12/10/2025
“Mummy, the man sleep!ng beside you every n!ght is not Daddy — Daddy has been sitting outside the gate since last week.”
That was the sentence that scattered our house.
I didn’t even mean to say it like that. I just woke up that morning and thought Mummy should know.
Maybe because I was still sma!! then, around e!ght or n!ne, and I didn’t know when to keep quiet about things that frightened me.
I had seen him with my eyes, the way a person sees something and knows they’re not dreaming. The night before, I woke up to drink water, and on my way back, I saw Mummy sleeping peacefully beside Daddy. But when I opened the curtain to peep outside, I saw Daddy sitting by the gate, half-n@ked, his sh!ɍt hanging loose, like someone who just finished fighting with the night.
At first, I thought maybe he went out to urinate, but when I blinked, he was still there — sitting quietly like a man who had nowhere else to go.
In the morning, when I told Mummy, her hand landed on my cheek before I could even breathe. “Don’t ever say that kind of thing again,” she said, her eyes sharp but shaking. “Do you hear me? Your father is right here in this house.”
I didn’t argue. I just looked at her. Her wrapper was tied carelessly, and her face looked like she hadn’t slept well. Daddy was already in the sitting room, pressing his phone. He looked normal, but something about him didn’t sit well with me. His shoes by the door were muddy, like someone had walked through wet soil in the middle of the night.
He smiled at me that morning, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes.
At school, I couldn’t focus. My friends were talking about cartoons, but my mind was stuck on that image — Daddy by the gate, sh!ɍt open, watching the quiet street.
When I got back home that evening, Mummy was cooking jollof rice, and Daddy was helping her cut onions. They looked fine together, laughing softly. I almost convinced myself I had imagined everything. But when night came again, and the lights went off, I heard it.
Two voices in their room. Both deep. Both sounding like Daddy. One calm, one angry.
At first, I thought they were watching TV, but the generator was off. The house was quiet except for those voices. I crawled down from my bed and went closer to their door, my heart knocking like someone tapping on a tin roof.
“Why are you doing this?” one voice said.
The other one whispered something I couldn’t hear.
I ran back to my room and hid under my bed, holding my teddy bear tight. The voices didn’t stop. They kept arguing softly, like two men fighting over one woman in whispers.
Then suddenly, silence.
A minute later, I heard footsteps coming down the hallway — slow, heavy, and dragging. They stopped right in front of my room door.
And then, very quietly, someone said, “Adaora... open the door.”
This story is titled:
THE MAN SLEEPING BESIDE MUMMY EVERY NIGHT
Chapter 2 will be dropping soon. If you want to receive notification when I drop it, don't hesitate to F0ll0w, llke and c0mmēnt.
F0ll0 gold Jay comedy
