MY JOURNEY TO LOVE [Short Story]

 

My life is simply perfect! Everything is as it should be, the venue, decorations, guests, our families, my very exquisite but expensive dress and Femi. My Femi and I just got married and even with all the festivities going on in the garden {which happened to be where we picked as our reception}, I couldn’t just stop grinning and staring at him. Alas! I have someone to call mine, someone that I love and genuinely love me in return. Everything was perfect, well almost everything. Femi’s mother wasn’t too keen on having an Igbo girl for a daughter in-law and she was still fussing over the fact that Femi refused to marry the girl she chose for him. To say the least, his mother and I are barely civil with each other. Femi’s father on the other hand, is a complete angel. He is understanding and welcomed me with open and loving arms.

 

We had both decided that we would change into a more comfortable outfit for the reception and had booked a room at a hotel just across the garden. Hand in hand, we left our guests and accompanied by my bridesmaids and his groom’s men, went straight for the hotel. On getting to the junction, his mother called out to him, asking where I was taking him to, why we were leaving our guests and being her usual ‘loving and dotting’ (that is, annoying and irritating just to spite me) self, Femi left me and went to soothe and reassure mummy that all is well. I on the other hand couldn’t stand to watch the drama and surely didn’t want her or anything at all to spoil my day, so I left them all, calling out to Femi to meet me there and I crossed. On crossing the road, my shoe somehow got caught in my lace covered gown and while I was struggling to untangle it {in the middle of the road and totally oblivious to the fact that a moving vehicle was coming my way}, I hear Femi scream my name and the next thing I knew, Femi pushed me out of the way and the vehicle rammed straight into him. I moved to where he was, cradled his head in my arms, drawing him closer to my bosom and spoke his name softly at first.

‘Femi, Femi, Femi’, all the while patting and shaking him, but he didn’t respond. Then panic rose, realization dawned, and I went berserk. I screamed! Looking up screaming, I saw that they had all witnessed it. The groom’s men rushed over and carried Femi; rushing straight to the car to take him to the hospital. Running with them, I kept on screaming his name and telling myself that this was just a bad dream. How could this be real? On getting to the car, his mother stopped me from going with them. I couldn’t argue. I couldn’t do anything but just stare as the car sped off to the nearest hospital, which was just 10 minutes away. Just then, my mother came up to me, she held me and kept asking what was wrong.

 

‘Ada, what is it? Why are you shaking and looking like this? Where is Femi?’

I just stared at her, speechless with tears racing down my cheeks. Now this had my mother terribly worried.

‘Ogini? Ada what is it?’

My bridesmaids raced to where we were standing and took us both to a quiet spot in the parking lot; away from the noise and gyration, obviously, they had no idea of what had just happened. I kept on shaking and mumbling Femi’s name, nodding my head like I was trying to convince myself that what had happen was all a movie. At this point, my mother was getting irritated by the silence from all of us.

‘Will somebody tell me what is happening here?!’

Sola, Femi’s sister spoke up. ‘Mummy, Femi just had an accident and has been rushed to the hospital’.

 

‘Eewo! Chinekem leee!’ Putting a hand on her head and the other on her lips so as not to attract attention; she then wrapped her hands around me, trying to soothe me. She sent for my brother and Sola told him all that happened.

 

Seated there with my mother, bridesmaids and brother {who had somehow, worked things out that no one knew of what had happened, {of course with the exception of Femi’s father who had also gone to the hospital on hearing the news} and they were even rounding off the ceremony}. For what seemed like an eternity {the longest wait in my life} meanwhile, it was only 30 minutes gone; just then, I saw a car drive in. the same one that drove Femi to the hospital. Standing up abruptly, I raced to the car only to stop short at Femi’s mother’s cry.

 

‘You! Omo-oshi. I said it. I said it that you would only bring bad luck to my family, but no one listened. No one cared! Baba Femi, se eti ri? Even I was wrong, because you are not only a bringer of bad luck but also of death!’

 

At this I began shaking my head profusely, wanting to believe that she was up to her mean ways again and that what she was insinuating was a lie but the look in her face and that of Femi’s father was undeniably too real and true. I raced towards Femi’s younger brother,

 

‘Where is Femi? How is he? What did the doctor say?’

At this point, Femi’s mother was hysterical,

‘She lunged at me, pulling at my dressing and screaming,

 

‘Aje oooooo. Witch! She has killed my Femi. Ada has killed my Femi oooo. What did he do to you to deserve this? Did we commit any offense by marrying you ehn? Answer me. Witch!’

 

At the point, I lost all the control I had and I wept bitterly. I kept wailing and trying to convince her that I would never harm Femi, much less kill him.

 

‘No, it can’t be true. My Femi cannot be dead. Mama-‘

 

‘Gbe enu e sonwun! Tani mama re? Oh, now that you have successfully killed my son, I have suddenly become your mother.’

 

Please--, she struck me so hard that I fell to the ground.

 

Just then, my alarm went off.