ONE
THE NIGHT IT RAINED
The air inside was suffocating, thick with the scent of damp clothes and sickness. My daughter lay curled in my arms. I could feel the heat from her body, and every breath is a struggle.
I rocked her gently, whispering words of comfort I didn't believe.
Just hold on, my love. Hold on for Mama.
I dare not make a sound when he brings in a woman. He made it clear. I learned to obey through the hard way. The bruises and marks on my body have taught me that either I obey I bear the consequences of my actions. I remembered the night I reminded him I rented this house, bought every piece of furniture, and had been paying rent since then. He landed me a slap, which nearly blinded one of my eyes and beat me to the point I just laid on the floor and was unable to move, and blood was gushing all over my body.
But tonight was different, my daughter's tiny body convulsing as she gagged. The rattling coughs grew worse. I felt her shivered violently. My heart pounded. The medicine was in the kitchen– just a few steps away.
I hesitated.
I had never broken his rules after the night he taught me never to say anything to him or anyone about the house.
But my daughter's life was worth the risk. I know the consequences, but I have to save my daughter.
I gathered her weak body in my arms, my hands trembling. I slipped out of the room. I moved quickly, hoping to go unnoticed.
I paused, listened carefully but did not hear any sound. Everywhere was quiet except for the Tv sound coming from the master bedroom where they were supposed to be. I quickly opened the medicine for my baby and gave her the medicine we brought from the doctor earlier on. As I am about to sneak back to the room.
A gasp
I froze.
She has seen me.
The woman he brought home for the night. She was a very beautiful girl in her 20s. He has told me that if I don't give him money the previous day, my life will be in danger. I remember working hard for the money he might have used to bring this girl.
Her eyes move between me and my sick child. Her face filled with confusion and then realization.
Who are you?
Is this your child?
Is this child Melly's child?
Are you his wife? She was asking these questions at the same time while I stood there, frozen with fear while clutching my daughter closely, my entire body shaking.
I remembered what would happen to me if he got to know she had seen me, and my heart pounded.. I broke down in tears.
Please don't tell him, I pleaded. My eyes filled with tears while I held my daughter tightly.
I quickly kneel before the girl, asking her not to ask him or say anything about me.
She looked at me with eyes that said, “I can't believe this.”
She pulled me up, disbelieving in her eyes. She asked me why I was so scared.
Who are your people, and what are you doing here?
I could not find words to explain. Where will I start? My story is always unbelievable. Even when I tried to find help, people would not believe me.
She looked at my body filled with wounds and my fragile body. She looked at my daughters and the way I was holding her. She reached down and held both of us up. She sat me down and gazed at me for a long time.
Then she said quietly,. ‘’Kill him!
I looked up in disbelief, but she was determined to pass her message.
Buy rat poison or whatever poison you can lay your hands on and poison him gradually.
Then I found my voice. I said quietly. I don't want anybody's blood on my hands. She looked at me in disbelief, and she said to me, ‘ Look at your body, look at you. You let a man treat you like this? If you can't kill him, then leave. I told her I tried leaving twice, but he found me and reminded me how I owed him because he saved me, and I will pay that debt for the rest of my life. Before she could say another word, she saw him standing at the door and looking at both of us. The girl stood up and said she was leaving that night. He looked at me with hatred in his eyes. I know what was waiting for me, but at that time, I wished the girl would not leave for my daughter's sake.
She hurriedly dressed up while heaping curses at him.
It's starting to rain, he told the girl. Wait till morning.
She paused and spat at his face. He tried to slap her. The girl reached down to her phone to call someone. “I am going to get you locked up if you try it. You will never smell freedom again.
That threat worked because he lowered his hand and looked at me, sending me that unseen message.
It had started to rain. The girl reached for the door and turned the handle. She paused and looked in my direction.’I will get you help. He is not even human, ’ she promised! She opened the door and walked out in the rain. I could hear her cursing him as she opened the main gate.
And she was gone...
Silence
I could feel his rage before I saw it.
“ See what you have caused”, you miserable woman. You never learn, no matter how long they beat you. You make me beat you every day because you're stubborn.
I didn't move. I didn't breathe. I gently dropped my daughter on the couch.
Miraculously, she has stopped coughing and fallen asleep. I knelt before him, and all I could say was, ‘I am sorry. Please forgive me.’
The first blow came so fast I barely saw it. Pain exploded across my body, and then my whole body was in pain. He was beating me with three wired canes he had stored all over the house. I tried to run either to the rooms to lock the door, but he grabbed me and pulled me back. Blood all over the floor. He kept hitting me over and over tearing my skin with the cane. At a point, i couldnt let out any sound. My body went into mute mood.
At that time, all I could see was Scholar's battered dead face. I tried to get thar picture off my mind.
“Am not going to die”! Not today!
I have to live to set my daughter free from these things hovering over us. This will definitely stop with me. I can't die! Not yet! I have so many things to correct.
Then he stopped and Opened the door,
Get out!! He hissed.
My mind spinning, I managed to say ‘what”
‘You heard me. Get out now.
I grabbed my daughter, and tried to plead to him.
“Take your filthy brat and get out of my house now.
His house?
I rented this house and paid for everything inside, but nothing matters now.
As I was about to go outside, he noticed the blood all over the floor.
Get a bucket and rag and mob this nonsense off my floor.
“ I don't want to smell your dirty blood here”. I quckly ran to fetch a mop and bucket to clean the floor while he was watching to make sure I cleaned it thoroughly. When I was done mopping everywhere clean,
‘Now its time to get the hell out and take your dump baby and that bucket outside my house now.
I quietly grab my baby, then the bucket while he held the door open. I walked outside.
He slammed the door shut and bolted it. The rain and breeze woke my baby up. She started crying. I held her tightly, covering her with my body. As the rain and breeze touch my skin,I felt pain running all through my body. It seems my body was on fire. Every drops of rain rages through my bruised skin. At this moment, my daughter's safety is all that matters.
Whats next!
The generator house!
I have slept there more than Ihave slept in the house I rented with my money but this night everywhere was flooded. We will stay inside that dirty water till morning. I ran towards the generator house. It so small you have to squat to enter inside and you have to sit only in a sitting position while holding your knees.
I looked up in the sky and I remembered God.
I have prayed and cried many times to Him but He seems not to have heard my prayers.
I quickly rushed to the generator house.I managed to enter inside at the same time shielding my baby from rain while she was just crying.
We are finally inside. I sat on top of the generator while my baby is seated on my lap. I could hardly breathe. I tried so much not to notice my pains. Tried to put my daughter to sleep. We were soaked with water. My body is going numb. I prayed silently although I don't know what to tell God now. My head seems to be getting bigger,
What is happening to me now? I was afraid my daughter and I would die there that night. I summoned courage and said to God. “ Am not dying! Not yet! I refuse to die! God please save me. Keep me alive. That's all I asked. Myself, my daughter and the one in the womb. I can never die like Scholar. Please that is all I ask!
Then silence!
