To her, the house was deserted. Looking around the room, her sister who had been staying with her since the deed happened was no where to be found. She got up gently and looked around the room.

Then she headed towards her cousin's room only to realize they weren't there, her mom's room was the same too, looking around the whole house, she didn't find anyone. Did they abandon her? Did they finally found out about her deeds? Did they realize she…

The protest from the door interrupted her thoughts as she sighted her mother walk in with her sister and cousins, but then they weren't alone, the people she recognized to be a part of the extended family were with them.

Her mother was the first to notice her presence.

"Mimi, come down," she ordered and Mimi nodded before descending the stairs while all eyes were fastened on her.

Mimi looked from the bald old man to the slender aunty Ife and then the chubby man who had always tried to prove he was better than her father; uncle Sola. Then her eyes met with her grandma.

"Part of what we are talking about, you can't greet abi?" Her grandma said in disdain.

They knew quite well that she couldn't do that, Mimi ignored her and sat by her mother who had her head bowed with a black scarf wrapped around her.

"Now on to what we came for, today marks the last day of your opo, it's time to go," the bald old man known as the oloriebi announced.

Mimi's mother raised her head in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"It's time to leave, you have nothing to do in my son's house again," Grandma continued.

Mimi shared a look with her younger sister Fara before looking at her cousins.

"I don't understand you," Mimi's mother replied.

"You are to leave this house by weekend, you and your kids, likewise Lanre's children," the old man announced.

"What!" Fara screamed.

"That's what we are talking about, the elders are talking and you still have the guts to talk, your mother didn't train you?" Uncle Sola questioned with contempt evident in his voice.

"This is my husband's house, you can't just tell me to leave, where do you expect me to go with the kids?" Mimi's mother voiced out.

"You have no right to question us, just thank your head that Ife begged on your behalf if not you'll be in prison now, so…."

"I didn't kill him, how many times do I have to prove my innocence?" She yelled in frustration.

"So the poison crawled into the food or who is the wife here? You cooked his meal or did he cook it himself? Just think of this as a favour, leave or you rot in jail," and with that the old man got up prepared to leave.

Mimi felt a pang in her chest at the mention of her father's death. They all blamed her mother for his death when she wasn't the one, agreed she prepared his meal but no one knew how the poison got into the food.

"You can't just tell us to leave, this is our father's house!" Fara shouted and they scoffed.

Grandma ignored her outburst and turned to their mother, "You only have two days, mind you, you have to leave with Lanre's kids."

"What!" Mimi's cousins, Omolola and Omolara exclaimed in unison while Mimi's mother looked up at her with glassy eyes.

"Where do you expect me to go with four children?"

Uncle Sola shrugged, "You can go to hell, we don't need Lanre's kids in our family, your husband decided to take them in which makes them your responsibility."

"But they aren't my family!" She shrieked and the twins glanced at her. They knew she didn't mean it, it was only because she was riled up. She considered them family, she took them in as her kids and took care of them just like her daughters.

"You can do whatever you like with them then," Uncle Sola replied while Grandma and the bald man walked out of the house.

"But they're your family, why are you people this heartless?" She shouted as the tears rolled down freely.

"Sindara, you were there when your husband decided to take up their responsibility and now that he's gone, you should do that, anyway, you have two days to vacate this house."

"The house you've always wanted, I guess you're happy now, I won't be surprised if you were the one that added poison to his food," Fara voiced out, he glared daggers at her before walking out the house.

Aunty Ife who had been quiet all along walked up to Sindara, she was the only one that loved Sindara in that family.

"I'm sorry," Aunty Ife said before sitting beside Mimi's mother who had started sobbing.

"Where will I go? I have no family? No job, no friends, where will I go with the kids? How will I raise them?" Sindara uttered bitterly while crying.

"It's okay, God will lead you through," she pacified.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"But where will we go?" Lola complained while dragging her box.

"Let's just go, you're aware that the useless family members will soon get here and Mummy doesn't want them to throw us out," Lara replied as she opened the door.

Lola groaned before joining her twin sister, they dragged their boxes down to the living room.

