Must Read: Adventures of Fola - Season 1 - Episode 5

Episode 6 years ago

Must Read: Adventures of Fola - Season 1 - Episode 5

Standing in the bathroom with Nancy
supporting me, I took my surroundings in.

The bathtub was in the middle of the
bathroom and it was huge, the counter which
had a huge mirror placed on the wall with the
washing sink was to the left, underneath it
was a cabinet where I think toiletries were
kept. The shower was right at the end of the
bathroom and it looked like four to six people
could fit in it. The toilet was beside the
shower and the whole bathroom was tiled
(white tiles). Nancy also looked around with
me, once I was done she asked, ‘’so do you
like’’?, I looked at her like she was insane, do
I like?, I mean who wouldn’t like it?. I could
practically sleep in here,

I shared my thoughts with her. Nancy this
bathroom is amazing, really amazing, I could
sleep in here.She smiled at me and said, I
know I thought exactly the same thing the
first time I walked in here.

How long have you been working here I
asked?

Well for about 2 years now. She led me to the
bathtub, I took off my towel and gave it to
her, got rid of my underwear while holding her
for support . She held my waist once again to
support me and helped me get into the tub,
the water felt amazing not too hot not too
cold. After she helped me get into the tub,
she went to the cabinet and got out a new
sponge and body wash, came back to me and
knelt beside the tub, dipped the sponge into
the water and then poured some body wash
on it, then she helped wash me up, I tried
collecting the sponge from her but she
refused.

It’s ok Fola, let me do this.

Well I had nothing to say to that.

We were quiet for a few minutes, and the
atmosphere was a bit boring so I decided to
get to know Ada a little. I asked my first
question and I’m not sure if that was the best
question to ask.

So Ada tell me more about yourself, where
are your family, are they here in Lagos?

Immediately I asked the question she stopped
what she was doing, I looked at her and saw
the look on her face, realizing what I had
done I quickly tried to change the look on her
face,.


Ada you don’t have to tell me anything if you
don’t want to. I just felt like we should have
a conversation while in here instead of just
being so quiet.

Ada gave me a wobbly smile, she looked like
she was about to cry.

Oh my God Ada I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have
asked you about your family, I had no idea
why she was about to cry but I had to do
something to stop her from crying. I tried
changing the subject but Ada got there before
me.



It’s ok Fola, you haven’t done anything
wrong, I feel so sad because I killed me
parents.

Wow, ok that’s a shock. She killed her
parents? We both kept quiet.

A few seconds later I asked, ‘’you killed your
parents’’?

She nodded her head in a yes gesture.

Ok. How did you kill your parents?

She dipped the sponge into the tub and
started to wash me up once more. Then she
said, ‘’well Fola the only way I can explain is
by telling you what happened’’.

I dint know what she was about to tell me,
but the look on her face said it was going to
be very bad. She was quiet for a few minutes,
I thought she wasn’t going to talk anymore,
but then she suddenly started to speak and
this is what she said.”I lost my family to a
fire”. Went out with my girlfriends to a bar,
an hour after spending time with them
laughing and talking about all the fun things
girls talk about, I got a call from the police
saying I had to head home immediately, I
tried asking if there was any problem but he
wouldn’t answer so I rushed out after telling
my girls I had an emergency at home.

Getting to the junction of my street I saw
police cars everywhere and the fire
department, everyone on my street and
neighboring streets were out looking towards
my house, I parked the car somewhere…. She
stopped talking at that point, it looked like
she was no longer in the bathroom with me
anymore, her eyes looked like she was in
another place.

Telling Fola the story of how I lost my family
was very hard, but I had to do it, for the last
2 years I have felt nothing but pain and guilt,
I feel like if I had stayed at home with them
maybe this fire wouldn’t have occurred and
my family will still be alive today, I felt like I
could tell Fola my story because she has
gone through some bad things in life looking
at her I know, I see pain and doubt, kneeling
beside tub I told Fola my story because I
knew she would understand, everyone keeps
telling me it wasn’t my fault but I know Fola
will tell me the truth, she would tell me I
shouldn’t have left my family that evening.

I
should have stayed at home with them.

Yes. Telling Fola will be a good for me I’ll
know how stupid and careless I was that day,
and that it is my fault that my family are
dead. Just like it was yesterday I remembered
and I told my story.

I could feel my heart pounding like a base
drum from the fear and terror of what I was
seeing, all I could think about was my
parents, my two brother who were twins and
just 16 years old peter and paul, and my little
sister Amaka, cars and people were
everywhere, I pushed through the throng of
people to get to my house, as I did this I
heard murmurings, my neighbors saying how
sad it is to lose a whole family in one night,
saying why I didn’t come home on time,
saying I shouldn’t have left the house at all. I
got more scared I didn’t want to believe what
o had heard, my family were not dead, no!
They are alive; I have to believe that they are.

I got to the front and what I saw made my
knees weak, I felt my heart drop down into my
gut, I felt like my whole world had ended.
My house, my family house, was burned to
the ground, everything destroyed. Ok, its all
good we can always get a new house.

I started to look around for a police man to ask
where my family were, I needed to see them.

A police man approached me and asked. You
are Miss Ada right?

Yes sir, I’m Ada, please where are my family?

He police man looked at me and I could tell
what he was about to tell me would be bad
news. I just didn’t know how bad it was going
to be.

Miss Ada, I’m very sorry to say this, but no
one survived. Everyone in that house got
killed by the fire, I am so sorry.

