Twenty Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Maryam and Chioma found themselves staying up till past midnight cleaning the mess from the
party but it was a good distraction for both of them as it helped to keep their mind busy and away
from the meeting with Gift. Although Mrs. Ugochukwu implored them to leave the cleaning till
morning, both girls refused to go to bed till the house was clean again and when they finished at
last, they were both too tired to talk about anything. They went to Chioma’s room where they
both fell into an exhausted sleep.
Before falling asleep, Chioma switched off the main bulb and switch on her reading lamp so that
the soft light left the room dimly lit. She hated sleeping in the dark. Chioma slept with her mouth
gaping slightly open, swimming in the unconsciousness of her dreams. For how long she had
been asleep before she saw him, she did not know but soon she heard the door open softly and
Matthew walked into the room.
She stared at him through groggy eyes and rubbed her eyes together, trying to control the
excitement she was feeling when he said her name gently and stretched out his hand. She took
his extended palm and he pulled her from the bed. When he bent his head to kiss her, she kissed
him back passionately before it hit her that Maryam had been awfully quiet. She turned from him
and stared at the empty bed, “where’s Maryam?” Chioma asked.
“There’s no one Chi, it’s just us. It’s just you and I.” Matthew replied, fixing her with a look of
tenderness that seemed to both console and pierce through her at the same time. Chioma quickly
looked away and her eyes caught sight of a picture of the both of them fixed to a side of her
wardrobe, it hadn’t always been there she thought. Matthew was pulling her down to sit on his
laps now on the bed but she kept on looking intensely at the photograph. Then it hit her, it was
the last photo they had taken together, a week before he died. She disentangled herself from hishold and went to where the picture was placed, she was no longer the one standing beside
Matthew. In the picture stood Grace or Gift, she couldn’t tell which with Matthew’s hand
encircling her waist and she turned to him impatiently, “wait,” her gaze returned to the photo and
she could swear it was Grace with a smile on her face.
“Chi, it’s either of them,” she turned back to Matthew and he repeated his statement.
“But how…” the rest of question was caught off as his mouth closed over hers and Matthew
dragged her to the bed with him.
She landed on him and he flipped her over, towering over her, he laughed and began to undo the
buttons of his shirt. She leaned forward and kissed him and her hand was just going to his fly
when a loud noise woke her up. Chioma jumped up with a start and saw Maryam staring at her
with a frightened expression on her face. The noise had woken her up too. Another crashing
sound came from the direction of the living room and they heard the sounds of tumblers and
dishes breaking. The two ran out of the room and hurried towards the kitchen where the sound
had been coming from. Before them was a sea of broken glass and china. All the dishes they had
washed lay broken in pieces on the floor.

***

By 7:00am, Mrs. Ugochukwu was still in bed with David. The newly engaged couple after
retiring to their room the previous evening had had a steamy sex session that had left them both
exhausted and had both been dead to the commotion. It wasn’t till nearly 9:00am that David
finally came out of the bedroom.

He greeted Chioma and Maryam who were sitting in the living room, “good morning ladies,” he
said with a sardonic smile. Chioma made no response while Maryam waved at him as he went
out of the door.
‘How pathetic,’ Chioma said. Chioma was unsure whether to tell Maryam of the bizzare dream
she had had about Matthew the night before and the issue of the puzzling photograph. After they
had rushed to the kitchen, they had met the kitchen window open. Maryam had been quick to
dismiss it as the work of the wind as she wasn’t ready to think of any sinister possibility that
could have cause a tray of dishes to come crashing to the ground. Chioma had not bothered
arguing even though they both knew it had not rained and there was no sign of a heavy wind.

***

“Hmmm, my sister it was epic,” Mrs.Ugochukwu was saying on phone as she gossiped with
Mrs. Beebs about last night’s sex with David. “He was like an animal.”
Chioma who had come to her mother’s door heard the last part and cleared her throat to
announce her presence.
“Let’s talk later,” Mrs. Ugochukwu said hurriedly into the phone and ended the call. Mrs.
Ugochukwu knew that Chioma showed a disgust to most of her decisions when it came to David
and she had come to accept that but she wasn’t going to give her daughter a reason to disrespect
her. “Chi, Gift called. What’s wrong with your phone?” Not waiting for an answer she
continued, “she said she was sorry about last night and you should forget about everything that
they don’t matter. What is that about? Is everything okay?”
“Everything is just fine! We are okay,” Chioma snapped and turned on her heels, slamming the 
door behind her. 
Mrs. Ugochukwu frowned and stood up from the bed, following her daughter to her room. 
“Okay, tell me, what’s going on with you girls?” Mrs. Ugochukwu said addressing Chioma and 
Maryam.
“I said nothing, Maryam let’s go,” Chioma snatched her bag from the dresser and beckoned to 
Maryam to follow her.