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2024-10-29 19:42:56JEWELL | Then
The second time I see her, she is standing on the Boundary Road, near the N4 signboard, about to cross the road. I think she's about to because she's awfully near the asphalt, the tip of her flats peek over the sidewalk but she doesn't make a move. The red traffic light replaces the green hue in a heartbeat, halting the incoming vehicles. People brush past her to walk on the zebra crossing, but she stays rooted to her spot.
The woman is dressed in a light faded blue jeans with splashes of what I assume to be a creamy white paint on the front. The jeans are ripped in a way that tells me it was a DIY project, that, and the frayed edges at the soles. It clings to her skin and makes the lines of her thighs more prominent and unfortunately, so does the V-shape of her pelvis. I wonder if she notices.
I look around me, thinking that if someone near her takes notice, they should tell her. No one does because
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Traces of Eve Chapter 9
EVE | Then Fear is the treacherous thing that tips the scales representing our minds out of balance. One moment it's up and the next, it is down. Up. Down. Up. Down. It was the reason my warped up brain conjured nightmares with different alternative endings of that night. Versions of scenarios that if Mama and I had ventured into our house to investigate further, we could have died. I'll spare you the gory details. Fear made me wake up drenched in sweat, limbs shivering not from the cold weather but with it, sweet and unwanted fear, so I told the tale every terrified child would tell their mothers. "No, Eve, I can't allow you to skip school, not even after what happened last night. But let this soothe your mind—you're safer at school than in this neighbourhood." I knew she was probably right, but I couldn't help wondering. My safest moment was when Mama walked me up to a taxi rank and bargain
Traces of Eve Chapter 10
ALICE | Then Eve's birthday I dreamt a dreadful dream that day, the kind that left me coated in precipitation, choked my throat with unbridled quiet sobs. Eve was there. It was like déjà vu when I met her a second time for lunch later that afternoon. My vision was impaired by darkness as black as the inside of a coffin. It felt barren like it did seven years ago and then there was the cold that bit into my skin, numbing it to the point that it was unfathomable how I survived that night. There was a power cut in my dream, an exact mimic of what transpired. Fingers curled around my shoulder blades, sending pin prickles of goosebumps running down my skin. It took long before Eve's face morphed into view, but it was pitch black. I jerked away from her. I didn't like it when Eve touched me solely because she didn't know which part of my flesh didn't sting with pain. "Really,
Traces of Eve Chapter 11
JEWELL | Now Two weeks after Eve's funeral My head hurts. It's the first thing I take notice of when I come to. There is a sharp ringing in my head, it throbs with a vengeance I know all too well. I should stop starving myself. The cool wind sends a shiver down my spine, causing me to huddle deeper into the thick blue blanket covering me. My fingers skim over my abdomen thinking of finding it bare because I discarded the blood coated shirt earlier, however, they come into contact with a thick material. I peek under the cover to see a hoodie. It's white. A colour so pure even my soul could tarnish it. "Here, take this." I look up from my space on the dark brown sleek couch to see Ms Riley hovering over me with a small plate in her hand. Two white pills wait for me on its surface. "The Advil will take care of your headache, and here are some beignets I made yesterday for the boys. You can
Traces of Eve Chapter 12
ANNA | ThenI met him on the street. It was lonely, almost sequestered, the kind no one wants to drive on, but there I was, standing akimbo beside my broken-down car looking on at the rising, swirling vapour emanating out of the engine.The day was warm, bittersweet but lovely in a way that I could've spent it by using the little time I had to sketch, but I was stuck on a long curvy isolated road with a car that wouldn't start and a low battery phone. It was all Raisa's fault, being my stepmother did not give her the right to coerce me into going to her son's university graduation. The thought of her getting away with it rubbed me the wrong way, but I would do anything for my dad even if it meant putting up with his stepson's perverse looks throughout the ceremony. I got out as fast as I could once the robes were thrown down and a throng of people descended on the proud graduates.After all my fake enthusiastic chi
Traces of Eve Chapter 13
EVE | ThenPaul was everywhere.I saw him outside the gates of my school, on our living room couch, beside Mama in the kitchen, stirring idly at chopped vegetables sizzling in a frying pan while she poured wine for them. He went on dates with Mama. She didn't need to confide in me, I could tell I was twelve, not blind.There were changes to her I couldn't comprehend. The physical changes were hard to ignore; the new clothes, clean and straight, iron pressed each day. She looked nicer in her nursing uniform than ever before. She spent more time at Daawo's salon, coming home for a brisk lunch with hot pink rollers tucked in her hair. The bathroom even changed, a coconut milk and jasmine petals shower gel sat in a brown wooden basket, an oval-shaped stone for rubbing under her feet came along with the package, lots of scented perfumes and it was the first time I saw a facial wash on t
