The invocation – 1

That cold and quiet night, as I stared at the ceiling, willing sleep to come and calm my running thoughts, I recalled a very random memory that had nothing to do with the moment or any latest experience.

The many mosquitoes we somehow reared sang some not so melodious tunes to me as I scratched my body after they have contentedly feasted on my flesh. The whirling fan seemed to be blowing hot air combining with the cold seeping through the opened windows. So, this memory should have been the furthest thing from my mind.

What brought this story to mind? Well, it was the sound of the ticking clock- the only sound in an otherwise, quiet and still night. Being an insomniac wasn’t easy, but I liked to think I’d “gotten the hang of it.”

“Enough ramblings! When I looked at the clock ticking away, it was 1am. In fables and scary childhood stories, it is known as the time for spirits and ghosts, wicked ones and witches to roam and do what they do best, whatever it is. Thinking of Spirits and ghosts made me wonder if they truly exist or if they are just stories to make us jittery.

If they aren’t real though, what about Marge? Ha! Marge. Now that’s a story worth telling. This
was the random thought that popped into my head that midnight.”

“*********” 

“Marge was my brother’s best friend, she was also our neighbour. Not next door, but two buildings away. My brother’s friends always teased him about having a girl as beautiful and hot as Marge as a friend and not ‘tapping’ her.

Truth was, we all knew Marge liked my brother, she didn’t try to hide it, but Carson, my brother, for some weird reason wouldn’t reciprocate even though a few of us knew he liked her too. All in all, they had a pretty good and solid friendship.

Marge was always around in our house, most of the time, to avoid the conflict in her own house. Her mother was the second wife out of four wives. They lived in a pretty big house, each wife and kid with their own wing in their architectural eyesore of a house.

The building looked like someone built a normal house with a large courtyard, but as an afterthought, added two bungalows to the back, with the bungalows sticking out at odd angles behind the main house.

Marge’s mum was rarely around, always traveling for goods around the country, so Marge was always left alone with her younger sister. She had a brother who was already married and they were the three children of Marge’s mum.

You see, I was home for a one week midterm break from school, I was in boarding school and it also happened that we were going to celebrate Mum’s birthday in a grand style. I was lucky the two events coincided.
Like Marge’s immediate family, we are just three children in our own family. We live in a five bedroom flat with our parents. My brother, my sister and I each had a room to ourselves. Mum and Dad had theirs and the guest room was vacant.

For the celebration, my sister’s two best friends and course mates came home with her from school. My brother also came home with a friend so it was a full house. The house was always noisy courtesy of Funmi and Chidimma, my sister’s friends. I came home on Friday, the party was on Sunday, after church.

For that Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Marge and I were always together because my brother and his friend were always out doing guy stuff while for some weird reason, my sister suddenly hated hanging out with Marge. Through those three days, I discovered Marge looked sick. She got tired easily, her face looked pale and she smiled less.

I just attributed it to the fact that my brother was ditching her for his guy friend. Mum’s birthday party was a success and we could all finally rest after the whole hustle bustle in preparation for the party.
That fateful Monday, the day after the party, Marge didn’t show up. I was already used to hanging out with her, so I asked my brother if Marge said anything about her absence. He didn’t know either. I spoke to him about what I felt his ditching did to her.
“Oh, come on Tee, Marge is a big girl, I’m sure she understands.” He laughed it off like the typical guy he was.
He felt I was just letting my imagination get the best of me, it would not be the first time, he said. And so, I let the matter rest and continued with the day.
Later, I would wish that what I was looking at was my imagination getting the best of me.

******

“Temitope dear, what’s wrong?” Mum asked me after touching my fore head.
I was lying under the covers that Monday afternoon, I was a bit cold and I felt very hot inside. It was very unusual, but I chucked it up as my body acting confused again.
“I think I’m coming down with a fever.” I managed to respond.
“You are not coming down with it. You already have it. Goodness! Your temperature can melt your Dad’s mum’s cold heart. God rest her soul.” Mum freaked out.
Trust mum to use any opportunity to remind us grandma never liked her. Which was an understatement. Grandma despised mum.
“Come on, let me give you paracetamol and lunch. Then you can sleep it off.” She extended a hand.
I took her hand and crawled out of bed and out of my room. She sat me at the dining table and walked off to get the drug and food. I placed my clanging head in my palms and wondered what the nagging pit in my stomach was all about. I couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was trying to tell me something is wrong somewhere.
“Tee? Are you alright aburo mi?” Carson appeared beside me with a plate of God knows what in his hands.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a small fever.” I responded.
“Oh, pele. By the way, Marge isn’t picking her calls, so I guess we’ll have to stop by her place later to see if all is well. Maybe you’re both running fever.” He grinned and walked away with the plate, probably to hide it from mum that he had stolen a thigh of chicken from the oven.

I sighed while mum returned with my pills and a plate of rice and stew.
“I can’t seem to find one of the chicken thighs, sorry, you’ll have to do with the arm.” Mum patted my hair carefully.
I quickly scooped rice into my mouth to avoid saying anything or betraying Carson.
After eating and taking the drugs, I went back to bed. My sleep was cut short though, I could hear noises from outside. My window was close to the next house and it sounded like a bunch of people wailing.
I scrambled off the bed hurriedly, my heart thumping, somehow I knew it had something to do with that feeling I was carrying around all day. Surprisingly, the fever was gone and my head was no longer clanging, neither was my temperature blowing off the roof. I walked out of my room to the living room and I found Carson, his friend, Seyi-my sister and her friends already there looking anxious.
“What’s happening?” I walked towards Carson.
“We don’t know either. Sounds like someone’s dead or something. Mum went out to find out a whi…… “Carson was saying before trailing off when the front door opened.
Mum entered and cut him short with the lost and haunted look on her face. My heart dropped immediately. It felt like I already knew what happened but I couldn’t seem to recall it.
“Mummy, kilode?” Seyi asked mum who just sat on a chair and stared into the air.
“They said she….. No, it’s just not possible.” She mumbled to herself.
“Mum, you’re scaring us. What happened mum?” Carson moved closer to her.
She raised her head, stared into each person’s face, I could read all the different expressions that crossed her face in that nanosecond but one stood out-pity.

