Crushed

Episode 6

Get me a sharp blade…

Those were the words mum said as we ended the prayers that we devotionally say after every church service.

Dad didn’t follow us home because he had to wait behind for a post-service meeting.
I looked into mum’s face, wondering why the tone with which she spoke was so fierce.
I had expected a severe punishment after the scene I created in church in the morning anyways
But a blade?

I couldn’t just understand
“Mercy, move here” she said as her daughter handed a razor to her
She examined the blade as I drew close to her
I was anxious and restless
“What sort of a stupid blade is this Sissy? Bobo, go to the toilet and check under the towel rack. I kept a broken piece of louver…” she kept saying when he cut in
“Is it the one that you angrily broke when daddy said the food you cooked was salty?” he asked on and she widened her eyes
“Jesus! Bobo, are you mad?” she screamed.

Bobo, sensing trouble quickly ran away, giggling as he did
I shook my head and sighed aloud
“Stupid boy” she cursed out and looked at me angrily, eyeing me disdainfully
“You this good for nothing, mischievous girl, you had better moved here before I slap you with the back of my hand” she said as she faced me
If she was earlier angry, she had become anger itself now!
I went close to her as she pulled on a tall stool on which she sat.

I looked on at her while she looked at me too.
She dipped her small finger into my eyes suddenly.

I felt the salty peppery s£nsat!on travelling through my eyes down to my brain and forth.
I screamed in pain as I jumped out of motion
“I was looking at you and then you had the guts to look on at me too? Chai! You have made a mistake ooo because I am soaked in the blood of Jesus. You can do me no harm”
She pulled me and bent me down until I was seated on the cold tiles in front of her.
I had started crying

She kept my head between her laps forcefully occasionally depositing hot knocks into it when I resisted.

“Sissy, bring me the keg of palm oil like a good girl. If you like too, come and remind me that your dad screamed like a mad dog before he gave me the money to buy the oil when we were coming from Kemi and Femi’s wedding in Akure, that day that it was raining. You bastards!” she cursed on as she bent my head further, clamping it with her big laps.

Chai!

She was just a definition of a talkative!
She had just said herself what probably nobody even knew

Bobo peeped from the window and whistled
“Mum, your broken louver is here” he said
“Bring it here before I say what is in my mouth to you because it will be binding forever” she said angrily and Bobo suddenly walked out of his hiding place, a wide smile on his face.

He slid the piece of louver on the floor and it came straight to Mum’s leg
“Yeh!” she cried loud as she pulled at my back in a tight pinch
“Sorry” he said as he ran back inside the room, locking the door behind him.

“Sorry ma” I said and she hissed as she slapped my back angrily
“That’s all you could say abi? You watched as the boy insulted me abi? You have failed o Mercy! You are so messy…no wonder everyone calls you Messy Mercy…that’s the name that suits you o…mermaid!” she shouted at me again raining down two solid blows on my lower back where it hurts most
I screamed as tears streamed down freely
It was just a transfer of aggression
It was not a new thing but it was so frustrating- why must it be me everytime?
Why?

Suddenly, she held the tips of my long cornrows in one hand.

“If it is this hair that is making you really possessed, I will put an end to it today. Today is the day!” she said and I realized what she was up to

“You wanna cut my hair?” I asked, facing her suddenly.

“Yes” she said, smiling devilishly as she aimed at my face with the edge of the broken louvre

I quickly faced front
“You were supposed to wait and dare me if I wouldn’t even write you wonderfully made tribal marks” she laughed loudly
My heart started racing
I hated low cut like anything- it always made me feel like my head was big
I had maintained, cultured and nurtured my long sleek dark hair with such care that cutting it would mean a serious heartbreak that would take decades to heal
That was how I felt until I felt the struggle she had as she cut my hair with the edge of the piece of louver in her hand
“Please ma…don’t do that. Please. You can kill me if you like but my hair? Please” I cried as I held one of my long weave that had fallen off my shoulders.

She had started cutting my hair!
I held her leg as I pleaded but she didn’t response at all
“Keep shaking around like a barber’s chair…is it me that would get cut? Rara oo…it’s you…when you were behaving possessed in the church, you didn’t know right? Biting people here and there…Kai! Before you kill us, we will kill you first. You evil girl!” she screamed into my ear.
I cried

“You have cut the length but please don’t touch my head please ma. Please” I cried on and she laughed scornfully
“Mum, but why are you cutting her hair? Why?” Sissy cried, tears on her face
Mum was shocked as I was too
“You are crying?” she asked, surprised greatly

“Its not fair” she cried further
This was the first time both children would tackle their mum since I knew them
They had never supported me
The support Sissy gave me really touched my heart that it bled the more
“Would you get inside now” She said to her
Sissy b@nged her legs on the floor as she went
“That’s what you do whenever you are wrong! Always sending us in” she said as she entered
She handled my head more fiercely
“You think you have succeeded in turning my children’s back at me? Na lie ooo” she sang on until she had finished scrapping my head, so low that it would never be noticed that the hair of over 50cm long had grown from the pores ever !

I cried so hard as I held the massive, soft, black sleek silky endowment from God which had been uprooted from my head.

I rolled on the floor as I rubbed my plainly scraped head.