BACKSLIDER

Chapter 1: Before The Storm.

i. FULL HOUSE

It was a fun evening. My mom's cousins came over, We sat and told stories of how troublesome Idara and I were as kids; not that we were not still kids but Idara is entering the University next year and I'm entering Senior school next year too. As we were gisting, Uncle Zim called Mom and told her he was coming over. If you're wondering who Uncle Zim is, He's my Dad's Younger Brother, the closest thing to a Dad we have had for as long as I remember. So you could imagine how excited we were hearing that he was coming over. Another reason I was excited was because Uncle Zim was coming with Obinna and wherever Obinna went Zack went.

After almost 2 hours of waiting for Uncle Zim to arrive, the excitement went from 100 to 0. Idara and I had gone to our room, praying my mom's cousins keep mom busy till it gets late or she gets too tired to remember our usual family prayers. We didn't hate praying, we just hated how lengthy the prayers always were. I would end up dosing before we start the first decade of the rosary, within ourselves we also hoped Uncle Zim made it so we could see our own cousin and his cousin.

Idara was showing me a conspiracy theory page on her phone when we heard Mom call out "Zimuzo nke a o bu anya gi (Zimuzo, is this you?)" , I rushed out of the room in a split second and jumped on Uncle Zim, totally ignoring Obinna and Zack who were preoccupied with Mom. "Uncle Zim, where have you been? You promised to take me to the mall last week, I got all dressed up but you didn't show, It's not fair o." I said, Just before I finished my sentence Mom cut in, raising her voice at me " Kodilichukwu didn't you see me introducing Obinna and Zachariah to your uncles and aunties, Couldn't you wait for me to finish talking before you started whining abi I'm now too small for you to see ehh kwa?". I'm sorry ma, I said while dragging Zack and Obinna to the room so we could gist. "Silly girl, Njideka You are spoiling these kids" we heard Uncle Vin say from the room.

"Why does he always have to shout to make his point?" Obinna said while laughing at the new drawing I had on the wall of myself.. " I don't know oh but I believe all this his wahala(trouble) comes from a place of love" Idara said, coming out of the toilet. "Forget that one jare, How's Sopuruchi? I sent her a dm on IG but she didn't reply, she hasn't posted in a while too" Obinna asked with a smirk on his face, She's Okay bro, saw her the other day at mass, we'll be starting school soon so maybe she's been preoccupied and she uses her mom's phone to text because she doesn't have a phone, I said removing bread crumbs from the bed so I could lie properly, almost immediately, Idara attacked Obinna, "Why are you asking so much about a 15 year old girl, It better not be what I'm thinking, That girl is like a sister to me, be guided". In order to lighten the mood as I waited for obinna's counter attack, Zack decided we could play games, Idara suggested, We play Ludo, but Obinna had a better idea, thought we could split into teams and played charades. Before Idara and I knew it, it became a gender war, Boys versus girls, Obinna has this believe, always saying girls are no match to boys and Idara always loved showing him he wasn't that superior after all, in lay man terms, we whooped his ass twice.

Just after spending close to 20 minutes of our free time rubbing our win in Obinna's face. Uncle Zim came into the room, "Kodili and Idara, Your room is still clean, why is that? It's in an unusual state, he said sarcastically, making reference to the last time he came into the room and we had clothes and some other stuff on the bed. "Nwoke m (My man), Let's go home" Uncle Zim said as he went towards the restroom. Knowing who Uncle Zim was, Obinna and Zack only had 3 minutes to assemble in the living room and wait for Uncle Zim else they would find their way home. In that effect, we walked them to the living room where mom was alone, "Aunty Njideka, we are going home" Zack said facing mom who was concentrating on the headlines on Network News by 9, "Uchenna, When are you leaving for senior secondary school?, Ehh Kodili, did you tell your friend that you are changing schools?" Mom said referring to Zack and I, facing the Television but still stealing glances at us. "I already told him, Uncle Zim, You'll come visiting me in Enugu right? Mom has decided to send me off to the prision yard for kids" I said to Uncle Zim, who had just entered the living room, If only your mom permits me, He replied walking towards the entrance door with his purse. Be very careful while driving Zimuzo, Ubochi adizi mma (days are not good as they used to be), Mom said to Uncle Zim as she walked towards the door to give Obinna and Zack a hug before they headed out. "Goodnight fam", Idara said while dragging me with her to the room.

Just when Idara and I started celebrating our escape from prayers, Mom called us to the living room at that point we knew we started too early to celebrate.

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