The Lady could not help it as the memories kept flooding in like a tap without control. Like the Red Sea that swallowed the Egyptians, the memories tried to envelope her again. This happens most days when she just allows herself to think about her past.
She had not planned to allow herself spiral down the path of self pity today but she had been bored and so she decided to entertain herself by looking through her memories-packed album but the first picture she saw changed her mood. It was the picture she took when she celebrated her ninth birthday. She was nine but life had painted her blue and black already. It was her birthday but she was not smiling, not even the assorted drinks and toys displayed beside the cake pushed her chin up. Abdul also stood there beside her absentee parents who were only around on weekends. Abdul was much taller and older. He was twenty.
Her parents had made the damnable and life-damaging mistake of employing him as her caretaker and babysitter, what a joke that turned out to be! As big as the house was, only weekends seemed to bring life to it. During the week, she barely saw her parents because of their ‘tight schedules’. Abdul was the father and mother to her, he bathed her, dressed her, took her to school and even cooked for her. He was her confidant. All these responsibilities had been bestowed on him because he acted and looked so responsible, according to her parents.
At this juncture down memory lane, she couldn’t stop the tears from coursing down her make-up free face as she held the picture. Two days before her ninth birthday, She had just watched her favourite cartoon series when he called her to the dining table. After the meal, Abdul assisted her in completing her homework and by 9pm she was ready to go to bed. He followed her this time, unlike before; Of course, She didn’t mind because it was Abdul.
Next thing she knew, He started touching her in many places. She could still vividly see the movement in his tousers in her mind’s eye. She felt uncomfortable and so she resisted but He held her more. She shouted for help but the noise of the generator limited your wailings to the door. He forced his way into her and the bedsheet became blood coated. She cried all night as the pains down there persisted. Before he left the room that night, he threathend to kill her if she mentioned a word to her parents and she believed him because he looked so mean at that moment. This assault went on for a whole year. She still constantly looks at shadows around corners in fear of more sexual torture.
Now, the Lady is 25 and yet no one knows what she had been through, not even Ade her boyfriend. She is getting married soon yet the thought of sex scares her to death. She closed the album still confused and afraid.
How will she deal with this?
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