ENSHROUDED

05

That was how Mama fed Aisha until she was satisfied. She helped her back on the bed before Nasir stood up as well. "Mama I'll go for ward rounds then we will leave," Nasir said and Mama nodded before he walked out of the room.

Mama and Aisha sat silently in the room, with none of them able to utter a word. It was until after almost thirty minutes that she looked at Aisha and smiled. "Aisha," she called, and Aisha despite having the war between crying and not crying, she held her tears back and looked at Mama.

"Na'am, Mama." She answered, her eyes get filled with tears.

Mama sat on the bed and held her hands in hers, "I told you to take me as your mother, Aisha. I know I can never fill the place of your mother in your life, but I'll try to. Please say whatever it is that is eating you. Crying will only worsen the pain in your heart."

Aisha let her tears rolled down successfully, she kept crying bitterly, her voice getting choked with her tears. "I have no use in this life anymore, Mama. They've ruined my life, completely." She felt bad that she had lied to them about the actual thing that happened, but still, it was no lie. She was raped, not by her uncles, but by the five men that wanted to revenge on her Mommy.

Mama hugged her to her chest, "You should stop saying that, Aisha. There's nothing like non-importance. You're still important, you still matter to the world. Don't you ever look down on yourself because of this? It's destined to happen in your life, but that can never define your self-worth."

Aisha nodded and she rested her head on Mama's shoulder. She wanted to call Mommy, to let her know that she was safe and out of bad hands. But she knew Mommy would trace that down because wherever she was, she was up the creek. And she had cried until her eyes hurt.

After a while, Nasir walked into the room and found them like that. He cleared his throat and Mama turned to look at him. "Mama I'm done with everything, we should leave. I've already discharged Aisha. We can leave together so we drop her off at home."

Aisha wasn't ready to face Mommy, and she had already told them she had no parents left. She wanted nothing to do with Mommy and what Jaafar did to her made her hated school at all. She wanted nothing anymore, she was so heartbroken beyond repair. Mama helped her down and she slipped into her slippers, she put on her hijab and they slowly walked out of the room.

They kept driving through Bauchi until Nasir turned and looked at her, "Which area do you live, Aisha?" he asked, and she felt tears stinging the brick of her eyes. She knew he knew the area they first met, and he was driving towards that area.

"Please take me to the car park, I need to leave this town as soon as I can. They promised to kill me the moment they set their eyes on me." Why is she doing this? She guessed one lie led to another. There was no way she was going to tell them she was lying about her parents and the reason she did that was that she found out her mother was a prostitute and the guys that raped her did that as a way of avenging on her mother. No, she had to go on with this, no matter how painful it will be. No matter what it will cost her.

Mama turned from the driver's seat and watched as Aisha cleared tears from her eyes. "Where are you going to, if we take you to the park?" She asked, for this girl that had entered her heart with just one glance. She felt she can take the risk she was planning in her heart, no matter what will Baba say or do.

"I don't know where I'll head to. I'll just leave far away from Bauchi." Aisha answered.

Mama turned to Nasir and he looked at her at the same time. He realized what she was thinking and he silently nodded his head for her. He had that thought too, it was only because he didn't want to say it first before her. "I'll take you home with me. As much as staying with your uncles is not safe for, so as leaving this state to somewhere you don't know. Will you stay with me, Aisha? With us?"