The way his life had transformed overnight still baffled
him.
Mofe had suddenly called to say he had to see him
urgently. He had told him that he would visit him over the weekend but Mofe had
insisted it had to be that very Monday. Monday wasn’t a good day for visits
because it was the day Mr Badmus, their MD visited the Lagos office and
whenever he was around, he always demanded his presence. No one usually knew
the exact time he would come to the office so all through the day on Mondays
everyone was at their best.
Mr Badmus, the man who had saved him from being among
the thousands of graduate job seekers in the country. Immediately after his graduation,
Mr. Badmus had worked it such that he had served in his Abuja Company and as
soon as he was done with service, had retained him as a full time staff. When it
was time for him to open a Lagos office, he had been the one he entrusted with
heading the office. He knew that if Mr. Badmus even had an inclination of the
role he played in his daughter’s disappearance, he would be a dead man. So he
had kept mute and simply played the worried friend.
As soon as Mr. Badmus had discovered his daughter’s pregnancy and disappearance, he had been the first person he called.
“Shola,
where is Toju.”
“She
should be somewhere in school sir”
“Did
you know about her pregnancy?”
At that moment, he had almost peed in his pants. Shola
couldn’t believe that just the second day after their discussion Toju had gone
to tell her father everything without even giving him a heads up.
“She
left this letter saying she got pregnant and had to leave, did you know about
this?”
“Wow! Toju didn’t tell me anything. We all noticed she
has been behaving strange for a while now, but she never said anything about a
pregnancy”
Toju hadn’t told her father about his involvement, he
wasn’t about to.
Mr. Badmus had immediately visited their school to
interview all her friends. All the while, he had been the one showing him where
to go and reassuring him that his daughter would be fine. For so long, he had
combed the whole of Abuja and Ile-Ife in search of his daughter. He had
insisted he couldn’t involve the police because he didn’t want it to get any
messier. But Mr. Badmus had been so impressed by his support all through the
period that he had taken him as a son. Even before the incident, he had loved
and trusted him so much that he had entrusted his daughter to him in their
school. Ever since, he had ensured he did everything to further impress him. He
had a deep interest in consulting and even though he graduated from
Biochemistry, he was so eager to work for Mr Badmus when he was offered the
chance.
“I
can’t be absent from work today Mofe, my boss is coming around”
“Okay,
you know what. We will come over”
“We?”
“ Oh
sorry, I will come over”
“Is
it that urgent Mofe, can’t it wait?”
“No
Shola, it can’t. Text me the address please, I will be driving down now”
About 1 hour 30 minutes later, he had standing before
him, his dear brother Mofe and his worst nightmare, Toju.
His brother had asked him to start explaining
everything but immediately Toju saw him, right there at the reception area, she
charged at him and began hitting him. Mofe had managed to control her as Shola
dragged them both into his office.
“I am
sorry Toju, please forgive me”
“You irresponsible worthless beast, you are sorry? For
what exactly, tearing my innocence off me and not bothering to look back or for
being caught 2 years after? Which one you idiot?”
She had started screaming and his colleagues were
beginning to notice
“ Can
we go somewhere to talk please, your house maybe?
Toju burst into laughter. The idiot was still trying to cover up his shame
“You are foolish Shola, it’s over now. I will stand up
now and go to whoever your boss is, and I will tell him everything you did to
me you rat”
“So it’s true Shola, you raped an innocent girl and
abandoned her with a child. Who are you? How could we have come out from the
same womb? You disgust me Shola”
“Forgive
me Mofe, I don’t know what came over me that day”
“…and you don’t know what came over you for the past 2
years too? This is the love of my life damn it. This is the woman I want to
spend the rest of my life with, only for me to find out her son was a product
of rape by my own brother, I hate you Shola, I curse the day maami birthed you”
By now, the entire staff was standing by the door
listening in amazement to the pouring revelations. Even the receptionist was
not on her seat when Mr. Badmus walked in. He had been surprised at how empty
the whole place was, and then he heard the noise. It was coming from Shola’s
office.
“What
the hell is going on here”
Everyone at the door scrambled off to their seats
leaving him in more confusion. He opened the door.
“Shola,
what is going on? Why…”
Then he saw her.
“Oh
my God, Toju, where have you been? What is going on? Why are you crying? Shola,
where did you find my daughter?
By now, Toju had jumped into her father’s arms, his
embrace made her cry the more.
“I’m
so sorry dad, please forgive me”
“You
should never have left Toju. Shola, thank you so much for finding her, tell me
how you did”
Toju burst into laughter amidst her tears
“Finding
me? Daddy, Shola was the one who sent me into hiding in the first place.”
“I
don’t understand”
Toju had then sat down and narrated the whole event to
her father. How Shola raped her and told her to abort the pregnancy. How she
had taken some money from his safe and single handedly raised her son and how Mofe
had found and fallen in love with her only for them to discover he was Shola’s
brother. Mr. Badmus had walked up to Shola and slapped him.
