Titi Iku: Until Death (Sequel To Irikuri)

6-Until Departure

The wind blew through the open windows of the convertible, whipping past my face, and tossing my waist-length braids about in the air. Ade was one of the few billionaires that owned a somewhat  'reasonable' amount of cars. There was his notorious black G-Wagon, the porsche, and the convertible rolls royce I was currently driving. It was small things like this that made me wonder if Ade liked me as more than a friend. He knew driving was very symbolic to me. When I was kidnapped, driving was one of the few freedoms that I gained, rather than lost. It was something my parents had refused to let me do. Ade hated letting me drive, yet today he did it. Even when he disagreed with me or wasn't good with his words, he took care of me with his actions and I loved him for it. I finally pulled into my driveway and said goodbye to Ade. Then, I let myself into the house and prepared for the worst. It was quiet at first, no one noticed me until I closed the door behind me and my mother marched down the stairs like the goddamn FBI. I listened to her yell and scream and say all types of things about me being a terrible daughter and a disgrace before I calmly asked if she and Baba could meet me in the living room to talk. She agreed. I stood in the room pacing and wringing my hands while she fetched him, and as soon as they were both seated I began to speak before they could yell.

"I truly apologize for being dishonest about where I was yesterday. I needed a break from everything, so I got myself a hotel room by the beach. I was hoping to stay a day or two, and I didn't want you to worry, so I told you I was with Asante. I fully understand how that was unsafe, irresponsible, and insensitive, so I'm fully ready for whatever punishment you feel the need to give. You know I usually don't like speaking this much, or creating conflict, so you should know this is not the sole reason I called for us to have a discussion. I think it's time for us to talk about some things we've all been keeping down for a while."

"Such as? Your lack of discipline and out of control behavior?" My mother raised a brow.

"Such as what happened with Aunty Esther all those years ago."

"Nani you can't use what happened ten years ago to justify this behavior. You moved on, we all did. "

"Thank you, ma, for proving my point. YOU all did. I never said I did. Did we ever discuss the fact that it took discovering bruises and bumps for you guys to believe me? Did we ever acknowledge that I told you Aunty Esther was beating me way before it got that bad and you just told me to 'stop misbehaving'?"

"Nkiruka you must understand that in our culture discipline is expected. It wasn't outlandish for a child, especially one as mouthy as you were, to get a bit of discipline here and there. It is a privilege to the adults in your life to make sure you're trained properly and discipline is part of that. We never could've anticipated that such a close friend of ours would abuse that privilege and hurt a child so maliciously. "

"Your father and I truly made a mistake in trusting that witch and we acknowledge that to this day my love, but I don't see what it has to do with your behavior."

"It has everything to do with it Ma. The fact that you didn't believe me. The fact that afterwards you just told me to get over it. You think that didn't impact me? For the first time in my life, I've had space to do nothing but think for the past month, and I realized I don't like the child you raised. You raised someone cold, isolated, distrusting, unaffectionate, and emotionally unavailable. I understand you love me and you did your best. This is not at all to disrespect you because you also raised someone smart, resilient,  resourceful, and strong, but it's to say that I've realized there are things in my life that need to change. That starts with more honesty. In the coming weeks I anticipate that my face and name may show up in the news. I anticipate that they may reveal things I have done and claim I did things I haven't. So, I will tell you now what I have done. I got married."