Annette and Adriana

Adriana

I sat in the car and waited for my best friend ever to walk out of her house. She went to school in a different city and I hadn’t really spent time with her since we started university. We still talked on the phone but it wasn’t the same. 

We’ve been friends since we were in diapers and have always been as thick as thieves. But lately it felt like we had drifted apart, with different priorities. She had a boyfriend now and new set of friends; basically a whole new life even I didn’t quite fit into so I wasn't sure how I'd explain it to her much less introduce her to it. But today it was going to be different; she had come all the way to Accra for my birthday! Initially she had said she couldn’t make it but she must have moved stuff round to make it possible, because out of the blue on Wednesday, she called to say I should clear my schedule on Saturday! She’d missed me as much as I missed her and with all that was going on in my life I really needed to talk to her. She walked out and skipped over to my car a wide smile on her face: a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes and seemed a bit strained at the edges. 

“Hey Addie, missed you like crazy, happy birthday” she exclaimed as she reached the driver’s side of the car. I got out and hugged her. “Looking good!” she continued holding my hand and turning me around “lost some weight, have you?” I stared at her and felt a sense of unease. I know this girl; she has been my best friend since I was three. She hadn’t come home because she had missed me but because she needed me and right now that was enough for me; and no I hadn't lost a pound .

“What’s up Ann?” I asked in a resigned tone, my voice peaking a bit at the end in anger. “Nothing, sweetie how are we spending today?” she said in a rush, walking to the passenger side of the car, I followed and grabbed her arm. “What’s wrong Ewurabena?” I asked in a calmer tone “You know you can tell me anything.” “Yea and I will, let’s just go somewhere else first.” She murmured glancing over her shoulder at the gate as if fearing that she would be overheard.

I took to her to Munchies. It had been our place since JSS and the waiters knew exactly what we’d order. She sat across from me and told me not only was she pregnant but she wanted me to go with her to get rid of the baby. My best friend, ‘Miss I’m keeping it till marriage’ wanted me to go with her, on my birthday to get an abortion. “Wow! I so didn’t see this coming. What happened to all your speeches about living with the consequences of our mistakes and all that crap you are always spouting when the issue of abortions and unwanted pregnancy came up?” I railed at her. 

“Will you go with me or not Addie; please I just need your company and support right now not your judgement.”  She said sorrowfully. I refused to be moved, she would not do this to me, and I would not allow her to. It was my freaking birthday and she wants me to help her end a life? 

“You said rape victims should have the baby if they got pregnant and give the baby up for adoption, and now you want to get rid of yours because it’s inconvenient! Because finally perfect Annette Ewurabena Afranie has made a mistake! And when you are in deep shit, again you come to me to help you clean it up for you.” “You think this is easy for me, you think sitting in front of you and telling you that I messed up is easy.” She said with tears streaming down her face. “You think deciding to throw away everything I believe in is easy. I have done a lot of things in the past year that I’m not proud of. But this takes the cake. But do I have the right to bring a baby into this world to suffer just so my conscience will be clear” “the baby won’t suffer, your mum...”  I tried to interrupt 

“my mum can barely make ends meet as is and she would be so disappointed in me. What about my little sister? I’m not even sure Kwame loves me, he says he would be there for me but who knows how long that would last?” “Well you should have thought of that before you had sex with him” I screamed, causing the other patrons in the cafe to turn and stare at us. 

“I made a big mistake, one time and this is the end result, you can either be the friend you claim to be and drive me to the hospital or you can walk out right now and I won’t hold it against you.” I stared at the tear stained face of my best friend of seventeen years and said “which hospital?”

To be continued ...