Graffiti Memories | Jibril Aisha | Flash Fiction

Graffiti Memories takes a different, subtle style towards revealing heartbreak. Pawners Paper Magazine

Graffiti Memories takes a different, subtle style in revealing heartbreak. 

 

GRAFFITI MEMORIES

I was fourteen years old when I first met him.

It was early October, on a Sunday that smelled like lemon and Brother Tope’s graffiti art. It rained heavily; it must've because I remember being soaked in a mixture of water and spray paint. 

“You're strange!” was the first thing he said to me. I remember putting it on paper, ready to tell all my friends he called me strange, but I didn't. 

Then, the rain was my favorite thing in the world. It made me strange, unhinged, and free. I always felt lighter soaking my unsaid words and leaving them unattended in the rain. I enjoyed staring at the rain and repeating his name; it was a strange love. Back when we sat at the top of his father's jeep screaming to Emeli Sandë's "read all about it," when he looked at me and saw me beautiful. That was a long time ago.

Time took a huge leap. Seven years later, and I'm still curled up in his bed. 

“Relationships without fights and separations never last,” he whispered into the night. I do not want ours to last but I was stuck on this strange neverending rollercoaster of leaving and running right back. I do not like the rain anymore. It makes me cold. I do not like being called beautiful. It makes me more self-conscious than I always am. I do not sing to Emeli Sandë anymore because I prefer Alessia Cara. I prefer to read than paint with Brother Tope and I developed a strange phobia for cars.

“A lot has changed,” it's the only sentence I can conjure now as I keep sighing and repeating it like I did with his name. 

Nobody will ever call me strange; I concluded that a long time ago. Listening to Emeli Sande makes you boring nowadays. More people call me beautiful these days and I hop from one man's jeep to the other now because nobody cares about my anxiety. 

“Satisfaction is something you get once in a lifetime,” and he, was my satisfaction.

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About The Writer

Jibril Aisha is an igala writer based in Lagos. She is a student of the University of Ilorin who is currently exploring life. You can reach out to her on Instagram (@princess.iyene)

Photo Credit: Diana