Tokunbo
          
          "Tokunbo!!!"
     Her Father's roar awakened the whole neighborhood. Whispers of warrisit  drifted into her ears as she rose up from her bed with jittery nerves. Something was terribly wrong. She knew it. Her father never yelled unless he had been pushed beyond limit or had been disappointed beyond belief.
               "Tokunbo!!!" He roared again.
    She fled out of her room into the living room where the man himself towered at the door, taking up so much space. She suddenly felt claustrophobic. He was definitely livid. From his labored breathing, his hunched stance and the scar that threatened to pop out, only a dead man would think otherwise.
           Her father stalked towards her with an envelope in his hands like a lion to his prey and she felt her legs weaken with each step he took.
            "Explain. This. To. Me. Now!!" He gritted slamming the envelope hard against her chest. Her legs gave out and she fell on the ground, the picture from the envelope floating in view.
             It was from last night. Her. Laughing with a male figure whose back was turned to the camera. She swallowed large gulps of air as panic grew in her chest.
               "Tell Me!!!" He roared again.
               "Francis-"  she heard her mother say.
                "Stay out of this Becky! Stay! Talk to me Tokunbo!! What is that? " He spat "that" as if it was dog poop in his mouth.
                "I...I-"
                "Look at me! Look at me when you talk to me!!!" He screamed grabbing her by her arms and hurled her up.
         Pain shot up her arm as he gripped her too hard but who was she to complain when he was breathing harshly on her face staring at her with eyes identical to hers.
              "I'm sorry. I'm... I'm sorry papa-"
        That only angered him. He threw an hand against her face and Tokunbo felt the world topple over. When she opened her eyes again, she was sprawled on the floor with her Father still looking at her albeit less menacingly. His eyes were unfocused and she knew he was warring with himself. She knew he was convincing himself that hitting his very precious daughter was the right thing because she was wrong. Tears rolled down her face at the stinging sensation on the right side of her face. She looked away from him and saw that Betty's parents were in the room as well as the devil twins and their mother, the two boys hiding under their mother's wrapper.
       Betty's father was trying to talk to her father. Tokunbo couldn't make out what he was saying, her ears were ringing too loud. She watched as he motioned to his wife who knelt beside her and helped her up. Betty's father shook his head grabbing her dad but his arm and leading him to the sofa where her mother sat looking embarrassed with a shocked Timi beside her.
          Her chest clenched as Betty's mom led her out of their house into the neighboring flat.  She had disappointed the one person who always believed in her no matter what. She had thrashed his trust against the rock. Again. And all for what? Meaningless friendship? Was she even considered a friend? Eli had made it clear the night before that she was just a pawn. Someone to help him out of his misery. She had broken her Father's trust to be a pawn.
                "Sit here." Betty's mum urged her to a sofa. She was round just like Betty and had a rather beautiful face. She gave Tokunbo a weak smile and dashed to the kitchen to get a pail of water and a towel. 
               What would she do now?
       Confess obviously. What is left to fight for?
              She hissed as wet cloth brushed the right side of her face gently. Her dad's ring must've caught the flesh and gave her a cut.
                  "That was my Elijah in the picture yes?"
          Tokunbo inhaled suddenly and lunged backward to take a look at the woman's face. Betty's mother had a sad smile on her face. Her eyes had bags beneath them and they seemed glassy. Tokunbo nodded at her slowly.
         They stayed silent for a while. Tokunbo wondered how she must've been fairing. With Elijah missing and the constant yells she heard their father give in the past few, the woman must be fed up.
              "You know where he is."
      It wasn't a question. It was a statement. A conclusion.
               "He's staying with his friend at the hospital." Tokunbo said and she could see the woman's shoulders slump. Either in defeat or relief she wasn't sure.
               "You knew where Eli was? Since when?!" A familiar voice chirped in and Tokunbo watched as Betty waddled her way towards them.
                "Hi Betty-"
                "Don't hi me you weirdo. You ignore me one day then talk to me the other, I am not a fool Tokun." The chbby girl spat with such wistfulness that Tokunbo didn't think she possessed.
                   "Sorr-"
                   "How long?" Betty hissed folding her arms.
                     "For about a week now." Tokunbo replied and winced at Betty's sudden exhale.
                      "A week?! That bas- idiot has been around for a week and left me to rot here?! Damn him to hell. He does something stupid, I get the brunt of it. And you-" she spat with a sneer "you knew where he was all along?!"
                     "Elizabeth, go to your room."
     Betty stared in disbelief at her mother then turned to face Tokunbo.
                   "Tell him to stay away forever! You hear me. I hate him. I hate home so much. I am tired of living in his shadows! I will not be a victim of his mistakes. I will not."
          Tokunbo felt anger bubble through her veins. She had her own share of problems to worry about. Not some spoiled bratty child who's upset over her brother's disappearance. She felt the need to say something hurtful.
           
            "Maybe now you'll finally have the balls to do your poetry shit."

And for the second time in four months, Tokunbo tasted bile in her mouth.
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