I was plunged into despair that words are powerless to describe, when my vagina flooded my laps with sticky water. The little mass of flesh budding within me had torn the membrane that caved it from the harshness of this dilapidating universe. It kicked, angrily. I was hurting.
I groaned in agony. My wrapper came undone. I did not mind baring my body to the elements of the universe. My legs could not carry my body. Eyes shut, fists squeezed and heart drumming, and I fell to the floor of my kitchen.
My eyes burned, tears flooded. How could the sun be feeding the universe with its radiant beauty, while I was battling for my dying life? Chinedu, my husband had gone hunting. A night of pleasure with my love is suffocating me with stabbing pain. How will I pass away in solitude? No one is home. The mass of flesh that pressed my inside was the first to travel the route it was travelling within me. Chimoooo!
Biting my lips, tasting my blood, I let my legs fall apart. I pulled my knees up, making an arc, grasping it with my hands as though it was about to take flight. Mhhhhhh! I contracted the inner walls of my urinary tract, holding my breath and pushing. Another push and Ikem slipped off my body.
*
Staring at Ikem now, his tiny, toothless mouth plugged to my breast, I’m drowning in joy. I call him Ikem, my strength, for he is the first proof of my motherhood ability. He clings to me, his tender and innocent touch saturating my flesh with pure sweetness. His eyes sparkle like the stars in a blanket of darkness. They wink at me, eliciting deep strength from my within to face the next stage of motherhood.
Read – The Last Duel – A Flash Fiction by Aliu Olabanji, Nigeria
