for her. That only made the woman believe that she made the right choice.

However, that only opened door to rumors in her family and the people that knew her. They claimed that the girl is her bastard daughter since everyone knew that she and her husband got divorced five years ago, and before then, they only had one child— a son that she was forced to leave back in Bauchi so where did she get a twelve-year-old daughter?

At first, she didn't care about what they said. She knew the reason why she took the girl in, and that meant more to her than any baseless rumor. Eventually, it got to her when her parents got involved.

"Ni ban yarda ba" Her father stated, shaking his head at the absurd thing his daughter did. He couldn't believe what she did. He was pacing in the small living room of his house, where the woman and the girl had been staying in for the past four days. "Wherever I go, people are always pointing fingers at me. Shikenan na koma abun kallo"

The woman looked down. She knew how much her father cherished the fact that some people consider him a role model considering he's the great Kadi. Such absurd behavior was not acceptable from anyone, what more his daughter? His own flesh and blood.

"Baba wallahi she's not my daughter. I just helped her" She said, hoping he'll believe her. She could take anyone not believing except her parents.

Her mother who sat on the couch beside her fixed the knot of her wrapper that had loosened. She watched her husband and daughter with sadness lacing her features, "Maigida, trust her. You know our daughter, Lami, won't do such thing"

Her father looked at his wife, the veins in his forehead popping out, "Of course I believe her. But how do you think we'll explain that to the people?" He asked, his livid expression painting his features.

Her mother sighed, resting her head on her palm as her gaze fixated on the lamp they used. They hardly get electricity these days since a storm that occurred the week before. "Toh ai shine mastalar" She muttered.

A few minutes of silence followed afterwards. The only sound heard was that of crickets somewhere in the room as the three thought of the same thing in different ways. "Shikenan!" Her father's voice snapped them all out of their thoughts. "There's only one solution"

"Which is?" His wife asked.

This made him turn to look at her, "Daman Alhaji Hamisu has been asking for her hand in marriage as his third wife. Zan ce mishi yakawo goro kawai"

"Haba Mai gida"

"What? Do you have any other option? It's not like she doesn't love him. He has been her suitor since before she married her ex-husband, since they were teens. What's the problem?"

His wife sighed knowing he's right. Sooner or later it would've happened anyways so there's no problem in it happening sooner than expected.

"Ko kina dawani ne?" He asked, turning to his daughter who shook her head. She would rather it be Hamisu than any other person. "It's settled then"

~*~

Not even a week later Lami and Hamisu got married. That made all the rumors from before simmer down, though not completely. Hamisu is a respected person in the society so people knew he wouldn't marry her if she did something wrong and on his side, he believed she did nothing wrong. He never saw any fault of hers before and neither did he then.

If anything, he was happy to marry the woman he had always loved since their teenage years. That doesn't mean that his wives were happy though—far from it actually. Lami didn't let them get to her. Though they lived in the same compound, she maintained a safe distance away from them and she made sure the girl did since she took the girl with her; Hamisu had no problem with that—he welcomed her with open hands.

He enrolled her in the nearest Islamic and Western education school his other children attend under the new name Lami gave her.

Ameerah Hamisu.

Everything eventually worked out for both Ameerah and Lami.

They were happy together.

Ameerah found a mother while Lami found a daughter.

~*~

3rd May, 2011.

Four years passed and Ameerah hasn't regained her memory. It didn't matter though because she was as happy as ever with Lami as her mother who never treated her differently, not once. Besides, to Ameerah, no matter what others say, Lami and Hamisu are her parents.

She was happy. And that means no one cared about her regaining her lost memories.

She grew up to be an extremely intelligent kid. She tops her set not just her class, her level of intelligence is one a person might consider too much for someone as young as her. However, all the credits can't go to her alone, partially it's because her neighbor's child, a boy she had grown accustomed to who attended the same school as her. Because he's older, he graduated from the secondary school a couple of years ago, yet that didn't stop the friendship the two shared.

If there's one person that knows Ameerah and who she trusts, it's him. The two are simply inseparable.

At the moment, she sat in the compound beside Lami's room as she pounds yam for her before she comes back from work. Lami doesn't have much knowledge on Western education but she has enough on Islamic education that she teaches at a local Islamic school for married women.

Ameerah's step mother, the second wife, sashayed her way in, along with her entourage. A slightly chubby dark skinned woman that hailed from one of the villages in Bauchi who acts as if she is above everyone. Lami had her own fair share of women like her as she had been married in that state for seventeen years. That kind of attitude just seems to be in their blood. Her former sisters in law are a living proof of that.

The woman's eyes moved to where Ameerah is, "Uhm Ameerah are you pounding yam?" She asked, despite the fact that she could see it is what the girl is doing.

Ameerah nodded.

"Toh kimana sakwara da miyan egusi" She said, then started walking away not waiting for Ameerah's response.

On Ameerah's part, she was conflicted. In the house, each wife cooks her own food and none gets involved with the other for anything. So, she was surprised as to why the woman would ask her to cook something for her using her mother's ingredient.

It didn't make sense.

Then again, it wasn't the first time she was doing something like that.

She decided to do as the woman said, she didn't want to get into any sort of problem with either of her step mothers. Times without number, this particular woman had tried to cause some ruckus with her, yet each time she manages to get herself out of it successfully.

After Ameerah set up everything for the pounded yam and the stew, she saw as one of the entourage her step mother came with walk out with a broom and parker in her hand, dusting away the dirt that was in the parker outside. Another one of the woman came out with a wet mop and bucket. She threw out the dirty water and washed the mop, before placing it away. The last woman amongst them sashayed her way out, with incense in a container. The smoke going in all direction.

It made Ameerah shook her head. The women were more like slaves than friends to the woman and they all blindly follow her instruction with no questions asked.

Just then, her step mother stepped out in all her might. She walked as if she didn't want to touch the ground. As if she's more worthy than it when in the end, that's where she'll end up. She walked towards Ameerah and threw a leather of God knows what at her, "The food you're making, your mother will eat it too koh?"

Ameerah nodded.

The woman grinned, "Yawwa toh put that inside"

"She will not" Lami's voice came as she walked into the house, eyes narrowed at her co-wife.

~*~

Meet the other part of the story!

I didn't plan on updating today but I don't know what got into me to update.

I wanted to dedicate this chapter to those that constantly comment but I can't keep your usernames up head so just know, this is for yall❤️🥺Thank you for the constant support!

And that's pretty much all.

Goodnight people.

Love, Jannah❤️