Tales

This isn't exactly your typical normal story. If you're averse to weird, then it isn't for you. This is me trying something a little different from what I'm used to. Do enjoy.

With Ife, no words were needed. We let our lips and fingers do the talking. Home was what it was.

The day we first tried it, I had just finished eating and as usual, sneaked out to my friend's house in only my panties. It was a Saturday. I turned eight the day before and Mama bought me a gown. It was a soft silk material decorated with flowers. I never liked too many colours and flowers made me sneeze but I loved it. Maybe because it was my first birthday gift. Normally, each year, Mama would coo about how fast I was growing, so I was surprised when I came home after school and she handed the dress to me. She hugged me too. That had never happened before.

Ife was waiting for me when I got there. We usually began with hide and seek before moving on to playing soccer with pieces of stones and bottle covers. But that day, Ife had a different game in mind.

“There was a game I saw on the TV,” she had whispered.

“Which station,” I asked.

“My brother came home with it,” she shrugged.

My eyes widened. She saw my expression and nodded. We were never allowed to watch films on the video machine, only cartoons and the local news channel. I wanted to ask her how she did it but decided against it. I already felt the excitement of a new game. She took my right hand and dragged me to the front of the house.

Ife’s house was huge and round. The only place we get to have some privacy was in front. It was there we did our school homework. I was a little confused when I saw she was leading me there but I said nothing. She motioned under the long benches lined up at the veranda. They were reserved for visitors. I crawled under one and stretched. The floor was matted by dust and I knew my buttocks were dirty. Mama wouldn’t be happy when she washed my panties.

“Close your eyes,” she said.

I inhaled her breath mixed with stale onion as she climb in beside me. I wrinkled my nose and waited for the game to begin. I felt her fingers on my lap. My eyes flew open. I wanted to laugh and slap her hand off but her eyes were closed and her mouth half open. I stopped and looked down. I watched her middle finger trace the hem of my panties before prying it open. We were both breathing hard.

After that day, something changed. The air was never the same when we were near each other. I never understood what it was and I didn’t ask. I knew she wouldn’t know either. We formed a strange bond that we both wouldn’t understand till we were older. We snuck out every week and played our little game.

At home, Mama hugged me more. Sometimes, she looked at me like she wanted to say something but would sigh and shake her head before looking away. I wanted to tell her about the game. I wished I could but Mama didn’t talk to me much. I wasn’t sure she would understand. She had always been quiet and it got worse after Papa died.

Shortly after I turned twelve, Aunt Uju came and took me with her to Port Harcourt. Mama broke the news to me on a Tuesday. When I told Ife, she was very quiet. We didn’t play the game for the rest of the week.

Aunt Uju’s house was very different from ours. Here, everyone was loud. The took things without permission and said things the way they wanted except for Chinedu, the youngest. He was about my age. I was enrolled into the same school as him but he still didn’t say a word to me for two years. Not even after that day.

It had happened in the evening, a year after I came. Chinedu and I were always the first to come home. His dad’s car was parked besides the flowers in front of the house. He ran in with a smile on his face. I shrugged. He loved his dad. It reminded me of Mama. When I came in, he was gone. The dad took my right hand and propelled me to his room without a word. I wanted to ask what he was doing but I didn’t. The day before, he had let us watch a movie on the video machine. He had sent Chinedu out just before the scene. He didn’t tell me to close my eyes like Ife’s mum always did with us. Not that it stopped us from knowing what usually happened anyway. I noticed he was watching me but I kept my eyes glued to the TV. For the first time in my life, I was nervous.

The nervousness was back when he quietly closed the door and pointed to the huge bed in the middle of the room. While he did what he wanted with my body, I was thinking of Ife. I wondered how I would explain this new game to her. If she would be happy or sad. Chinedu wouldn’t look at me after that. Not that he really looked at me before but he grew more distant. I knew he saw.

By the time I wrote my SSCE exams and got admission into the university, I perfectly understood what was going on. I even tried it with some of the boys in school but there was always something missing. I never recognised what it was, not immediately. That made me try harder during my first three years.

It wasn’t until I graduated and was taking a stroll on a cool evening that it came to me, vividly this time. I always liked looking at girls and I blushed when they looked back. I would ignored the warm feeling when a girl touched my hair. But this day was different. I was standing, hands in the pocket of my jacket, staring at the little ice-cream shop across the street, wondering whether or not to go in for a cup when she approached. I was so engrossed with my thoughts that I didn’t notice her till she stopped in front of me. I turned and couldn’t look away. We stared at each other for what seemed like forever. I didn’t moved when she traced my hairline down to my cheeks with her index finger. I was still transfixed when she reached into her bag and brought out a card.

“Call me,” she whispered and slipped it into my pocket.

After one night with her, I knew I had found what I was looking for. Difference was, I didn’t want it, not with her. There was only one person I wanted. That moment, I realised it was time to go home.

Tell me your thoughts.

_{Image Source}