Wet Hair by Eghosa Imasuen

"I see my father look at the white foreign dogs with new eyes, trusting eyes. I see that he has new sons already, to replace the daughter he has just lost. The daughter he lost when he handed me as a gift to the leader of the visitors from across the sea. There will be no Igbadai for me, no inquiry into the cause of this tragedy. I am lost."
                                         - Excerpt from Wet Hair by Eghosa Imasuen

I recently read Eghosa Imasuen's new short story titled Wet Hair from one of the blogs I follow and I literally couldn't stop reading. The imagery in this book is captivating and he writes like he pours his soul into the words. 

Wet Hairs tells the story of Tonye, an Ijaw girl who was raped and killed by a Portuguese sailor living on the Ijaw land. Tonye was wronged by her own, her father, who sold her into marriage to a Portuguese sailor in exchange for trinkets. Tonye's one mission after she is killed is to avenge her death from beneath the sea... in her new form.   

The story reads like a poem but is a prose which gives it a two-dimensional side to it. It is also soulful with dark elements of revenge and murder; sad to put it simply. But if you are a lover of cryptic fiction, you'll have a blast.

You can find a link to the short story here...

A Bewildered Mind

My body tells me which direction to go and I go.

Like a zombie I walk through the streets in the dead of the night, in the wake of the morning.

I'm torn in my mind.

Reason makes no meaning.

“How did I get here?” I ask myself. No answer.

My senses are numb, my body unfeeling.

I can’t remember where I'm coming from or where I'm going.

Life is unknown to me… uncharted waters.

Like a new born baby, I have no knowledge of what the future holds.

My past lay before me like pieces of a tattered rag

“How did I get here?” I ask around again. No answer.

With the madding crowd I move. Like a naked child on a cold winter night I shiver.

I'm living in an illusion. A world unreal.

All around me is darkness; pitch black.

Time and space elude my mind.

The shards of glass from my broken heart prod me and pierce me deeper.

I feel them telling me to move, change, evolve… but I can not

There’s an ache in my heart that won’t go away.

The pain overwhelms me.

This hollow I feel inside must be filled,

Mended, made whole.

It’s the only way…

Hi everyone,

The story you are about to read below was written as my own way of making sense of tragedy that occurred on the Dana Air Flight 922 which crashed on Sunday, 3rd of June 2012 killing all 153 passengers on board.

Some people have asked me why I chose to write such a tragic story. I have thought long and hard about the answer to that question and I can't say I know the answer to it; but one thing I know is that this story represents my own way of making sense of this tragedy by playing it out in prose.

I hope you enjoy it enough to come back for the concluding part.

Adebusola.

My Lover's Gone

“My lover’s gone… his boots’ no longer by my door. He left at dawn. No earthly ships will ever bring him  home again…”

These are the lyrics to a song by the singer Dido. The lyrics haunt me especially now because I can relate with them. I'm sad and I blame myself for all that happened. 

He won’t be back. 

Now I know that for sure.
                                    ........................................................................................

My name is Fope.  I'm 28 and I just recently had my heart broken by someone I loved so dearly. His name is Olaolu…

Olaolu and I meet on campus during our undergraduate days at O.A.U. it wasn't love at first sight but we definitely hit it off from first sight. I remember the first time we met as vividly as it was yesterday. He came into my room asking for one of my many room-mates and I noticed immediately how cute he was and I also noticed he had dimples when he smiled.  

“Hi” he said. “ I'm looking for Kemi. Is she in?”

“No she’s not” I said.” “Do you want to leave a message so I’ll tell her you came to visit?”

“No that’s ok. Please just tell her Olaolu came looking for her”.

“Alright. I'll do that” I said.

“Can I know your name? You know, just in case she asks me thinking I’m lying about coming to visit her. Although I could just tell her that I met a cute and charming girl but knowing how Kemi is you know that won’t cut it with her” he looked like a little boy begging for treats as he asked with adorable mischief in his eyes.

I blushed. “My name is Fope.” I offered him my hand. “It’s nice to meet you”.

“Nice to meet you too.” He said. Our palms met and his felt so soft and warm.

