Chapter 01. " Goodbye, mummy I "

Morris and I waited at home while mom was being taken to the hospital by the gardener and our driver. A while ago, she had been okay and neither Morris nor I could tell if anything was actually wrong with her. Part of my mother's strength came from a deep faith in God and the love she had for me and Morris, and perhaps just as much from her innate ability to inspire Morris and me to know she meant every word she said.

Our growing up with a father was a hectic one, but unlike Morris, I loved dad so much and gave him most of my attention whenever he was at home.

Morris wanted to follow behind, but I stopped him from taking another step further. I couldn't bear to be at home all by myself as it was too scary for a young child like me. Morris shoved my hands away from his, but I held them back, this time more tightly, and wasn't willing to let go.

" If you're going, then take me along," I said to Morris my tiny voice mixed with authority even though I knew he wasn't going to listen to me.

Morris and I had grown up caged from the outside world, we both didn't know what the world looked like, and everywhere outside the four walls of our home seemed strange and dangerous. That was one of dad's strict rules among the many he still had.

Dad always thought that children who were allowed to step foot outside their home would become wayward immediately and live a tragic life being influenced by bad people outside. Apart from school, Morris and I never knew anywhere else. My school and home were the only places I had been to and neither was I willing to be anywhere else.

Unlike me, Morris despised such rules so much, one of the rules he hated most of all was taking 6 complete hours to study. Dad had a timetable plastered on the wall of both I and Morris's room to guide our everyday activities.

A rule which I didn't have a problem following but Morris did. He would always complain to Mom about them and because mom fully understood him, she would let him bend and break some of them. But one rule she never for once bent because of him was letting him outside the house, Morris couldn't blame her either because he knew she couldn't go against that particular rule my father had set.

We never lacked anything either as long as dad was alive, Morris and u had everything, maybe even more than other kids in the world had and we were satisfied. We had no friends or enemies either because we were always on our own.

One might think we would be able to make friends in school and okay around during closing hours but no, we weren't. Our closing hours were scheduled to be 2:30 and before then our driver would have been in the school by 2:00 ready to pick up Morris and me.

I never had a problem with that because I saw it as a way of protecting both Morris and me and I always felt like dad wanted the best for us.

Morris looked at my teary eyes as I pleaded with him to take me along because of fright. One thing Morris hated more was looking into my eyes because I had dad's eyes and it was something so obvious to anyone who would see me and dad.

His deep hatred for dad made him push it all to me because I had almost all of dad's features and I was always shown excess love by dad, but I didn't care. I loved my brother so much and wanted to always be with him. Most times he would send me out or avoid coming closer to me and since when I knew Morris, he never for once opened up and said a word to me. Sometimes I would ask Mom if Morris couldn't talk but she would always laugh and tell me Morris loves me and is probably going through a phase that I wouldn't be able to understand.

It was very hard for Morris to choose to go with mom or stay with me. But the fact that mom would be highly disappointed in him made him choose me instead. It wasn't easy for him and I knew he was trying to pull himself together and stay strong, but he ended up bursting into tears. I had to be the one to hug him tight and Pat his back slowly.

During this period, Morris was 16, while I was just about clocking 10 years old soon. Our cook Mrs. Roseline a middle-aged woman came out of the house to take Morris and me into to house and told us she would try and contact dad.

Before turning back, Morris watched as the car was being driven out of the house. He buried his face in his palm and I had to guess he was probably praying for mom. I didn't want to be left out, so I had to do the same.

While we both sat down on the sofa in the living room, Mrs. Roseline kept on dialing dad's number, but it wasn't going through. Morris wasn't surprised at this, because he knew dad wouldn't pick up the call.

" Don't waste your time calling him, it's always the same result" Morris said when Mrs. Roseline wouldn't stop dialing his number.

Since I turned 7, I always wondered why Morris hated dad so much. Was it because dad was always so busy and rarely had time for us, or was it because he just hated most of dad's rules so much? These questions remained unanswered to me till I turned 18.

Still, Mrs. Roseline wouldn't stop dialing dad's number and I was beginning to wonder why dad wasn't picking up too. Because I was beginning to get worried she came closer to me and took a seat.

