The week in hell 1

I lay on my soft,expansive bed convalescing from a bout of malaria that had me so weak,drained of colour and irritant,I hate been sick...I mean who doesn't, that's when the most delicious meals are prepared and all your favourite meals laid before you,yet the aroma disgusts you, my brothers had been exceptionally sweet and caring during this time,tending to me when mom had gone to the office,I was really bowled over with all the affection they've showered on me,even though I suspected it was for ulterior motives...they aren't always this nice,let's face it, which brother shows their brother so much care when they are sick like they are doing? bringing me hot cup of tea heavily laced with milk,just the way I love it, placed on a tray,slices of bread on ceramic flat plates with a jar of honey by the side and a saucer containing peppered boiled salmon,right to my bed! I took sips of the hot tea,looking up to see their faces and throwing them suspicious glances...laughing out loud,Hamz said "oh don't worry dear brother,we didn't poison the food...you're safe" ,


Karl and QT who sat at opposite edges of the bed facing me laughed, "I had to make sure" I said,dropping the tea cup carefully on the tray,picking up the slices of bread sandwiched with the peppered salmon and ferrying it to my mouth,biting into it and shutting my eyes to savour the taste of a perfect blend of buttered bread and salmon..

"hmmn!" I let out a soft moan of displeasure, "too much salt... almost ruined the taste of the fish", I said, Hamz rolled his eyes,telling me I ought to commend him for trying,
"that's true" I thought,I simply smiled,gesturing for him to come to me while I tried to swallow a well grounded and mashed bread and fish in my mouth and patted him on the back,thanking him for the effort...

...Karl sauntered over to where I was to feel my temperature,I felt really cared for and pampered! Hours later,I'd been forgotten,left in the room all by myself and they..in the sitting room watching a champions league match while I lay on my bed,cuddled under my duvet responding to out pour of love for me on twitter,from friends and fans alike,my friend roland and I kept chatting,sending direct messages back to back,he invited me to endeavour to come clubbing with him that weekend as it was on a thursday,I told him I wasn't sure since mom would definitely not agree to me going clubbing,I asked if I could come with my brothers,he sent me a rolling eye emoticon "we have enough boys already,c'mon maj,must u always take your brothers around with you?" he wrote, "but I can't go out without my brothers,mere mentioning of clu.. and they are in,besides am just recovering from a sickness that's had me drained of almost all the strength in me,I need support and we both know I can't count on you" I replied with a wink emoticon, "I forgot you are such a lady anyway" he responded with a laughing emoticon and said it was cool,I smiled and dropped my blackberry on the bed...I managed to sit up and felt a banging headache crack through my head and I doubled over in agony,I figured I needed to stay as calm as possible since i couldn't shout for my brothers to come hold me as they were engrossed in the game of football they were watching,few minutes later,I manage to get off the bed and trailing the wall with my hands for support,I walked slowly to the door,looking at how wobbly my legs felt from loosing so much weight and hated how I was feeling, "would I be able to party this weekend with the way my body looks" I thought,I sighed and kept on tip toeing as though doing that won't upset the drumsticks of raging headache waiting patiently in my head for the slightest provocation to set my head reverberating with thunderous headaches,silently begging my head not to get ravaged by another headache.

I got to the corridor and holding the stair railings for support,descended the stairs slowly...my nostrils suddenly caught the smell of food burning,I called out to my brothers and at the same moment, yelped in pain,holding my head,I'd just gotten my head upset,I stayed calm and QT coming towards me,bent down to the level I was, crouching on the stairs,asking if I was alright,I gave him an icy stare, "THE HELL AM NOT BROTHER" I screamed in my mind,making sure I didn't let that escape my lips lest I faint from another bang of headache,he smiled,getting the message and gently led me to the settee in the sitting room and gave me pain relieving tablets to pop meanwhile Hamz had raced to the kitchen to check up the food and there! Burnt,all of it and that was the last of the tuber we had,the whole yam porridge burnt and even the recipe and step by step process of preparing the food that I managed to write on a piece of paper since they have not much knowledge on how to cook all wet with water and torn,I shook my head in disappointment,the smell of burnt food plus my sickness made me retch, got my tummy gorging furiously and I rushed to the sink to throw up...

..." And that's the last of the food stuff" QT said exactly what I'd thought earlier,scratching his head,he handed me a towel hanging on the kitchen door to wipe my face with after splashing my face with water and running he tap over the sink to flush the vomit in there...

