Ladies and Gents,

Welcome to The Great Purge. Here, those who have been blessed with the pen shall purge innermost hurts, joys, whatever… and make it into a story.

The purges you will read are a mixture of fact with fiction. Have fun figuring out which is fact and which is fiction.

And please, no intellectual theft!! All rights are reserved. send a mail to loonpurge@gmail.com if you are interested in purging, I’ll be honored.

Being the host of this challenge it begins with my purge.

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Heaven’s Tears

I sat outside the pitch black gate of our Bungalow, watching cars drive by. I counted the cars, classifying them according to their colors.

Deep down in my heart, I knew I should be inside the house attending to my mum but knowledge and actions are not synonyms.  I desired not only a new scene but also a new life; maybe.

I was hoping some time outside might drive the wind to blow strong enough that like smoke on a breeze, it would separate my troubles from me.

Watching the cars began to bore my troubled soul so I turned my eyes to the sand beneath my feet, I watched the wind sweep dirt off the floor.

“dear wind, how about you sweep dirt off my life. Then you can blow around feeling fulfilled” I soliloquized.

“Aunty Sarah” My seven year old nephew called as he ran out from the house screaming like a bad radio from.  If I did not know him better, the pitch of his voice would have deceived me into thinking he was being chased by a vampire bat.

“Yes” I answered him, without lifting my gaze off the ground

“Grandma is calling you”

“Okay.” I answered without moving, he stood waiting for me.

I jumped out of my pathetic state like I had just witnessed an electric shock.

“Race you to the house” I screamed putting my feet into a run. Amidst the run, I secretly hoped I was leaving the troubles behind.

However, once I got into the house, I realized the wind hadn’t needed much of a fulfillment after all.

I walked into my mum’s room which she shared with my dad before he was shipped off to jail over some ill accusations.

“Where were you? My mum asked

“Outside” I replied with clenched teeth

“Okay. Can you get me something to wear please?”

“Yes ma” I said making my way to her closet. I stuck my head in it and prayed when I pulled it out things would be different. Who was I kidding? My troubles were right there like a remissive cancer rearing its ferocious head, they refused to go. I felt like I was standing at the edge of a cliff

‘Why do you run from me?’ my mum asked.

Her question threw me off the cliff, I landed on my back; pain roaming in my heart.  I got myself together. I got my head out of her closet

‘I’m not running from you mum.’ I said without conviction.

Then the tears slipped from my eyes, rolling down my cheeks like stones from a rocky mountain. I knew she couldn’t see that I was crying and that broke my heart all the way.

I wish I could do everything right, but if wishes were horses.

I turned and smiled amidst my tears at her but she couldn’t see the smile either. My two year old niece ran in saying

‘Grandma’

‘Yes’ she answered trying to use her hands and intellect to locate her. I picked her up, dropped her on my mum’s lap.

‘I’ll be back mum.’ I said and ran to the bathroom to weep my heart out.

I cry because I don’t know if my mum remembers what I look like. I don’t think she knows that my seven year old nephew has beautiful eyes like a lady; that my niece is as fair as the insides of a papaya.

And as much as she thinks I avoid her, its because I cant take the hurt of seeing her so helpless and at the mercy of her sight.

I wiped my eyes and opened up the bathroom door. My big sister and her pale skin were there waiting for me, her eyes had no sparkles

‘What’s up?’ I asked her

‘We can’t find James.’

‘What do you mean you can’t find James?’ James was like my best friend and family friend. He helped a lot in the house and my mum depended on him a lot for her movement. My sister telling me he was suddenly missing sounded like a sick joke.

‘We haven’t seen him since yesterday. When last did you talk to him?’ she asked

‘Well I saw him yesterday morning.’

‘Did he tell you he was going anywhere?’

‘Nope. But maybe he has left us. You know… for a better life. Not everybody can deal with so much dependency. We depended on him too much.”

Then I walked away. That is what I do; I hate to show my emotions to people. I like to be seen more as Great Wall of China than as a person. Reasons why, I do not know.

‘Sarah’ my sister called me. After me

I stopped and turned to her. I couldn’t believe how dark her skin had become, she who was once called aponbepore (as fair as palm oil). Her fair and flawless skin was now so dark it could be compared with burnt boli, this made my heart weep and my eyes water.

“Were you crying?” she asked.

I shook my head and walked away. Not only was I trying to deal with a blind mother, an incarcerated father, a sister and her financial situation, now a friend who was a backbone disappeared caring less if his actions triggered a stroke.

I felt like I was in those silly games where your friends pulled out the chair before you placed your butt on it and then you landed on the floor. The difference is that those games ended with laughter or some sort of cheer.

I went back outside; my nephew trailed behind me like a puppy. We both sat in silence, him with his seven year old thoughts and me with mine. Then there was a thunder so loud it was like the voice of God. Maybe God saying

‘It would be alright.’

Soon, tear drops began to fall from heaven’s eyes.

“Heaven is crying” my nephew said to me… I smiled.

“These tears that fall from heaven could be falling for us” I told him.

By Oluwaseyi.

Oluwaseyi a writer with multiple personalities. Sometimes she is a loon,  at other times a freak. She is a wild nerd, who loves to shimmy and dance in the circle with Ted Dekker. However she is just a girl. Her first novel is in the oven. On twitter she is @sunkit1