LADY VASHTI

If he hadn't died in that accident, I would have sued him for killing my best friend. We entrusted our lives to him and he let us down! He was supposed to be our protector, the mature one amongst everyone. I mean, what could be done? we had no choice but to follow him. And we trusted him, trusted his driving skills You see, I remember that day so clearly I see it in my mind in high definition. It was a very hot day in October The pleasant sun is etched in my memory As is it the gory smell of blood mixed in fuel and exhaust fume and the horrific screech of metal tearing into metal The terrible sound of metal tearing into flesh, the sound of a dying man's cry of pain. That day made me wish I was never born! Because if I wasn't born, I would not have lived to experience such a nightmare It is to this day the worst memory that I have and believe me when I say that afternoon is the stuff that nightmares are made of. Oh, how I suffered the nightmares every night for several months after the accident. It was stuck in my memory. Every time I closed my eyes, I would visualize the whole incident all over again. I had read about road accidents in the newspaper that I always stole from my dads reading table. I had seen pictures of accident scenes in the news but nothing, absolutely nothing could have prepared me for the gearing, mind-altering accident I witnessed. Nothing could have prepared me for the mind-altering accident that I was a part of. I am the sole witness and I say I am the sole survivor because I am the only one who lived to tell the tale. Never in a thousand years would I have thought that I would lose my best friend in such a horrendous manner. "Vashti"! "Tall, dark, astonishingly beautiful"! Throughout our secondary school, Vashti would fondly proclaim how she dreams unwaveringly to be a Super Model. She professed incessantly of how someday she would be honored to grace The Vogue magazine. My friend had tall dreams. Her dreams were as long as her legs. Vashti was often described as an unbeatable beauty Queen and she had very long soft hair, adorned with a perfect dentation and a glaring dot of an open-teeth. Every smile from her sent chills down the veins of her admirers. She's the epitome of indescribable beauty and grace. She was my best friend. And as they say birds of the same feather flock together. She was just as smart as I was but wait! am I really smart? Just thinking! "My Vashti"! You know, it took me Months to observe she didn't have any piercing in her ears. I never noticed she went about without earrings for months and months in junior secondary school, she was that beautiful and her beauty penetrated every eye and every heart to admiration. Oh, my dear Vashti"! It was late afternoon and the road was packed with cars. Lagos-Abuja high way was a single Lane Road back then, a single Lane Road decorated in potholes. "Koto site"! my best friend called them. She detested road trips as much as I did. But this trip was one we were super delighted to embark on after slaving away in school studying for our first semester examinations. We were both fresh graduates from secondary school. We hadn't gotten over the rush of our new big girl's statues "the University babe lifestyle". It was all so new and glorious but My Vashti didn't live to go through it with me We were very elated to get away from school for a while to attend the grand ceremony of Vashti's grandfather's funeral. The fact that we got another chance to twin in our Asoebi was an ingredient that fueled our excitement about the trip. You see, We had both painted our toenails purple And our Fingernails yellow. We had even planned and scheduled for a makeup artist to do the same makeup for us having weaved our Asoebi into the same styles. We were both tall. We were both termed the tall pretty besties! This two were besties! Yes, we were! Vashti fondly referred to me as "Soul sister". This trip meant a lot to both of us but even more to me because it was an escape means away from my brand new first-ever boyfriend, who had turned ex only a week before. Haa Vashti! I sit here attempting to come to terms with what has happened, she’s gone. We are not going to share the same shawarma because we both don’t eat much, so we can’t finish the whole double sausage shawarma. Vashti and extra pepper! Vashti! oh my God! She is gone. My friend, you know when the Bible speaks about a friend that sticks closer than a brother, the Bible was referring to my Vashti. Since all those years ago that I met her, in junior secondary, we have been inseparable, in spirit, soul, and body. My Vashti! It helped our friendship that we both looked almost identical, I mean we were the same height, what are the odds? the same height, the same body size too. Vashti would jokingly say that if we didn’t like twinning so much we could save money on clothes because we would share each other’s clothes. I can’t believe she’s gone now! How was Vashti here, sitting beside me in a car, looking out the window and just not here any more hours later, not here anymore forever? I can’t breathe, my head is spinning, I…I can’t feel... I can’t feel my heartbeat, it feels like I am standing outside my body, observing my pain, If God had not made the tear glands in my eyes boundless by now I should have no more tears to shed. Vashti is gone! my best friend! my sisi lolo as I call her! Is gone so soon like smoke that feds in the wind. She is gone! Like a candle in the air, she has been put out and never to burn again forever! Vashti, with whom will I create stories of strangers in public places? Like the content of a clay pot, I am spilling over for the clay has been shattered beyond repairs. You know, Vashti and I had this game where we went to a restaurant and created lives for the people in the restaurant. We see a guy and a girl sitting opposite us at a diner, and we give them names, give them lives. Vashti says; "hey! look bam bam", that’s what she called me please don’t mind her she named me that after a cat. Weird right? Yes, My Vashti is naughty too! Oh, my naughty naughty Vashti! She was shades of beauty in One She named me bam bam after a cat in our favorite story, in our favorite movie. She would say; "hey! bam bam, that guy is an Engineer who just got a raise and he is making an effort to hide it from his girlfriend because he doesn’t want to give her more money, he’s trying to avoid billings!" And I would go; "No! Vash! look at the girl! she’s smiling broadly eager to tell him she’s pregnant if only she knew he had a family already"! It was our little game, we would giggle and whisper and onlookers would think oh the weird twins. People mistook us for twins all the time and It didn’t help that we dressed the same way, had the same height and we're almost always together. I mean we were happy to pass for twins. In a past life, we possibly were sisters or lovers or mother and daughter. I am leaning towards mother and daughter because Vashti liked to take care of me. I recollect during our final examinations in senior secondary when I fell surly. Vashti ensured I always had hot water to bath, she made sure I took my medications on time and as prescribed by the doctor. She would walk me through and from the sickbay at whatever time it was. She would hold my hand while the nurse injected me with antibiotics for quick recovery. Oh Mother hen, My Vashti! "How do I move from here? How do I step out of this shady cloud? How do I exist without Vashti"? "How? Why didn’t I perish in the t accident? How am I alive? How is this real? How is this my reality? How? I feel shattered, I feel broken into powdered pieces, I feel lost. I don’t even know how I feel, I don’t even know what I feel". It just stings, it hurts every time I open my eyes on this hospital bed, it weakens me, somewhere in my soul, something in my spirit is broken, and I know it can never be fixed because Vashti is gone.