BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

I lay on the cold marble floor at the foot of the staircase. My head hurt where it had hit the sharp edge of a step; my back hurt, my hips hurt, my arms and legs hurt but not as much as the pain I felt on the left knee I had tried to use to break my fall as I came tumbling down the long steps on my right wrist. I also hurt in places I didn’t even realise I could feel pain.

My left leg was twisted beneath me at a really odd angle. I had landed on my hands and knees before tumbling to my back on the floor. I began to open my eyes but as I felt the burning throb behind my eyes, I shut them back. Blood oozed slowly, forming a warm pool beneath my head from the open wound courtesy of the edge of a step but I barely noticed this. The only thought in my head was this: For how long?

I could hear the angry honking of impatient drivers; the noisy generator of our closest neighbour. Hadn’t Kainye gone to their home two days ago to give them a last warning? I could also hear the sound of the clock ticking slowly but surely. And importantly, I could hear Kainye’s angry, heavy breathing from up there, perhaps relieved that the fall would keep me away for good.

Yes, I was clumsy. Yes, I always had a way of upsetting him. Yes, I should have been more of a better wife than I was. And perhaps I had deserved been thrown down the staircase. But did I deserve to die?

I could feel life slowly leave my body. It would be so easy to take the coward’s way and give in to death. What sweet relief that would be, for it hurt so much! But I had to live. There had to be more to life than this. I was too young to die. I hadn’t even experienced life.

No, I gasped silently as the sounds around me began to grow faint until they were almost non-existent. No, not like this! Not like this!

I am Izigora Aku-Chidike and I am not yet ready to leave the world!