Moving on

“Yeh! Yeh! Yeh!” were the words that brought Adara back from her reverie. She then realized 

she has been sitting on the big stone for a while and the sun was scorching hot. She looked at her big

toe and saw it had stopped bleeding. She then sighed and hope nothing evil would come her way. “Yeh! 

Yeh! Yeh!” the words came again. She jumped up as it dawned on her it was her mum`s voice. Adara 

raced in, on getting inside, she found her mum sprawled on the floor, complaining of stomach pains.

In despair, she thought of what she could do for she suspected the pains was due to hunger for 

they hadn`t had any meal that day and she wandered all morning seeking for her usual odd jobs but got

none. Out of fear, Adara, who had never seen her mother in such pains, went out and sought for the

help of her neighbors. She eventually was able to get help from a neighbor popularly known as bobo

lagos. The man was a rich lagosian who owned a decent, beautiful and fenced bungalow in the

neighborhood. It was rumored that bobo lagos was a prosperous business tycoon in lagos, though no

one knew what he actually did for a living. He had no family or relatives he could call his, neither did he

have any other occupant in his house. The house was oftentimes empty as he seldom came home.

Bobo lagos eventually took Adara`s mother to the hospital in his old but epensive car. Anike was

immediately put through series of test to know the source of her ill state. Eventually, it was detected

that she was suffering from abdominal ulcer due to periodical and epileptic feeding. Treatments were

instantaneously given to her, Anike was discharged. Bobo lagos later returned to lagos though the

dropped his mobile number and said he could be called up in case help was needed. Life continued as

Adara was able to get odd jobs which kept mother and daughter out of starvation. Anike kept using her drugs regularly which prevented her from having ulcer attacks though she couldn`t keep up with the

prescribed food for it couldn`t be afforded. Three weeks had passed since it was detected that Anike

had ulcer. Adara began to feel at ease and her fear started losing its grip on her for since the first attack,

there had been no recurrence. The-left-leg-hitting myth won`t have its way this time around.

          *                    *                 *                     *

On a dull and cloudy Friday morning, about 3:00am, Adara woke up at the soft sound of her 

mother`s call. She was speaking so softly and heavenly “Adara, Adara,” anike called again.

“Yes mother,” Adarab answered swiftly as if she hadn`t been sleeping. “Yes, mother, are 

you in need of anything?” she asked. She looked at her mother curiously for it was unusual 

seeing her in such a serene look. She was always looking wild and dangerous and sometimes

very lousy.

“Adara, my dearest daughter,” Anike whispered again. “I really love you and always

will,” she further went on. “I will always be with you, till the end of time.

At this point, Adra became scared, for despite her almost nine-year-old mind, she could

see an impending doom. “Mother, please stop speaking in this manner, very soon it is going to

be alright. You will surely be well again,” she said trying to stop what seemed inevitable.

“My dear, I can see your father beckoning at me,” Anike said with smiles. “I  just cannot help but 

join him. We will both be with you,” she continued, still smiling. “And while we are away, stand firm and stay strong for the world is full of difficulties and challenges. Dangerous men are all

over the place, fight always and don’t give in to defeat.”

“Mother, you can`t do this to me, I thought I heard you say you love me, mother!

Please, I love you too. We will both survive this hardship and feast upon our rosy future,” Adara

went on pleading, gripping her mother`s hand firmly as if that was what held her soul.

As if her words fell on deaf ears, Anike did not respond but kept on whispering the 

words “Adara, I can`t help it, I just have to go,” as she drew her daughter into her arms engaging

her in a fierce and passionate embrace. “I love you, Adara, I really do love you.” Anike kept

whispering with a squeaked voice. In a shivered as reality dawned on her. Her mother`s body

felt immediately felt cold and stiff.

The girls cry of agony and bitterness brought neighbors around. They immediately

packed up the corpse while some tried consoling her. Consoling her was futile, for the more she

was consoled, the more painful it became. She thought of how she could carry on with her life 

without her parents. She didn`t even have an idea of who her relatives were and how to locate

them. The only relative she knew was her paternal grandmother who was late too. She was told

that her grandfather had been long dead. All thought of her being alone was excruciating.

Adara remained in this topsy-turvy state for two weeks after her mother`s death she

neither drank nor ate much. She was always in tears. It was a day to her ninth birthday. She

consoled herself deciding to leave all behind and get on with life. She thought long and hard of how and where to begin from. Eventually Adara decided to get help from bobo lagos and start a

new life afresh in lagos for she had overheard people saying lagos was where to acquire wealth

and all one`s sorrows would be forgotten.

With this intention, Adara went to the nearest garage to find the cost of transportation

to lagos. She was told she would need four hundred and fifty naira to get to her destination.

With this information she got herself a job at a middle class restaurant as a dish washer. She was

in return give the wages of three square meals and ten naira per day. She was content with the

pay as far as her feeding was settled; she could save her money without it being tampered with.

Adara began work in January, a month after her mother`s demise. She started the work, and by

the end of February, she had successfully gathered enough money for her transport fare to

lagos. She was thrilled at her success and forthcoming journey. It was going to be her first

journey away from her place of birth and hometown and she was looking forward to it.

Adara had initially called bobo lagos towards her accommodation since he had promised

to render whatever help when it was needed. He had given his consent to her coming without

hesitation. She was so happy and began parking earnestly. Making it to the top wasn’t has hard 

as her mother painted it on her death bed she thought. She was so grateful and began to think

of bobo lagos as an angel sent from above, But how wrong she was. She had heard so much 

about lagos but she was going to see it for herself soon.