I shook my head, no, it can’t be. I finally acknowledged that nagging I felt all day. I was suddenly cold again. I needed to confirm it. I turned away from mum, opened the door and ran out of the house while Carson and Seyi called after me.
I ran out of the gate, turned to the right and headed for the big architectural eyesore near my house. I could hear footsteps behind me, but didn’t stop to see who was following me. I finally stopped when I got to the entrance, leading to a courtyard.
People, not just people, wailing people were all huddled all over the big courtyard. I instinctively turned towards Marge’s mum’s wing in the house. An ear piercing and shrill cry was coming from there. I sniffed before I realized I was already crying all through my run there.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned to look. Carson and Seyi were on either side of me as we blocked the entrance, silently taking in the scene. People seemed to finally notice Carson and immediately, they parted like the red sea.
We walked forward, getting to the middle of the courtyard. Some men were picking up something or someone on a flat surface. They lifted the bundle and turned towards us since we were blocking the direction to the entrance.
We moved to the side quickly and as they finally passed by us, I choked. My hands flew to my mouth to cover whatever unpleasant sound was bound to fly out. Carson’s hand fell off my shoulder, Seyi was frozen to the spot.
I finally realized what had been disturbing me all day, call me psychic or crazy but I know what I felt. Marge was dead.

*********

“Your father will be back tomorrow, he was delayed at the hospital, an emergency of some sort.” Mum announced to us after dropping the phone.
No one said anything. Everywhere was dead silent. I looked at everyone’s faces, they were all in the sitting room while I sat alone at the dining. Marge’s death hit all us pretty hard. She was already a part of the family, it was just like losing our own blood.
Ever since they told us she was found dead in her room in the afternoon because her little sister found it strange that she hadn’t stepped out all day, Carson hasn’t said a word to anyone.
Carson was a very sensitive soul, he was even seeing a psychologist one time because of smoking, drug abuse and suicidal thoughts. So, losing Marge now was like a deep cut into his soul. He looked lost and vacant. He was just empty and I ached for my brother.
“She was the quietest and gentle soul I ever met.” Seyi croaked out.
Her voice was hoarse from crying. After wiping my tears at the courtyard, I didn’t shed a single one after. The image of her still form just kept popping in my head and I felt frozen. We left their house after Marge’s mum started a scene with the oldest wife, accusing her of being jealous of her success and whatever other drama polygamy brought.
Chidimma and Funmi, Seyi’s friends said they agreed, one of the other wives or children must have been responsible but with a single look from mum, they kept quiet. It was not the time for petty and idle gossip.
“I agree. Marge was exceptional. Patient too.” Micah, Carson’s guy friend agreed.
No one ate dinner or thought about food, we were all grieving in our hearts. Maybe the others did, I wouldn’t know, but I definitely couldn’t think of food. Carson suddenly stood up, all eyes following him, and he walked over to me at the dining. He sat beside me and picked up my hand, rubbing it, an act of his whenever my hands are cold and he’s trying to restore warmth into them.
“She was in a cult.” He said quietly staring at my hands.
“Wha…. Whaat?” I stuttered. What he said definitely came out of nowhere and I was very confused.
“Marge, she was in a cult, her family cult. Her mother initiated her in when she was just ten without her consent.” He finally raised his eyes and looked at me.
His eyes were bloodshot, he had been crying. I didn’t know what to say to him and just then, tears started pooling in my own eyes too. I hated when Carson was in pain, it always felt like mine. Carson and I have always had this special bond that the others usually didn’t understand.
“When she told me about it, I informed mum. Mum said I couldn’t date her then, that such covenants are usually too strong for an outsider to just butt into. So, I respected mum and I just stayed friends with her. I know you thought I was stupid for not dating her when you could see I liked her so much. Heck, I loved her.” He was shaking his head as he spoke but finally, he broke down at the end.
Words weren’t needed at that moment, so all I did was hug him while he sobbed quietly on my shoulder. Mum was looking at us from the living room long couch, she didn’t know what to do. I nodded to her to let her know I could handle it and she nodded back.
“We’ll simply have to pray for the repose of her soul and for her family, both blood and us, to find a way to deal with this great loss.” Mum finally spoke up.
Carson moved away from me with an embarrassed look once he realized what he just did. He always felt as the big brother, on no occasion should I be the one taking care of him, it was his duty to do that.

He nodded to all of us and stalked off to his room. I also stood up and said my good night. I hugged mum before walking to my room slowly. My limbs and joints were protesting against the sudden kinesis.
When I entered the room, I noticed a figure sitting on my bed. That was strange, I thought I left everyone in the living room. I switched on the light and the figure was backing me. It looked eerily familiar.
“Hello?” I whispered as I slowly tried to back out of my room but my back hit the closed door instead.
The room’s temperature seemed to drop as the figure slowly turned to face me. She smiled sadly and I could remember holding my head in my hands and screaming as loud as I could.
One word echoing in my head – Marge!