CHAPTER FIVE
T
he ground shook beneath me as I came around the corner. Warm air touched my neck. With each footfall, my heart beat even faster. Perhaps a whole building shaking with me inside of it had caused my fear. Either way, I knew I needed to get away, to my paternal grandmother Mama Segi. She lived four streets away and had always been there for me, before and after my father and sister’s death.
I cut another corner and burst through the gates demarcating Goodwill from the main road. Normally I would’ve preferred taking a bike, but I didn’t have money this time.
My breathing grew quick. I was hot, and nervous. Thankfully I had arrived. I came to a stop and banged on the gate outside my grandmother’s house. Her home looked as if it had chosen solitude. The paint was already peeli