“I wasn't joking about the cute and charming part you know?” you really are that”.

“Thanks” I said with a shy look which I was trying to hide from him.

“What department are you in?” he asked.

“Geology… 200 level”.

“Wow! And I've never seen you around. He said in the excited way that he talked when he had discovered something so interesting to him.

I have taken courses in that department. I'm in Chemical Engineering 400 level”… he gushed elatedly. “Do you want to go out on a date with me sometime? You know, to maybe grab a quick lunch at the cafeteria after classes?”

“I would love to. Thanks”…

And that is how my Olaolu and I started our whirlwind of a romance. He loved me so dearly and I returned the gesture almost as fiercely as he did. In a way I felt that no one could love me in the same way he did and I was always struggling to keep up with his romantic gestures.

We were always together on campus, eating together, reading together and going everywhere together. The only places we never went together were my classes and his bed.  He would come to pick me at my department after my classes and escort me to my room in Moremi Hall, stay with me while I cooked lunch and he would always tease me while at it.

“You know you have hands like a baby”. “Small and pudgy” he would always laugh and tease me as I cooked.

“Thank you. And you have hands like a, like a… I'm even short of words sef” I would reply pretending I was hurt and not knowing what to compare his hands with.

We were inseparable that way and pretty soon we were known all round campus as ‘Fopeola’ (a combination of both our names).

My girlfriends envied our relationship especially because he was good looking and he was one of those guys that never pressurized a girl for sex and he understood where I stood on that.

I had made it clear from the onset of our relationship that I wanted to wait till my wedding night to be physically intimate with anyone. He promised never to do anything to hurt me and agreed to wait for me till I was ready. This made me love him a whole lot more.

                                      .........................................................................................

Before Olaolu and I met I didn't believe in love. I didn't believe that two people were meant to live together forever or happily ever after. It just wasn't realistic and i wasn't prepared to delude myself into believing otherwise. Meeting someone like Olaolu who had so much love to give and such a caring personality changed all that. He changed my whole orientation about love, relationship and marriage.

I really have to emphasize on how my life was before I met Olaolu. You see, I am a child of divorce and before my parents got the divorce I was a miserable child.

I would hear my parents arguing with one another, bickering over trivialities before my father would eventually beat her to a pulp, leave her in the bedroom before storming out of the house in annoyance to visit one of his numerous beer parlours to drown his sorrows.

One time, I was in the car with them, my father was driving and my mother was in the front passenger seat while I was seated in the back seat. There were arguing as always and the argument got so heated that my father left the car in the middle of traffic and jumped out of the car just to be rid of my mother.

So you see why I had my mind set about love and marriage. What I experienced in my childhood tainted my view of happily ever after and made me decide to never ever get married. The memories of my parents bickering and endless fights were seared into my memory forever and there was no backing down. There was no way I would ever allow myself to be a man’s punching bag. If he needed something to punch then he could go ahead and become a professional boxer! 

Olaolu graduated a year later as he was in his penultimate year when we met. Our separation was one of the most painful things I had to go through. Despite the fact that we were always on the phone whenever our schedules opened up, I was still miserable and missed him so dearly. He would calm me down when I cried and soothe me with kind words promising that he would come visiting me on campus soon. Whenever he did come to visit (which was always twice a month) we were inseparable.

My sweetheart eventually got drafted for his National Service and was luckily posted to Lagos State. I was elated. We had prayed for this for a very long time and God had answered our prayers.

After service, he got a well paying job with a multinational company in Lagos. I remember he was so elated when he told me about it on the phone. I knew he was practically grinning from ear to ear with the goofy smile that he always had on when he was trying to placate me for something that he had done wrong. I didn't hesitate to tell him that I was so proud of him. We revelled in his joy together. I was extremely happy and so was he.

I soon graduated from school in flying colours and with Olaolu’s help I went on to serve in Lagos as well. He pulled all the strings and made sure he got me a good place to serve. I started work and got retained with the company after service.

Soon after this, my baby proposed to me. That day is still so vivid in my memory. I was in the office working late as usual when he sent me a BBM. “Hi sweetheart. Working late again?”

