My relationship with Juliet turned sour when she realized Chi boy had eyes for me alone. I did my best to steer him in her direction but he still tagged behind me every where i went, in the end i decided to come clean to him so i won’t end up in unnecessary trouble but he told me not to fret. He approached Jules and told her he wasn’t interested in her. From that day, My life became miserable.
At home my life once again became unbearable, Juliet ordered me out of her room so i was put up in the guest room. Mommy became cold towards me, lord only knows what Jules might have told her and as for bro Jeff…….he became a thorn in my life. I heard my door creak open slowly. I sat up.
” Baby girl” he whispered.
My God! not again!
” What do you want here bro Jeff?”
He had taken to sneaking into my room in the middle of the night. I had even asked mommy the keys to the guest room but the looks she gave me was enough to make me not ask again. He sat down beside me on the bed.
“Hey….ssh! i came to spend some time with you baby girl.” He caressed my thighs through my nightie and i slapped his hands away.
” Please leave my room at once!” I got up and marched towards the door but he yanked me back throwing me back on the bed. ” Please leave me alone bro jeff ”
” How dare you! how dare you lead me on! despite everything my family and i had done for you” he said with a low voice dripping with anger and my heart pounded against my rib cage.
” Please, i don’t know what you are talking about…..please me alone”
The big bulge in his PJ made my eyes widen in shock. I started screaming but soon realized it was useless, mommy had gone to a club. Juliet would never come to my aid. He pinned me to the bed with his upper arms. His legs wedged between my legs forcing them apart. He reached down and tore my pantie. I used his distraction to bit him in the fleshy nook of his neck and he yelped in pain.
I was almost at the door when he caught me back and landed several slaps on my face. I kept screaming and fighting him. He threw me back on the bed, he bit on my nippl6 hard and i winced in pain. Lord please don’t let him do this to me! Lord please help me! I felt him enter me brutally, tearing something inside me and my blood gushed down my thigh. I lay crying and wimpering under him, no longer fighting him. It was over.
” My God! Jeffery what is this?”
Mommy came into the room, a cigar dangling from her hand.
” Mom! She seduced me mom! I swear it!”
” Yea right! ”
” He’s telling the truth mom, i witnessed everything ” Juliet retirated Jeff’ s lie.
” What?! Ify how dare you! you want to tarnish the image of my family? You want to bring down shame on us!”
I stood up crying, the blood kept flowing and i was afraid i was going to die. ” He forced me, he raped me”
” Right now i don’t want to hear another word from anyone of you! Ify you can no longer stay under my roof. ”
She knew the truth but she choose to believe what her darling children were saying. Juliet pulled out my Echolac box and flung it down the stairs.
” You heard mommy! Leave! Shameless girl! ”
Mommy held my hands and led me outside. She pressed some money into my hands and locked the gate with a loud bang. I crouched in front of the gate crying, my eyes were red and i was bleeding profusely. Where is death when you looking for it?”
Ebere
I went home when I felt stronger; to reassure my landlord I was still alive so he would stop fretting about his house rent. My apartment was far away from where I used to hustle. The key reason our homes were in very far places was to be able to work without a nosy neighbor coming upon us. Some of even went as far sewing nurse uniforms which they wear from home to throw off speculations about their nocturnal activities. Some ladies even lodge in hotels where they are likely to meet good paying clients but back home they were thought to have gone on a trip. Dayo also went back to school but we spent time with each other every weekend. I stopped working for a spell; depending on the money he gives me and the little in my bank account. This weekend Dayo and I were playing in the pool at their back yard when we heard the voice of a woman; the thick Yoruba accent had me rushing out of the pool.
“Won wi be o de ri be! (They said so and it is so) Ekundayo!”
She was a fat woman decked in glittering stone lace, there were rings on each of her fingers,and she could easily pass for a sea goddess if she shed some of the fats.
Dayo climbed out of the pool while I stood in my bikini uncertain what to do.
“Hello Mom,when did you arrive?”
“How could you! How could you stoop so low!’’, She growled. “Iwo to je pe awon oremi nfi e toro omo (exemplary figure) lo wan gbe ashewo kiri! ( dallying with a wh0re)
I ran inside to dress up and pick my bag; she stood at the entrance waiting for me.
“Stay away from my son! Don’t you know your types? Ashewo lasan lasan! ikeji Aja! I would rather see my son with a dog than see him with the likes of you! Stay away from my son!”
“Mom please let her be! What are you even doing here?’’ Dayo walked into the room dripping water from his body onto the beautifully tiled floor.
I ran out of the house, I could hear him calling me but I continued running until I let myself out of the house and out of his life.
***************************************************
Ifeoma
I changed into a gown after wiping some of the blood away from my leg. I slept in front of the gate waiting for some one to open it and tell me it was all a bad dream and that I could come back to the house. I left when it was dawn and started walking, with no direction in mind; my family was strictly nuclear so I had no uncles or aunties to go to. I wondered where my dad was. I got tired from walking and sat down on a stone under a tree. I don’t know how long I sat there crying. Some passersby waited long enough to stare at me but nobody asked if I was alright or offered to help me. I could see her coming; she was a beautiful light skinned girl, not much older than me. She looked distraught when she came closer to where I was. She never stopped to stare, she just walked right on. She went further a bit and came back to where I was. She offered me her hankie.
“Thank you”
She sat beside me on the stone and I wondered briefly if she was insane.
“Am tired of life!’’ she said to herself, “One minute you are happy the next boom! Life bites you in the a$$”
I nodded like I knew what she was saying, her gaze shifted to my blood coated legs and she stiffened.
“You miscarried?”
“No. I was raped” My eyes brimmed with tears and I could feel the pain of bro Jeff tearing into me once again.
Her arms went around my shoulders. “I was raped too……long ago”
I nodded. She stood up.
“I assume you have no where to go, you may come with me’’
I was reluctant. I knew nothing about her, what would her parents say if she brought home a strange girl. She took hold of my echolac box, expecting me to follow her.
“Wait. What is your name?”
“Ebere “she said.
To be continued…
