I know she will visit again on Wednesday. She never missed our "date" for any reason. She always looked the same as ever: patient smile, deep eyes and a straight expression.
Ureh and I had been given all the titles befitting people who were always together: peas in a pod, birds of a feather, 5 and 6, even eba and soup. We made similar hairstyles, we dressed in the same colour, we crushed on the same boys. We were absolutely inseparable.
I got to know her on my first day in junior high. Being the shy and introverted person that I normally am, I sat by myself on last seat in class and was looking outside the window. I heard a hesitant voice ask me "please can I sit beside you?" I turned to stare into a pair of big beautiful brown eyes in a properly sculpted face and a tall, slender body. I nodded. She sat.
Gradually we got talking and I found out facts about her. Her name was Ureh Dede. She was light complexioned, in contrast to my dark complexion. She was my age mate, but I was some months older. She was also from Rivers state, like me. She loved to draw, sing and daydream. To top it all, she also had daddy issues...like me! I just knew we were meant to be best friends. She even gave me a pet name "Sisi", saying I was like a sister to her.
Around the beginning of our second year in junior high, there was a telenovela trending: El Querpo del Deseo (translated as Second Chance or Body of Desire, whichever). It was featured on one of the local TV channels from 9pm to 10pm.
The movie was centred around a man who returned from the dead in another body to continue being with his loved ones and to punish those who had been deceiving him.
Ureh and I escaped from the general night study class to peep through my English teacher's window and follow the telenovela. We got caught a couple of times and got into trouble, but it was totally worth it!
One night, on our way back from our illegal romp, she asked me a question that disturbed me for a really long time.
"Sisi, do you think it's possible to live again, after death?"
I was flabbergasted "Of course not, Ureh. It's just a movie. Once you die, you're dead. Your spirit goes either to heaven or hell, depending on the quality of life you lived while on earth."
"But what about ghosts and..."
"There's no such thing as ghosts" I interrupted her. "Let's just drop this subject. It's creeping me out"
We walked back to class, a very awkward silence between us.
During the long holidays that year, I traveled to my Aunt's place in Lagos. Before I left for Lagos, Ureh had told me that she also had friends in Lagos she hoped to visit during the holidays. I was elated! We exchanged addresses of our people in Lagos. I was eagerly expecting her visit.
She came on my birthday. My aunt had gone to work then. I heard a knock on the door, and when I went to check, there stood Ureh! I was so surprised and excited at the same time. We hugged for a very long time and talked even longer. We had missed each other so much.
Before she left, she gave me a gift that I would always treasure: one of her new flowery gowns that I had always admired. To me, that was my very best birthday gift ever!
Until I left Lagos back to Port Harcourt the next week.
Until my mom told me Ureh had died some days after I traveled to Lagos.
Until I saw the pictures from her funeral service.
I almost slumped. I had questions I could only ask myself. Who visited me in Lagos? Who gave me that dress? Who was I on the phone with just the day before? Who was playing this cruel trick on my mind?
I went to visit her family, and they confirmed the story. She had a terrible asthmatic attack and nobody was around to help. UREH DEDE DIED ON A WEDNESDAY, TWO DAYS TO MY BIRTHDAY! They had asked my mom not to give me the news while I was away so I wouldn't cry myself to death while I was supposed to be enjoying my holidays and my birthday. I mumbled words of consolation to her family, my lips trembling the whole time. My legs couldn't stop shaking as I walked out of the house.
I got to my house to meet a nervous-looking Ureh waiting outside my gate. I stopped in my tracks, mouth agape, heart thumping hard.
The best of words didn't come close to giving a proper description of how I felt at that moment.
I turned back to run away.
"Sisi please. It's me. Don't leave me, please" she had tears in her eyes.
I couldn't believe I was hearing her voice. It was the same voice I was used to. Death had nothing on her.
I approached her gradually, cautiously "Ureh, you're...you're..." I stammered. "What do you want with me?" I was crying profusely now.
"I just want us to keep being friends. Nothing has to change. You're all I have now, please"
I turned back and ran as far as my legs could carry me.
I couldn't find the dress she gave me anymore. I was losing my mind. I decided to tell my mom everything. We saw the doctor and he said I was probably hallucinating the whole time. I was placed on sedatives and some other drugs to help calm me down.
Ureh kept visiting me on Wednesdays. I was still so scared to talk to her and so weak to run away. We just stare at each other in silence. What words should exist between the living and the dead?