DEATH JUNCTION

5

I got into the car, clutching my only bag tightly to myself as all the doors screeched shut. I settled in the back seat of the sienna. A thick silence with so many unsaid words hovered above the occupants of the car. Despite the clench of my heart, my eyes moved over the people that I had shared a house with for so many years.

My stepfather was lost in thought at the front seat, gripping the wheel as he waited for Mama, his mother, to take her place beside him. The glamorous ring that once adorned his fingers were gone, so also the ferocity that came with him. My step siblings were quieter, their eyes hollow as they both looked out dusty opposite windows of the car we had rented . Nausea curdled within my gut as the vision of sand falling onto my mother's casket yesterday scalded my memory.

I was only pulled from my thinking when Mama entered the car. Unlike everyone one else, she looked happy as though she lived in another world entirely. My eyes narrowed as unwanted anger spiked.

Could she be any more insensitive?

She looked at her son as she pulled her seatbelt. "Why you dey look like say someone died? Abeg get a move on and let us leave this place." He obediently nodded though I could see a visible clench in his jaw. My tongue seemed to also vibrate with angry words but my fear of the woman displaced it. The car kicked into gear, a rumbling noise filling the silence that encapsulated the tranquility that hovered above Ise village. The village was marked by different buildings; some looked modern with freshly painted walls and well fenced compounds while some, like my grandparents' own, struggled to stand on its own two feet.

I swallowed as the sky darkened, gloomy clouds paraded it. As we steered down the road, the jarring sound of the tires scraping against coarse stones annoyed me but the feeling didn't last long as I turned to the back window. Although dust clouds had begun to rise up, I could still see the faint outline of the hut, the place where I had left a piece of me, the remnant that was left to become dust like her ancestors.

I grew sick as I brought out the doll from the compartment in my bag. I squeezed it, stilling the tremble that rushed up my fingers. As mama began to hum, her screechy voice scraping my ears, a thought slammed into me.

Who would hate my mummy so badly that they would like to kill her?

And in that moment, all the breath left my lungs. I coughed, bending over as my heart began to palpitate. As I looked at her, my mind clicked, arousing the familiar rise of bile, vomit still waiting right behind it.

She couldn't have possibly done it, she can't hate her that much.

Who else would have done it?

But she's sick, you know that, there is a possibility.

Do you think she would kill you too?

You don't know whether or not it's her to begin with!

This isn't some make believe sleuth case!

I suddenly felt dizzy, my world blackening in and out as my mind was over come with those intruding thoughts. I could feel the sobs that threatened to tear out of my throat, a tiny memory pulled me in before it did.

"Everything will be fine." Mummy soothed me, touching my shoulder as I rested my head against her, blinking back tears.

"You can count on me, I'll always be around. I will cheer you, when you're feeling down-" She sang which made me wrinkle my nose in distaste despite my tears.

"Mummy, I'm too old for Barney!" I pouted and she laughed, bringing a small smile to my face. She smiled as she kissed me on my forehead before pulling me into a tight embrace.