No he didn’t just say that, no my family are
not dead, they are alive and well. I won’t
believe a word he is saying, no they are not
dead. I looked at him nodded my head and
said, ok sir thank you I have heard what
you’ve said but I think you didn’t understand
my question so ill repeat myself, (I cleared my
throat once) then asked, where are my family,
I need to see them now.?

The police man placed his hand on my
shoulder and said, Ada I just told you no one
in that house survived the fire, I am sorry to
say this but your family is no more, do you
have anyone that we can call? Grandparents,
aunties, uncles, Cousins?

I shook my head in a No gesture. The police
man held me by the hand and led me to
another police man, at this time I was in
shock, couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, felt no
emotion, I just felt empty.

I heard a police man tell one of the
paramedics that he thinks I’m in shock,
seeing as I was not screaming or crying.

The paramedic came to me looked me over and
asked, Ada do you have anyone that we
should call? I shook my head once more in a
No gesture. The police man sighed turned
around and left me. I told him I had no one to
call because I really didn’t have anyone. Both
families of my parents didn’t agree to the
joining of their children, so my parents ran
away, got married and started a new life of
their own. Because of this my mother and my
fathers family deserted them, disowned them.
I have never met my grandparents and I am
22 years old, the oldest child.

I was in shock, I couldn’t believe they were all
gone, just like that. I didn’t cry then, I didn’t
cry when my best friend chi chi came and
picked me up and took me to her house, she
wanted to make sure I wouldn’t do anything
drastic and she wanted to comfort me.
But I cried at the funeral, because it was then it
dawned on me that they were really dead and
I would never ever see them again, I cried so
hard that I felt my chest contract it felt
painful to breathe, it felt painful to live, I tried
jumping into their graves so I could die with
them. Friends held me back; they took me to
chi chi’s house and sedated me. I left my
town which is in Abia and came here to
Lagos to start a new life.

One day, I was walking down the road looking
for any job vacancy when mr smiths car
stopped beside me, he asked me for
directions and I told him I didn’t really know
the city well, he didn’t leave instead he asked
me a bunch of questions trying to figure out
who I was and what I was doing, I told him i
was looking for a job, any job at all, I was a
bit desperate because I had been in that city
for 2 weeks without enough money to take
care of myself, I needed money asap.

Mr. smith looked at me for a bit and said,
Ada I have a job for you. It’s quite easy.

All you have to do is clean my house and cook
for me. That’s all.

I looked at him , thought about it and decided
it was the best for now, so I told him yes that
I will work for him. And that’s how my life
has been, losing my family, then meeting Mr
smith.

I looked at Fola, and noticed she was crying, I
gave her a broken smile, she really shouldn’t
cry for me . She isn’t suppose to cry for me.

Fola stop crying please. She nodded her head
but replied, Ada that is a very sad story, I’m
sorry for your loss I really am, you spoke as if
your family loved you and you loved them
too, that’s why it’s so sad.

I bowed my head and said, yes we both loved
each other, and it was because of my
selfishness that they are all dead, its all my
fault that they are dead.

I was surprised she would say a thing like
that. No Ada, don’t say that. Why would you
say that? none of it was your fault, stop
blaming yourself please, you went out to have
fun with your friends, you had no idea that
your house was going to burn down that
night, so please stop. Don’t blame yourself,
please ok?

Ada nodded her head and smiled. Ok Fola if
you say so. Then she smiled and it was a
really good smile, but still had some sadness
in it.

She told me to relax more in the tub that she
wants to wash my hair. I moved forward a bit
and placed my head on head of the tub, she
got a bathing bowl fetched water from the
tub and told me to sit up a bit, I did, then she
told me to bend my neck a bit to the back, I
did that too. Then she poured water on my
head and helped to wash my hair. Once she
was done she asked if I was ok or if i wanted
to stay some more in the tub . I told her I
was ok, the water was getting cold anyway.
She helped me get out of the tub, gave me
my towel and helped me towel off.

Then led me to the room and to the bed. I sat down
while she went to a wardrobe at the left side
of the room close to a window, opened it and
got out a really nice pygamas. They were
brown and had white stripes on it. She gave
me the pj’s to wear, and then sat down
beside me.

Once I was done putting on the pj’s she
looked at me and asked, Are you ready to
eat? Of course I said yes. She smiled then
said, good I’ll bring something for you to eat
then give you some medicine to stop the pain
in your leg.

I gave her a grateful smile and said, thank
you Ada, thank you.

She got up from the bed, turned to walk out
of the room, when she got to the door I
called, ‘’Ada,’’
She turned around to look at me, she didn’t
say anything, she just waited for me to speak.

I looked at her and said with complete
honesty, ‘’ you are not to blame for what
happened to your family, none of it was your
fault.’’

She smiled again but this time the smile
reached her eyes ,she looked a little teary
then she nodded her head just once and said,
let me get you your food, I will be right back.

Authors note: wow, this chapter has a lot to
say; Ada the maid opened up to Fola a
homeless girl someone she is older than in
years, not caring about her age she told Fola
about the tragedy that be fell her. Ada
blames herself for what happened to her
family but Fola is trying to convince her that
none of it was her fault.

Do you think Fola will be able truly convince
her?. Yes?, no? let me know what you think.

Some of us are like Ada, we are filled with
guilt, shame, pain and hopelessness, but let
me tell you this, God in heaven cares for you.

He doesn’t care about your past he just
wants you. Give all your pain, all your burden
and let him take care of, trust me you wont
regret it.