This house is so enormous for just two people.
That was the first thought that came to Jatou’s mind when she saw the mansion – almost three times as big as her house – ahead of her.
Jatou remained seated at the backseat of her uncle’s 2019 Mercedes Benz A-Class Sedan and watched him exit the car at the same time as his girlfriend, who was seated at the front seat, did. To her left, laid a bag pack her mother had brought her for the commencement of school shorty before she and her husband got hit by a drunk driver who took their live.
Abraham, Jatou’s uncle, opened the door for Jatou, bowing and putting forth his right hand while his left hand went behind his waist, as if he was her chauffeur. Which, in a way, he acted like one. Abraham was so fond of Jatou that from her birth, he would go see her on weekends, take her around town and wheresoever she desired to go. One would think he was her father and not her uncle, and that is why the sixteen year old Jatou chose to stay with Uncle Abraham and not her mother’s mother, who she considered an unpleasant woman to deal with.
The house had doors so heavy a hungry person would not be able to open them. Its walls were fresh white in color, just like the ceilings above them. The size of the living room on the first floor was the size of Jatou’s bedroom, her parent’s and the guest bedroom combined.
Jatou looked around the house in awe and amazement. ‘How does Uncle Abraham live in such a house while we stayed in a shed?’ She thought to herself but quickly recollected her thoughts to ‘well not really a shed but compared to this place, calling it a shed is being polite.’
Settling into her new bedroom, which gave her the liberty of a personal bathroom and a view of the city ahead of them from the balcony, was not hard considering most of her belongings had already been brought by her uncle days before her arrival. The house help assisted her as she decorated her room and soon after they finished, it was dinner time.
Unlike the way she was used to having meals with her parents, Jatou had a plate to herself; as well as her uncle and his girlfriend, Aisha. They ate in silence except for when Aisha asked how she liked her new home so far. A question which she gave a very positive response to.
At the end of the evening, Aisha was taken home by Abraham but not before telling Jatou that in a week, a tradiational ceremony would take place at Aisha’s home and then she would return to the mansion, as the wife of her uncle. She added, in enthusiasm, “I will finally be Mrs. Wadda!”
That night, Jatou laid awake in contemplation about how she felt about marrying Aisha. She always gave her some form of negative energy she was never really able to identify. Her thoughts of her soon-to-be aunt were disturbed by a mosquito bite on her arm.
“Ouch!” Jatou hit and starched her arm, almost simultaneously. She sat up straight, turned on the light on the stand at the right side of her bed and picked her phone.
It is 23:32. Jatou looked up. In frustration, she said “of course. No mosquito net.”
At the far end of her large bedroom, is a small cupboard which holds pillows, bed sheets and blankets. Though she was avoiding having to use a blanket, she left the bed and collected a soft wine-colored blanket, then returned to bed. Within minutes, Jatou was far away from consciousness.
At other end of the mansion, a phone call was received by the house help who was on her way to bed when it rang.
“Hello?”
TWO WEEKS LATER
Dressed in a fancy African attire, Aisha went into Jatou’s bedroom to find her in a towel which only covered from her wait to her knees.
“Opps! Sorry!” Aisha said and attempted to close the door again.
Jatou quickly adjusted her towel so itcovered her chest and upper thighs.
“It’s okay Aunty Jatou. Come in.”
She did. She presented Jatou will school items and a newly sewn uniform for the new school she was to transfer to.
“Your uncle wants you to go to the best school he can afford for you. So you will now go to Harris High School. They open in two weeks.” Aisha said as she sat on the couch in front of the bed.|
“Oh wow.”
“Don’t worry you’ll be fine.”
Jatou gave her aunt a slight smile and a nod before excusing herself back to the closet where she exited minutes later in a sports bra and a pencil skirt. The two women then proceeded to the kitchen on the ground floor to prepare lunch.
Mid-way in slicing the onions into rings, Jatou asked, “why did the house help leave?”
“I don’t even know.”
Silence.
“You know, I liked her. I should ask Abraham why she left.” Aisha added.
“Yeah me too.”
Lunch and dinner were prepared in conversations drifting from school, to work, to friendship, loss, and hesitantly, marriage.
Abraham came home in filth. The white t-shirt he left the house in was now brown with stains. His jeans also had stains, but they were not nearly as bad as his shirt was.
When Jatou saw the vexatious look on his face, she knew better than to speak to him.
Leaving the living room to excuse her uncle and his wife, she made her way upstairs. En route, she realized she still did not get to have a tour of the house. She did see all three floors of the house, the gallery on the third floor, the study on the second floor, the prayer room on the first floor and even the indoor pool on the third floor but that was about it. She did not even know what her uncle’s bedroom looked like and though she was as curious as a cat, she did not bother. She figured that was his private and personal space.
A room filled with dusty, unused items ranging from old printers, mini fridges, stand fans, desks to car tyres, textbooks, dustbins and even vacuum cleaners was the first she entered. It was located at the same floor her bedroom was. Upon entering and shutting the door behind her, Jatou observed – without touching – all items her eyes took notice of.
Downstairs, in the living room, Abraham sat, shirt-less, in a disturbed state while his wife prepared his bath in their bathroom. He angrily typed on his phone and cussed at the phone when it rang.
“Fuck!”
Rolling his eyes, he answered the call.
“Abdou. What is it?”
Silence.
“I know Abdou. It will be done tonight.”
Silence.
“You do know you also have to do yours right?”
Silence.
“Well,” he took a deep breath, “good luck on your first.”
