Prologue
Sunday.
Ugh, sunday.
I’ve never been a fan of the concept of waking up at 6am to go to Church even when God Himself said we should rest. Yet they said we have to‘start the week with Him.’Like... the heck?!
“Demilade! Are you awake?” That was my mum-the calm but fiery woman God decided to make my mother. She’s very reserved most of the time but when it comes to God and my siblings and I, she’s very loud. Like, ‘i-can’t-sleep’ loud. “Demilade!”
“Yes, mummy?”
“Have you woken up your siblings?”
“No, mummy. I’m going to do that now!”
My eight-year-old twin siblings, Damilare and Damilola, are the babies of the house-and I’m their unpaid babysitter. They fight over everything, even room space, and their room is literally double the size of mine. Before knocking on their door, I hear them shuffling around.
So they’re awake...
“Damilare, Damilola, you know you have a presentation today, right?” Silence. A smile cracks on my face, got ’em. The door unlocks and one rushes to the hallway bathroom while another door further inside the room slams shut.They love performing in church-singing, dancing, showing off their gifts to anyone who’ll watch.
‘The Dami Twins’ They both have incredible voices for eight-year-olds. Incredible coordination, incredible brains, incredible everything...you get it. Practically perfect. I love them. Totally not jealous.Ever.
“Demilade. What are you doing?” I jump, startled by my dad’s booming voice in the already echoing hallways. Apparently, I’d been standing here for about 15 minutes, just blanked out.
“Uh, nothing daddy. I just woke the twins up”
“But they’re done in the bathroom already. Are you sure you’re ok?”
Oh sh*t. “Yeah i’m fine, daddy. I lost track of time is all”
He squinted at me, then left to his room. My dad has to be the scariest, nicest, and most overly religious person in our family. He has us praying every single time we eat, when we wake up, in the car while driving, when we go to bed, even before we leave for school everyday, we have to say what we learned from our morning devotionals. It’s exhausting. Like... actually exhausting
“Demi-”
“I’m going!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After church, we usually went shopping then my mum and I cooked some variation of rice: Jollof Rice, Fried Rice, both, coconut rice, white rice and most definitely some chicken. “But lucky for me, I’m starting university tomorrow. Yes-university. Finally, freedom from my family and all the constant, unnecessary religion at home.
So today, we went to Domino’s for some celebratory pizza, then an amusement park and I ate some cotton candy. Which was probably the third time I’ve ever had it. It was good-sweet, sticky, and gone too fast.The last time this happened, I passed my SSCE with flying colours.
While going home, Mum and Dad were usually serious but they were, like ‘you-got-pregnant?!’ serious.
“Demilade, as you know, you’re going to university tomorrow. You’ll meet a lot of people, lots of new people from different backgrounds and upbringings and all walks of life. It will be overwhelming and you’ll probably feel like you want to come home or leave but...”
My dad cut in as my mum sounded like she was about to cry. “What your mother is trying to say is that, you should be careful of who you associate yourself with. University is a place of decision, you can either make yourself or mar yourself. And we wouldn’t want you to lose yourself...you know?”
He looked at me through the rear view mirror and I caught his eye. “Are you listening?” I nodded. “Good. But most importantly, make sure you keep God in the front of your mind, make sure He’s your all in all, the centre of your world at all times. Okay?”
“Of course daddy. What else would I do?” As i passed a sweet smile to him, a thought passed through my mind. I’m such a good liar. Sure, I’ll still go to church, I’ll still pray. But base my whole life on someone I’ve never seen, never heard, never experienced? That’s delusional. Still... if it keeps my parents happy, I’ll try.
Try.
*Hello,
Welcome to my new book. I hope you enjoy it and stay blessed 😊
Ciao, griffingirl*
