FED UP

(…continued…)

                Their mother went back to the kitchen. Cynthia went with her while Mabel went into the room to lie down. She held the wall as she staggered towards the room.

                When Mabel got to the room, she fell into the bed. The room was spinning round and round. She had to close her eye for a while. Cynthia came into the room and saw the way she was lying and went to her.

  “Have you also committed suicide?” she asked, nudging Mabel.

  “I am feeling a bit dizzy,” she said, smiling.

  “Since you came back, you have neither eaten anything nor rested.”

  “Yes o. Things happened so fast that I forgot about that.”

  “That Chuka is very stupid. See what he has caused. He thinks the world revolves around him.”

  “Leave the poor guy alone.”

  “What do I do for you now?”

  “Is the food ready?”

  “No o. Mummy just put it on fire now.”

  “Check those things that Ejike brought and see if there is anything I can eat now.”

                Cynthia brought out the bags and checked them.

  “There is bread and juice here. The other ones will take a long process to prepare.”

  “Ok. Pour some juice for me.”

                Cynthia got a cup and poured juice for Mabel. Then she gave her two slices of bread. While she was eating it, her mother came in.

  “I hope you are ok?” she asked Mabel.

  “Just a bit dizzy.”

  “Ok. Just rest well. You will be fine.”

  “Ok.”

                She went back to her room.

  “Should I get your drugs for you?” Cynthia asked when she was done eating.

  “Am I not supposed to take drugs after eating something that has oil?”

  “I don’t think it matters.”

  “Ok. Check my hand bag.”

                Cynthia searched her bag and got the drugs. Mabel took them and lay down.

  “Do you want to sleep?”

  “No. I have not eaten.”

  “But if you lie down, you will soon sleep.”

  “Wake me up when food is ready. I have to eat something that has oil in it and then bath.”

  “Ok.”

                Cynthia went to the sitting room and lay on the couch. From time to time, her mother would come out of her room to the kitchen to check on the food.

  “I will check on it,” Cynthia said to her after the third time. “No need going up and down.”

  “Ok. When it is done, let me know.”

  “I will.”

                It didn’t take much longer and the food was ready. Cynthia called her mother who came out to the kitchen.

  “Wash a food flask for Chuka,” she told Cynthia.

  “Ok.”

                Cynthia washed one and gave to her mother who dished food for Chuka.

  “Take this to him.”

  “Let me wake Mabel up first.”

  “Ok.”

                Cynthia went into the room to wake Mabel and saw her phone beeping. She checked and saw missed calls. She woke Mabel up. It took some minutes before Mabel was wide awake.

  “Don’t you still want to eat?” Cynthia asked her.

  “I don’t know. I just feel like sleeping sef.”

  “No. You need something oily in your tummy.”

                Mabel sat up.

  “Let me go and give Chuka food,” Cynthia said as she left the room. “You had missed calls o.”

  “Ok.”

                Mabel checked her phone. The missed calls were from Ejike and Coker. She returned Ejike’s call. He said he just called to know how she was doing. She reassured him that she was fine and hung up. Then she called Coker who apologized for not checking on her for a while. He told her he had some work-place issues which he was trying to sort out. He wanted to gist but she told him that she just woke up from sleep, that they would gist the following day. He told her he would come and see her. Then she hung up.

                Mabel went out to the sitting room where her mother was already sited, eating. The lantern was on at a corner of the room.

  “Where is Cynthia?” she asked.

  “I am here,” Cynthia said, in the kitchen.

  “Have you gone to give Chuka the food?”

  “I went to his house but the place was locked.”

  “Are you sure he did not lock it from behind?”

  “No. Someone told me that he is outside the compound with his friends.”

                Cynthia came out to the sitting room with her plate of food.

  “Should I put for you?” she asked Mabel.

  “Yes please. A little.”

                Cynthia kept her plate on the table and went back to the kitchen to dish for Mabel. Mabel started eating Cynthia’s food while she waited for hers.

  “Ooohm,” Cynthia said when she came out and saw that Mabel was eating her food.

  “Sorry,” Mabel said.

  “I took time to take from the bottom. Now you have almost finished it.”

   “Sorry. Take from my own.”

  “Your own will not be as sweet as the one I took.”

                Cynthia gave her the plate of food. Mabel wanted to pour some of hers into Cynthia’s plate.

  “Don’t worry,” Cynthia said. “I will collect another bottom pot later.”

                While they were eating, they heard the voice of Chuka and friends coming into the compound.

  “He is back,” Mabel said to Cynthia.

                Cynthia kept her plate and brought the food flask.

  “Wait until his friends leave,” their mother said to her.

  “Ok.”

                Cynthia peeped through the window. It was dark outside but she could make out Chuka’s frame and that of his friends. When she saw him shaking his friends and them turning to leave, she took the food flask.

  “Don’t waste time there o,” her mother told her. “Just give it to him and come back.”

  “Ok”

                Cynthia went outside. As she went closer, chuka was opening the door.

  “Chuka,” she called.

                He stopped and looked in her direction without saying anything. She went closer and stood expecting him to say something. He just looked at her without saying a word.

(…to be continued…)

-©2015.Chinedu Isaac