“Gloria! What happened to you?” I asked with fear written all over my face
“Kiana please don’t tell anyone… please”
“Don’t tell anyone what?!” I shouted terrified
Noticing how she was shaking, I started analyzing her with my eyes and that was when I noticed the trails of blood flowing from Gloria’s thighs.
“Gloria! What happened?… I mean how, who, where, when, how come? I was so scared, shocked, and confused I didn’t know tears were already coming out of my eyes.
“Kiki I can’t take it anymore the pain is unbearable, I really can’t bear it anymore Kiki I am … I am sorry
And then Gloria collapsed on my hands with blood all over her
“Gloriaaaaaaaaa!!!!!”
I screamed out loud in terror as I jolted awake, the air conditioner in the room was still active but I was already soaked in sweat, I was shivering like a leaf in winter, my thoughts were muddled up, tears kept coming down like a lake in Paris, I couldn’t get over the nightmares.
“Kiana are you ok? Don’t worry baby I am here……”
My mum who ran in at the sound of my scream tried comforting me, I couldn’t mutter any sound, I was like a lifeless soul. The problem was that I wasn’t someone who liked opening up to people, I never liked talking about emotions or anything deep or personal. I remembered when I told my classmates that I didn’t like crying in public. They laughed it off and called me “weird”, emotions seemed like weakness to me. The only person I ever confided in was Gloria. She was always jovial, cheerful, and outspoken. She had a huge role to play in building up my self-confidence as she was always fighting for me.
The very one time I should have fought for her instead of giving in to her pleas, I messed up like the weakling that I was. Everything made more sense now
“I caused Gloria’s death!”
… to be continued
By Abana Asabe for the 16days of activism 2021
Picture Credit- Pexels