Traces of Eve Chapter 14
ALICE | Now"Where's Alice?" I hear my uncle ask Tala when she steps through the front door and embraces him.It's dark outside, the bluish hue of the sky tell me it's probably past seven already. We hadn't anticipated the drive from school to be this long, but there aren't any short cuts from school to Golden Gate Estate. I grab ahold of my duffel bag and suitcase. As I walk towards them from the car, I'm greeted by the funky scent of curry from the kitchen, the words from the news playing from the living room TV invade my head.On the news: recorded rainfall in Accra which strikes me as odd because we are still in the dry season even though the cold winds are receding gradually back to the Sahara desert. It won't surprise me to see that there will be only crowded clouds insight and not a hint of rainfall but then again, what do I know?A collection of dust-covered shoes rests against th
Traces of Eve Chapter 15
JEWELL | ThenI can't help but think of the woman for reasons I can't decipher. I blame it on my insomnia, having not slept a wink the night before, and there's nothing interesting to think about. The weather is dreary and I hate how the wind carries dust around, hitting me square in the eye as I make my way to my room. I ignore a couple huddled in the shadows not far from where I'm walking. They cling to each other, making noises that disrupt the cool, solemn evening, and I know for a fact that they are under the impression that no one can see.When I enter the room, a pool of darkness greets me and I quickly flip on the switch and instantly, I can see well again. I throw my messenger bag on the bed along with my car keys and set the grocery bag from the Night Market on the low-lying counter. I open the curtains on my high window to allow cooler breeze in because the room is stuffy. Moving to the kitchen, I settle into a comfortable silence
Traces of Eve Chapter 16
ANNA | ThenI stayed away the night after Eve met James. I was filled with anger and self-loathing.It just goes as well to say that I couldn't stand being in the same room with Eve though it wasn't her fault that she had no clue he was mine before she met him at Will and Ella's party.I waited two nights for him to call me only for me to remember that we hadn't exchanged numbers. A little internet surfing disappointed me as well, there were so many James in the world. About a million in Ghana, so many more in the US and UK combined. Although it annoyed me, I kept pondering over every single detail Eve narrated to me about their meet-cute.She was talking to Will when it happened. When she moved across from him to grab a drink from the bar and met him. They collided, she said. His martini seeped into her white blouse, the one I got from Primark, another gift from me to her. While te
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- Traces of Eve
Chapter 18
Alice | Now The next day it rains, taking me by surprise. The rain droplets stain my bedroom window. The gutters are nearly flooded to the brim and from a distance, it runs through pleats in the low-lying streets, accumulating at the sides of the pavement so that when you stepped out of the house, your shoes get drenched. Desmond complained about it. He said it was raining cats and dogs and it was going to be difficult getting to the car in the downpour, making us late for the service. In my view, it is a gloomy day to go to a funeral-a day we bury Eve. The same day two other people are going to be put six feet under. When my aunt and uncle sat both Melly and I down after dinner to explain what happened, I got to know that it wasn't just Eve who died. Unexpectedly, both James and Annabel were gone too. Even though I never particularly liked my sister's best friend, I couldn't help
- Traces of Eve
Chapter 17
Eve| ThenI was sitting in Doris's dainty candy shop when she first spoke to me about sex.It was inspired by her new tenants, a young couple from a slum settlement, Nima just on the outskirts of the community. She claimed they lied about their ages, twenty and twenty-three years old respectively but they looked anything but. I got a good look at them for myself and agreed with her that they did look younger, teens perhaps.I couldn't help but feel sympathy for her because it wasn't easy waking up early at the crack of dawn to sell but I was on edge. I had just come back from school exhausted, my legs were sore and weakened and I should have never greeted her, to begin with. She told me to stay away from boys, that they were bad news and sex wasn't for me at my age. I don't know why I let her talk because I did know what sex was. I was young, like thirteen going on four
- Traces of Eve
Chapter 16
ANNA | ThenI stayed away the night after Eve met James. I was filled with anger and self-loathing.It just goes as well to say that I couldn't stand being in the same room with Eve though it wasn't her fault that she had no clue he was mine before she met him at Will and Ella's party.I waited two nights for him to call me only for me to remember that we hadn't exchanged numbers. A little internet surfing disappointed me as well, there were so many James in the world. About a million in Ghana, so many more in the US and UK combined. Although it annoyed me, I kept pondering over every single detail Eve narrated to me about their meet-cute.She was talking to Will when it happened. When she moved across from him to grab a drink from the bar and met him. They collided, she said. His martini seeped into her white blouse, the one I got from Primark, another gift from me to her. While te
