DAWN : A new beginning

DAWN : A new beginning

SADUWO BANYAWA

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A man is murdered. A girl is looking for clues. A cabal is after her. She falls for the enemy's son. Can she survive when all odds are against her? Find out.

DAWN : A new beginning Chapter 1 THE REVELATION

I am gradually realizing that my street seems to develop this strange stench over the years and this stink increases with time. The filth reflecting in the worn out clothes of the children aimlessly roaming the streets can choke one to death. From the famous Razzi beer parlor down the street to the GreenLand brothel adjacent my mother's bar, these places birth the disgusting stench of my environment and gradually it is becoming inhabitable. As I struggle to jump across piles of dirt littered all over, I could feel different hands and shoulders all over me.

Everyone is always in a hurry in a space so small. I quickly stretched my hand out to greet a fellow who stretched his hand out on a moving bike. We smiled at each other.

I got home at exactly 6:30pm and the last thing on my schedule is resting. I took out my shoes that were already soiled with water, dirt and oil. I raised the curtain of our one room apartment and I was greeted by an empty room. Again, my younger siblings failed to lock the door. They left the door unlocked three days back and yet again today. I was filled with rage and was determined to spank thier little butts when they return from thier ritual of daily evening plays. There were little thieves all over the neighborhood and even when one is fully conscious, he has to keep watch because the fine watch on your left wrist might be sold before you turn right and realised it is gone. You must keep your side bag in front of you else you will be left with a dangling rope and the bag disintegrated from the rope that holds it. You must be wise and of course patient to survive in our street.

As I gather the firewood in the kitchen towards cooking dinner, I kept memorizing how tommorow will be. It was evident I was gradually developing anxiety disorder for one issue after the other keeps racing through my mind. I will wake up tommorow by 5am, prepare breakfast for my younger siblings, dress them for school then clean the house and wash the dishes. My morning chores will end before 10am then I'll sleep for two hours before joining my mother at her bar. I will stay at the bar till 5 or sometimes 6pm while my mother rests at home and prepares lunch. Dr. Charles said my mother needs enough rest. Infact all diabetic patients do and so I take over her bar from 12 to 6pm then I return to fix dinner but if there is a leftover from lunch, it serves as dinner then I help my siblings with thier homework and put them to sleep before my mother closes for the day at 10pm.

Ever since my mothers condition worsened, I have missed out on lots of night events in the neighborhood lately. I even missed out the famous annual ghetto fiesta at Razi. Normally I would dash out at 10pm when she returns but since her last heart attack, I have traded night fun to keep watch over her. My mother had a heart attack last month. My younger siblings were sleeping like logs and my mother laid half dead panting like a cheetah amidst gun shots. I returned home from a party to pick a jacket after i got cold only to meet my mother at the mercy of death. This scenario altered my night life and I haven't attended a night party in the last one month. Even the nearest party.

There was no leftover from lunch so I am making dinner tonight. After cooking, I tidied the kitchen with so much frustration. Four households in my compound share the only kitchen. I was always tidying the kitchen and this act doesn't please me. We live in a flat with four rooms. In the first room is a bachelor who changes his girlfriends as often as he changes his bedsheets. Unknown to him, we call him "Uncle with many girls". He is a mechanic who is fond of getting in trouble with his customer's. He changes cars yet can't afford a bicycle. In the next room is Mummy Ajabo. She's a timid woman in her early thirties. She has only one child. A daughter Ajabo who is 4 years old. I always wonder how a nice woman as such ended up with a drunkard of a husband who consistently beats the hell out of her. I feel she's being weak and stupid while my mother says she's a real woman. We occupy the third room. My mom, my three younger siblings and I. We own a big bed which squeezes itself in the right corner of the room. A centre table with a television is placed by the left while bags containing our clothes are sucked under the wooden lift that supports our bed. Our foodstuffs perfectly fit in our cupboard alongside other utensils. My mother and my youngest brother sleep on the bed while my younger sisters aged 7 and 10 sleep on the mat with I. The last room in our compound is occupied by Mama Funke. An old widow with 3 unmarried daughters who barely sleep at home. They wear and parade with the most fashionable outfits yet they feed like the criminals in the prison as my mother will say. In my compound, we all share one toilet and bathroom just as we share one kitchen.

