And her name is FOLAKE

My name is Naomi and folake is my sister. Oh well, not by blood but you all do know what I mean . Folake ran away from home at a very young age . She had an abusive step father and a mother who didn't care about the only child God had blessed her with . Her step father was rich so he had enrolled her in one of the best schools in Benin but, while she enjoyed his wealth, it was a struggle every night .Whether he did this for fetish reasons no one knew ...

The first day I took notice of folake was in primary 5 and I was being bullied by Ese and her group. I heard someone hit the desk but I didn't pay attention to it cos the outcome of my life at that moment Depends on what Ese does next . Before I could make sense of whatever drama was going on folake landed a big slap on ese's face , leave her alone she had shouted. I fell in love with folake immediately as I felt this warmth in my heart .

Ese and her crew had been bullying me for months I think it had to do with the rival between our moms .

Her mom had been unseated as the chairperson from the PTA planning committee and, my mom taken her place. After auditing it was discovered that Ese's mom was tampering with funds . This must have been the foundation of my wuarelm with Ese. All my classmates watched as she bullied me .

There were days she would poor my lunch away and I had to stay hungry all day. Imagine what that meant for a pupil that closed 4:pm due to extra lessons in school. I saw the fear in Ese's eyes when folake slapped her, I was shocked too. I mean who wouldn't be, Ese was a big girl and could beat up every pupil in our class. I feared for Folake , but then I noticed Ese pull away and then I saw what she saw. Folake had a knife. It was a blunt knife used for eating but it good damage. From that day, Ese never touched me again and I gained a new friend. After so much efforts and cozying up to Folake, she finally accepted my offer of friendship and started to open up to me .we were 9 years old in primary 5 and that was when folake tried to explain to me what her step dad did to her. One could clearly see how difficult it was for her to say the words. I was young, but I understood clearly. Folake made me promise not telling anyone and I agreed although, I really wanted to tell my mom, I was certain she could help .

A strange number called me one Saturday morning we had just finished morning devotion and I was going back to sleep when my phone rang. Naomi I'm going to seize that phone my mom had shouted . Who do you know that is calling you by this time ? I quickly picked up wondering who it could be and, it was musa. Musa was the security man at Folakes house he passed the phone to her . She was crying bitterly and she said she needed my help . I couldn't make out was she was saying so I asked to talk to musa. "Start dae come our house she nor well" he said. In tears, I told my mom and we left the house tracing the address musa had sent. Eventually we got there and I saw Folake and blood was trickling down her legs ..

We didn't have a hard time locating folakes house but before we did musa had asked us not to hunk the horn or make any noise that we should call when we were close. When we got there the gate was opened, I rushed out of the car to meet up with folake and stopped in my track when I noticed the blood..

I heard my mom scream when she saw folake . You can trust my mom to be dramatic although, the scream was justified. My mom asked musa what had happened to her "wahallai madam I never see this kind thing before" he said. I already guessed what would have happened. "Na her papa do this thing oo" musa continued. You could see he was also in shock. "Talk about Wetin musa never see for gate" For some reason my mom was still lost. "They beat her or what" ? My mom asked her step father slept with her, I whispered. My mom covered her mouth, I knew she wondered how I knew what "slept with" meant. She had not had the talk with me but with this revelation it was happening soon. Without saying another word my mom carried Folake like she was a baby and put her in the car . She went straight to our family doctor who confirmed she had been raped. Folake was properly treated after a few hours we headed home. They were about 4 vacant rooms in my house but I begged my parents to allow I and folake stay together. It was not until 8:pm we received a call from musa. He said folake's step dad was looking for her. This is a child that had been taking since 7:00am it's now they noticed. My mom asked him to send Folakes moms number to tell her she was with us.

