Adenike, at the age of thirty, had just lost her loving husband to a fatal car accident. On hearing the news while in the midst of her friends who came visiting one Friday evening, she fainted and hit her head on the floor. Immediately, she was rushed to the hospital where she was admitted. Luckily, the hit wasn't severe, causing no serious damage to her.

She lay on her sickbed with a bandage wrapped around her head. She couldn't sleep; all she could do was cry her eyes out. The death of her husband meant the end of the world to her. One night, while I sat beside her, she pointed into the air, screaming, "My husband! My husband has come to take me!" I tapped her and said, "Get hold of yourself. Your husband is gone, and he's never coming back again." She burst into tears again, and I kept on trying to console her, but all my efforts were to no avail.

To make her feel better, I would read to her the "get well soon" letters that came in for her. Some were from her husband's colleagues, friends, and family. These were the only things that would put a smile on her face, though the smiles lasted only for a while. Afterwards, she would begin shedding tears again. A few weeks before she was discharged, her husband's body, who wasn't satisfied with her brother's marriage, came visiting, but it only made matters worse. "What have you done to my brother? Your witchcraft has eventually killed him!" I was infuriated by his words and confronted him, saying, "Do you have no sense at all? At her condition, you still have the guts to lay accusations on her." Realizing he had no good intentions visiting her, I summoned the nurse to excuse him. I cursed him as he took his leave.

© Oluwatobiloba Akinnate
© IGNITE STORIES with BIG NATÈ CREATIVES