Living In The Ghetto - Episode 18

 

Chimaobim looking surprised, took a glimpse at each of them and his eyelid flared up. Oh, Simi wants to fufill the threat she made the other day, he thought. Amaka standing by the side and feeling terrified, she swallowed her fears and stood stiff like her other friends. Adanne knew what they were up to, and stretched her neck to look at Chimaobim. Their eyes met together, and they pulled off immediately.

"Why are you all on my way?" Chimaobim asked in a rhetoric tone. 

"Ask your sister," Simi said. 

She pushed her chest forward to match Chimaobim's height.

Chimaobim wasn't hearing all her ramblings as she kept rattling . He fumed in anger, and finally exploded. "I hope something is not wrong with you?" He asked. His voice was coarse and depicted so much angst.

"It's you something must be wrong with," Simi said, pointing her fingers toward Chimaobim's face.

Chimaobim grabbed one of her fingers quickly, twisted it and flung her to the other side. She staggered back immediately and Amaka ran backward away from the scene.

Aisha lunged toward Adanne, and Chimaobim dragged Adanne back swiftly while he administered a heavy punch on Aisha's jaw. Her teeth flew off, while blood trickled down slowly from the edge of her lips

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/living-in-the-ghetto

. Adanne moved back in a fear, while Simi made to throw a punch at Chimaobim but a man grabbed her immediately. Chimaobim held her clasped hand and shifted it to the right while she gritted her teeth in anger. Aisha sat on the ground with her palm on her cheeks while she continuously bled.

"Leave me alone, make I deal with this boy," Simi said and struggled to free herself from the man's grip.

"Shut up," the man said and jiggled her body in quick successions. "You dey always dey form nuisance for this area. You go still hear am one day from somebody who go beat your craze commot." 

He freed her after some minutes, and she gestured grudgingly.

"I go kill this boy," she said, hitting her palm on the floor and swore to the high heaven.

"You think say you go beat am? Go touch am," the man said pointing at Chimaobim.

Adanne stood at the side of Chimaobim with her feet shaking. She had nurtured the thought of running but couldn't because Amaka stood at the other side staring at them. Amaka would catch her and beat her up, she thought.

Aisha finally stood up but blood kept trickling down slowly from her mouth, in a succession. The man looked at her and finally felt pity. "You see wetin I dey talk?" He said looking at Aisha in a pity. His eyes looked dimmed and saturated like a fog. It smelt pity.

He turned to Simi. "I no una be trouble maker. Every trouble in this area go always be about you."

Simi hissed, wriggled her neck and started walking away. "You get luck today, I swear. You don dey my bad book. You go chop am another day," she swore and her hands moved in the air. 

Chimaobim laughed. Look at some one I'd have beaten up if she wasn't rescued, he thought and laughed.

The man looked at them. "Una look gentle. Be careful of that girl and her friends. She get wahala and she fit stone una. She no dey normal," he told them.

Chimaobim nodded. "Thank you."

Adanne didn't utter a word. Her mouth remained gripped and she held Chimaobim's hand tightly with her two hands as they walked home.

***
After they had finished eating, Adanne began to narrate the whole incidents to Mama and Papa. They both sat on the bed with Chimaobim but Chimaobim's attention was fixed on the television. Adanne sat on the small stool, her elbow placed on her laps and her palm on her jaw while her back was slanted and she narrated everything to Mama and Papa.

After the narration, Papa glanced at Chimaobim and smiled. He rubbed his back and smiled again.

Read " Resuscitated Hope " by the same author ( Obinna Tony )

. Chimaobim was almost his height the last time they stood close each other.. He was 5'10. "I love how he stood up for you," Papa said to Adanne. Adanne flashed some of her white teeth and her smiles scented the whole room.

Chimaobim not hearing what Papa had said after Papa touched him and mumbled some words. He turned quickly to ask what he said. His face was written with no emotion but rather cloudy as he waited for the answer. "Don't worry, my son," Papa replied.

In the evening, Adanne was scared of going with Chimaobim to fetch water from the tap, located after the heart of the ghetto. "You can't be scared forever. You'll still walk around this surroundings, alone, one day, but I won't allow you to follow me today. I'll fetch five times for both us," he said and rubbed Adanne's hair.

Adanne was relieved as she smiled, and walked back to the room. Chimaobim picked up the four litre gallon and set out to the tap.