The next day was Sunday, I had not slept much the previous night ,Folake had nightmares which she disclosed she had been having for awhile . I guess her ordeal orchestrated the nightmares. We had just come back from church when the door bell Rang, it was Folakes mom. She was really beautiful and didn't look like she had been quiet bothered from Folakes disappearance . Folake and I went to the kitchen to give our moms some privacy but we stay at the door so we could hear what they were discussing. My mom informed Folakes mom of the situation and she didn't look so shocked which implied that she was not the dark . She seemed more concerned about my mom keeping it a secret, this irritated my mom provoking her to send folakes mom out of the house . She agreed on leaving but insisted on taking folake with her. My mom got furious and threatened to expose her and her husband if they dared it. At that point folake who I had been holding back for free from my grip and badged into the mini situation. Then folake said " I became an orphan the day my father died, if you force me to return I'll kill myself

Ahhhh! My mom screamed, those words were to serious to come out of a child's mouth , but even I knew she had been through a lot. As folake walked to our room, I noticed a tear that her mother struggled to hide . So folakes mom had feeling after all........

Folake's mom left our house without saying a word. My mom found out about folake's night mares and we prayed about it often. She also got folake to see a therapist and this really helped her .

After my mum had me she has been having a difficult time having another child, when folake started to stay with us it was as if God had answered her prayer and blessed her with another child I think it is safe for me to say my mom loved folake more than she loved me.

My parents loved folake and I loved her too there were times when we quarelled you know how common disagreements can be among siblings. My parents often took turns supporting us, if my dad supported me today you can be sure he would support folake Tommorrow . Folake and I shared everything including clothes . My parents never bought separate cloths for us we were the same size so my parents made everything was bought in even numbers folake could wear a dress today and you would see me in same dress the next day. The only different thing was our surnames . We had brought the subject of changing folake's surname to ours because folake wanted to bear our surname to make our sisterhood very real, mum actually considered it but decided against it after a discussion with dad. My parents had a long discussion with folake and I where they tried to explain their decision in the topic . They felt it was proper to honor her late fathers memory and keep his name. My parents said folake would appreciate this more when she's older. As they spoke to us, mu mom carried folake on her legs while my dad ushered me to sit on his legs so we could feel more comfortable and understand they were doing this out of love .

It was one month later Folake's mom came visiting ; she bought a few things which folake rejected . Mummy had told folake to go get some drinks for her mom from the kitchen , folake called out; mummy how many drinks should I bring ? I noticed as folake's mum flinched at the sound of that . I'm sure mummy noticed too because she stood up and went to the kitchen . Mummy told folake that she loved her like her own , but as a mother, she understood what it would feel like if folake and I turned on her and started calling another woman mummy in her presence . Knowing folake and how stubborn she could be, mummy begged her to please not address her directly until her mother left on hearing this I chuckled a little knowing folake has a mind of her own .

Although folake rejected the things are mother brought mummy collected them and handed them over to me. We didn't see folakes again until our graduation from primary school.

She had come with Folake's step dad who didn't stay up to five minutes before he left. It was time for presentation of gifts. Parents were asked to take pictures with their wards as they collected their gifts. When Folake was called to collect her gift for being the best in mathematics, they also called for her parents to take pictures with her but you know folake has coconut head .

Mummy was reluctant to stand up because Folake's biological mother was present. But trust folake not to be slightly bothered by the situation. Folake cheerfully ran and pulled mummy on to the stage : at this point, folake's mom was also walking towards the stage, it was about to go down, I thought thankfully everyone including the moderator was matured enough to handle this . No one seemed to ask why folake had two moms. Yes they both stood as her parents . Pupils whispered but, what did it matter since this was our last day in school.

We wrote common entrance into two very good schools in Nigeria,while folake gained admission into both of the schools I gained admission into only 1 school. The second school was the one we both dreamt of but only folake got in and she refused to attend because I wasn't going with her so we ended up going to the school I got admission in .out of courtesy, mummy informed folake's mom of their decision to enroll her in secondary school but she didn't get any response. We then went ahead to do some shopping for school. One day I overheard mummy and daddy talking about how legal their actions were they could be sued for taking a child away from her parents, daddy said . Mummy addressed Daddy's concerns by telling him that, she didn't think folake's mom would dare it because the scandal attached to the case .