was suffering. I felt so worthless and so down. Gogo put her arms
around me in comfort and that dammed my eyes with fresh tears. I was
so touched and amazed how God created everybody in His own unique
image yet as different as the word itself. you can turn the whole
world upside down yet you can't find another version of yourself or if
you can go to extreme heights and dig every possible grave way back to
creation you will still find no duplicate not even if you are
identical twins. She was the only person who believed my story so far
and I didn't know what posed before me when I would approach others
for help.
I didn't want to embarrass myself any further. "don't worry I will see
how I can go about it. am sure I will find some money then you will be
home before you know it " I didn't want to further burden the poor
woman let alone finish her food. Days turned into weeks and later into
months but there was no money for my transportation. Cindy visited but
so rare and in those occasions she didn't speak to me. I ended up
avoiding her and I did all I could not to cross her path.
I didn't go to school because I thought what if I did only to go back
to the village in a matter of time . I talked to her if she knew
someone who could help and employ me as a maid because I couldnt
continue leaving off her. she introduced me to a certain woman I only
knew as Aunt Ivy. the nature of my job was to be an assistant to her
house maid in Area 36. that meant I had to leave gogo and start
leaving with strangers again …. life couldnt be any worser because the
old woman was my family for six months and it was no picnic parting
ways yet still life had to go on. true to her words I was an assistant
maid but later turned to her shop keeper at her vegetable stall.
I worked for a year before I found myself a job at a Chinese shop. I
was moving ahead and forgot all else about going to Nkhatabay. I was
getting 10,000 kwacha a month and able to pay for rent and food at a
bedsitter in Phwetekere. by then I was 17 but knew alot more about men
than most of my peers. I dated my work mate who I began to like more
after he made a career out of complimenting on how good I looked every
single day.
I started dressing for him only. sure a way to a woman's heart is
through sweet words to her ears. I was swept on the wings of puppy
love and unbeknownst to me disaster awaited me next door ..
why I had fallen for Ben I didn't know. I guess it was one of those
awkward moments out of fear of loneliness. he was ten years my senior
and always talked about the future with me inclusive. he made me
imagine a big house with kids running all over. my best friends Norah
and Emma called me a hopeless dreamer but isn't that what each one of
us live for. dreams make us cling to the future with hopes and
expectations of a better tomorrow ? I wanted a life without drama and
complications. he was a graduate but due to the skyrocketing levels of
unemployment he resorted to the low paying job. he always said if he
lands himself a better job,he will send me to school so that I became
a university graduate like him. I had always dreamed of becoming a
journalist particularly a radio presenter.
there was something captivating about this job that always intrigued
me.you could be alone in the studio, talking to yourself like a mad
person but the mass you kept gluing their ears to listen to you was
just amazing. I still clung to that dream no matter how impossible it
sounded but I was ready to climb those heights.
Ben was a nice man and after dating for a year he thought it was time
to make us go further. I knew what he meant but I wasn't ready for it.
every time he touched me I would freeze in fear. I never told him the
rape incident and I guess I was still lurking behind its shadow.never
a day passed by without me showering in those sad memories. sometimes
I would wake up in the middle of the night sweating from the nightmare
as if I was just being raped.
Ben couldn't have understood all this but he couldn't get it why I
became withdrawn every time he brought the subject up. was I a virgin
and afraid of first times? why couldnt he have me? wasn't he man
enough. I always drew a line at my door step and never invited him
inside. he was intrigued. did I have another man? if yes why didn't I
just tell him so?
on that particular day, I found him on my door step on my way from church.
"wangu if you can't have sex with me. we are done. if you make up your
mind fast you know where to find me" as outright as that he left.
that was so brutal, having to cut me up with a blunt knife. it hurt
and made me feel like that was what he ever wanted from me.
I locked the house quickly and went to see Norah and Emma. they knew
how much Ben had turned out to mean to me.I was close to tears and
locked on the horns of dilemma. I didn't want to lose him yet I didn't
want to have sex before I was ready, when my body was still screaming
in protest and still bruised from the rape five years ago.
I found them together at Emma's place. we didn't waste time but had an
emergency meeting in her room.
"you look like someone died.
..wait wait wait did you fight with Ben?" I nodded. Norah the loudest
of us all could be a pain.
I narrated everything to them and awaited their counsel.sometimes it
felt like I mostly didn't have a mind of my own.
"leave the guy he will cause you trouble " Norah chipped in. I was shocked.
"just give the poor man. after all it won't be your first time " Emma urgued.
"yeah maybe don't leave him,we all know you need him better than he
does. come on you won't survive a day without him" Norah hit home.
after so much arguments I knew what to do and we left for my place
with the scale of uncertainities unbalanced.
Ben came a week later to apologize.
"am sorry love my behavior that day was uncalled for "
I gave him my best smile and we made up.
we made love but I felt nothing apart from the pain. he wasn't none
too gentle but its like my body blackened out. I had to do it to keep
him and to mask those sad memories.
he kept telling me that it would be okay. telepathically did he feel
and sensed my pain and fear? I felt like telling him about the rape
but advised myself against it. he was mad at finding out that I wasn't
a virgin all along.
"why didn't you tell me that you already slept with someone else? was
he better than I have been to you? you still love him I guess "
I was trapped ..
To be continued….
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