Ashiley bounced as her car continuously bumped into potholes. It hurt less because her marriage was bumpier and had proven to be riskier in the past five years. Usually, whenever she drove on this particular road, her pace was slower than a tortoise. But today was different. Hadn’t it been for the fact that she had no wings, she would have opted to fly instead.
The shrill of her mother, Mamle, was so piercing that she jolted awake from her thoughts and swerved to the right side of the road, dodging the oncoming tipper truck. She screeched to a halt and Mamle’s head bumped into the back of her seat.
“ Ah ah, do you want us to have four deaths in just one day?” Mamle asked.
“Mom, we are not dead, neither is he.”
Ashiley turned to the backseat and smiled at Shika, her three-year-old daughter who was clasped in Mamle’s arms.
“I’m so sorry sweetie, I promise it won’t happen again,” Aryele apologized.
Shika only stared at her with her big eyes and clung to Mamle. Ashiley could see the terror in her eyes and felt guilty for putting her in such a situation. She started the engine again and forced her attention to the road. The two people in the backseat were the only ones she had, and she wasn’t going to risk their lives for someone who never cared about her.

The emergency unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital was one she never thought she would visit. The open sores, bandaged heads and noticeable pules greeted her. She slowed her gait when she spotted his bed. The phone conversation she had with the stranger echoed in her mind, “Your husband has been hit by a truck and has been rushed to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.”
His entire body was wrapped in a bandage and Ashiley could barely recognize him.
“Nii,” she whispered his name, and he slowly turned to his side, facing her. Ashiley’s slender fingers caressed his bandage and though she wished she could cry, her brown eyes remained dry and only saw memories of the times she begged for his mercy. Nii tried to speak, but Ashiley stopped him and assured him he could do that later. He painfully shook his head and muttered some words. She drew her ear closer to his lips and his deep breaths gushed into it.
“I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you. Please for…” Nii’s feeble voice trailed off and his body stopped moving. Even before the doctor broke the news after examining him, Ashiley knew Nii had left—never to return. She noticed how the doctor and nurses stared at her in surprise, and remembered she wasn’t crying like a typical wife would, after hearing about the death of her husband. She threw herself on the floor and began to wail, drawing everyone’s attention including the patients who were on the verge of death. It reminded them of their ordeal, and a patient who had lost so much blood from an accident, began to cry ahead of her own possible death.
The nurses helped Ashiley to her feet, and she wrapped her arms around their shoulders. The doctor asked for the contact of any other relative, and she gave him the contact of Nii’s younger brother, Armah. She was told by the doctor that she couldn’t remain in the hospital in such a traumatized state, and was advised to go home. When Ashiley returned to the car and informed Mamle about Nii’s death, a loud silence visited them, and it remained so till they got home.

As one of the wealthiest men in Accra, the news about Nii’s death swept the entire city and soon, family, friends, business partners and beneficiaries of his charity organisation, flooded the house. Ashiley wasn’t given time to think. Everything happened so fast that she got overwhelmed and Mamle was forced to bear the burden of welcoming their guests. Nii’s mother, Ayorkor, whom Ashiley barely saw, abandoned all the seats in the living room and chose a spot on the floor, where she rolled from one end to the other, wailing and mentioning her son’s name. The people who tried consoling her soon became exhausted and left her to her fate. While people cried and spoke about how Nii was a blessing to them, Ayorkor cursed the “witches” who killed her son. After everyone left, Ashiley was able to breathe again. Her exhaustion weighed her so much that she barely managed to get to her room. She slammed into the sofa in which she slept for the past two months, after she caught Nii in bed with his fifth mistress. She slept peacefully for the first time in four years. She had no nightmares, and she didn’t have to wake up intermittently to make sure her pocket knife was safe.

To be continued…

© Nasreen Zankawah,2025