“Yes o! This people will not kill somebody with work jare. I’ll soon be leaving anyway. What are you up to?”

"Me? I'm just looking for new ways to wow you as usual. Can I come pick you at work?”

“Of course. I don’t see why not. That will just mean that I will have to park my car at work and take a cab to work tomorrow.”

“Ok. I'm already downstairs. Let’s leave now.”

“What do you mean you're already downstairs? OMG! Laolu!” Not able to contain my excitement, I immediately raced down the stairs and jumped into his arms. I had not seen him in over a week and I was excited beyond imagination to finally have him wrap his arms around me.

He took me to one of the restaurants that we frequented but as we entered I noticed a different ambience about the place. To start with, the restaurant was empty except for the two of us. I looked at him with a look of inquisition on my face and he grinned back.

He pulled the chair out and gestured for me to sit down. I was still trying to take it all in when he came to my side and offered me a single red rose and placed a kiss on my cheek saying that I meant the whole world to him and that he has not been able to stop loving me from the first moment he laid his eyes on me.

I took a deep breath because he got on his knees next and brought out a blue suede box from his breast pocket. He then asked, ever so gently, for me to marry him.

I could not contain myself. I was overjoyed and I shouted a yes as an answer to his question. I was going to be Mrs. Olaolu Willoughby! Looking back now, I can unequivocally say that day was the happiest day of my life.

Preparations for the wedding began immediately. I didn't want to waste any more time before getting married to him. We arranged for us to meet both of our parents, tell them the good news and assist us in picking a date. I was excited because I knew that my mother, who knew about our relationship from the beginning, had been waiting a long while for him to propose to me.

Then tragedy struck…

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The events building up to that fateful day he left will forever haunt me. We had planned to travel together to introduce me to his parents who lived in Abuja, tell them about our impending nuptials and also ask for their blessing. I had already taken time off work and he had as well. He was supposed to pick me at my parent’s house after which we would then drive to the airport together.

I was already waiting eagerly with my bags packed and we made our way to the airport through the traffic jam chatting away endlessly like we were the only ones in the world. Our flight was scheduled to take off at 2 pm, about 35 minutes after we arrived at the airport.

We entered the terminal, checked in our bags and went to the lounge to wait for our flight to be announced. While waiting in the lounge, my mobile phone rang. It was my boss. He wanted me to come to the office and help with an emergency lab test. I was the only one that had the technical know-how as that was my field of speciality  I was devastated. He was willing to pay for another ticket for me to fly out that same day and he was so sorry to ask this of me but he had no other choice.

After dropping the phone, the look on Laolu’s face showed that he already figured out the conversation pattern and knew what I was about to say. “He wants you to come in abi?” he said with a sad look in his eyes.

“Yes,” I said with the same sad look he gave me. “But I don’t have to go if you are not up to it.”

“No, no, no. Don’t worry about it. We’ll just book another flight and leave for Abuja tomorrow.”

“Thanks darling but I don’t think that is necessary. You can go. I’ll take the first flight out and meet you. Your mum has gone through all the trouble to prepare for our arrival and I don’t want her to be disappointed. Besides, I know how much you have been pining for her cooking” I joked.

“Well you got me there. Promise me you’ll take the first flight out though.” He pleaded.

“I promise” I crossed my heart and did a pinky swear interlocking our pinky fingers like we used to (he was geeky that way). He kissed me on the cheek and gave me a tight hug, (tighter than usual I noticed) and I was on my way.

Little did I know that that was the last time I would feel my beloved’s arms around me or the soft breath of his mouth on my cheeks.

Hours later, after completing my assignment at the office and getting ready to leave, I got a frantic call from Laolu’s mother asking me if I had heard from her son. I told her I hadn't and she became all the more worried.

I immediately dropped the phone and started dialling his number. As I poised my fingers to punch the digits into my phone, I heard the news headline that announced breaking news. A plane had crashed 2 minutes from the landing time.

“That was his plane… our flight… He was in that plane.” I kept thinking to myself. 

Before I passed out.




PART 2 COMING SOON