Pains of Amara(Completed)

Chapter 13

AMARACHI

    I trudged back home in pains, trying to cover my bruises whenever I spotted someone staring at me. Today had been such a tough day for me.
I just wanted to go home and rest--which I knew I would never get.
Rest.
I can never get rest as long as am staying in that house. It was already evening and I needed to quickly prepare dinner.
Even in this condition, I knew better than to rest. Lydia will still make me work.
I had suffered enough today, I don't want to suffer again.
A deep sigh escaped my lips as I approached my gate. Stepping inside, I spotted Nne sitting under the mango tree sleeping.

  I quietly closed the gate and stealthily walked inside. I didn't want her to see me because of my injuries. If she did, she will surely ask questions and hell will break loose once she finds out aunty Lydia did this to me. I just wanted to walk past her and enter the house through the kitchen door.
I quietly walked towards the kitchen door, making sure not to wake her up because Nne was a light sleeper. She could easily be woken up.
But as clumsy as I was, I didn't notice the stone in my pathway. My left big toe kicked against it which made me yelp in pain as I fell to the ground clutching the toe.

"Ogini(what is it)?!"Nne asked as she immediately woke up with a fright.
I mumbled under my breath and stood up with my back facing Nne.

"It's fine Nne"I told her as I wanted to walk away quickly but she immediately called out to me which stopped me in place.

"Amarachi my child, you don't want to greet your Nne?"she asked in a sad tone.

I swallowed the bile forming in my throat and shook my head at her.
"No Nne. Goodevening. I didn't want to wake you up"
I felt guilty for lying to her. Nne was the only person that mattered to me the most in this world. I just didn't want to make her worried.

"Face me now. You are greeting me with your back faced towards me? Ogini bu the problem (what is the problem)?"Nne asked.

I slowly turned to face at her and immediately our eyes met, her face became paled and her eyes widened in horror.

"Chimo!(My God)"Nne let out a shriek as she saw my face.
"Bia bia(come come) who did this to you?"
I walked towards Nne and knelt down by her side, resting my head on her laps as she caressed my hair.
I couldn't hold my tears in anymore. I started crying on her laps, wetting her wrapper. I cried so bitterly because I had been holding in those emotions.

"Ndo nwam(sorry my child). Stop crying my child. Stop please"
"Who did this to you?"Nne asked as she caressed my hair.

I raised my head up and narrated the whole event to her as she listened with rapt attention.

"I knew it! That witch! Lydia! That woman! My God will judge her o! See what she did to you!"Nne cried out.

I tried covering Nne's mouth with my hand so as not to alert uncle Francis, who I wasn't even sure was inside.
Nne pushed my hand aside and kept on lamenting as she poured curses on aunty Lydia.

"Nne please now. Stop shouting. I don't want uncle Francis to hear"I begged.

"Don't tell me to stop shouting Amara"Nne said as tears suddenly started trailing down her cheeks.

"If.. if..your mother and father were alive will they maltreat you like this?"
I shook my head in response to her answer. They wouldn't.
But my parents were no more, what could I do?
My mum died so mysteriously when I was just five years old. She died of food poisoning and my dad joined her when I was six in a car accident.

Nobody could fathom what my mum ate that killed her because everybody ate the same thing that night but mum suddenly died out of food poisoning.

"Chinenye nwam(Chinenye my child) Emeka my son o! Come and see how they are maltreating your only daughter o"Nne said in tears as she wept bitterly.

I could remember the night mum died so vividly as if it was yesterday.

Amarachi woke up to screams and cries coming from outside. It disturbed her sleep and she didn't like when her sleep got disturbed.      She turned to look at Ogechi who was sleeping beside her like a log of wood. She was sleeping so soundly and probably didn't hear the cries going on outside their room.

   Amarachi stepped down from the bed and tiptoed towards the entrance of her room. She was just five years old but very inquisitive.

  She poked her outside her opened door and surveyed the passage way.
"Chinenye o!"
That sounded like her grandmother's voice. And she knew Chinenye was her mother's name.

"Mummy"Amara voiced out quietly. She was getting scared.

She wondered if her mum and aunty Lydia got into a fight again.

Suddenly she saw her daddy scurry past her,carrying a figure.
It was her mother!
Immediately her grandmother followed so did aunty Lydia and uncle Francis.

"Mummy!"Amara cried out in fear.
She didn't know what was going on but she knew something was not right.
The dim lights in the passage way was on.
Shedding some light to Amara's path, Amara stepped outside her room immediately and noticed some red stains on the floor of the passage way.

  It was blood!
"Could it be mummy's blood?"

She quickly rushed outside to the verandah and spotted a car zooming out of their compound, leaving only a shadow of dust behind.
It was her dad's car.

"What happened to my mummy?"Amara cried out which caught the attention of her grandmother, aunty Lydia and uncle Francis as they turned to face her.

Nne quickly approached Amara and carried her up, consoling the little girl as she had already started crying.

"Nothing my dear. Why are you awake?"
Amara shook her head and cried the more.
"No. Daddy took mummy inside the car. What happened to my mummy? I want to see my mummy?"Amara lamented.

Lydia approached them and shook her head patting Amara's back.
"Amara go and sleep ok"she said before stepping inside the house.

"I want to see my mummy"Amara wailed.

"You will. Nothing happened my daughter. Let's enter inside and sleep ok. You will sleep in grandma's room tonight"Nne said as she cleaned Amara's tears.

I shook my head as I  remembered that night and forced a smile on my lips.
Beneath that smile lay unending sorrows and grief.

  "Nne I will be fine. Let me prepare dinner"

Nne stared at me in disbelief and shock"you want to prepare dinner in this condition?"she asked perplexed.

I nodded my head and stood up to my feet. I then kissed Nne on her forehead and turned to walk away.