Coming of Age - Episode 1

 

Raindrops, Drop top.

Migos’ Bad & Boujee played in my head while I watched it rain, as it being doing for over an hour, and imagined that I was with somewhere else – in the Bahamas with my cousins, at the movies with some friends from school, in Narnia – basically anywhere but here.

I sent Nonye, one of the girls at the movies, a text telling her I would not be coming today; I blamed it on the rain but knew it was because I could not risk leaving my warzone of a house today.

“Kamsi! Please, tell her to get off my case, I do not have time for her drama today!” someone screamed, barging her way into my room and into my thoughts. Here we go again .

I turned away from the window to see my younger sister by 3 years, standing behind me seething with rage. I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could issue an appropriate response, another person stormed her way into my room, my pink curtains billowing and her yellow boubou gown billowing in her wake

“Kamsi, instead you should tell your sister that I would no longer tolerate such behavior in my house and I mean it! This nonsense ends today!”

The first individual was my younger sister Olanna and the second was our British-Nigerian stepmother, Catherine. As you can tell, they hate each other very much and have come to I, Kamsi, first of her parents, to restore the calm and play the mediator

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/coming-of-age

. In other occasions, the mediator role is not a bad thing, it is an honor indeed, but the problem here is these two never actually let me speak and when I eventually manage to, they never listen.

“Your home? You have the audacity to call this your home? Firstly, you are not my mother so this is neither home nor house to you. Secondly, stop getting on my nerves because you would be blamed for anything that happens next!” Olanna retorted.

I massaged my temples and took in a deep breath. Here we go!

“Olanna it’s okay! Catherine please calm down, I would talk to my sister,” I managed to say in my calmest voice while my mouth curved into my best fake smile. I liked Catherine, not a lot, but enough to give her a chance and so far I knew she was better than my mom. It saddens me to admit that.

“Kamsiyonna! Do not tell me what is okay and what is not! Stop telling her to calm down, I am your sister, you should support me! You are betraying mummy right now! This woman came into our lives and ruined everything and you are smiling at her? What is your problem?”

Olanna’s questions stunned me; I don’t know why they did. Maybe because normally she just spent the period of these fights squaring it off with Catherine while I tried to let my voice be heard. Today however she was facing me. Asking me questions I had hoped never to answer myself.

I looked at her and sighed, not knowing how to explain to her that her life was a well-acted lie. While I still rummaged my mind for what to say, she spoke again.

“Kamsi, dad cheated on mom with her. He went on a trip and returned with his mistress, he even filed for divorce and got custody of us, but for some reason you think Catherine here is the bee’s knees,”

“Ola, there are some things you just won’t understand yet,” I said.

“I am 15 not 5!” she retorted.

“Ola, I promise that soon I would explain everything, but for now, just keep calm. Stop giving Catherine a hard time, you know how dad would feel about that, he…,”

“Oh please! Lately, all I hear has to do with what he would like and what he would hate! I do not care anymore, I want my mother not his mistress”

I stared at her and Catherine gasped.

“That does it! I wanted peace but your sister wants to frustrate me. I have tried everything but she wants to remain stubborn and I am tired of all of it! One of us has to go and it would damn well not be me!” Catherine screamed.

Something was wrong. Yes, I know that fighting was the norm in my house, but at least, it never went beyond Ola giving Catherine an attitude and being occasionally rude to her. The name calling today was a new thing. Something had changed in both females.

“Please both of you should calm down. My dad would soon be home, this is not the scene he should meet, we have managed to coexist for the past 2 months, please we can continue that way, no one has to leave,” I pleaded, but they continued their staring contest.

“What happened Ola? Why did the name calling start? You know mummy would disapprove,” I said in an attempt to pacify her.

“Mummy would approve. She told me this herself. I met with her the day before yesterday and she told me everything! So today when she decided to be a dumb bitch I gave her a piece of my mind!” she retorted, glaring at Catherine the whole time.

“Kamsi, your sister called me a prostitute! I don’t care what your mom told her but I would beat the living daylight out of her today!” Catherine stated, she was a dangerous combination of pain and anger. I was just shocked, my sister, my father’s jewel and my mother’s pride had crossed a line today.

“Olanna, why did you meet with mom? You cannot believe what she says? Our mother is not who you think she is, please believe me. You have to stop calling Catherine all these names!” I scolded her, hoping she would apologize, hoping she would admit she had crossed a line and be reasonable for once, but then it seemed I was asking too much of my fairy god mother because she disappointed me. Olanna saw absolutely nothing wrong with what she said.

