The End of Bisi, the Muse

BY: Osuolale Oluwatomilayo Esther

 

Tobi gazed down the stairs, her face set in the familiar, habitual expression.

She waited and waited for that usual beeping sound to bounce off the walls in its hurried urgency. But it didn’t come today. It didn’t sound. She couldn’t fathom why. Her little brain couldn’t make her see beyond what was there. The usual song her auntie played wasn’t playing. But why? The laughter bouncing off the walls just wasn’t there.

It all felt gloomy, so sad. The sound of a pin dropping would resonate at that moment. She remembers vividly the way her auntie walks. The skip in her step, her literal perfection. She remembers how long she has wished to be like her. To even look like her.

The story almost sounds like folklore yet she believed every last word that comes out of her mouth. She was so in love with her and obsessed as one would a god.

She watched her mother cry helplessly a week ago at the kitchen counter and she couldn’t comfort her. Or she wouldn’t. She had too much hate than a child should. She harboured her mother and detested her life. After all, her mother treated her like she was a burden to her. But she loved her auntie. Tobi admired her so much.

Her beautiful weave that fit her head perfectly. The heels she wore every time made her even taller. And those sophisticated dresses, oh they were something. It turned the heads of the men in the streets, at the supermart and everywhere else.

Everyone could see that Bisi, Tobi's aunt, was an exceptionally stunning woman with a rare and captivating beauty. Her smile, which revealed a world different from reality, exuded sophistication while remaining effortlessly carefree. She had the face you would love, inverted lips that make her face look like that of an African goddess. Her existence was ethereal, completely out of this world. Everybody thought she was different, but Tobi thought she was perfect. Tobi wanted to be like her. She craved to be like her.

Oh, just to possess an ounce of that grace, that aura!

But now, it’s been a week since Tobi has seen her. From the first day, her mother stood and cried, she knew something was wrong. She could feel the shift in the atmosphere. The tension! The sadness!

She knew it was so wrong if it could move her heartless mother to tears.

Tobi knew something was wrong with Auntie Bisi. Perhaps, she was in trouble like she was the other year. Or maybe she just got into a fight with her mother. Or maybe she just wouldn’t be coming to see her anymore. Or she hates her just as much as her mother does. Or did she die?

But this time, Bisi won’t be visiting anymore.

Bisi’s laughter won’t be heard anymore. Bisi, in all her glory, would become a distant memory. A name uttered in awe of who she was. In appreciation of what she has accomplished and of the life she led. Tobi realised this when she turned fifteen. Ten years from that day she stood, staring down the stairs.