Cross My Mind

HOME SWEET HOME, OR IS IT?

Mila walked out of the compound to the main road that connects the mansion to the major road leading to the central are of Youngsville Louisiana. She sat on her travelling bag and pulled out her phone, dialing Jeremy’s number once again.

“Can you come pick me up dear, I am standing in front of the Mansion right now. I cant stand the sight of him and that woman anymore. Any longer and it will end up spoiling my mood by angering me so please come out pick me up” She said to Jeremy on the phone when he answered the call.

“I will be there baby, hold on for a few minutes I’ll be on my way” he responded.

Mila waited for about twenty minutes in front of the Mansion and a brightly painted camper van pulled over in front of her. Jeremy, a tall young man with in his late twenties, with about six feet height and a shiny long black hair; walks out of the camper van. Mila dropped her luggage upon seeing him and broke into a run towards him, jumping into his open arms and hugging him as tight as she can.

“How I have missed you Jeremy, so much has happened in my life and everything changed in the last five months and you are the only constant that is still here. The only person I can count on to be the same” She said.

Jeremy did not say anything, rather he remained still, stroking her hair gently with his hand. After some seconds, he gently broke up the his but held Mila’s hand instead. He used his right hand to gently lift Mila’s chin up, making her face to face with him while hos left hand was holding her hands.

“We should probably go somewhere more fitting for our five months reunion” he said and signaled to his van with his eyes in a funny way. They walked to the front of the van where Jeremy opened the door for her and she got in. He boarded the van and the two drove away from the compound.

Jeremy is the closest enough person to Mila that some people even say is her boyfriend. She had met him eight months ago when she left home after a fight with her father’s wife Lola. After the fight, Mila had packed her stuff and walked out on her father and Lola, telling them that she would never set foot in the house ever again.

However, after she wandered the sate of Louisiana taking part time jobs and trying to make ends meet, her life got stuck in a loop. She tried so many things but life isn’t just fair to her. In the end, she volunteered for Neuratechnologies' experiment to make a few hundreds of thousands and use the money for a startup business thinking that even if something goes wrong with the experiment, there’s no one to mourn her death or miss her.

‘In the end, having obtained a sum of two million dollars, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try going back to my only living family, my father. I wanted to see if he was ready to love me and I would forgive him for what he had done in the past, but I was wrong.’

“How about I take you round Louisiana, me and you on a trip to as many places and town as we can got to, starting the journey here in Youngsville and coming back here to end it. We’ll go to each place and write a song there. What do you think?” Jeremy asked, bursting her little bubble of thoughts that she was lost in.

“That sounds fantastic. Lets do that” Mila said with less enthusiasm than Jeremy had expected from her. A couple of months back, he knew that Mila would kill to join him on his tour but she seems less excited now.

“Lets be sure to make it fun and Memorable” he added.

“Actually, I am starving. Pull over at the next eatery I need to eat something” Mila said and a few minutes later, she was deep in thought. This time around wondering where Garba would be at the moment and what he is currently doing.

****(Suburban Kaduna Nigeria)****

It has been a total of fifty two hours since Garba’s plane departed from Texas and he has arrived in Nigeria a few hours ago, he had gone straight from the airport to his home where his sister Salma who is now seventeen years old lives with his father Mr. Danladi and his wife who had tortured Garba and Salma when they were children.

Mr. Danladi is currently a retired civil servants whose doesn’t cover half the basic needs of his small household. With a crushing amount of debt and a very meager pension, the household is barely surviving.

Throughout the last couple of years, Having won two scholarships when he was admitted into the university, Garba had been using the monthly upkeep he receives from his scholarships to support his father, as a graduate who could not find any decent job, he would do odd jobs and menial labor to earn a few bucks and use his earnings to support his father.

Despite the inhumane treatment Garba and his sister Salma have suffered from Their father and his Wife, Garba never stopped helping when he can.

In the past when Mr. Danladi was a drunkard, whenever he goes drinking and comes home drunk. He would beat Garba mercilessly, sometimes even seriously injure him and on a single occasion almost killing Garba while still drunk.