Sindara looked at her kids as tears welled in her eyes. It was obvious they had no where to go, and she'd been awfully quiet since the family gave her the bad news. She knew no one, she had no friends or job or even money, courtesy of her dead husband but then being a prisoner in your matrimonial home was better than getting thrown out stranded.

"Let's go," she finally muttered but it was audible enough for her kids to hear.

"But where will we go?" Fara queried.

"And it's already getting late," Lola added.

"Let's go," Sindara said with a tone of finality, and they obeyed, dragging their bags and baggages out of the house, Mimi stared back at the house as her mind travelled down memory lane, memories she'd been trying so hard to bury, but they still kept on plaguing her mind.

"Mimi," Fara called, and she turned back to her sister. She took another glance at the house and decided she'll leave behind those horrible memories.

They walked out of the compound before looking back at the duplex house; the only asset their father left them and the main reason the family had thrown them out.

"Where will we go now?" Lola questioned immediately they started walking.

"Just come with me," Sindara replied in a tone that made the kids question if she had somewhere to take them to.

The kids trailed behind her like puppies with different thoughts racing through their minds.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"What's wrong?" Lisha questioned after realizing the car didn't start.

"I'm not sure, let me check ma," the driver replied before getting down. He slammed the door shut and walked to the bonnet while Lisha who didn't like the situation decided to look around.

She got down from the car and walked up to her driver.

"Just call the mechanic, it's getting late already."

"It's nothing much ma, I'll soon be done with it," he assured.

"Be snappy with it then," she turned away from him, then her eyes landed on the woman she'd seen earlier while they were going to her dad's place and now that she was going back home, the woman was still there with her kids.

"We saw that woman earlier right?" She pointed at the junction and her driver raised his head.

"Yes."

"Why is she still there? Don't you think there's something wrong?"

"I don't think so."

"But…" she decided to approach the woman ignoring the calls of her driver behind her.

"Good evening oo," Lisha greeted with a small smile while Sindara only looked at her but the kids except Mimi replied her greetings.

"I noticed you've been here for like three hours now, is something wrong? Are you traveling or what?"

Sindara opened her mouth to reply but Fara beat her to it, "We have no where to go," she slapped Mimi's hand away from her as she took in the look of the lady before her, apparently she would be a rich person.

Lisha raised her brows, "What do you mean?" Then she turned to look at Sindara who looked away.

"We were thrown out of the house," Lola explained.

"And you have no where to go? Madam, don't you have family or friends?"

Sindara hesitated for some seconds before shaking her head.

"We have no one," she replied bitterly.

"How is that possible? You must be a bad person, for you not to have friends and family then you can't be a good person, are you a witch or something?"

Sindara scrunched her brows, "What do you mean? If you're here to insult us, please leave oo."

"So, you really don't have any where to go?" Lisha questioned again and the kids nodded.

"Well, it's getting late already and this place is dangerous, you can't possibly stay here till morning."

"So?" Sindara shrugged and Lisha eyed her.

"You guys can spend the night at my place then tomorrow will sort itself," Lisha proposed and the kids glanced at one another before looking at their mom.

"We know nothing about you. Why should we go with you?"

"I have good intentions, you can decide to leave tomorrow, I'm not forcing you, just for you to spend the night," and with that Lisha walked away without waiting for their response.

"Mummy, let's go with her," Fara turned to her mother who glared at her.

"We have no where to go and we can't possibly sleep here tonight, let's just follow her at least for this night," Lara added.

"It's like she's already leaving, let's follow her oo," Lola shouted before picking up her bag, "Me I'm going oo," and with that she dragged her box and held her bag.

Fara followed suit and Lara stared at their mother whose face was expressionless, then she followed too.

Mimi tapped her mother who nodded in return.

"Let's go," Sindara said before picking up her baggages, Mimi did the same before following her mother.

"Here you are, I thought you wanted to sleep there, you were enjoying the sight of the road right?" Lisha jested and Sindara ignored her.

Few minutes later, they settled down and the driver started the car.

Phew, there goes the first chapter. How was it?

Who missed Lisha? She's here now ooo

Do you think Sindara will decide to stay or leave?

Don't forget to vote and comment. Love ya