“What? Did I lie? Is she not a prostitute? Did he not go to Italy for a business trip and bring her back? Stop trying to make mom or I look bad! All I did was say the truth and soon he would take her back to the brothel she comes from! Bloody bitch!” she screamed instead.

Thankfully, I managed to pull Olanna out of the way just in time to dodge a slap from Catherine who had proved more agile than expected.

“Please let us calm down, everyone please,” I managed to stutter but my sister was on the high way to hell with her tongue.

“Wow, now you want to hurt me? Do not be dumb woman, I would call the police; wow, apparently, you are not just a prostitute, you are also a violent witch! Would it not be great when they take you away and lock you up forever? I just hope you die in prison!” she continued to spew sentences that left me stunned.

Catherine gasped. I gasped. Someone burst into tears. Another person screamed.

Everything after that happened fast, like lightening.

The crying person was Catherine’s youngest child, Damien and the screaming person was my father. And, in the following moments, I realized I had wonderful reflexes, because for the second time in 5 minutes I pulled my sister out of a slap’s way, this time from my father.

Thankfully, he did not hit her, but he hit the small vase on my window and as the ceramic crashed to the floor and the roses scattered about, I realized that I was sweating a lot and my heartbeat had increased. I also realized that for the first time in my 19 years 4 months on earth, I was terrified of my father, and when I managed to looked into Olanna’s eyes, I knew she shared my fear.

Catherine was standing at the room door, her arms around her children, Michael and Damien; she had brought them into her marriage with my father. And she looked shocked at my father’s actions.

However, daddy had only started the surprise festival.

“But daddy…” Olanna began. Even in my panic driven mode, I still thought, “Really female, now you should just shut up”.

“Just shut up!” he screamed. It was a strange and sudden thing for my father to scream and it sent me into some sort of mini-shock.

“Uche, please calm down,” Catherine said.

“You said I should allow you handle her yourself. I told you she is my daughter and I know that she is too much like her mother to be reasonable but you would not listen. Now, here she is calling you all sorts of names,” he said and chuckled bitterly.

Immediately, I knew this would only get worse. If he was scolding his Catherine and attempting to hit his Olanna, then things would only get worse.

Read " Mmesoma's Dilemma " by the same author ( Eboseremen )

. Olanna was his favorite child, it was popular knowledge. She was witty, pretty and the life of the party, but she had a terrible side – she did not know when to shut up, also, she was 15 and in my opinion, at that age you are bound to make too many dumb decisions because you think you are on the threshold of adulthood when in fact you are just an overgrown baby.

“Daddy, please forgive her, she did not mean anything she said. She is just being childish and dramatic,” I said, holding my sister very close and plastering my best fake smile on. I cannot remember the last time I used a real one, I have not had to use one for a while now.

Olanna began to speak but I was not having it, she would only dig her foot further into her mouth.

“Please forgive her Catherine, she is not really like this,” I said.

My father sighed and shook his head, placing both hands on his hip, the look in his eyes scared me more than anything. It was not a gear that he would do something drastic like hurt her physically, it was not anger or hate, the look was pain, a pain I had not seen in his eyes since that night 2 years ago when my family had begun to fall apart.

And this look scared me, because it usually meant he was about to give up.

“Kamsi stop trying to help her. I know you can see she is not sorry, in fact I know you can see she does not even care, she won’t even pretend to be bothered because she has no regard for Catherine and I. Olanna, I have failed terribly as a parent. Your mother and I gave you the world but did not give you a proper home training. You have become spoilt and troublesome. But I know this is not the end, for every problem, there is a solution, so this weekend you would be returning back to Nigeria to live with your aunt in Lagos,” he said and exited the room.

The silence in his wake was the loudest thing I had ever heard and watching my sister try to grasp what he had just said while understanding that the note of finality in his tone left no room for argument was the hardest thing I had ever had to watch.

To make it worse, she burst into tears, and this did not surprise me because at the end of the day, Olanna Fiora Madubuchi, my 15 years old sister who looked more 19 than I looked 19 was still a child inside.

And I guess that is why I did what I did, because at the end of the day, sisters stay together and an elder sister has a divine duty to protect the younger one.

I ran after my father and caught up with him about to step out of the house and I said “fine, in that case, I would be going with her, i am not going to say she should not go because I know it would help her, but I would not let you send her there where she would have no familiar person. And I am not asking for permission daddy, I am letting you know that if Olanna goes to Nigeria when I go with her,”

And before anything could happen, like him speaking or me doing something weird, I walked back upstairs, calmly ushered her out of my room, locked myself in there, plugged in my earphones and let Sia soothe me.

A little sleep and things would be much better when I wake up and dinner would be alright.