ALESSIA'S P.O.V.

There was not a moment in my life where I had felt happier than in this moment.
My mom told me we were going home.
I didn't even  wait for her to finish before  I ran to my room and started packing my things.
I made sure to pack everything I could find.

I wasn't happy about leaving.
I had come to love this country.
Sure, it wasn't the country that I was born but I had grown to love it so much.

The people were strong willed and warm hearted and I will come back for a visit sometime, maybe even with my dad, Alisha and my mom.

When I first got here, I was scared about being alone and being the half caste outcast but they accepted me with open arms into their big hearts.

I had just finished my JSS3 exams. JSS 3 is what we call the ninth grade.
I made some friends and even picked up some of their culture along the way. I learned some Yoruba,Igbo and a tiny bit of Hausa as well,  but now it was time to go home .

I will miss Nigeria but I miss my sister even more than anything else in the world, but at least she's with my dad so at least she's not completely alone.
I was packing my things to go home,happy and sad at the same time.

When my mom had told me that Alisha replied her letter and that we were coming back and that Alisha called after reading the letter, I was so happy.

My mom had told me that Alisha was angry at us for not telling her we were leaving and for leaving her behind so she blocked her on all social media sites and didn't return her calls.

I understand why she would be but I wanted to clear all the misunderstandings.

Heck, I didn't even know why we left in the first place. Mom kept giving me the' when its the right time I will explain every thing' excuse that mothers always give when they are avoiding discussing something important with you.

She told me that when we get back home, she would explain everything in detail.

I trusted that she would do just that.

I could remember exactly how that day went.

I had never been more confused in my life than on that day.

I remember how that day went three years ago,  like it was just yesterday.

I was at home, sitting in the living room watching TV since I got back from school just a few hours ago, not much for a ten year old to do after school.

My mom suddenly came bursting through the door.

"Alessia baby,get your
things, we have to go away for a while."I asked, deeply questioning her pale face and rapid breathing, Taking in my moms present state.

She was sweating like she had just seen a ghost.

"Mommy, what happened?" I asked her, getting really worried about her at this point.

"Its fine, everything is okay."She said sounding like she was trying to convince herself more than the ten year old child standing in front of her, fearing for her mother.

"Okay mommy, Ill go pack my things."I said, not seeing anyway I could get away with arguing with her.

At this point she wouldn't even fall for my puppy dog eyes and those were my greatest weapons.

I came down stairs dragging a suit case in my hand, my mom already had hers down too.

"Lets go." She said waiting expectantly for me.

"Okay,"I said as I got to the last step.

We went out the door and in the cab when I was collecting my thoughts and finally asked,"Mommy, what about Alisha?"

She looked at me and said "Its for the best, at least for a little while, okay?"

I looked at her and instantly believed her words."Okay mummy."

She gave me a kiss on my cheek and I asked, "Mommy, where are we going?"
She looked at me, gave me a small smile and said "Nigeria."

"You mean daddy's home country?"

I knew my eyes would light up at that moment because I had never been there before and only heard stories about it from my dad and a few form my mom as well, but I was always one for adventure.

"Where is Daddy anyway,Isn't he coming with us or is he busy again?"I asked her and the look on her face gave me the answer to all my questions.

"Yes, Daddy is very busy and wont be able to come with us." She said, on the verge of tears.

"Oh and mommy?"I said getting her attention.

"Yes?"She looked at me .

"Happy wedding anniversary."

With that we left to begin our lives here.
I slept through most of the flight.
Even I'm my sleep, I still had one thing on my mind, My sister.

ALISHA'S P.O.V.

I had made my decision.

With much conflict within me, I got off the couch and made my way up the stairs to the room, still shaken.

I went into my room and plopped down on my bed just staring at the ceiling.

I placed my hand on my nightstand desperately searching for my phone.
I sat up, picked up my Samsung phone and opened my contacts.

I unblocked my mom and took a deep breath. Preparing myself for what was to come.

I dialed my moms number.

It rang once.

Twice.

Thrice.

I was about to give up and call back later when she picked up the phone.
I was frozen for a moment.

I thought I was ready for this, but I wasn't.

I was about to hang up on her when her voice came through the phone.

"Alisha, I know you're there. I hear your voice even in your silence."

As usual, like the emotional fool that I always was, tears started rolling down my cheeks.

It felt so foreign to me hearing her voice after a long time, the voice I had missed so much.

The voice that used to comfort me when I had nightmares as a child.

"M-Mom?" I said as my voice was weak.

"Yes my baby, I'm here." Her voice was shaky as well.

"Alisha I've missed you so much. I kept the hope that you would call when you got my letter. I know I owe you a lot of explanations-"

"You do." I said as I cut her off but she continued on,"but I will give you each and every detail when we return home."

"We can move on from the past and just be the happy family that we used to be those years ago. I want us to move on from this phase and be able to say that we overcame this as a family,together."

"I know you don't want to forgive me now but even Alessia doesn't know the reason she had to leave her older sister and go with her mother to her fathers country but I promise that I will explain every thing to you when we see face to face and that whatever I did,I did in your best interest."

Strangely,I believed that because in my thirteen years of growing up with my mother, I knew that whatever she did was for the sake of her children.
What she used to say was,' if you're happy,I'm happy.

"So when are you and Alessia coming back?"
"In two days."When she said that, I felt a fluttery feeling in my chest when she said that.

When I asked "Where's dad?"There was a brief silence on the other end of the line.

"There are some things that cannot be discussed  over the phone but everything will be made clear to you.    I promise."

"Okay, I'll be waiting for you guys."I said.

"Alisha, I love you."She said to me.

"I love you too, mom and tell Alessia that as well."I said as my head was a mix of emotions in me.

I meant what I said when I said I loved her, because love was something that had so much meaning to me. I was very sentimental about it.

I also felt anger, the feeling of being abandoned was something I had, had to deal with for a three years of my life.

I felt sad because for those three years, I had no one I could really call my own.

Most important of all, I felt hope. Hope that I hadn't been abandoned, hope that I was not alone anymore.

Hope that everything was going to okay and we were going to happy again, just like we used to be.

In all these I was just a little bit curious, when  I asked about my dad, she just ended the discussion there like it was a forbidden topic.

It made me wonder what really happened.

I had to contain my curiosity for the next day.
 
"Bye, mom."I said with a lighter heart.

"Bye,Alisha."

With that, I hung up the phone and let out a sigh of relief, patiently waiting for what was to come.

A/N:
It's finally happening....
I can't wait to see what happens next...
You can throw all the things you want to throw at me later....

I miss Jayden... But he'll soon be back in action...

I love it when families come together like this....

Well,  until next time because I have four days free next week from my exams so I will be updating frequently....

Thanks guys....
bright_star_29 😘😘😘😘😋😋