Chapter 2

My mum and I

I stood in front of the hospital with tears in my eyes. I didn't know where to go nor who to ask for help. It was just my mum and I, it had always been just the two of us... No friend, no relatives.

My mum had me at a very young age out of wedlock and had told me my father abandoned us, he didn't even stay long enough with her to see me as a baby.

My mother left home out of shame because she kept on receiving insults from her relatives and neighbours based on she getting pregnant without a husband. My mother left Ogun State and came to Jos where she wasn't known to avoid further embarrassment from her neighbours and relatives and hustled on her own to make sure we were fine. Whenever I asked about any relative, she told me they were not important and that we only needed each other. She said I completed her and she completed me; we were enough for each other... That's all that mattered. And after she'd said that, I'd smile and hug her.

My mum never hid anything from me. She was very beautiful and quite young, she was admired by men and some made marriage proposals to her which I urged her to agree to but she would say no. She had been hurt once and she wasn't willing to get hurt again.

My mum saw me through elementary and high school all by herself with her sweat. Her ultimate aim was for me to go to the university and become someone great and well-known and she wouldn't back down even though the task was difficult; being a single mother and not being able to get a good job because of her poor educational background. She knew the value of education even though she wasn't educated and I admired her a lot for that. She may be an illiterate but she acted like a literate.

When I was done with high school, my mum fell seriously ill and was bedridden for a year-and-a-half. The doctor had said it was due to fatigue and she overworking herself.

After she had fallen sick, I took up a sales girl job at a super market. Even though I was being paid a meagre amount of money, it was enough to feed us and buy my mother's d***s. And although I couldn't further my education, it was okay so long as my mother was with me. That was all that mattered to me.

I knew mum wasn't happy about not being able to work and see me through to the university during the time she was bedridden. I had passed my WAEC exams and I knew it made her heart ache that I was still home instead of being in the university with my mates, but that didn't matter to me, it was all good for me as long as she was alive and by my side.

I could endure seeing others go to school, I could endure wearing torn clothes, I could endure eating once in a day, I could endure being mocked, I could even endure John dumping me, I could endure all sort of things but I could definitely not endure being without my mother.

She was the only one I had, she was the only one I knew, she was the only one that mattered to me. Life without my mother would be like a lock without a key, I couldn't even stand seeing my mother in pain so what would I do if I ever lost my mother? She was everything I had. I loved her more than my own life; she had given up a lot for me and she was so precious to me. I couldn't lose my mother. No way! She had just recovered and resumed work irrespective of me telling her to rest. She wanted to make sure I furthered my education but why didn't she just listen to me?

Why??

It broke my heart that it was because of my mother's love for me that she was in the bad situation that she was.

I had not even had the heart to walk into the ward where she lay, I could only stare at her broken state from outside the ward. She was unconscious and was bandaged around the head and even had plasters on her arm. She used the aid of the oxygen to breathe and I could only but weep at the state she was in.

My mother didn't deserve to be on the bed like this, it was unfair. My mum was the best person with the kindest heart I knew, she certainly didn't deserve being confined to a hospital bed, unconscious of her present state and her environment.

The doctor had informed me that it was her boss who had taken her to the hospital. Why hadn't I thought about that before now?

I made a resolve and went to the house where she had worked as a cleaner since I was little. She had the accident at their house after all and since they were rich people, they could help me out of this predicament. Surely, they would!

I wiped my tears and went to the house. When I got to the house, I wasn't let in by the security guards but after I explained who I was and the situation of things to them, they let me in and even consoled me, assuring me that everything will be fine.

I braced myself up and knocked on the door but I didn't get a response. I knocked for a second time but I still didn't get a response. I was going to leave but on realising that my mum will never back down on any issue concerning me, I heaved a deep breath and knocked again on the door, more determined this time.

After a while, a husky male voice answered and I could tell immediately that he'd be a grumpy fellow.

"Who's there?" He asked.