Chapter 9 — Sleeping?

"Balqisu, If everything that you said is true then Ramadan is really a wicked man indeed!" I heard my grandmother said as soon as I woke up from siesta.

I wanted to hear more of the story so I closed my eyes and pretended as if I had returned back to sleep while I listened to what they were discussing.

"After all the promises he made to you!" I heard her continued with what she was saying. "Wonder shall never end!"

"Mum, wallahi ever since Zubaidah became pregnant Ramadan's attention deviated from me. He's taking care of me but not like before. Everything is now Zubaidah, even if he's in my room he'd call her and they'd talk" My mum said.

"Rayuwa kenan" Grandmother huffed and continued. "Don't worry, Balqisu. Abun da yafi d'an adam bai fi Allah ba. Lets just keep praying. In Shaa Allah you will also conceive for him as well"

"Mum, I pray so" My mum said.

"So, when are you all leaving for Kaduna?" Grandmother queried.

"Next week, In Shaa Allah. He told me he already acquired a mansion for us in Barnawa" My mum said as grandmother quickly intruded.

"Really?"

"Yes" My mum replied.

"Sounds like he also like the transfer" Grandmother scoffed. "That's good!"

"Hmm, I'm going to miss you and dad" my mum said after heaving a sigh.

"Oh, mu kadai kika sani? Barirah da Sani fa?" Grandmother commented.

Both Barirah and Sani were my mum's siblings. Thus, the former was the eldest while the latter was the youngest. You may not know them if you haven't read my mum's book yet. I could count the times I met them, we weren't living closer to each other and I was the type that loved staying at home. Hmmm!

"I will miss them too ai, but I will miss you and dad more!" My mum giggled.

"Toh, Balqisu. Ya zancen filling station dinki kuma? Who is going to take care of it when you're gone?" Grandmother asked. It was about my mum's filling station. She was practically into oil and gas business just like my grandfather.

"I already talked to my manager. He's going to handle everything under the watch of Dad, In Shaa Allah" My mum said. Her manager was actually the one taking care of her filling station while she stays at home. If there was any problem he would call her over.

"Toh Balqisu na, Allah Ya bada sa'a" Grandmother prayed for my mum.

"Ameen" my mum said.

They kept talking about random things. When I was bored, I woke up from my fake siesta. "Mum, ina jin yunwa" I said as soon as I eased myself in the toilet. 

"Please go to nanny Safiyah and tell her to fetch you food, okey?" my mum said. 

"Okey" I said about leaving the room when grandmother began teasing me.

"Tsohuwa!" She smirked.

"Ni ba tsohuwa bane!" I squealed.

"Ke tsohuwa ce, Umaimah" She giggled.

"Mum, please tell her to stop calling me that!" I exclaimed angrily. I didn't like to be called that since when I was a little.

"Just go and get your food!" My mum squealed. "And don't come back here, eat in the dining room!" She added.

"Okey, mum" I blurted out as I quickly left before grandmother call me that filthy name again. I practically hated it.

Nanny Safiyah was in the backyard washing my clothes. As soon as I told her I was hungry, she rinsed her hands and dried them with her cloth. "Lets go and get you something to eat" She said.

I trialed behind her to the kitchen. She fetched me some rice and added a meat on top. It was fried rice and the meat was that of a beef. I couldn't even specify which part of it she gave me. It was big and when it comes to food I loved big things even though I was a small girl.

I walked out to the dining room and settled down to eat my super delicious lunch. Both Amirah and her brother, Najib weren't around. They went out with their mother. Ramadan, however was out to bid his friends goodbye. Actually, we would all be leaving Minna to Kaduna next week In Shaa Allah.

While I was eating, the sounds of two gunshots saturated the entire mansion. It was like something was going on between the guards outside. I didn't even know when I ran out to see what was going on. As soon as I was out I saw two of our guards fighting each other. The remaining three were trying to separate them but to no avail.

"How dare you take all my drugs?" One of them said trying to point his gun on the other but his hand was unyielded.

"How about you explain how mine got missing!" The other one exclaimed. 

They kept struggling to hurt each other, thus my mum and grandmother came out of the mansion in haste.

"Hafiz, Tunde will you stop that!" My mum squealed. Despite that they kept fighting as if they didn't even heard her. "Stop that right now!" She yelled again.

And that was when Tunde, the one that wasn't holding gun stopped. But as soon as he stopped, Hafiz – the one that was holding gun – pointed his gun at him and shot him. We were so scared.

"Hafiz, what have you..."

Before my mother could complete her words he turned to us with his gun and fired another shot. I didn't know how but darkness enveloped me suddenly.

I was shot!