Fatima Zarah had never being pained like this, she couldn't even tell Ammi that Lily was murdered by her so called husband. She laid there silently on her bed, crying her eyes out. If someone was to see her now and with such intensity she was crying with, one will think she had lost her parent, the only one she ever had. But no one will ever understand the pain she was going through was something unexplainable, and each time she remembered their moments with Lily, she couldn't stop her tears.
She had prayed her Isha in that phase and as she sat down silently in her room, there came a soft knock and she ushered whoever it was in. A maid walked in with her head hung down and she stood inches away from her. "Good evening, Gimbiya, your dinner is ready." Fatima Zarah nodded her head and she went into the bathroom, took care of her face before she walked out of the room and to the dining table.
She met him there, and with a single look at him, she took off her eyes and sat down. They were and they ate their dinner in silence, with eyes fixed on the television even though they weren't paying much attention to what was playing over there. She was done first, and before she was able to gulp down some water she got choked up by the food. She began coughing hysterically but Al-mustapha didn't even look up to her, and the maids rushed to her aid.
She drank up some water and walked back to her room, all the while wondering what type of human he was and the best way to avenge for what he did to her. She knew this was only the starting point of the hell he promised her. And no matter how this might sound, she couldn't think of the fire that she was going to burn him with, but one thing she was certain of was; she would never forgive him for killing Lily, she would never.
"Gimbiya, it's time to go to His Majesty's chamber," she heard the voice of one of the maids admist her train of thoughts, and she wished she could tell her that no one will ever make her go to his chamber today, but there are things that are out of her control. And she needed to teach him a lesson, to burn him painfully with her own fire too.
She got ready and they escorted her to his chamber, today, she asked them not to escort her into his room and they left at the living room. She didn't knock on the door when she barged directly into the room and he was just out from the shower. With only a towel wrapped over his waistline, Fatima Zarah wanted to scream out but she held her breath and acted as if what she saw wasn't anything.
"What are you doing? Can't you atleast knock on someone's door before intruding into his privacy?!" Al-mustapha clamored and angrily fixed his eyes on her. She chuckled tauntingly and placed her hands on akimbo.
"Who's talking about privacy here? Are you by chance transfered to law without my knowledge? I haven't seen a human worth me being knocking the door for." She glared harshly at him with her bloodshot eyes that were obsviously drained by the amount of tears she had shed.
Al-mustapha heaved a sigh and walked into his closet, and when he was out, she was on his bed already. "What are you doing? I though I made it clear to you that you're going to be sleeping on that couch until the seven days are finally over?" He questioned, and she acted as if she haven't heard what he said. She slipped her feet off her flip flops and laid down on the bed comfortably.
Lifting up the duvet over to her chest, she looked at him with a disgusted look and spoke, "If you're done, turn the lights off for me please."
Al-mustapha walked to where she was and tapped her shoulder angrily, "Don't make me do what we both aren't ready for, this night. It's either you get down and go to the couch I've told you to be sleeping on or you'll regret this, Fatima Zarah." He had a warning and threatening tone laced on his voice, and Fatima Zarah squinted her eyes angrily at him.
"What's the worst that you'll do? Rape me? Do that and I'm going to sue you to court tomorrow morning, and Mama Fulani will know the blood on that white linen is fake. Or are you going to kill me like you killed Lily? What's the freaking worst you can do, Al-mustapha?!" There was no answer, as he stared at her with his eyes unable to blink for a second.
Tears wanted to spill out of her eyes at the mention of Lily but she tried to pull them back, she had cried enough in his presence for the day. Al-mustapha looked deeply at her face until he was able to read her expression. Was she hurt because of he killed her cat? What for? he thought of your pet got killed or murdered before your eyes, it added more strength to you? That's what he was told. And he wanted her to be strong for the fire he had planned for her.
"And for your information, I'm going to be sleeping on this bed for the rest five days we're going to sleep in the same room. Get yourself another bed or use the couch you selfishly want me to sleep on." She spat the words angrily on his face and turned her head to the other side, as her tears slipped out of her eye socket. She couldn't hold the pain back for so long, she first had Lily before Lucy, and to her; they were like the kids she gave birth to.