After a short silence, he chuckled and ended the call. A black, leather scabbard was pulled out from a locked drawer in the same living room he was. From that scabbard, a sharp six-inch knife was pulled out.
“Mm. Nice.”
Jatou was now at her third room on her mini tour. This one was located at the end of the hallway at the top floor of the house. The door was different from the rest of the doors in the house and on it, was a note saying do not go in.
Jatou’s level of curiosity was high and she managed to over power her curiosity over what her uncle’s bedroom looked like, but she was not able to do the same for this room. She opened the door.
The darkness of the room frightened her and she quickly rubbed her palm against the wall in search for an electric switch, which she found in seconds and brightened the room. It was empty. The curtains were black, there was no chair, no bed. The room was left in absolute solitude. There were, however, two doors. One at the left side of the room and another on the right. She wondered which of the doors was essential to the room and which was irrelevant. Just then, a bang that stirred her out of her thoughts was heard.
Jatou turned around, held the doorknob and bowed. “It’s probably nothing.” She said in a whisper.
Turning back to face the room, she tried to remember her uncle’s preferred side.
“Oh my God you write with left?” Young Jatou asked.
Closing the pen with its cap, Abraham chuckled, handed the paper to his brother and turned to his niece, “yes my love.”
“Cool!” She cheered. “My mom says left is for the devil.”
Bowing to Jatou, Abraham asked, “can I tell you a secret?”
Jatou nods in excitement. This is the first secret she will have to keep.
“Your mom is right. But I like the devil.”
“Whoa!”
“Shuuu!”
Matarr, Jatou’s father gave his attention back to his child and when he asked what was going on, his daughter shook her head and his brother raised his hands. Matarr shook his head and walked away while his daughter laughed with her brother.
“Left!”
A goat’s head, in brown and white paint, hung at the wall opposite the left door Jatou opened. The room smelted of meat, spoilt meat. At the center of the room, was a circle whose center had another circle drawn by a white chalk and dim mini candles of a nice scent surrounded the main circle. A black couch – holding thread, two needles, a white rope, a jar filled with red powder and a bottle – sat sole on the left side of the room and a tent sat on the left. Jatou saw a small radio on the floor right beside the couch and fear ran over her body.
She trembled at the sight in front of her. Heat travelled from her veins to the strands of hair on her skin and she found herself unable to move her feet from where they stood. Sweat started to form on her forehead though the temperature of the room remained at 17 degrees.
It was not until she heard the door of the main room open that she was able to move her feet and her brain began to function again. A place to hide. Where could she possibly hide? Jatou turned from left to right and back and forth, and ended up in the tent.
She settled in. The door opened. She hears grunts. She made a slight movement towards the back of the tent. Her arse touches something and it falls. A small bang is heard again. this time, from the outside of the tent.
Jatou does not turn to see what fell, because she is looking at the shadow walking towards the tent. Her breathing pace slows down but its volume sounds loud in the very silent room. The shadow shifts from the direction of the tent and curves to its left and it sends a sense of relief to Jatou, causing her to close her eyes while breathing out.
But then tent is kicked, and she screams. Above her, is her dear Uncle Abraham.
“Oh Uncle Abraham!”
“What are you doing here?!” Abraham was still shirt-less but there was a blood stain on his shoulder, right beside his neck and when Jatou took notice of this, she stared it at, causing him to take a look at what she was looking at.
He quickly enacted in wiping it off. Jatou, still on the floor, notice the neatly sharp knife in his hand. The shock her nerves sent to her body caused her to enact in moving away from him while still on the ground.
Abraham soon realized that she was running away from him, so he stopped with the wiping, looked her in the eye, walked closer and asked, “what are you doing here?”
Still moving away, “I –”
“Yes Jatou. You what?”
“I was just looking around the house and ended up here.”
Abraham kissed his teeth very aggressively, shaking his head.
“Jatou Jatou.” Abraham continues to walk towards her as she moved away from him. “Did I not tell you not to wander around my house?”
Abraham then stood right over his niece, did not give her a chance to speak and knocked her over on the head.
Abraham bent over his unconscious one-week-old wife, set the knife down, stripped her naked, and took the paper which lied beside her body.
“Lord Balam, master of greed, in the name of your God, Satan, I present my sacrifice. And I ask that you grant me wealth equivalent to the life of wife in love with her husband. Ameen.”
Abraham set the paper on the ground, collected the knife in both his hands, raised it in the air and murmurs a demonic verse. As he tried to lower the knife to the chest of Aisha, he was hit in the head and fell to the ground.
Jatou hit her uncle with large pestle she found at the corner of the room a second time. And then a third time so she was certain of his unconsciousness. She then quickly proceeded to waking Aisha.
“Aisha!” Jatou shook her body vigorously and brought her back to consciousness. However, the potion Abraham has put in her drink before his shower had weakened her organs and whatever demonic recitation he had made made Aisha remain still on the ground. Jatou ran out of the mansion.
ONE YEAR LATER
“And I was so weak that I remained on the ground through it all. By the time he woke up, I was dying, slowly but still dying. However, luckily for me, my niece returned with the police. And that is how I managed to escape the very person who was supposed to love, protect and honor me.” Aisha turns to Jatou and squeezes her right hand. “And this girl here, she saved my life.”
The two women smiled at each other as they left the studio where they were being interviewed.
“Ready to go home?” Aisha asked Jatou.
“Yes! A new home.”
“Haha! With the money we got from selling that house of his.” Aisha said in a chuckle.
“Haha yes! At least we got something good from it.”
“True. I always wanted to live by the beach.”
“Yeah. Good vibes.”
“Good vibes.”