A NEw DAY NEw ATTITUDE

The sound from Amaka's alarm clock woke her up from sleep. She quickly stood up and went straight to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. While she was making breakfast, she swept the kitchen, her room, and the sitting room. Something in her didn't want her to go to her parents' room that morning, and the shocking part of it was that she didn't come across her mom or Auntie Bella while she was doing her chores.

That evening, her parents' absence didn't really bother her much, because they left the house most times early without seeing her or checking up on her. After some hours, when Amaka was already through with her chores, Auntie Bella called her, and she reluctantly went to answer her inside her room.

"Yes!" Amaka answered hesitantly. "Bia, this girl, who are you answering like that?" Auntie Bella asked.

"Please, Auntie Bella, if you don't have anything to tell me, kindly let me know so that I can go back to my room and continue with my solitude," Amaka said, acting like she didn't notice her aunt's attitude.

"Go and buy me sanitary pads from the nearby chemist. Money, ma'am?" Auntie Bella said with a kinda angry face.

"Please help me bring your bag and give me the money yourself," Amaka replied.

"Am I...? You've really grown guts, oh? Go get me my bag now!" Auntie Bella barked.

"Then you're sha not ready to get your sanitary pad, sha? Don't stain my dad's bed with your stuff, Miss Ami," Amaka said with a grin on her face.

"Oh, really, Amaka? When did you gather this much momentum to be trading words with me? Are you stupid, young girl?" her auntie asked with an angry expression.

"Well, ma'am, I used to be stupid, not until I had a fill of your excesses. What excesses, Ami?" Her aunt Bella thundered.

"You, ma'am, your excesses, oh... You think I don't know what your plans are? You want me to help you get your bag so you can accuse me of stealing from you too? Well, ma'am, you can't always fool a fool, though."

Auntie Bella stood startled, obviously shocked by the kind of words her little niece was using. How she got so brave to confront her with her words was what baffled her the most, or could it be that she was only pretending to be strong at her presence to avoid running the errand she sent her?

"Huh, Amaka, just tell me you don't want to help me run the errand. At least, I'll understand, because you've always been mannerless. Lol, thanks, ma'am," Amaka said. "Please, when my parents come back, help me tell them I've turned into a bad child."

With that, she walked into her room to continue the book she was reading before her auntie interrupted her. But she couldn't continue because her mind and thoughts were occupied with what had been happening around her recently. She knew the way she spoke to Auntie Bella wasn't nice, and that she ought to have helped her run the errand, but her conscience wouldn't allow her to do so because she knew what her auntie's main agenda was.

"Could I have offended her unknowingly? Did my parents offend her before my birth, that she's revenging through me? Should I confront her?" Amaka was really confused about why her own auntie, flesh and blood, could treat her the way she does.

She took a deep sigh and thought to herself, "One day, everything will be resolved." She thought about apologizing to her, but from the attitude she had portrayed earlier, it was obvious, even before she did that, her auntie wouldn't take the apology well.

Deep down, Amaka really wished she had a nice relationship with her auntie.