But since the government retired him, Mr. Danladi has been on a rough path that had changed his life. Having serious income decline and falling into tens of millions of Nigerian Naira in debt. Mr. Danladi's life has taken a turn for the worst.

Debtors have been seizing his properties one after another, starting with his car, his cattle and all that can be liquidated into cash including the house they live in.

Garba has just gotten off of the taxi that has brought him home when he saw a man dragging a piece of furniture with his father’s wife holding and dragging the other end of it as well. Garba’s father Mr. Danladi who is now old and powerless stood by the side begging the man to let them keep the piece of furniture but the man is dead set on taking the furniture with him.

Garba quickly approached them and without warning tapped the man on the shoulder.

Without any warning, the man turned around to see who is tapping him but was scared to death by Garba’s blue eyes, making him dropping the chair and moving backwards. Having understood what was going on after the man explained that Mr. Danladi owes him a few thousands and has refused to pay back so he is talking the designer chair with him in place of his money.

Garba wasted no time in removing money from his pocket and paying the man the money he is owed.

Mr. Danladi stood in tears at the unexpected arrival of Garba and how he just saved them from the harassment of the creditor.

“We should go inside, I have something important to discuss with you” Garba said and all of them walked back into the house.

For Garba, everything looked the same regarding the house, except for the inside. Where Garba remembers a luxury couch set sitting in the living room now has a mat spread on the concrete floor which used to have an Italian carpet spread on. As the wind blow through the living room, Garba could see his stepmother’s bedroom where luxurious furniture used to be, having only empty space and a mattress on the bare floor.

“Where is Salma, she has graduated high school so she should be home awaiting admission into the university, where is she?” He asked with a concerned face.

“She is in her saloon working. She saved and opened a hair dressing saloon which she has been using to support the house.” Mr. Danladi said.

“Father, I am going to ask you some important questions regarding your loans, please tell me all the details so I can help you, I have earned some amounts of money while I was away in the US, I want to help you and this house get on your feet once again” Garba said and the two had a very long conversation where Mr. Danladi told Garba every detail of his loans.

“I we will go to the bank tomorrow, I will settle as much of it as I can with what I have earned”. Garba said, leaving Mr. Danladi and his wife in tears.

“Please forgive us Garba, we were selfish and ignorant of our actions. I know we cannot make up for all the things we have done to you, all the things I have made your father do to you. But you have shown us that you a the greater person so please find it in your heart to forgive me” His stepmother pleaded while crying.

“No need to beg me, I have already forgiven you, by the way, where is your son?” Garba asked.

Mr. Danladi and his wife looked at each other and even more tears begin to roll down his wife’s cheeks.

“He died a few weeks ago in a hit and run accident” you wouldn’t know because you were away at the time” Danladi said.

“may his soul rest in peace” Garba said and stood up. “I am going to check out Salma’s hair salon, I cant wait to see her”. He added and left.

Through out the following week, Garba has paid a total of a hundred and twenty million naira of debt that his father owed during the years, he has bought the house they live in back from the bank and have begin a massive renovation program for the house, where he had the old roofing removed and replaced with a newer style.

One evening, afternoon, he has gone to sleep in the new section of the house he has renovated into his private quarter along with a similar version opposite his for his sister Salma. The sun was high up and it is a very hot summer, considering the roofing and ceiling of the house has not been completed, the room has gotten very hot.

Garba has just gathered his old book shelf and put a few of the books on his table, he found his old identity card which has faded beyond recognition, placed it together with his debit card on the table and lie in his bed for a little bit of rest and to catch his breath and think about what to do with the rest of his money. He fell asleep not knowing the bizarre trend of events that await him.

Back in Louisiana, Mila and Jeremy have travelled through a few towns, stopping at each beautiful spot and writing a song. In the last one week, the two have gone through fifteen towns and villages and have written twenty seven beautiful songs. Having drove for weeks, Jeremy had suggested they spend the night on the roadside under the canopy of the woods. Waking up the next morning and writing a new song before they start their other part of the journey heading home back to Youngsville.

Mila went to sleep with the expectation that she would be woken up the next morning by Jeremy before they write the new song, or the gentle sun and breeze from the perfect weather. Little did she know what is about to happen next will set her life on a rough course.