Unbreakable

chapter 9

Finally Home

When I finally reached my destination, something unexpected happened.

The bus stopped somewhere, and I was told to get down. I looked around, confused, because I did not recognize the place at first. I had been so tired from the journey that my mind felt heavy.

Then I realized something.

The place where the bus had stopped was Kaduna.

My heart began beating faster.

I had finally arrived home.

I quickly carried my bag and stepped down from the bus. Soon after that, I saw someone walking toward me.

It was my mother.

The moment I saw her, my heart filled with excitement. I wanted to run straight to her and hug her tightly.

But as I got closer to her, something changed.

I saw tears in her eyes.

Instead of smiling, my mother suddenly broke down in tears when she saw me.

At that moment, I realized something was wrong.

My mother looked at me carefully.

She saw how thin I had become.

My body had changed. My neck looked longer, my bones were more visible, and I looked much smaller than before.

I did not look like the same child who had left home two years earlier.

Even the clothes I was wearing were the same old clothes I had taken with me to Lagos.

Those were the only things I still had.

Seeing me in that condition broke my mother’s heart.

She cried as she held me.

She told me that now that I had returned home, no one would ever treat me badly again.

Hearing those words made me feel safe again.

When we reached home, my siblings were shocked when they saw me.

They could hardly believe how much I had changed.

I looked so thin and weak that they struggled to recognize me.

Some of them stared at me silently.

Others asked questions about what had happened to me in Lagos.

But I did not know how to explain everything.

Too many painful memories filled my mind.

When I first left home, my family had been living in a small room.

But now things had changed.

When I returned, my parents were living in a four-room house.

I felt very happy seeing that improvement.

For the first time in a long while, I felt a sense of comfort.

I was finally home.

But even though I was happy to be back, the memories of everything I had experienced in Lagos stayed in my mind.

Every little thing I had gone through remained fresh in my thoughts.

Some memories are very hard to forget.

Even now, I can still remember things that happened when I was only seven years old.

That is how deeply those experiences stayed with me.

When I saw my favorite sister again, it surprised me how much she had grown.

She was now two times bigger than me, with a fuller chest and a stronger body.

Meanwhile, I stood there looking small and weak after everything I had been through.

Still, seeing her made me feel happy.

For the first time in two years, I was surrounded by my family again.

And despite all the pain I had carried inside me, one feeling became stronger than the rest.

Relief.

Because finally…

I was home.