- Traces of Eve
Chapter 15
JEWELL | ThenI can't help but think of the woman for reasons I can't decipher. I blame it on my insomnia, having not slept a wink the night before, and there's nothing interesting to think about. The weather is dreary and I hate how the wind carries dust around, hitting me square in the eye as I make my way to my room. I ignore a couple huddled in the shadows not far from where I'm walking. They cling to each other, making noises that disrupt the cool, solemn evening, and I know for a fact that they are under the impression that no one can see.When I enter the room, a pool of darkness greets me and I quickly flip on the switch and instantly, I can see well again. I throw my messenger bag on the bed along with my car keys and set the grocery bag from the Night Market on the low-lying counter. I open the curtains on my high window to allow cooler breeze in because the room is stuffy. Moving to the kitchen, I settle into a comfortable silence
- Traces of Eve
Chapter 14
ALICE | Now"Where's Alice?" I hear my uncle ask Tala when she steps through the front door and embraces him.It's dark outside, the bluish hue of the sky tell me it's probably past seven already. We hadn't anticipated the drive from school to be this long, but there aren't any short cuts from school to Golden Gate Estate. I grab ahold of my duffel bag and suitcase. As I walk towards them from the car, I'm greeted by the funky scent of curry from the kitchen, the words from the news playing from the living room TV invade my head.On the news: recorded rainfall in Accra which strikes me as odd because we are still in the dry season even though the cold winds are receding gradually back to the Sahara desert. It won't surprise me to see that there will be only crowded clouds insight and not a hint of rainfall but then again, what do I know?A collection of dust-covered shoes rests against th
- Traces of Eve
Chapter 13
EVE | ThenPaul was everywhere.I saw him outside the gates of my school, on our living room couch, beside Mama in the kitchen, stirring idly at chopped vegetables sizzling in a frying pan while she poured wine for them. He went on dates with Mama. She didn't need to confide in me, I could tell I was twelve, not blind.There were changes to her I couldn't comprehend. The physical changes were hard to ignore; the new clothes, clean and straight, iron pressed each day. She looked nicer in her nursing uniform than ever before. She spent more time at Daawo's salon, coming home for a brisk lunch with hot pink rollers tucked in her hair. The bathroom even changed, a coconut milk and jasmine petals shower gel sat in a brown wooden basket, an oval-shaped stone for rubbing under her feet came along with the package, lots of scented perfumes and it was the first time I saw a facial wash on t
- Traces of Eve
Chapter 12
ANNA | ThenI met him on the street. It was lonely, almost sequestered, the kind no one wants to drive on, but there I was, standing akimbo beside my broken-down car looking on at the rising, swirling vapour emanating out of the engine.The day was warm, bittersweet but lovely in a way that I could've spent it by using the little time I had to sketch, but I was stuck on a long curvy isolated road with a car that wouldn't start and a low battery phone. It was all Raisa's fault, being my stepmother did not give her the right to coerce me into going to her son's university graduation. The thought of her getting away with it rubbed me the wrong way, but I would do anything for my dad even if it meant putting up with his stepson's perverse looks throughout the ceremony. I got out as fast as I could once the robes were thrown down and a throng of people descended on the proud graduates.After all my fake enthusiastic chi
- Traces of Eve
Chapter 11
JEWELL | Now Two weeks after Eve's funeral My head hurts. It's the first thing I take notice of when I come to. There is a sharp ringing in my head, it throbs with a vengeance I know all too well. I should stop starving myself. The cool wind sends a shiver down my spine, causing me to huddle deeper into the thick blue blanket covering me. My fingers skim over my abdomen thinking of finding it bare because I discarded the blood coated shirt earlier, however, they come into contact with a thick material. I peek under the cover to see a hoodie. It's white. A colour so pure even my soul could tarnish it. "Here, take this." I look up from my space on the dark brown sleek couch to see Ms Riley hovering over me with a small plate in her hand. Two white pills wait for me on its surface. "The Advil will take care of your headache, and here are some beignets I made yesterday for the boys. You can
- Traces of Eve
Chapter 10
ALICE | Then Eve's birthday I dreamt a dreadful dream that day, the kind that left me coated in precipitation, choked my throat with unbridled quiet sobs. Eve was there. It was like déjà vu when I met her a second time for lunch later that afternoon. My vision was impaired by darkness as black as the inside of a coffin. It felt barren like it did seven years ago and then there was the cold that bit into my skin, numbing it to the point that it was unfathomable how I survived that night. There was a power cut in my dream, an exact mimic of what transpired. Fingers curled around my shoulder blades, sending pin prickles of goosebumps running down my skin. It took long before Eve's face morphed into view, but it was pitch black. I jerked away from her. I didn't like it when Eve touched me solely because she didn't know which part of my flesh didn't sting with pain. "Really,
