Shame? Defeat? Anger? Relief? I am going to rule out relief. I mean, it can’t possibly be. We are sitting at the back of the same car; it has been 20 minutes; his neck has not shifted from the window. If I didn’t know him, I would have said he was shy. But he was not. He is broken. Europe broke him. The pandemic lasted for six months and for the first time in earth’s…

Who writes marriage vows with expiration dates in mind? What does the ‘forever’ in ‘forever after’ mean when people pledge the same to one another? Perhaps, I will stay with you as long as it takes love to run out. What makes a loving and charming spouse turn into a demon, a devil’s incarnate? You would think the first time would do them in, when the first slap landed on her face. The impact gradually…

If only you were having sex. Maybe, just maybe you could calm these raging nerves. Grownup touch; you have missed for so long. You stand in front of the mirror, and you literally feel your banging body wasting. This waist ought to be held by some sweet hands. These nipples are eager to be massaged. This amazing art of God yearns to be worshiped. You quickly go on the internet in search of Yvonne Orji….

The relief I feel afterward is confusing I wonder, could it be from releasing those tears? Hot, dropping down my cheeks with force like water traveling through a pipe The kind of crying that comes from the pit of the stomach and brings a headache with it The headache forcing me to stop thinking about the things I can’t control I call them my bitterest tears. Heaven knows we need not be ashamed of our…

I will look you in the eyes, so I can see how sad they are I will listen to your loud, empty opinion with a smile, And wonder if you knew how insubstantial your words are? I will watch you make all the expensive mistakes I will not be riled up from your mindless, shallow talk I have nothing to learn from you When next I see you, I will not hate you too, I…

‘Nsukka people’ call it Egbugba. Egbugbashi. I attended the same university with a girl, I spent almost five years in that school, it was a very small campus, I think I must have passed by her countless times without seeing her. How do you explain my shock this morning when I saw the new profile picture she uploaded to Facebook? Beneath the makeup, behind the smile, it was there. So glaring. How ugly a person…

There is something about the first time you go to a place; it takes too long and you notice the little details. They say our lives are being steered by a supreme hand. They say we do not have control over most things that happen to us. I remember that day so well; the little details, I know I will remember forever. I can’t tell you my name; my father is well known in the…

I was in a bar: it was filled with people at the time I came in, I ordered a bottle of beer which later became 8. I think it was star lager. I woke up to find the bar empty. The empty bottles of beer rattled on the floor as I tried to move my aching legs. “I have picked your clothes from the dry cleaners,” John Dumelo said to me. He was standing in…

I didn’t know how to respond. I was not even sure I was supposed to say anything. “should this woman be telling me something like this?” I muttered to myself. “did you say something?” she asked “no Ma, I was only coughing,” I said. It was Papa who sent me to the boarding school because of Big Aunty’s obsession with redesigning the shape of my head. “Can I come in?” Papa asked, few minutes after…

I was ten years old when the strange noises started. I can’t say if it was the tapping of the rain or the strange voice that woke me up. Pressed against the rough wall beside my bed, clutching Mama’s old wrapper, I listened. “Mmmmmh mmmmhmmh” … it was a woman’s voice. It was indistinct-like someone who was beaten and had a strong hand covering her mouth to prevent her from crying. It could not have…