I was so happy when I heard that Chijioke, my twin brother, was back. And that he came back a different man, wealthy. That meant more money for the family. Just what Papa had wanted. Now Papa will be taken care of by the best physicians in the country.
I can still remember that very day we sat in our small muddy house. The light from Mama's camp torch barely lit the whole room. I could see Papa's eyes shadowed by the weight of years of hard work. He had just sold his only land and was gambling on who he would send abroad between me and my brother.
“We can only send one,” he said, his voice low and heavy with a sorrow he tried to mask. "One will go abroad, and one will stay. The land is gone. This is the last chance."
"But who?" Mama had asked.
Papa looked at us. Then he brought out some straws he had hidden behind him. I'll let you guys pick straws to decide. He blindfolded our eyes and made us pick. I had picked the shortest and wasn't happy. That didn't mean I didn't wish my brother well in his sojourn to the white man's land. I did; in fact, I didn't argue Papa's decision. But as a human, there was this pain I felt for losing.
Papa had told us that he didn't hate any of us. "That's why he had decided we would play the straw game so that none of you would think he loved the other more. It was just a game. The point is for the winner to go and make money to bring us out of poverty. I'm already weak, I can't hustle like before."
Chijioke had traveled outside, and for five years, no one heard from him. He only sent us letters at intervals. We hoped and prayed that he succeeded.
Not until today I heard he was back with the finest of cars and a house he had built just beside the village square. It was a gigantic house. I knew when the construction was ongoing but I never knew it was owned by my brother.
I wondered why he didn't want to let us know.
"Maybe he just wanted to surprise us," Mama said.
I smiled and agreed. I turned to Papa who was lying sick in his bed. "Don't worry, Papa, since Chijioke is back and rich, I'm sure he'll send for the best doctor to come see you. Then maybe he'll set me up a business." I got up and put on my slippers. I was going to the big gigantic house by the village square to meet my brother.
But when I got there, I wasn't let into the building on the instructions of Chijioke. Even when I explained to his security details that I was his brother. Even when Chijioke saw me, he denied knowing who I was and made sure I was bundled out of his house. He claimed to have forgotten the faces of the people who had sacrificed so much for him to succeed.
Every day, I watched my brother drive down the dusty streets of our village, spraying money to strangers, buying drinks for strangers, tipping taxi drivers, but never so much as glancing at the house he once called home. It hurt, deeply. I have always had love and respect for my brother. But the betrayal now felt the sharp sting of neglect. Papa was dying, and Mama couldn't stop crying at night all because of Chijioke.
We prayed and wished that one day he would change, but he never did.
Then, the unthinkable happened. Papa died leaving a big void in our lives. His heart was too broken to fight any longer.
His funeral was a quiet affair. I remember standing by his grave, numb, my thoughts spinning uncontrollably. Mama was a shadow of herself. The memories of the night Chijioke had traveled flooded my mind. I remembered the promises he had made to us. How had he forgotten us so badly that he didn't even care to be at Papa's funeral?
That night, my anger boiled over. I couldn’t take it anymore. Chijioke’s betrayal had cost us more than my heart could take. It had taken that one thing I loved the most, Papa.
The next few months I sought a way to get revenge. I smartly became friends with one of Chijioke's men who didn't like how Chijioke betrayed his family. Through him, I got to know the shady business dealings Chijioke was into. How he laundered money and scammed his foreign friends.
When I was sure I had clear evidence. I informed the police. They raided his house one night while I watched as his empire crumbled. His reputation was destroyed. His money, gone. The once-proud businessman was now a shell of the man he had been.
Trust me it wasn't my intention to ruin my brother. It wasn't just about the money. I was just a man driven by the pain of losing a loved one. He destroyed us first. Forgot the people who made him. Didn't care to at least take his father to get proper medical care.
I was just a man driven by pain. Who wanted his twin brother to feel the pain our father felt—the pain of being forgotten.
