THE GIRL IN THE WELL - by Khadijah Mohammed

Dig two graves” she said “One for me, the other. . . for you” It was like every other morning in the month of August. The heavy rain came down tremendously, restricting anyone from coming outside. It had been this way for the past six days. I was still in my room, covered in my blanket and fast asleep. It was a Saturday. Nobody goes out on a Saturday. I couldn’t remember what I was dreaming about, all I could remember was the loud knocking on my door. At first I thought I was imagining it but then, the heavy knocking was accompanied with yelling, enough to wake anyone, including me . “Ene! How can you tell me to calm down?” Even in my confused state, I recognised the voice all too well, that was mother’s friend. The other person, Ene, was my mother. I looked at the clock that was hung in the middle of my room and it was 5:30 in the morning. I came down from my bed and quietly sat at the staircase. The rain provided the perfect camouflage for me to prevent anyone from hearing my squeaky bedroom door open, I left it open so that no one would hear me when I go back in. “you don’t have a choice Zainab!” My mother said “Why would you leave your house in this kind of rain?” She asked again. I could tell mum was more worried than angry at this point, the tone of her voice gave her away. “Look at the rain, just see!” mum said as she stood to draw the curtains “She could be out there. What if she’s hurt?” Zainab asked “ this is even my fault, she wouldn’t run away if I didn’t slap her.” My mother was quiet at first and then she said “We’re going to find her, don’t worry, just rest, don’t worry.” “How can you ask me to rest? I can’t rest, I can’t rest. I need to be out there looking for her.” Zainab said as she sobbed. “Ene!” My mother said “ Leila is going to come home don’t worry.” For a second, the room became silent. The next thing I heard quiet sobbing. My mother quietly whispered words I couldn’t hear clearly to her ears, comforting words, I presume. “Let’s go to my room, you need to change out of this wet clothes and you need to some sleep.” Zainab didn’t resist.  I could hear them approaching the stairs, my direction. I rushed back to my room. I tried to close the door as quietly as possible but the breeze gave me away when it forced the door to close shut. I jumped back to my bed and acted like I was asleep. I’m pretty sure mummy knew I was there. I used my blanket to cover myself. I remained still until I heard my mother’s bedroom door close. I open my eyes and gazed at my ceiling. I knew Leila, she was Zainab’s daughter, her only child. She has been missing for ten days now. And since then, Zainab has been sick. I heard TJ, my mother’s boyfriend call Zainab crazy and mum told him not to say that and called him stupid. He reacted by slapping her in the face before storming out. Mummy said nothing, she did nothing, I acted like I saw nothing as well and quietly drank my tea and ate my bread. TJ shouldn’t have hit her but mummy shouldn’t have said that either, Zainab isn't crazy, she’s scared and Leila isn’t coming back. It was a reality Zainab knows deep down isn’t ready to accept. My plan was to stay in my room, finish my homework and listen to music for the rest of the day after all, mummy had company so we didn’t need to talk or look at each other. Maybe I’ll go to the river later in the day. I was only going to come downstairs when I want to eat. I could hear the two women chatting. I looked outside and I could see the other kids. Most of them are much younger than I am. They were playing in the smaller puddles that the rain had made from the early hours of the day. It was nice to watch them play outside but now my attention was moved the moment I heard the knock on the door. Before I could answer, the door opened. It was Aaron, my brother. He’s fourteen. He is the only one I know needs protection from TJ and mum. He sat on my bed and said nothing. I looked at him, waiting for him to say something. And finally, he did. He never liked talking and I have never liked to rush him. “What’re you listening to?” He asked “What?” I asked him as I finally put down my ear piece. “As usual” He responded. “i didn’t hear you. What did you say? I asked. “it’s nothing, don’t worry.” he said as he laid on my bed “Play the music out loud I wanna to hear it too.” he said I looked at him briefly then played the music. I went to the bed and laid right next to him. We said nothing for twenty minutes as the song played over and over again. I looked at him and said “I’m not going to let him touch you again.” He said nothing at first but responded, “he’s coming home tomorrow you know…” “Yea . . . I know.” He said “ when I run away, don’t look for me and don’t worry, it wasn’t your fault.” I looked at him again hoping to recognise the joke, hoping he would retract his statement and tell me that he was just kidding but he didn’t. He said nothing till eventually, I realized he was not joking, he had accepted whatever reality life was going to throw at him. I tried to say something but it was the screaming coming from downstairs that disrupted my chain of thoughts. Aaron and I had the same startled look. “What’s going on?” He asked “I don’t know, but don’t open the door until I say so. I’m going downstairs to find out what’s going on.” “But…” he said “Please don’t go. I’m sure it’s Aunty Zainab.” He said, still trying to convince me. “Don’t worry, I’ll be right back.” I said to him and headed downstairs. I could see Zainab on the ground, her hands on her head, her legs-wide apart and wailing and my mum just sitting on the sofa, with her hands on her face. She was crying and I didn’t know why. “Mummy?” What’s wrong?” I said carefully as I approached her. Mum looked at me with tears still dripping from her exhausted face and said “They’ve found Leila” “They have?”  I said as I searched her eyes looking for the answer I already knew. She stood up from the sofa and sat on the rug trying to pull Zainab to her embrace. “Where is she?” I asked but as I said this, Zainab starts to hyperventilate. My mum said quietly with a stuttering and cracked voice,  She’s dead, she’s dead.”

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