❀
If all the shrubs could speak, the thorns that patched themselves onto his feet, they would have begged for mercy on his behalf. But even if the word grenery of the universe could gather to ask for mercy on his behalf, none of these humans could hear them. It was so painful that the only companion he had was his dog. Which he called Alex. He got the name from a movie he was able to watch one night, and that name stuck to his heart, and he couldn't think of anyone close to him as loveable as Alex in the movie was, to his mother.
Today like every other day, like every evening in the world. He was back from the forest, with loads of woods resting on his shoulders. He walked behind while Alex was ahead of him, wagging his tail at him and sometimes he would bark, which would make him smile. They got to the house that if someone saw him in the forest would forever deny that he lived in. Because even the workers in that house couldn't be seen in a forest collecting woods.
He entered and made way for Alex and when he dropped down the woods he had collected for the day, the next thing he felt was a hard knock on the crown of his head, and he ducked down painfully. But no tears came, his knees going south was a result of the reflex action of his body. But he felt no pain. He looked up and met the older man that was responsible for almost half the pain he was enduring in the house.
"Why have you spent such a long time in the forest without coming back home? Why?" Then came the beatings he had gotten used to, ever since he opened his eyes into this world. The woods he had collected from the forest were what he used in beating him up, and he had gotten used to that as well. To them, these woods would be used to cook tomorrow morning, but each blessed day he took nearly half the words than the fire did.
While he was being beaten, his eyes fell on Alex that was ducking his head at the burning fire that was cooking the dinner and he shouted. "Alex, get out of that! It's harmful!"
The man laughed, and he looked between Alex to him. "This dog makes you do half the bad things you do, right? Then I'll eliminate him for you." He began shaking his head sideways, but of no use. The man walked to where Alex was and he grabbed him by his left ear.
"Please don't harm him, he hasn't done anything wrong for you to do this. I'll take all the punishment for him." He begged, for the first time he felt fear. The feeling of fear was alien to him, he had never felt it before. He had never feared being taken away from something or someone like he had did for Alex.
The man walked up to the saw hanged in the courtyard and the moment he walked back to where Alex was cuddling his body, he forcefully pulled it out his body and placed the saw on his throat. "Please, I beg you in the name of god, don't do this to him. He did nothing wrong," he begged with nothing but fear evident in his eyes.
"I'll kill him for you, because he makes you soft, and that's not something for you. Being soft and attached to someone or something isn't for you, and you should never do that in your life." With his eyes bulged out and his heart throbbing beneath its enclosure, he watched as that saw crisscrossed Alex's throat and they eyes met for the last time. He watched him wagged his tail for the last time and he barked for the last time.
The blood filled body of Alex was thrown to him and the man stared directly into his face with Alex's blood dripping from the saw. "You can't get attached or love someone or anything. And this," he pointed at Alex's dead body "You caused it upon him by loving him, but it'll make you strong."
He couldn't remember the last time he had this kind of dream, may be it had been over fifteen years or even to twenty. And before he got back to his conciousness, he screamed the name "Alex!" on his lips and it felt as though he had opened his eyes and brought his soul back to him.
The kind of voice he used woke her up abruptly and she stared at him from the middle of the bed where she sat, "What the hell is wrong with you? How can you wake up with one christain name on your lips? If she's your girlfriend or whatever it is, I don't mind, bring her here and I'll help you in hiding her from these maids, but don't you ever frighten me this much." She glared at him, not even noticing the beads of sweat that had formed on his body and all over his face. She checked the time on her phone and turned her head away from him.
Al-mustapha stared at her sleeping figure and wondered how many times she had felt what he did. Do normal people have dreams that aren't soul hunting like his? Do they have dreams that are devoid of memories able to crush ones heart to pieces. May be the man was right, loosing Alex surely made him strong, and that's why he hadn't got attached or loved anything ever again; because he hated the feeling that came after he lost that thing. May be it worked on Fatima Zarah too, because the day he lost Alex, he spent the night with Alex's dead body clutched to his chest. But now that he watched as Fatima Zarah slept peacefully, or so he thought. He knew he made her stronger too.