Epiphany

In a completely mindless state, she ran out the door and into the woods with blood trickling down her broken nose. In a quest to tune out the sound of human voices, she walked as fast as her legs could carry her until all she could hear was the crunching of dried autumn leaves beneath her bare feet and her sniffing in between sobs. In a twinkle of an eye, she found herself standing before the infamous Osu River, that was when she realized she had sauntered deep into the forest. It was a bright sunny day so she sat on the trunk of a fallen iroko tree lying under a cluster of trees. She leaned forward; elbows on her thighs and chin rested on her intertwined hands as she listened to the songs of birds. As the leaves of the trees swayed gracefully in the wind, a few slanted rays of the sun penetrated the forest and the drops of blood, sweat, and tears that had fallen on her knuckles shimmered in the sunlight like a thousand crystals of diamond and ruby. A gentle breeze whipped past her caramel-toned face, making her long kinky hair flutter in the sunshine, and at that moment, a sudden surge of anger coursed through her veins, setting her heart on fire. She was angry, not at her husband, Amadi, but at herself. Her parents named her Adaeze, meaning ‘the firstborn daughter of a king’, but till this moment, she had lived like a slave. While she was living with her parents, she was a dutiful daughter. She respected and obeyed their every wish, she was not allowed to behave in a certain way or want certain things unless her parents approved. She was the Ada of the Okoli household and this meant she had to make sacrifices for her younger siblings. Whatever impression she gave the public would be used to judge her younger sisters and that could ruin their chances of getting married. These were the words her mother used to convince her at the age of seventeen to get married to Amadi Ezemba; the father of her three-year-old daughter; the man who had broken her nose this morning. When she married Amadi, she became a dutiful wife. She adopted his last name, his family, his town, and his people. She gave him all of her; her heart, mind, and body, and all she got in return was a broken heart and a broken nose. Adaeze had existed on planet earth for twenty-two years but she never lived. She existed to please others, devoted her entire life to others, and saw life through the eyes of others. But today, September 12, 2004, she was reborn. Adaeze will live! *07:35 pm*     After spending the whole day reflecting on her life and extra hours going round and round the woods trying to find her way back home, Adaeze hobbled towards the path that lead straight to her husband’s house. As she inched closer and closer to the gate, the pains from the sores and cuts she had gotten from walking barefooted suddenly multiplied a hundredfold. It was that feeling you get as you draw closer to the finish line while running a race; when you can actually see the finish line, but your body tries to betray and trick you into stopping to rest. Adaeze kept on pushing until she made it to the gate and for the first time in her life, she was so relieved to be standing in front of the Ezemba mansion, a house she had always dreaded. She weakly punched the air in victory before knocking on the huge metal gate securing the house. As soon as Chukwudi, the security man opened the door, she stumbled into the compound, her brief moment of euphoria ended and anxiety washed all over her. She just stood there not sure of what to do or say when she would stand face to face with Amadi. She was lost in thought for several minutes so Chukwudi decided to break the silence. ‘Small Madam, everyone is waiting, including your parents. I suggest you go in’. She thought she heard the pain in his husky voice so she turned to face him. Although Chukwudi is a tall, slim 24-year-old, Adaeze is a whopping 5“10” so she didn’t need to stretch her neck too much to meet his gaze. ‘Are you alright?’ she asked because his eyes seemed to appear red. ‘I should be asking you that. You’re a hot mess’, he replied sharply. Adaeze was quite surprised because she has had only two close encounters with him. The first was ten years ago at Ihite Community Secondary School, when her class, Jss1 A, won the inter-class quiz competition held annually towards the end of the third term. Teacher Njoku had assigned Chukwudi, who was then in Jss3, to train her for three weeks prior to the competition. Their opponents from Jss1 B were sore losers. They claimed she lead her class to victory because ‘the Iroko’ –as Chukwudi was popularly referred to, due to his height and intelligence- himself coached her. The second was six years ago when her mother sent her to Mama Emeka’s tiny shed to buy a bar of soap. She passed by a group of teenage boys playing soccer at Ihite Community Secondary School’s open field on her way to the shed. But on her way back, a short, stout boy shot at the ball carelessly in the air and it landed on Adaeze’s head knocking her out cold. Fortunately, Chukwudi was around the vicinity on an errand. He had seen everything go down so he ran to her, picked her up and ran to her house as fast as he could. Adaeze’s parents had inquired about Chukwudi’s family; He is the son of Mazi Clement, who has been the security guard for the Ezemba Mansion for over 20 years so he basically grew up in the mansion. The next day, her mother sent her and Adaora, her twin sister to Chukwudi’s family with a small sack of Abacha and a 5-liter jerrycan of fresh palm oil as gifts. Coincidentally, Amadi arrived that afternoon from London, where he had studied for his master’s degree. From that day, Amadi chased after her until he made her his wife.  Ever since she moved into this house five years ago, Chukwudi had never said anything to her other than Good morning, Good afternoon, Good evening, and Good night. He was always cold towards her, in fact, she concluded that he hated her but in order not to sound paranoid, she kept this assumption to herself. Since Mazi Clement developed knee osteoarthritis two years ago, Chukwudi who is currently a part-time teacher would take over his father’s job when school was on break in other to enable him to rest. ‘Why do you care? Wait, why are you even talking to me right now?’ She asked defensively. He just ignored her and walked away. He stopped halfway and said: ‘you should go in now. Nkasi needs you’, then he strolled back to his quarters leaving her behind. Adaeze garnered courage and walked up to the front door. She thought about how her husband and family would react if she dared to confront them and she was overcome with fear, but then again, she was sure of two things; first, she was like a tuna fish surrounded by great white sharks. Whether she tries to fend them off or not, either way, she would get eaten. Second, Chukwudi was right, her daughter needed her; she is not only fighting for her life but her daughter’s future as well. She will not go down without a good fight. The moment Adaeze stepped into the living room, she met the glares of her husband, parents, and in-laws. She stood there waiting for them to interrogate her about her whereabouts or hurl insults at her, or something, but since nobody was saying anything and her legs were sore and killing her, she walked past them and headed for the stairs. She had nearly made it up the first staircase when Amadi ran towards her, grabbed her by the hair, spun her around, and slapped her fiercely across the face. She fell hard and slammed her face on the edge of the staircase and at that moment, the whole world went blurry. She had never felt such crippling pain like this before; her entire senses went numb for a minute; she couldn’t see or hear a thing, it was like she completely lost touch with her physical environment. Slowly, she started to regain her senses, but all she could hear was a wheezing sound in her ears like white noise produced from a radio with no frequency. She attempted to open her eyes but her left eye wouldn’t open, it was like her eyelids were glued together and it stung badly. With her good eye, she could see Amadi and her father standing over her, it seemed they were arguing, well that’s what it looks like, but in the reality, it was more like Amadi was yelling at her father. She couldn’t make out what they were saying because of the wheezing sound in her ears, but she knew her father; he was a coward who couldn’t stand up to Amadi. Even though he feared for her safety, he was more concerned about not losing face before Amadi. In an utterly weak state, she laid there on the cold, hard marble floor and watched Amadi exchange words with her father. Adaeze was overcome with both shock and relief the moment she saw Adaora make her way towards the stairs from the living room. Her sister was definitely not in the Ezemba mansion when she had arrived. Adaora stepped in between their father and Amadi. When she saw the icy look in her twin sister’s eyes, she knew Adaora had come for war. Although Adaeze was older by few minutes, Adaora was like her personal bodyguard/defender. While every other person depended on her, Adaora was her comfort zone, her pillar, the only person who understood her and would stick up for her. Growing up, they were like two peas in a pod but they grew apart after Adaeze’s marriage to Amadi. Adaora was the extroverted and rebellious one out of the two and she was against this marriage from the very beginning because she knew her sister didn’t want it plus she disliked the Ezemba family. She had planned to run away with her sister a day before the wedding but Adaeze didn’t have the courage to abandon her parents and responsibilities to their family, so she betrayed her. Adaora had taken her time to plan their escape. On one of her trips to Nkwo market located at the heart of Umunze, the neighbouring town, she overheard Mazi Ezekiel, the fishmonger telling his friend that his wife was assigned by her niece who was married to a petrochemical engineer in Lagos to help her in her search for two new house helps who would assist her in cooking and cleaning. She basically pestered and stalked Mazi Ezekiel’s wife all week long until she secured the two spots for herself and her sister. The plans were to get the job, run off to Lagos, save up for a year, register and take the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) Exams, and then enroll for a part-time course in the university. Unfortunately, Adaeze chickened out at the last minute. Adaeze’s greatest virtues were purity and transparency but sometimes, these virtues became her vices. To her family, especially her mother, she was like an open book. Ever since she was a child, her mother could always see through her lies. Adaora had foreseen that this could hinder their plans so she kept everything to her herself and only told Adaeze three days before their supposed departure. Even though Adaeze still couldn’t hear any conversation going on around her, she could see Adaora spitting out fire at her husband. She was glad her sister was still as sharp-tongued as ever. Right before her eyes, Amadi grabbed Adaora by the hair and pushed her to the ground, immediately, something snapped inside of her. It was like someone simultaneously pumped adrenaline and testosterone into her blood. With strength fuelled by anger, fear, and pain, she jumped to her feet and threw several punches at Amadi. With each punch to his face, she could hear the bones around her knuckles break. Her father grabbed her by the waist and tried hard to pull her away from her husband while Amadi’s mother and his older brother, Obi, tried to protect him from her punches but Adaeze was mad with rage. She stretched out her hands, grabbed her husband by the shirt, and ripped his clothes apart, she reached out again but she couldn’t reach him because he was now farther away from her but she kept snatching and scratching at the air until her hands accidentally got hold of her mother-in-law’s headscarf and she ripped it off her head. Everyone’s jaw dropped in awe, including Adaora. No one had ever imagined that Adaeze would be this violent.