THE OTHER NAME

by Temiloluwa Koku

After three years of unexplained absence, Aderonke suddenly returns home with no memory of where she has been or what happened during the missing years. Her family welcomes her back, but their relief is overshadowed by an unsettling silence. Her mother seems frightened by questions that should have simple answers, while familiar places trigger fragments of memories Aderonke cannot understand—a yellow building, a woman's voice, a frightened child's hand, and a promise she cannot remember making. Then she discovers a small pink ribbon hidden among her belongings, marked with the initials M.O. When Aderonke begins asking questions, she learns that her cousin Morenike supposedly left for relatives in the East. But the memory of the child's hand she keeps seeing does not belong to Morenike. Then she discovers an old photograph showing three girls. Aderonke recognises herself and Morenike. The third girl is a mystery. As pieces of the past begin to surface, Aderonke realises that her family may have been hiding something for years—and that recovering her memories may reveal a truth far more frightening than the disappearance itself. Some memories disappear for a reason.