MY STEP-MOTHER | by Onuwabhagbe Obinyan

My step- mother is a witch❗

No❗She doesn't fly on a broom at night or stamp her feet and just disappear like those witches we read about in fairy tales and Hollywood movies or the ones we hear about in our villages and watch on Nollywood productions. She is quite beautiful, but very ugly when Papa is not at home. That is when she allows the darkness inside of her to cloud the little happiness I have.

She is a witch because she hates my face. She is a witch because she beats the living daylight out of me at the slightest opportunity. She is a witch because she screens Papa's eyes from my sorry reality. She is a witch because biologically, she is not my mother.

She is two persons in one. Loving and all smiling when Papa is home and a Virago when he is out. How on earth did she capture Papa's heart❓He used to be so strong and observant. Nothing happens without Papa knowing...but he is so blind now. He doesn't see me. All he does is go to work, come back home, eat and retire into his room with this woman.

Granny doesn't come to our house anymore. I think she hates my step-mom. My aunts and uncles don't visit anymore too. They hate her too, I am sure. I and Papa are alone...yet Papa is not with me. His eyes are glazed, it's like he's looking, but not seeing. He is still handsome, but the smile no longer lives on his face.

This evil woman has turned Papa into a zombie. She won't succeed with me. I think that's why she hates me. She's been trying to turn me into a zombie and it's not working. She can't own my mind.

If she could see the painting I have of her in my mind, she would flip over. An ugly hag, that's what she is.

I never stop thinking about my mother. A plumpy, cute woman who made things happen. She always told me I was her jewel, that she would always be there for me. Mama always wanted me to be a Lawyer. I don't know why, but I know it was for good. Did she have to die❓I know she is in heaven because that is where good people go. She is with the angels...but she doesn't talk to me. I never hear her voice.

I am free from my step-mom when I am in school, but one problem plagues me. I can't talk about my mother when other kids talk about theirs or else I'll cry. I don't want them to see me as weak.

I flinch when the end of school bell rings. I don't want to go home, but I have to...because of Papa. Even though I don't know him anymore, I still love him and I pray for him everyday. I know that God will answer my prayers and I'll get home one day to see Papa's eyes without the glaze...open. He will see me, know me again and chase that evil woman away with the roar of an angry Lion.

This is what Papa is, a Lion. For now he sleeps.