" Don't worry Alexa, daddy's soon going to be on his way here " I nodded my head back and smiled. I was still a little child then so I didn't feel as much pain as Morris. As long as it wasn't dad being taken to the hospital like that, I was sure mom would survive it and come back home to us.

My stomach began growling and I held it in pain. Normally on days like Saturday, mom would always be the one to cook for Morris and me instead of Mrs. Roseline. I looked at Mrs. Roseline and she instantly understood me, the sad look on her face was because she was worried about Morris and she couldn't cheer him up either. Instead, she took my hands and made me follow her to the kitchen to prepare some snacks for me.

Just hearing the word snacks made me forget about mom, not because I chose snacks over her, but because as a little child I couldn't understand the pain yet and I just didn't know what mom was passing through.

Mrs. Roseline made me prepare some snacks with her, and while doing so she began crying watching me stair the flour roughly. I hated watching people cry so much and because of that, I ran to her and held her hand smiling.

" Mrs. Roseline, why are you crying, did I do something wrong?" My innocent tiny voice questioned with a sad look on my face. But instead, she cried the more pulling me into a tight hug.

I had thought she was in tears because I had mixed the flour the wrong way and it made me feel bad, but little did I know that her tears were because she knew mom wasn't going to come back alive.

While hugging me, she promised to stop crying and disagreed that I mixed the flour wrongly but complimented me for doing it the right way.

Mrs. Roseline said the oven was to be the last stage and the snack would be ready in no time. While waiting, I wanted to watch some cartoon, but I was a little scared of telling her because mom had been the only person I told when I needed to do so.

I suddenly summoned up the courage to tell her and walked up to her. " Mrs. Roseline, can I put on the television?" Mrs eyes were as cute as that of a puppy and I was sure she couldn't resist them. She softly rubbed my hair and nodded for me to do so.

I couldn't fathom the happiness I felt inside me as I rushed out of the kitchen to turn on the television but when I got to the living room, I couldn't find Morris there.

I sat down and took the remote from the center table and turned on the television changing it to my favorite channel. The one thing I loved watching most of all was kids like me engaging in school activities like painting, drawing, and coloring too and maybe after that, I preferred watching funny cartoons.

Minutes later, I could perceive the delicious odor of freshly made cookies making my stomach grumble more. I stood up not minding that I wanted to badly see the next part of the cartoon I was watching and ran to the kitchen. Mrs. Roseline burst into laughter when she saw me and handed me a full plate of cookies with a glass of orange juice.

" I'll take this to your brother, he must be hungry too." I wanted to tell her to stay back because I knew Morris wasn't going to accept it. In fact, on Saturdays like this, Morris only ate meals and snacks made by mom and no one else. Today was also supposed to be the day mom was taking him shopping for his birthday next week Tuesday.

I finally agreed and nodded my head walking out of the kitchen and heading to the living room to continue my cartoon. I had a bite from the Cookie and suddenly remembered Mom, but I couldn't cry because I thought mom would be back later at night or noon.

I watched as Mrs. Roseline came down the stairs with the tray of snacks and pineapple juice untouched and I ran to meet her. I wanted to ask her why he didn't take any but she answered my question even before I could bring it up.

" Your brother's not hungry, he said he would have a bit later when he takes his bath". I didn't even think she was lying to me, and instead and ran back and continued with my cartoon.

I was also beginning to miss dad, and I couldn't wait to see him too. Earlier yesterday, mom had said dad would be back by noon today and it made me so happy that I had to go outside the house and sit on the veranda patiently waiting for him.

Of course, one of dad's rules again was the fact that Morris and I had to go to bed before 6:30 pm, dad believed that children needed much sleep to grow healthy and keep fresh brains. To me, anything dad said was always true and best. So, I considered his words and rules important and always abide by all of them, especially the studying aspect.

It was starting to get late and still, dad wasn't even home yet, on days like this, before 6:00 pm mom would sit I and Morris outside the house and tell us a story, stories which we would always enjoy. Her absence that day left a huge hole in my heart and I could feel it but I kept telling myself that she would be back.

Without seeing neither my mom nor dad, I began crying and soon drifted off to sleep on the cold tiled floor cuddling myself with traces of dried tears on my face.