Onye
It's 2:00 am. The air is stale. You aren't sure what it is, dried-up sweat blending with fresh ones or just your frustration from the previous day. You use the edge of your blanket to swat the invisible monsters. Their dreadful tunes have stolen your sleep. You look up at the ceiling and sigh. You don't like fighting with Adaugo. It sets you on edge and out of peace with everything. Your hand searches for hers on the bed, but it is nowhere to be found. Where did she go? You sigh and close your eyes. Tomorrow, everything will be fine.
Kambi
Kambi shuddered. She wished it was cold but far from it, the heat of the weather could roast a corn. It was fear that danced underneath her skin. Was I too desperate?She wanted to cry but couldn't. Not yet. She couldn't acknowledge that this was happening; it would only make things more real. Why did nothing ever work out for her? She sighed.
Tomorrow everything will be fine. It has to be.
***
Everything was once fine — when Kamsi took her to the altar, when they made their vows, when they made love. He would take her out every friday night after their honeymoon. He called it the rekindling date. It was a time to let out every unsaid wrong, a time to love afresh. He never wanted to see the end of what they had. Kambi used to shine like a precious stone. Nobody, absolutely no one, ever made her feel that way, as though ‘queen’ was too small a title to describe her. He always made jokes about how both of them had “K” names because she could never do without him. It was joy like this that death stole from her. Things like this just had to end.
Onye
Everything was once fine. It became fine the day your eyes fell on her. She walked like one who knew she was a goddess - head high, shoulders up, and lips thin with a knowing smile. She was a 3rd year student then and you were in 4th year — perfect combo. Everything was perfect until it wasn't.
She started by acting weird, starting fierce arguments out of little things. That's always the beginning of the end, no? Yea, no. With Adaugo, there was no end. You would always love her.
Kambi
“God! I hate her! I hate her so much,” he said, tears streaming down his face. The sky growled and the rain poured harder. The man was oblivious to the downpour. It could have been the apocalypse for all he cared. All he was intent on was stomping his feet so hard in the muddy ground. It gave new meaning to break a leg because that was obviously what this drunk man intended to do with himself. The thought almost made Kambi chuckle. But nothing was funny about life.
She was just returning from the barbing salon. After a month of leaving her hair unkempt and nursing the wounds left by death's scythe, she made an abrupt decision to get a haircut. More like hair shave. Was it to forget Kamsi? Or was this impulsive act the onset of a malady? She wasn't sure. She didn't care. The same way she didn't care that it was raining as she left the salon. Maybe she wanted the rain to wash this dream away so she would see that everything was a lie, that Kamsi was here. What bothered her now was who this man was and why he was blocking her way. If he was there to kill her, he could as well quit the act and get on with his plan.
“Sir, please excuse me, I would like to get in!” she shouted. She didn't want to say it twice or look like someone who could be intimidated. There was no need for that anyway. He looked startled and then moved away quietly as though ashamed.
Thank God.
Onye
It is tomorrow. You're not sure everything is fine. Adaugo has been on edge since morning. She keeps shouting at the kids for even the littlest errors. You try to help out around the house. Maybe she is stressed and under too much pressure. You hate that this is happening. You wish you had done better sooner. Your woman should always be happy. Not stressed. Happy.
Kambi
It just left her mouth, the same way she just decided to shave her head:
“Do you want to come in? It is raining. I have food and a room to sleep in?” she had said to the drunk man.
Definitely madness but that was how she learnt that his wife had just died and in the most horrible way. She took her life and those of her children, their children. Kambi tried to imagine what that felt like but she couldn't. Her pain was enough to bear.
Grief has a way of binding souls, of comforting in the strangest way ever. In this strange, drunk, hopeless man, Kambi found hope. Just a flicker, but it was something.
***
There were no electric jolts this time, no butterflies in her belly, but there was peace, and for Kambi, that was enough. She watched him say his vows, and the tears began to fall, she would never find her lover in anyone else, but this… this had to be enough.
***
“You're my healing. You're my saviour from the tempest Adaugo rained on my existence and I'm grateful.”
She saw it in his eyes. He meant it.
“I love you, Kambili.”
“I love you too, Onyeoma,” Kambi said, and she meant it.
Onye
You can't believe you didn't think of it in the first place. Adaugo was right. Who does that? She had every right to be angry because your ex-wife was living in the same house with you. It was time for her to leave so your Adaugo would be happy. She had to go!
Kambi
Was it all a mistake? It was hard to reassure herself when she was watching her husband yell.
“Leave! Leave! You're stressing my wife out. She hates your presence here, so go!”
“Onyeoma, it's okay, I'll leave. Let me pack.”
“Good! I love my wife. All I want is for her to be happy.”
She wanted to keep up with the pretence but her voice failed. She had watched him forget about her existence in the past weeks. Watched him care for a wife who was dead and horrible to him even when she lived. Why was life mocking her? She left the sitting room to her bedroom. She needed her hands to stop shaking.
Kambili breathe.
She finally steadied her hands, picked up her phone and dialled the number.
Please pick up.
He did.
“Hello madam,” his voice rang out.
“Hello doctor. I apologize for calling late again but please my husband is getting worse. He wants me to leave the house for his 'wife' to be happy. I thought you said the drugs would reduce the psychosis.”
“Yes, but I never said they would cure it. I'm sorry, but it is time to consider admitting your husband to the hospital. Especially before he becomes aggressive. I'm not saying he will but it's best to move now. He blames himself for the death of his wife and children, and now he has created an imaginary world where he's trying to correct what he thinks were his mistakes. This is dangerous for non-citizens of his world. For your safety, it is best to move him.”
“Okay. I understand.”
But she didn't. She didn't understand why life enjoyed messing with her. Every joy had to end, every peace had to end.
Why?
It is tomorrow, and no, everything is not fine.
The cover photo above is not my property but was gotten from Pinterest. The artist's name, I do not know.