Oghowen, My mother's beloved. (Episode 1)

        Epa domo, I greeted Papa Ikpomwosa, our neighbour. Esosa, welcome, my son.Una don get holiday? The old man asked. Yes, Epa,  we are on Easter break. Oh-0h! exclaimed the old man, welcome home, my son. How body? Fine, Epa, I said and started walkinghome briskly, mama would be expecting me. I got home and called, Mama!Mama! Mama came out and when she saw me, I saw the joy on her face, she ran to hug me, and started shedding tears, I cleaned mama's tears and told her to stop crying. Indeed, the death of oghowen is taking its toll on mama, mama was no longer the lively woman she used to be, she was looking old and frail.

      Our  father had died in a ghastly road accident when I was barely three years old, I don't have any memories of my father, mama was pregnant with oghowen. Papa's family members threw mama and I out of our home and mama had to be the only one fending for us. I grew up seeing mama as a very hardworking woman, she was not in the category of rich women but she did everything possible to make sure we were well fed, attended good schools, and wore good clothes. Everything, mama was doing was for us, we lacked nothing, in spite all these, we were well behaved children that other parents pointed to as examples for their kids.

       Oghowen, my kid sister was a very beautiful young lady, I doubt if anyone in our neighbourhood was as beautiful as she was. She was just a fifteen year old girl who was blossoming into a very beautiful woman. Oghowen, the girl with the eyes of flame, as she was fondly called because her eyes could melt hearts, easy going, and was always full of life and smiles. Many boys wanted Oghowen, but she was the school girl type and she loved her education. She was in SS2, the most brilliant girl in her school, no doubt, she was going to be the head girl. Even her teachers loved her and she was my mother's beloved. Mama loved Oghowen so much. I, on my part, oghowen was my life. We played like mates, we were almost always together, she was my best  friend. And ever since she died, my life has been in a chaos. I just had to pull myself together because of Mama, I needed to be strong for Mama. She was all I had left.

       The next morning after my arrival was Easter day, mama had prepared pounded yam and ogbono soup before I woke up, the aroma of the soup woke me from sleep. I stood from bed and went to meet mama in the kitchen and greeted, ko iye. Mama answered with a big smile, prayed for me and told me to go freshen up and come for my food.

It was the culture in our home, we all had special plates that we ate with during festive periods. Mama had hers, I did, and so did Oghowen.

       On the first of January, this year, Oghowen had left home early to collect her clothes from the seamstress as the seamstress couldn't finish making the dress the day before. I waited for a long time for Oghowen to come back so we could eat together but she didn't, so, I thought she went to her friend's place and I told mama to dish my food. It was while eating that news came that oghowen's lifeless body was seen somewhere in town. I didn't know when I dropped my plate and ran outside.

Alas, I got to where my sister's corpse laid, her dress was torn. Nobody needed to be told that my sister was raped to death. And that was all I could remember until I woke up at the hospital. I was discharged after two days on admission and I was taken to meet mama at her only sibling's house where she had been after the incident. Mama had dried up within two days, she could not eat nor drink, all she did was shed tears, she couldn't even speak when she saw me. When the priest came to tell mama that the lord gave and took Oghowen, Mama flared up and screamed at the pastor that his God was a wicked being for taking her child. After few weeks, mama became better, so, we had to go home as mama's sister was a business woman who traveled a lot and there would not have been anyone to look after mama. In order to aid mama's healing, everything that belonged to Oghowen were either burnt or taken to the orphanage, so that by the time mama returned home, she would not be constantly reminded of Oghowen. Two weeks after, I went back to school and was always calling mama to check on her.

       That morning, while searching for my plate, I remembered it got broken the day the day the news was brought. I saw Oghowen's plate and took it, kissed it and said i wished she was still here. I headed to the kitchen with the plate in my hand, washed it and dropped it for mama to dish my food. As mama sighted the plate, she asked where Oghowen was and I knew that morning was going to be a sad one but what I did not know was that it would spell such a huge disaster. Suddenly, Mama burst into laughter and was asking where Oghowen was. All attempts to calm mama down was futile, mama tore her clothes and ran outside. It took the help of our neighbours to get mama before she could run to the streets. And mama was taken to a psychiatric hospital.

I blamed myself for mama's predicament, if I hadn't brought Qghowen's plate, mama wouldn't have gone mad.

I blamed myself but this time, I was keen on bringing Oghowen's rapists and murderers to justice, my own justice.