Tarasha

turning on the light. She walked in briskly and

sank into the sofa before he joined her.

He walked past her and proceeded into the

kitchen. He returned thirty seconds later with a

chilled bottled water and a gla.s.s cup. Kneeling

beside her, he poured the water into the cup

and handed it to her.

He stared at her exposed thighs in the mini

gown and licked his lips as she gulped the

water. He immediately rebuked himself as he

tried to return his mind back to the matter at

hand after it had drifted to s.e.x.

Evelyn returned an empty cup to him and

relaxed back into the sofa. Henry got up and

dropped the cup and bottle on the centre table

before taking his seat beside.

"Are you okay Evelyn? You seem to be

destabilized since I mentioned "G.o.d" in the

car." Henry begun, with great concern heard

in his voice.

Tarasha swallowed hard as she tried to frame

up something. Except for the first outburst she

made which even took her own self by

surprise, the rest of the emotional trauma she

had been performing were all acting to cover

up the outburst.

She gave a scream when Henry talked about

G.o.d"s love, does that mean she still had some

emotions in her. No, she thought. Her

emotions had been killed, she was supposed to

have no feelings.

Her scream at Henry"s mention of G.o.d had

been prompted by a bad memory that flashed

back through her mind.

"Is there any problem? Talk to me, I can help

you" Henry asked again when he got no reply.

***Flashback – 17 years ago ***

May 27, 2014.

"Happy birthday you, Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you Taraaa… Happy

birthday to you" little Omotara blushed as her

family sang and danced around her joyfully. It

was her eight birthday and the family was

celebrating her in their usual manner of

celebrating each other.

Omotara was blessed to have a very joyous

and family. She was the only girl amongst the

four boys, so she was somehow treated

specially.

"How old are you now? How old are you now?

How old are you now Taraa… How old are you

now?" She beamed with smiles as they waited

for her reply.

"I"m eight years old now, I"m eight years old

now…" She sang back in response and as

cheered by everyone.

"Now, you"ll cut the cake at the mention

of the name JESUS"

"J..E…S…U…S. Jesus!" Everyone called as Tara

slid the knife through the small cake. The

family moved close to her and hugged her one

after the other. After which they proceeded to

the dining room.

After few minutes of enjoying the fried rice and

chicken specially prepared by the mother of

the house, Lydia, the family moved to the

sitting room and settled down with their bottles

of soft drinks. As their custom was, the

celebrant, Omotara sat on the rug in the

middle of the sitting room. She would be

answering questions from every member of the

family that had one for her after which they

would answer her own questions and then she

would wrap it off with a wish , which would be

provided if possible immediately and prayed

for together by the family if it was for the

future.

"Aunty Tara" Joe, the youngest boy began. They

usually begin in ascending order of their ages.

Everybody stared at the four year old boy

wondering what he had to say. The boy

became shy as he noticed that everybody"s

gaze was on him.

"I don"t have any question" the four year old

boy said in his babyish voice and quickly

buried his face in his mother"s lap.

Everybody"s moved their gaze to Jerry who was

sitting with his legs crossed, a small pillow was

on his laps and his arms were resting on it.

"Ask your question" Tara sneered at Jerry who

was delaying.

She and Jerry had always been like rivals. The

young man who was just six always tried his

best to bully his sister with his manpower, but

Tara who was a girl with unusual strength

refused to allow him ride her anytime he tried

to, she always confronted him boldly.

The recent duel between them had been three

days ago when their Dad had gotten "Puff puff"

for them from work. Their parents had left

them to share it amongst themselves while

they proceeded to the room.

Tara did only rebuke Jerry for picking his

portion before her, his elder sister and Jerry

had aggravated the matter by rubbing his oily

hand on her nose. She didn"t take it lightly

with him as she pushed him hard and he fell

on the sofa. He dashed with speed towards her

and before their older brothers could say

anything, they were already rolling over each

other on the floor, kicking and hitting

themselves hard.

"Do you love me, Tara?" Jerry broke the silence

with a question that surprised everyone.

"Yes, I love you Jerry. You"re my brother"

Omotara replied.

"When would you stop fighting me and respect

me like a boy?" Jerry continued, with a serious

look on his face.

"The day you start respecting me and treating

me like your elder sister" Omotara answered

again. Everybody turned their eyes to Jerry

again, expecting the next question.

Their father spoke when he was sure there no

other question was coming from Jerry. " Jerry,

you see… Tara is your elder sister and you

have to start treating her with respect, if not

even I , may have to start forcing you with my

cane"

Jerry squeezed his mouth, he stared at his

father"s face for a while before getting up and

walking towards Tara. He pecked her on the

left cheek and apologised. "I"m sorry"

"Good" everyone clapped and cheered as the

two hugged each other.

On and on went questions and answers until it

was the father"s turn. He asked Tara what she

would like to be in future and why?

Tara cleared her throat before she began. "I

would like to be a medical doctor. I don"t like

seeing people sick or dying. I like to save lives

and save people from pain. I want to discover

the cures for so many diseases which has kept

people in bondage"

Danjuma listened to his daughter in silence, he

knew she would do all she said. She was

intelligent and had a strong will also, he had

seen her display it several times. It wasn"t long

after that he became distracted by some

strange sounds.

He stood up and walked to the window, he

slightly opened the blinds to check what the

sound was, the rest of the family were still

listening to Omotara with keen interest.

"Get into the room, all of you" Danjuma

suddenly ordered in a panicking manner.

All eyes turned to him for an explanation for

he continued to stare outsidpe the window.

"U zobu zobu, U zobu zobu!" Strange distant

chants were heard approaching.

Danjuma looked horrified as he saw several

people who tried to run fall down as bullets

pierced into their bodies.

"Get inside!!!" He shouted louder this time.

Lydia picked her children and led them as they

scampered in fright to find an hiding place in

the house.

Danjuma began to fasten all the locks and

close every light entry into the house. He never

imagined that a day like this would come..