Teen Age Her

🎁 Reward Time!!! 🎁

Yaay!!! We hit 1.5k reads!!
         You guys are awesome and seriously amazing. I love your comments and I appreciate your votes. So as a thank you I wrote a little something for you guys. It's a sneak peek at the first draft of my new novel: The Coven.
            I was debating on whether or not to give you guys a short story or this but I decided on The Coven cos I love the plot. So yeah, enjoy.

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                         CHAPTER ONE – PROTECTION.

  Tara shivered, harmarttan taking its toll on her. The cold morning air was harsh and had a  bite to it, she regretted not wearing a jacket. She huffed and rubbed her arms waiting on the stupid real estate agent while checking her watch. She resolved to give him ten more minutes before she abandoned the whole thing and hightailed it to class. She watched the scene unfolding in her front with mild interest, a mother was trying to get her little son to enter the house to bathe, the little boy was refusing all attempts with stubbornness.
               He came, in a whirlwind of apologies and coats. The door was opened and Tara stepped inside, looking around the flat, he took her from room to kitchen while she surveyed with a critical eye. They were back in the parlor when he asked, “So what do you think?”, she feigned disinterest, “It’s okay. How much per year?”. He laughed, “Eager? 120k.” Tara scoffed, “For self contain? In this area? I don’t think so. Mr man abeg talk your price, I have class to go to”, “Okay okay. 100k no reduction”. Tara hitched her bag higher and prepared to walk out, “80k oga, if not, bye bye”, she waved her hands in a mock wave.
            She was halfway down the stairs when he came down to meet her, “Fine. 80k upfront with Agency fee.” She smiled, the smile of a self-satisfied woman. “Pleasure doing business with you, Mr?”, she put her hands out, “Laide. Mr Laide”, he took it grudgingly and they shook on it, her grip surprisingly strong. He went to his car to bring the documents for her to sign. After she signed and transferred the money to his account, he gave her the keys. She took them gingerly, twirling the key ring round her finger, “Thank you, I have class to get to.” A subtle way to kick him out, he nodded and packed his things.
              On her way to class, she stopped by her former roommate’s room and packed up her things, figuring she’d get them on her way back. At the end of the day, as she was lugging her box into her new flat, she dialed her grandmother. The old woman picked up immediately, Tara smiled, “Hello mama”, it took a second before a tired voice answered, “Hello my child. How are you?”. Tara smiled, her grandmother had always insisted on English when speaking with members of the family when others were around, she blamed it on the adult education class she attended almost as religiously as she attended church, “I’m fine mama. I’ve finally moved into a new place. I can’t be paying money for what I’m not enjoying. I left Rose there, let her continue her suffering.” Her grandmother laughed, a hearty sound that turned into a raspy cough, “Very good Tara. I’ve always told you that that girl is not smart. Watch how you spend money these days. No money everywhere.” Tara chuckled, asking her grandmother for the main purpose she called, “Mama won’t you pray for me? God always answers your prayers.” The old woman immediately launched into a prayer in her native dialect, using Edo to bind and cast every form of demon hold on her granddaughter’s new apartment. Tara dutifully said ‘Amen’ at the end of each sentence, not understanding what she was saying and not underestimating the power of the elders prayers.
                 She ended the call after enduring tales of the village, before she called her mother who prayed again. She plugged her phone in to charge and relished the feel of the air her portable fan provided.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
             She woke to unfamiliar walls, it took a split second for her to remember where she was. She hummed along to a song coming from a neighbor’s radio while she took her bath, she was brushing her teeth when the song changed to a song referred to as ‘pangolo’  song, she scowled, the expression twisting her face into a sinister shape in the mirror. She blinked and her face was back to normal, she smiled at the mirror, studying her reflection critically then nodded, seemingly satisfied.
     She bathed to the sound of the 6 o’clock news, hissing at any story related to the government. Running out of the bathroom because of her phone blaring, “Hello?”, “Tara Edibo!!, where are you? I can’t keep space for you much longer. Get that your skinny bum bum here”, Rose’s panicked voice poured out, Tara laughed, “I’m coming Rose, don’t faint. Just tell them it’s Tara’s seat, they’ll leave you alone. It’s Sola and her crew abi? Just tell them, we have a 7 o’clock lecture, Itua cannot be there yet.” She ended the call laughing at her friend, she dressed up while keeping one eye on the her phone’s time display.
