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"Try getting up again."

I sigh and moved to get up, disregarding the gargantuan pain in my back and sweat dripping from my face and hair, infact everywhere. I was trying to take my first steps for the first time in nearly five months.

Apparently, the physiotherapist was waiting for my bones go become stronger before forcing me into starting to get more feeling in my legs. For about two weeks, my only exercise was letting an expensive bike like physiotherapy machine turn my legs continuously. It hurt so much and I do not ever want to go back to it.

"Jibike, I'm trying. I'm trying but it's so hard. My back hurts like a bitch." She nodded knowingly and reached out to pat my shoulder. Tears sprung to my sweaty eyes and I blinked to keep them back.

"You can do it Beebah. You can do it so let out your tears, screams and get walking. Do it for those of us who cheer you on, but, do it for yourself the most. You can do it." The very tears I was trying to hold back spilled down and I said a dua for strength as she strapped my legs to machine again and pressed a button that made the machine take my entire body's weight except for my legs and back so I had to make the full effort of walking even if it killed me to do so.

"Step one…" She counted and I walked, I screamed at the pain. It was as though several hammers were pushing me to take a step. I wanted to stop but she arched a brow at me and I poised to take another step.

"Two…" I shut my eyes and screamed "Ya Allah!" I saw Huda turn away from me and sob loudly into the scarf she had hazardly tied on this morning, she must have removed it in anguish.

"Three..." I breathed out and called Allah's name severally in my mind. I could not take another step but the pain pushed me, the very thought of being an actress again or even hugging my Ma without being at a height advantage pushed me. The very thought of being able to kneel and pray to my Lord without the help of anyone pushed me the most so I took the fourth step with a shout.

"Five." Just as I took the last step, Jibike turned off the machine and clapped her hands but my clothes were already wet with tears and sweat so I didn't clap or anything, I just wanted to bathe and sleep for hours, I turned to her quizzically, that was all? She smiled and nodded.

"Congratulations baby." Huda's voice reached me as she shook her head in pure amazement.

"Baby you're so brave, so powerful!" I smiled at being called powerful. I didn't think I could be qualified by that adjective. She reached out and helped me back into the wheel chair that Jibike held waiting and when I sat, I didn't feel as much pain as I felt earlier.

"What's next Jibike?" I asked with a wheel of the chair to face my physiotherapist. She thought about things for a second and walked to a table in the corner to get a notebook she left there and as she consulted the book, she nodded. I knew because I watched her every move, I wanted to know everything, including her emotions.

"A month of this and you can use crutches. You'll be fine in time for your birthday." She said much to my delight and added "By God's grace." I nodded and Huda echoed her with a loud "In Sha Allah."

"Right now, all you need is sleep, and mentally prepare yourself for tomorrow. How's that?" She asked and I nodded firmly again. Speaking would make me burst into tears again and I didn't want that so I let Huda wheel me out of the exercise room.

"Baby, I'm happy for you. You're going to walk in time for your birthday? That's the best news I've heard in a while. By the way, we can use that time to do a comeback for you." I nodded, still not speaking, just trying to clear the clog and lump in my throat.

She helped me to my room where I took my bath with Iyamé's help, dressed in comfortable sweats and a thin tank top, wrapped a scarf around my wet hair and wheeled myself to the living room where Huda just finished praying Zuhr. She folded the mat and took it to an open cupboard in a corner of the living room before coming to play with my wet hair.

"I want to call Rabiah." I said after careful consideration. Huda walked to face me and widened her eyes.

"You're sure?" She asked skeptically. After all, I'd found out that Rabiah quit her job because of grief and stayed pretty low-key since then, not posting anything on her social media. As a creature that basked in attention like Rabiah, I knew she was hurting really hard and it would hurt even further if I let her find out with the rest of the world, so I told Huda what I thought and she nodded thoughtfully.

