The Sun burned hot that afternoon as Chioma clutched the fading photograph in her hand. She has been through thick and thorns trying to survive in the humble home of her grandma, her palms were sweaty and her feets were aching from the long journey and her heart was beating so loud the next person could almost hear it.
She finally found the house she has been looking for. The building, the brown tall gates all matched her grandmothers description which she gave her on her deathbed telling her to find her mom there.
So there she was. She approached the gate with little or no confidence, and timidly called out the man in charge of the gate, "Abeg...I dey look for my mama, she dey live here."
The man narrowed his eyes, and asked the girl again who she said she was looking for.
The girl's voice began to crack, she rephrased what she said, she was looking for her mom who lives here.
The gatemen assumed she was one of those homeless people looking for rich people to beg from, so he tried to push her away.
But her voice was heard from inside and soon the front door opened and a tall handsome black man with a gentle face stepped out, followed by a lady in a flowing gown and hair bonnet.
On seeing the woman, the girl froze, the photo in her hand looks way much younger, faded but the resemblance could not be mistaken, the girl was very sure she had found her mom.
Her eyes met with the woman's.
The woman's face immediately went pale as if she'd seen a ghost, she knew for a fact that this might be her abandoned daughter. She stood still where she was.
The little girl stepped forward and came closer to the woman.
"Mama, na me, I be your pikin, you leave me for grandmama house when you born me, now I don come find you"
The woman's lips opened but no words came out at first.
But suddenly she found her voice:
"What are you doing here?"
The girl, rephrased what she said earlier, she explained that she had been looking for her all her life, all these talking while raising the photo up for them to see.
The husband was shocked and he looked at his wife in shock. "What is going on?"
But the woman hardened her face and faked anger at her husband for believing a total stranger. She denied ever having another child let alone knowing this girl.
She accused the girl of being a bum and asked that she gets thrown out the street where she belongs .
The girl cried uncontrollably while she begged her mom not to send her away.
But her mother's eyes was visibly filled with hatred and anger. She turned her back on the girl as she walked back inside the house. And the husband stood there staring in confusion.
Chioma had nowhere else to go to as she had come from a very long distance, she just stood outside the knees, hugging her knees and she slept on the street for 2 days barely surviving the heat of the day and the night's cold.
On the 3rd day the husband found her out there with a terrible fever and he felt pity for her.
"Abeg stand up, u no fit dey here like this, come enter my house, till things settle small".
The girl agreed to go with him into the house, and against his wife's wish the man brought the girl in, helped her get a shower, food and clothing and some meds to help with her illness.
From the beginning her mom's hatred towards her was very clear, even the looks she gave the girl was sharp enough to cut. And every word she utters to her hissed like poison.
Even in the midnight when no one else is awake The woman goes into the girl's room.
"What are you doing here? Have you come to remind me of my past? You don't belong here! If you don't leave you'll regret it!"
Several times the girl tried to run away but each time the husband stopped her. He assured her that nothing will happen to her in his house that she should never try to run away again.
The girl did all the work at home, she was happy to be doing them because she was raised to help out in the house. But the only thing that killed her inside was the hatred from her mother and she just didn't understand why that is so
Everyday she wondered what she had done to deserve such cruelty from the one who gave her life?
Still nothing softened the woman's heart.
The husband already grew tired of all the drama and decided to confront his wife. "Ehis this girl to you and why do you treat her so bad, I demand an explanation this instant"
The woman began to tremble, tears welled down her eyes as all her buried pain clawed their way to the surface.
"This girl... she's...my past", she choked. I swore to bury this past of mine forever."
Soon she was finally confessing. She explained that tears ago she had a boyfriend who she loved so much, even when her mom was warning her about the boy, the love blinded her to the truth and she didn't listen to her mom, she was only 17 then. But one night, the man betrayed her love, he invited her to a party, and there he drugged her, used her and left her broken, and travelled to Detroit. The pregnancy was the scar of that betrayal and the child she later birthed was the fruit of the betrayal so she abandoned the baby to her mother's care, changed her name and identity, and built a new one.
She thought is she erased her existence that what happened to her would be erased too, but seeing the girl again brought back that nightmare and it felt like she was living it again.
The room fell silent, and the husband was in stunned disbelief. The little girls heart was torn, she never thought that this was what happened to her mom, also she started to think that her whole existence was a mistake.
She hated her mother for making her suffer for a crime she never committed, but then she later realized that her mom was just a broken woman drowning in her own scars.
The days that followed was tense, the mother still couldn't bring herself to embrace the girl, but something shifted, she no longer threatened the girl. She no longer said hurtful words to the gurl, instead she kept her distance, and silence with unresolved pain in her heart.
The husband was determined to love both of them, helping the little girl to feel some fatherly love and also assisting his wife to heal.
It was not the happy reunion the girl wished for while coming, there were no embraces from her mom, no sudden warmth, even though the mom apologized for treating her bad, there was still no genuine love shown by her. But there was truth, and truth sometimes can be the begining of healing.
Cover image generated using my prompt on chatgpt
