After Malaika vomited, Isaac wanted to put her to bed.

“No, my love,” said Malaika. “I’m feeling better now. Let’s watch the end of the movie.”

So they did. In the film, Phil the Weatherman was still repeating his Groundhog Day. Over and over. But it was a good thing. Slowly, he began to learn some important lessons. He learned to stop being an arrogant jerk. Rita, the producer, started to like him more and more each repeated day.

Not only that, Phil the Weatherman also began to save people’s lives. He knew what was going to happen each day; he knew who would be in danger; so he made sure that he was in the right place at the right time to save whomever needed saving.

Best of all, Phil the Weatherman used his repeated day to learn how to play the piano. Like an expert. So in the end, his Groundhog Days changed him forever – and for the better. Rita fell in love with him because he was no longer a jerk and he was such a good musician. And finally Phil’s Groundhog Day stopped repeating and he could get on with his life. Happily ever after with Rita.

“Great film,” said Isaac as they got into bed. “Very funny, wasn’t it sweetheart? Even if the storyline was a bit insane. I mean, who would believe someone could live through the same day over and over again?”

“Yes, I enjoyed it,” Malaika lied. Then she lay staring into the darkness. The film was wrong, of course. That wasn’t the way things worked in real life. Well, not in her life anyway.

Yes, she repeated years sometimes. But that didn’t mean she got to change anything. All the bad things that had happened in that year just happened all over again. She was powerless to make a difference – even when she knew what was coming next.

That was the hard lesson Malaika had learned back in 2002. Back when she was a young girl of eleven. It had been another bad year, worse than 1996. And she had been forced to suffer through it twice over.

Little Malaika had kept her promise to herself. She never said another word about her years coming back. She didn’t want to end up like Auntie Sophie.

Auntie Sophie was Mama’s younger sister. She wore her hair in bright red braids that swung down to her hips. She had a golden ring in her nose. She also had eyes that looked too wide, as if she were frightened all the time.

Sometimes Auntie Sophie would put young Malaika on her lap. She would whisper to her, “I know what’s going to happen next. I always know what is about to happen. And that is a terrible, terrible thing to know.”

Gogo took Auntie Sophie to a traditional healer. Auntie Sophie didn’t want to go. She cried and screamed while Mama’s two elder brothers dragged her out to the car.

“There’s nothing wrong with me! It’s not my fault if the years keep coming back!” Auntie Sophie screamed over and over.

The traditional healer said there was nothing he could do. “This is not some curse that has been placed upon her. No, she has a mental disorder. She needs to be in a psychiatric facility.”

So next it was two mental-health paramedics in white coats who dragged Auntie Sophie out to their ambulance. While she screamed again, “It’s not my fault!”

Once, on Auntie Sophie’s birthday, they all went to visit her at the institution where she was being kept. Malaika barely recognised her aunt. The red braids were gone, and the shiny nose ring. And Auntie Sophie’s eyes were no longer wide. Instead they were half-closed. As if she was half-asleep.

Auntie Sophie muttered over and over, “That wonderful Dr Chiabe has cured me. He’s the chief psychiatrist here, you understand? Amazing man! He gave me the right pills. So now I am better. No more double years, I promise. No more repeated years, for sure.”

Then Auntie Sophie wandered away from them to join the other patients who stood about with half-closed, half-asleep eyes.

In the dark, Isaac asked, “Are you struggling to sleep, sweetheart?”

In fact, Malaika was still thinking about the film. She thought: That’s what I should call my problem: Groundhog Day. Well, Groundhog Years. Yes, maybe if this strange phenomenon has a name, I will feel like I have some control.

Isaac put his arm around Malaika and pulled her close to him. “What is it, love? What is it that haunts you? Don’t you trust me enough to tell me, even after all this time together?”

A whole year, in fact. A whole year, she and Isaac had been together. It was the happiest year of Malaika’s whole life.

So why couldn’t she repeat this year, wondered Malaika. Why couldn’t this be a Groundhog Year for her? She would be happy to live through this past year over and over and over again!

But no! It was only the bad, awful years that she got to live through twice over. It was only the ugly times that were doubled up. It was only the unhappy times that were repeated. How unfair that was!

“It’s nothing, Isaac,” Malaika whispered. “Go back to sleep, my love. I’m fine. Everything is good.”

And yes, that night of 4 January 2013, everything was fine and good in Malaika’s world.

But she had no clue that 2013 was going to turn into the worst year ever. More terrible than any year she had ever lived through. In just nine short months, she was going to lose her beloved Isaac. For good.

***

Tell us what you think: Has the doctor at the institution really cured Auntie Sophie? Can she be cured?