... "Gosh! Maj I love you but do you have to do that there?we wash food there,this is the kitchen,not the toilet" Hamz quipped...as with QT earlier,I gave Hamz an icy stare ,he flattened his lips in a wry and carried the pot of burnt food to dispose off its content, I slowly grabbed a kitchen chair,took a piece of paper and a pen and wrote down a list grocery to get.


           Slamming the door close as I settled into the passenger seat of mom's toyota venza her ex got her,Karl started the ignition and we cruised out of our compound onwards to the mall to do the groceries,I'd told my brothers about the night crawl clubbing plans I had with roland and they signaled their interest,howling with excitement,"boys would always be boys",I thought and sighed,the main issue was mom,we thought and went over different lies that would fly with mom,none seemed perfect,obviously raising boys had smarten up mom about boys and their pranks as we reminisced about past lies and pranks we've put mom through. While we all laughed telling stories to Karl about our childhood,holding my tummy to prevent my body vibrating vigorously with laughter so as not to revive my headache,my phone started ringing "Sssshhhhs" I hushed my brothers, "its mom" I said,they nodded knowingly and kept quiet, "how are u my darling" Mom's soft voiced cooed from the receiver,almost like a whisper, "am ok Mom,though your sons aren't trying enough in taking care of me" I said slowly with a sad expression,looking at their faces,My brothers lip synching insulting me and making angry facial expressions,Hamz screamed over the phone saying I was lying,Mom laughed and asked where we were,I told her we were on our way to the mall to get groceries as their getting the food burnt forced us to dress up and leave for the mall since there was no food at home and as the "daughter" of the house,I had to muster up some strength to follow and supervise so they don't pick the wrong brands of provision or foodstuffs, "awww" ,my dear,your stupid brothers,not only didn't they take good care of you,now taking you along to the mall to shop for food stuffs? *sighs* God knows I tried my best in raising them to be good men,who would know how to cook and take good care of themselves....", then it happened pretty fast...Karl controlling the car with one hand,snatched the phone from me in a bid to speak with mom,my brothers laughing out loud behind us and cheering Karl on,we were all excited and in the heat of the playful tussle and as we struggled for the phone,totally forgetting about my headache and mom shouting from the receiver for us to behave,Karl almost hit a big rock by the roadside "LOOK OUT K!" ...Hamz called out,Karl swerved rather dangerously trying to avoid hitting a dangote truck in front of us "OH GOD!" I let out a scream,cupping my head with my hands,my phone flying off my hand and hitting the car's floor mat,the phone dismantling and the parts flying off different places my head rippling with headache and being flunged around on my seat but held tight by the safety belt,the tires screeched dangerously and Karl bashed the car's headlights against a stump of a felled tree,the car windscreen wiper going off, waving back and forth,we were obviously shocked beyond words,we stayed silent for a minute which felt like forever,Karl was the first to speak "Maj are you alright....is everyone alright?" "Yea...yea...am fine" Hamz said from the back, "...Maj? You alright?" Karl and QT asked at the same time, "headache...headache" was all I said,holding my head,people had gathered around our car,I guess seeing the model of the car and seeing that no one has alighted from the car gathered around to see if we needed help,the windscreen wiper still waving frantically,Karl pressed the wind down button of the car, "Ah Oga,wetin happen,shay una dey alright" one of the sympathizers said,almost shouting,more people had gathered and chorus questions started "Ehhhhh oyinbo pe pe,shay you no wound" referring to Karl, "shay una drink ni?make una talk na,comedown na" , "Ahhhh,una headlight don smash,una be rich pikin na,e no go b big deal", they bombarded us with questions and also showing empathy,I manage to raise my head and thanked them for their concern,Karl and QT came down to assess the extent of damage followed by Hamz while I bent down looking for my smartphone,the battery had come off in the commotion and body and battery of the phone flunged across different places in the car,I picked them up and inserted the battery back, "the left headlight is smashed" Karl said to me,opening the door to the driver's seat and sitting down heaving a deep sigh, "what would mom say" he said,his face contorted with grief, "oh common,it was an accident,its fine,I turned to face QT and Hamz who had settled to their seats, "it was an accident" I repeated, "ofcourse we know that" QT replied,so it was clear we were on the same page and continued on our trip to the mall

Driving into the car park of shoprite abuja,I had a bad feeling about the place,my heart beat started pounding fast and I sensed all wouldn't be well here,climbing down from the car,I told Hamz what I was feeling, "oh please maj....stop with such talks...you are only feeling that way because you are sick"

But I knew what I was feeling...I felt unsafe....and I was right....what happened? KEEP UP!