      On her way out, her leg collided with the bucket she kept her clothes in, her eyes flitted from the bucket to the time, biting back a swear, she picked up the bucket and headed downstairs looking for a cloth line. On rounding the corner, she saw a little girl crouched behind the water tank, she guessed she was hiding from her mother. Right on cue, a shout came from one of the two ground floor flats, “Abigail!! If I catch you this early morning ehn”, the little girl bent lower, eyes shut as if she was wishing to enter the ground. A door was wrenched open and a short woman stalked out, the little girl gave a squawk and ran, hiding at Tara’s back. The woman walked towards her with anger, while Abigail used Tara as a human shield, swift as light, her hand flew out and grabbed Abigail by the ear, “Naughty girl, go and bathe my friend. Don’t let me beat you before you go to school”, with a slap on the back Abigail ran towards the flat the woman had come out from.
      The woman turned to Tara, “I’m sorry you had to see that, she’s like that once it’s harmarttan. I’m her mother”, she stretched her hand out intending to shake, Tara took her hand awkwardly, “Tara. Tara Edibo”. Abigail’s mother had a strong grip, “You look like a student. You go to UniIlorin or Kwara Poly?”, Tara smiled, “UniIlorin. Pol Science.” “No wonder. You moved in yesterday? I heard noise from your flat. We do contribution to cut the grasses, nepa bring bill by 3rd of every month. We don’t do meeting and they come to collect dustbin every week.” Tara just nodded, all the information settling in at once, Abigail’s mum finally noticed the bucket in her hands, understanding dawned in her eyes, “You want to spread clothes?”, without waiting for an answer she dragged Tara to the other side of the building where the radio noise was louder. “Ike switch off that nonsense. They’ve finished the news na”, she let go of Tara’s hands to bang on the door next to hers. A lanky boy wearing out boxers came out, “Mama Abigail, this morning, e never reach 7 sef”, Abigail’s mother frowned, “I don’t know what they’re teaching children these days. Ike speak English, English o. You’ll write Waec this year and you’re speaking this rubbish”. The boy called Ike was about to reply when he saw Tara, his eyes widened and she smiled inwardly, used to the reaction, “Aunty good morning”, “Morning. How far?” “Fine. You’re the new person? Welcome. Anything you need or you want to ask, I’m here except when I go to school.”, she smiled in response and Mama Abigail hissed, “Stupid boy, go turn off that radio and get ready for school. You’re here looking at fine aunty. Go before I report you to your uncle”, she turned to Tara, her expression softening, “The rope is there. Any thing you want to ask, meet me.”
      She spread her clothes and rushed out of the compound, shouting her thanks to Abigail’s mom. She rushed into class and had barely sat down when the lecturer entered the class. Rose gave her a sideways glance and shook her head. Itua, their English professor walked out and Tara breathed a sigh. “How’s the new place?”, Rose asked as they were walking to their next lesson. Tara chuckled, “It’s very fine. You”, she poked her friend, “are supposed to be with me”. Rose raised an eyebrow, “Well excuse me if I can’t leave a house I paid for and I’ve not exhausted my rent. I don’t have money unlike some people”, her tone indicating exactly where those ‘people’ were. Tara laughed, “True sha. If you see drama this morning because of harmarttan eh”, she proceeded to tell Rose about Abigail and her mother.
         Rose was in stitches, holding her stomach as she laughed, “All these kids that hate harmarttan these days ehn. I remember my own time, which beg will they beg you? It’s cane they’ll use to pursue you to bathroom”. Tara laughed, lapsing into silence when the lecturer entered.
The day flew by yet Tara was wide eyed when evening came around so when Rose suggested a night in the town, she saw no reason to refuse. It was almost 10 in the night when Tara stumbled into the compound, she was halfway up the stairs when she remembered her clothes downstairs. She sighed, turning around to pack them. Using the light from Mama Abigail’s house, she felt her way to the cloth line, she shook them carefully, shrieking when a lizard flew out from one of the clothes she was shaking.
Making her way back up the stairs, the lights went off, she swore, a vile word that would have nuns fainting. She tried to jam her keys but missed by inches, the arm that held her clothes felt heavier by the second and maneuvering her hand to remove her phone from her pocket was out of the question. “Enter na, for God’s sake enter”, she pleaded with the key. It entered the keyhole and clicked and she heaved a sigh of relief. She threw her clothes to one side of the parlor and stumbled with heavy lids toward her bed.