Tag Archives: Dear Diary 3

DEAR DIARY 1  HERE

DEAR DIARY 2 HERE 

BURY TRUTH _ BURY OXYGEN

Mel’s funeral had pretty much happened in the snappiest way possible. Her mother and family members made it clear that as a defining practice in their culture, dying from suicide and being pregnant were the last state of the human form that were never viewed or laid in state. The reasoning simply stated that the evil of the act had to be cleansed and really quick too so that the family involved will not be haunted by the demons which drove the act to happen in the first place or give room for them to still loiter around possessing other potential family souls. Most families who had not adhered to the rules were sometimes considered pariahs and ascetic in the community.

As much as Catherine and Dinah wanted to spend more time with the remains of their best friend and sister, her family had made the ultimate decision as soon as the body landed at the National Airport. Her remains were taken directly to their village for burial and the ceremony was held later that day at their family residence in Douala. It felt very unreal and unbelievable that her body never got to their residence – a place she grew up in and called home.

To Dinah, the emptiness was devastating like an endless abyss of pain, but who were they to make any remarks contrary to what the family had agreed, Dinah sat at the reception in Mel’s home looking through childhood memorabilia’s including pictures , there was a hush hush-ness about the atmosphere, the mourning seemed to have dissipated and was replaced by some sort of unspoken silence almost mystical  like some evil still lingered there – that just drove chills through her bones.

The Beynang’s were there, from Dinah’s family, Candice and their mother were present, Desmond their mother’s long time driver who was like the uncle that never departed from their mother’s side was there to support. It was such a huge relief having him there and every other familiar face with reassuring words of consolation.

The part that completely disintegrated Dinah and thawed her emotions was the unplanned presence of Tate, who she fondly called Tata, an accolade for a respectful male of the family. They had pretty much grown up together and went to same primary and secondary school – he was the brother and son Mrs Beynang never had. He gave Dinah the biggest most consoling hug ever, for the first time that day she had cried on his shoulder like a baby, Mel was truly never coming back and to this day, she knew nothing about the pain that had driven her to her death and how she could have helped her as a friend.

Tate’s arms were strong enough to hold a crying Dinah, but his raspy baritone voice did nothing to console her, instead it awakened a weakness in her that just made her breakdown, not sure whether it was for Mel or for the fact that she had missed him for so many months and odd years.

(more…)

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