Tise

Happy new month to you all! Can’t believe it’s already the last month of the year and the countdown to the new year has begun. God sparing our lives, we will enter the new year safe and sound. We have a short story to share written by Doyinsola Adedipe. Please share and comment. This story doesn’t have any sequel so enjoy it while you can.

TISE (Pronounced tee-shay)

It was almost midnight. 5 minutes to midnight to be precise. She sat up and looked at side to see her husband sleeping peacefully but she couldn’t sleep well. For the past two weeks, she had been waking up 5 minutes to midnight and she wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. She would wake up with this dreadful feeling that something terrible was about to happen. Then she would check her husband and her three children. She wasn’t very superstitious but she knew if she told her mum, her mum would tell her to start fasting and praying or see a pastor. She didn’t even want to add her mother’s worries to her own right now. The firm was giving her enough trouble already. It was just coincidence; after all they were in Atlanta. The juju from Nigeria couldn’t come that far.

After checking the kids, she went to the dining and tried to get some work done. She had a serious court case tomorrow and she couldn’t afford to lose as an aspiring senior partner in the biggest law firm in Atlanta . Tise had always been black and proud and she knew she was very beautiful but Her color and sex had not made it easy for her to become a junior partner so she had to burn the midnight candle and work extra than any normal person . Tise moved to the United States when she was 18. Her dad just got a huge job in Georgia so she decided to go with him. Her mother stayed behind because of her fear of planes but she could remember her father travelling every holiday to see her mother. She always wished for a love like her parents own and she got it when she married Rafael (Her law school bestie). She had to write a couple of exams before she got into Georgia state university to study risk management and insurance. It was quite expensive but her dad could afford it since she was the only child. After obtaining her bachelor’s degree, she took the LSATs and got into the Georgia state university college of law. She had to work and study extra hard to get great grades. After law school, she got poached by King and Spalding law firm, the biggest law firm in Atlanta and she was happy her hard work paid off. Her mother hadn’t supported her marriage to Rafael it because he was “an oyinbo man” but her dad was overjoyed as he knew Rafael very well. She had twins:Alexis and Louis the next year and about 6 years after, she had her last child, keira. Money had never been a problem to her, her husband owned his own law firm which was also huge but not as big as where she worked. She decided to hire a nanny and a housekeeper because she couldn’t keep up with being a very dedicated mother and very dedicated lawyer. In the last month, her mother came to Atlanta for the first time and decided she would stay for a while. The kids were happy to have their grandmother around and she was finally getting comfortable with Rafael (she had no choice actually).

“Mummy” she looked up from the files she was reading to see her 4 year old daughter. “Keira, are you okay?” she stood up to meet her. “I can’t sleep” the toddler said. Tise carried her to the kitchen and put her on the counter. “I can’t sleep too sweetie, maybe we should take some hot chocolate and watch cartoons” Keira beamed with joy showing her missing front teeth. As she prepared the hot chocolate, her stomach started turning in a familiar way and she had to hold on to the counter so she wouldn’t fall. “Mummy, are you alright?” she suddenly remembered the last time she felt this way, it was when her Aunty had an accident. “i-I’m fine” she whispered but she knew she was far from fine. She dropped the cup of chocolate in the sink and carried keira upstairs. She went to check on her twins again with keira. This time they were awake and Alexis looked scared. “Mummy, I had a nightmare” she was almost crying. “We need to check on dad” she said as they all ran to the master bedroom. Tise started reciting psalm 23 as she ran to the room. The Nigerian blood in her activated itself and she started praying. She opened the door to see her husband still lying down. “Ralph!” He didn’t answer. “Ralph!” she called again as she was shaking him but he wasn’t waking up. “Ralph please wake up” the tears were pouring as she shouted at Louis to call 911. She ran to the bathroom to get a bowl of water. She poured it on his face and he still didn’t wake up. “Rafael please in the name of Jesus wake up” she screamed. “Alexis, call Grandma and Grandpa” keira stood by the bed and was just calling her father’s name.

As soon the ambulance arrived, she jumped into the ambulance. Her parents had already arrived and she told them to watch the kids. She held her husband’s hand praying loud to God to save him.