My siblings returned home at quarter past 7pm just when I had taken my bath. I have been noticing how they were beginning to stink lately. I could sense the stench in the neighborhood around them. I ordered them to take thier baths which they did after Osifa the oldest of them pulled buckets of water from the well nearby. I served them dinner. Boiled Yam and red oil which they ate together. They were sweating so they took off thier clothes. The girls had thier underwears on while Tami our four year old brother hurried to the bed with his bare buttocks. "Sister can I climb on the bed with Tami before mother returns"? beckoned Kiki my seven year old younger sister. "No " I replied without looking at her. Meanwhile, Tami was making faces at them and mocking them for sleeping on the floor while he enjoyed the comfort of the bed. They were pained. I could sense it. But who cares? Its just a bed. They should be pained about other grave misfortunes of ours not over a bed and Tami was silly to belittle them but he's just a child. "Stay put on that bed and sleep. " I yelled at him and he was calm immediately . My siblings were soon fast asleep and while Osifa stretched herself towards me, I could see her nipples protruding forth. It was evident she's approaching teenage hood.

I aimlessly roamed from one end of the bed to the other. Sleep evaded. I couldn't sleep especially not after the revelation I heard on my way back from my mother's bar today. I was determined to stay awake till 10pm when she returns. I was determined to confront her on why she never told me our father had return. At least I knew why he left but I wanted to know why he was seen in the neighborhood after four years. He left while Tami was a baby and today while returning from her bar, I could hear the women in green land brothel whispering "That's his first child. Am not sure whether she has seen him yet. " While I entered the compound, Mama Ajabo looked at me and her eyes were saying "Your father has returned " but she said "Where is your mother instead" and she knew my mother takes the night shift at her bar.

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DAWN : A new beginning DAWN : A new beginning SADUWO BANYAWA Romance
“A man is murdered. A girl is looking for clues. A cabal is after her. She falls for the enemy's son. Can she survive when all odds are against her? Find out.”
1

Chapter 1 THE REVELATION

04/12/2021

2

Chapter 2 AWAKENED

04/12/2021

3

Chapter 3 FAMILY

04/12/2021

4

Chapter 4 FINANCIAL GAP

04/12/2021

5

Chapter 5 A FALL

04/12/2021

6

Chapter 6 ROOM 127

09/12/2021

7

Chapter 7 SKELETONS IN MY CUPBOARD

09/12/2021

8

Chapter 8 A FALLOUT

09/12/2021

9

Chapter 9 A SECRET

09/12/2021

10

Chapter 10 MORE

10/12/2021

11

Chapter 11 A BROKEN FAMILY

10/12/2021

12

Chapter 12 AN INTERNAL DEMOLITION

11/12/2021

13

Chapter 13 A ROBBERY

11/12/2021

14

Chapter 14 THE NEW NEIGHBOR

12/12/2021

15

Chapter 15 FAMILY AT

12/12/2021

16

Chapter 16 AN ALLAIANCE

13/12/2021

17

Chapter 17 A LEAP OF FAITH

13/12/2021

18

Chapter 18 TRAGEDY

14/12/2021

19

Chapter 19 DETECTIVE FETTY

14/12/2021

20

Chapter 20 HAUNTED

16/12/2021

21

Chapter 21 A NEW CHAPTER

17/12/2021

22

Chapter 22 A CLUE

17/12/2021

23

Chapter 23 ANNUAL GHETTO FIESTA

18/12/2021

24

Chapter 24 PAIN

19/12/2021

25

Chapter 25 THE GENESIS OF MENTAL ILLNESS

19/12/2021

26

Chapter 26 POETRY

17/01/2022

27

Chapter 27 HEALING

11/02/2022

28

Chapter 28 A QUEST AHEAD

11/02/2022

29

Chapter 29 DEMOLITION CONSPIRACY

12/02/2022

30

Chapter 30 OSIFA IS GONE

13/02/2022

31

Chapter 31 FETTY CAN WRITE

16/02/2022

32

Chapter 32 PETER

17/02/2022

33

Chapter 33 A TRIPLE CORD

19/02/2022

34

Chapter 34 THE BEGINING OF THE END

19/02/2022

35

Chapter 35 SPARKS

22/02/2022

36

Chapter 36 THE TRUTH

22/02/2022

37

Chapter 37 FALLING FOR MR. ARROGANT

26/02/2022

38

Chapter 38 THE CABAL OF JUSTICE

26/02/2022

39

Chapter 39 COMPANIONSHIP

02/03/2022

40

Chapter 40 SEVENTEEN

02/03/2022