Lola checked her phone for messages and missed calls when she was alone in her hotel room. Bolu had responded to her earlier message with “Great! Work’s been busy today. I’ll call you when I get home, so we can talk about how your day went.” However, there […]
The sun was going down, and Amadi still hadn’t returned home. Erhuvwun was worried. His leaving this morning was unusual. She’d expected him back since lunchtime and had even gone to the stream to call him, thinking he’d gone there to clear his head. But he wasn’t there. […]
“Uno-do’-tres-cuatro… I know you want me, you know I want ‘cha…” Pitbull’s song blared on the stereo, as the car engine started, indicating the radio channel Danny’s driver had been listening to, before he had picked up Danny and Lola. “Please can you change the station?” Lola asked, […]
Having prayed the night before that God should grant him counsel in the night and clarity in the morning, Bolu woke up and tried to recollect his dreams. He couldn’t glean anything substantial that was clearly relating to his situation. He didn’t even think he had dreamt at […]
Erhuvwun rarely sang these days, but when she did, they were songs of immense sadness and loss. In the blink of an eye, without any warning at all, her whole world came crashing down on her. It was last month when it happened. She was in her second […]
Lola was home alone again. It was 10pm at night and Bolu was not yet back from work. The food she had prepared for dinner at 8 O’Clock was well and truly cold by now. At nine, she’d given up the wait, and decided to have her dinner […]
Some months later, it was the wedding of another couple of villagers. One of them was the younger sister to a close friend of Erhuvwun, and so she was keen to make the festivities. Again, Amadi was not interested, but this time, he accompanied Erhuvwun with good cheer. […]
Amadi sulked all the way home. He was so angry with Erhuvwun for disrespecting him in the presence of all those nosy and annoying villagers! Why couldn’t she just trust him for once? Why couldn’t she just obey?! Sure, she was upset about her father, but that old […]
“Go! Go! If you don’t want to be here, just go! I’ll come home when my father’s well!” Erhuvwun insisted, not knowing how she got the courage to be so bold. She just knew she wasn’t about to forsake her father now, and she couldn’t stand to hear […]
After they’d made love a second time that afternoon, Erhuvwun rose from the bed, thinking they’d better make the most of the day before the darkness fell. But Amadi pulled her into him and held her close. He was enjoying their intimacy. He was enjoying her in a […]
Erhuvwun woke up the next morning and immediately jumped off the bed. She’d overslept. Amadi had left her sleeping in for the first time ever. She heard the familiar sound of his axe against wood, and knew he was outside working on his new furniture project. She tied […]
Erhuvwun preferred to wash their clothes by the stream. She had told Amadi how the flowing water was ideal for rinsing them off and left a lovely fragrance in the fabrics. After the first time, when his wrappers had returned brighter than they’d ever been, he hadn’t challenged […]
The first month was the hardest. Erhuvwun woke up to the realisation that she’d married a stranger, and the scarier part of that was the meaning of marriage, rather than the fact that he was a stranger. In every respect, she had been sold into bondage, and she […]
Erhuvwun’s first thought was of Akpos, the man she’d wanted to marry, when her father told her about his foolish mistake. She’d been holding out for Akpos for over a year now, and had turned down other suitors, believing he was going to come back and take her […]
Onuoha was sober for the first time in five years. Last night, he’d made the biggest mistake of his life, and there was no way he could correct it… What had possessed him to mention her name…? To even think of such a thing? He sat outside his […]
Grace and Truth 