27/05/2026
CHAPTER 9 — ASHES
By the time they brought Zainab’s body home…
Amina was no longer fully present.
Something inside her had shattered permanently.
---
The compound fell silent as the wheelbarrow stopped in front of the room.
Nobody moved at first.
Nobody spoke.
Rainwater dripped quietly from the zinc roofs while neighbours watched from a distance.
Fear.
Pity.
Curiosity.
All mixed together.
Mama Bisi wiped tears from her eyes.
“Four deaths…”
Even she sounded afraid now.
---
Amina stepped down slowly beside her daughter’s body.
Her wrapper still stained with dried blood.
Her eyes swollen red.
But she wasn’t crying anymore.
That frightened people more.
Because some pain becomes too heavy for tears.
The twins clung tightly to Yusuf’s shirt.
“Is Zainab sleeping?” Fatima whispered.
Yusuf couldn’t answer.
The boy looked older overnight.
Harder.
Broken.
---
Inside the room, they laid Zainab’s body on the mat she used to sleep on.
The same mat where she once braided Maryam’s hair.
The same mat where she rocked Baby Jamal to sleep.
Now she lay there cold.
Still.
Gone.
Amina sat beside the body silently.
Hours passed.
She barely blinked.
Women came to console her.
She didn’t respond.
Pastor Daniel prayed.
She didn’t respond.
Even when Baby Jamal cried endlessly beside her…
Amina remained still.
Like her soul had left her body too.
---
By evening, the story had spread across the entire neighbourhood.
“Kunle impregnated the girl.”
“He gave her medicine.”
“She died because of it.”
People gathered in groups whispering everywhere.
Shock turned quickly into arguments.
At the mechanic workshop nearby, men surrounded Kunle angrily.
“You’re an animal!”
“How could you touch that small girl?”
Kunle stood sweating heavily.
“It wasn’t like that!”
One man grabbed his shirt immediately.
“She was fifteen!”
Another mechanic intervened quickly.
“Leave him first!”
But others defended Kunle immediately.
“That girl was not a child-child.”
“She followed him willingly.”
“She liked collecting gifts.”
The statements spread like poison.
Victim became suspect.
Predator became “tempted.”
Typical.
---
Meanwhile, inside the compound, Sister Esther shook her head dramatically.
“Hmmm. These young girls of nowadays…”
Mama Bisi snapped immediately.
“Shut up!”
The woman blinked in surprise.
“She was a child!”
“But—”
“A hungry child!”
Silence fell instantly.
Mama Bisi’s eyes filled with tears.
“That girl suffered too much.”
---
That night, Amina finally spoke.
Very softly.
Almost like somebody talking in a dream.
“She asked me if Allah needed everybody from our house.”
The women around her froze.
Amina stared blankly at the wall.
“I should have listened better.”
Mama Bisi held her hand gently.
“This is not your fault.”
But Amina slowly shook her head.
“I brought them into suffering.”
“No—”
“I could not protect any of them.”
Her voice cracked slightly.
“My children keep dying one by one…”
Then suddenly…
she laughed.
A strange laugh.
Broken.
Unstable.
Everybody exchanged frightened looks immediately.
“Amina…”
“She said she was hungry that day…”
Amina continued softly.
“And now Zainab said she was scared…”
Her laughter turned into violent sobbing instantly.
Then screaming.
She grabbed her own hair desperately.
“WHAT KIND OF MOTHER AM I?!”
The room erupted into panic.
Women rushed to hold her immediately.
“Amina!”
She fought wildly.
“Let me die too!”
The twins burst into terrified crying.
Yusuf froze completely.
Watching his mother break apart before his eyes.
---
Later that night, after everybody left, the room felt haunted.
Too quiet.
Too empty.
Three spaces now missing.
Sadiq.
Maryam.
Zainab.
Even their absence had weight.
Yusuf sat awake near the doorway holding a small knife tightly.
The boy barely slept anymore.
Every sound frightened him.
Every shadow felt dangerous.
Fatima moved closer to him slowly.
“Brother Yusuf…”
“Yes?”
“Are we going to die too?”
The question nearly destroyed him.
He pulled the twins closer immediately.
“No.”
“But everybody is dying…”
His throat tightened painfully.
“You won’t die.”
“How do you know?”
He didn’t.
That was the terrifying part.
---
Outside, angry voices suddenly filled the compound.
“Bring Kunle out!”
“Animal!”
People rushed outside immediately.
A small crowd had gathered near Kunle’s room.
Some men held sticks.
Others threw insults.
Kunle’s door remained locked.
“He’s inside!”
“Coward!”
One woman shouted angrily:
“He killed that girl!”
But another man argued back immediately.
“Did anybody force her?”
The crowd exploded into shouting again.
“She was a child!”
“These girls of nowadays know men before eighteen!”
“She agreed!”
“Agreed because they were starving!”
The arguments became louder.
More vicious.
The community splitting into sides.
Justice.
Blame.
Shame.
All mixed together.
---
Inside the room, Yusuf’s hands tightened around the knife.
His breathing became heavy.
Then suddenly, he stood up.
Amina looked at him weakly.
“Where are you going?”
“To kill him.”
The room froze instantly.
Yusuf’s eyes burned with rage now.
“He killed Zainab.”
Amina stood shakily.
“Yusuf—”
“He destroyed our family!”
He rushed toward the door.
But Mama Bisi quickly blocked him outside.
“Move!”
“You will not ruin your life too!”
“He deserves to die!”
“Yes!”
The answer shocked everybody.
Mama Bisi’s eyes burned with anger.
“But prison will not bring your sister back.”
Yusuf broke down immediately.
The knife fell from his hand.
And for the first time since Musa died…
the boy cried like a child again.
---
By morning, Kunle had disappeared.
Gone.
Vanished before sunrise.
Coward.
The news spread quickly.
“He ran away.”
“Of course.”
“Guilty conscience.”
Some people felt relieved.
Others angry.
No justice.
No arrest.
Nothing.
Just another poor girl buried quietly while life moved on.
---
Zainab was buried beside her father.
Beside Sadiq.
Beside Maryam.
Three tiny graves now sat near Musa’s own.
Amina stared at them numbly after the burial.
Wind blew softly across the cemetery.
Pastor Daniel prayed quietly behind her.
But she barely heard him.
All she could think about was one terrifying truth:
Half of her children were gone.
Half.
The realization crushed her chest completely.
---
That evening, back inside the room, the surviving children stayed unusually close to Amina.
The twins refused to leave her side.
Baby Jamal slept weakly against her chest.
Yusuf sat silently near the doorway watching outside like a guard dog.
Nobody trusted the world anymore.
Not neighbours.
Not church people.
Not kindness.
Because sometimes evil arrived smiling.
With bread in its hands.
And that night, as darkness swallowed the compound again…
Amina finally understood something horrifying:
Poverty had not only stolen food from her family.
It had stolen safety too.
----
Watch out for chapter 10 ✍️
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