"I understand your point. Can I be here?" I smiled at her and agreed to her request. Turning to lift the intercom provided by Kaka that could not be tracked nor called back unless I allowed it, but since I had no complete knowledge of everything happening in Abuja, it was better to be on the safe side.

The phone rang twice before being picked by a groggy voice. Tears sprung to my eyes again for the unpeemth time today and I wiped my eyes.

"Keh Rabiahtu!" I called out in Hausa. She must have dropped her phone because I heard several shuffles before she picked it up again.

"Beebah." She asked quietly and when I hummed, she screamed. She screamed so loud my ear felt the impact. I only sighed and waited for her.

"You're alive. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Oh Ya Allah, Alhamdulillah." She said over and over until her voice faded again from the phone and I knew she was doing a sujood. Rabiah helped strengthen my faith when my parents first died and I had no one to turn to except Ma and Ya Allah.

"Yes, I'm alive, well, I'm here." She asks where here is and I say Lagos with trepidation. "I heard everything that happened to Abdul and wondered if it was retribution or someone borrowing Allah's hand to deal with him. Now I'm calm. I'm happy, oh Alhamdulillah." She shouts again and I chuckle with tears running down my own cheeks.

"I want to do a video call with you Bee. I want to see your face." She states and I blink. I'm not allowed to make those kinds of calls that can leave evidence of where I am.

"Baby, not today, not now. I'm still not very safe yet but In Sha Allah, soon. Please bear with me." Very unlike Rabiah, she burst into loud tears. Very loud tears that I felt her drop the phone to sob.

"I can't even see you? Why is Abdul-Mumin Goje not dead yet? Why is he still alive? Oh Allah. I can't see my baby." She cries some more making me sigh and wait for her to finish.

"Soon, Rabiah, soon. I promise you." Huda signals me from where she's sitting and I hastily tell Rabiah goodbye and end the call. I frown towards Huda the moment I heard the dial tone.

"What was that about?" She smiled at me and asked me if I knew if Rabiah's phone was safe? I shook my head slowly and wondered how much and in what measures Yaana Bakura monitored my entire life.

"Even Aunty Hannatu's phones were monitored. She had to change phones, break her sim and start all over again. The moment you turn on the phone, she knows your exact location, the calls you make, everything Labeebah. Everything." I sighed and looked away.

********

Aso Rock Villa

Vice President Quarters.

"Daddy, what is wrong with you and mammi?" Falmata Bakura asked and leaned back to flick through her brand new iPhone for the latest reels and videos about Harry Potter. She had gone to see her mother earlier to get some cash to go out later and found her mother crying with a box of tissues almost finished and another readied to be used.

"Your mother and I just have an argument." Bashir Bakura answered. He didn't want to drag his children into anything that looked like was happening. He flicked through a photo of Labeebah laughing on a deck in her wheelchair, breeze playing with her scarf and sighed.

"An argument isn't enough to make Mammi be like that. So please tell me that you both are going to be fine, you're my favorite couple and I can't bear to see you quarreling or having a lover's spat." Bashir exhaled a harsh breath and on the tip of his tongue, he wanted to tell his daughter what his wife had done but reigned himself in with a sigh.

"I'll see about it." He replied her non commitally. Falmata got up, adjusted the Abaya she was wearing over a pair of skinny jeans and black top and left her father's study. Mission accomplished.

When Falmata left, Bashir sat facing the windows for hours afterwards such that when the time for Magrib came, he had to be jerked out of his reverie by the Adhaan. He got up, performed ablution slowly in the adjoining bathroom in his office and walked to a corner that faced the Kabbah and began to pray.

After offering his obligatory prayers, he sighed and asked Allah S.W.T. to protect his child from all evil, to soften her heart towards him, to make her life easier and to open her heart to love once again.

He also prayed for strength to do the very thing that had popped in his mind just as he finished ablution. He was already resolute.

*****
Hey guys, what do you think?

Tell me what you think Bashir is about to do.
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See y'all soon.

TheOmoope 💙💛