“What kind of a human being are you? You were right
under my nose all this while, sympathizing with me when in fact, you were the
one who chased my daughter away?”
He wasn’t the type who talked too much so he had
immediately called his soldier friends to come and bundle the criminal out of
his company. He didn’t like to deal with Policemen because he felt they were to
slow in their discharge of duties. He wanted soldiers to lock him up and
torture him in their guard room for some months before charging him to court.
So, Shola was very
lucky to still be alive the next morning. The soldiers had beaten the living
daylight out of him that he could still feel the taste of blood in his mouth. The
room was so dark he couldn’t even see what his surroundings looked like. He
knew he couldn’t sit because the floor felt muddy and he could hear rats and
cockroaches running around. He couldn’t rest his back to the wall either
because the few places he had touched had felt like the whole place was soaked
in mucus. He was confused; he had woken up feeling so.
“Where
am I? How did I get here? What kind of a place is this? Who is there? Someone
please answer me”
It seemed like he was
alone because despite his screams, no one answered.
“Hello, somebody help me!!!”
And then slowly, it all
came back to him…
He had succeeded in
dragging himself to hell and he knew it!
He blamed himself for Aisha’s death. He knew he could
have done something about the signs he got years ago. He realized he never
actually prayed about it for once, fear didn’t let him. He was a man of God
with a strong hold in God’s vineyard, but the fear of history repeating itself
kept him from taking Aisha’s issue to God, he just didn’t know how to pray about
it. He had only started praying on the day of the delivery, maybe if he had
talked to God about the signs he saw earlier, Aisha wouldn’t have left. The
doctor said the results of the tests carried out on her before she died
revealed that the leg pains had been as a result of blood clotting. Blood
wasn’t circulating well in her system and after losing a lot of blood during
delivery and bla bla bla. For him, it was generational and even though he had
made a mistake in the way he handled his son’s case, he was ready to face and
conquer it now, God had to help put a stop to it.
“Dear Lord, I am ready to fight this battle. I am
sorry for not doing anything about Aisha till she dies, but this surely cannot
happen again. I am ready to declare war. My generation is under new management
and the devil cannot rule us anymore. It happened to my father, to me and to my
son but no more! I am ready to put on the whole armor Lord, the devil will have
no hold over us anymore”
The tears had started to pour and he wasn’t ready to
stop. God had to intervene, he had to do something before Ifunanya and
hopefully her other siblings grew up and were ripe fro marriage.
It’s been 10 months since the incident and all he had
now was Aisha Ifunaya Chike. She was his reason to keep living. But for her, he
really would have become a mental case. She just never stopped laughing and her
laughter was exactly like his Aisha’s. She had the same beautifully prominent
forehead, same eyes and that dark gum. She reminded him so much of his late
wife and at first, that had made him cry, but not anymore, 10 months down the
line, it was his reason for staying strong. Aisha’a mum had offered to take
care of little Aisha but he just couldn’t agree to that, she was his
everything. So he had told Aisha’s mum that she could visit anytime she wanted
but he would never leave his daughter. He didn’t plan on being single forever
like his father because little Aisha was a girl and she would need a mother’s
care. But he wasn’t ready, not just yet; he needed more time to not get over
Aisha (because he actually never could) but to at least get accustomed to her
absence in his life.
He had threatened to sue the hospital after Aisha’s
death. Despite the useless results they got form the tests they conducted, he
knew their negligence had played a huge role in his wife’s death. Nigerian
hospital sickened him and but for the fact that Aisha’s mum was denied visa to
go with Aisha to the US, their baby wouldn’t have been born here. Aisha had
insisted she wanted her mother with her and wasn’t ready to be alone in a
foreign country. Now, she was gone and the hospital has even refused taking
responsibility for their actions. They denied asking her to wait on the wheel
chair for hours. They denied the unavailability of the consultant until very
late that evening. They denied they had just taken her sample for tests that
day when they should have carried out the tests a long time ago. They even
denied having given her paracetamol alone the many times she had come to
complain about her leg pains. His head had nearly exploded.
He planned reporting to the police and taking the
hospital to court. But then he thought of the plenty rigors of the executive
and judicial arm of the Nigerian system. He was too weak to withstand it.
Aisha’s mum was telling him to let God judge and his father had insisted the
incident was more spiritual than physical and even if it were to be another
hospital, the same thing might have happened. He had eventually agreed to let
it go but not after damaging some hospital equipment. If they were not guilty,
they could have charged him for damages, but they couldn’t; they were just glad
he had agreed to drop his charges against them.
Although life had dealt hardly with him, for his
daughter’s sake he decided to put his head up high, remain strong and give his
daughter the best things in life after all, he hadn’t been left without a
bundle of joy.
**********
She was still
contemplating whether to get a makeup artist for her introduction or just do
the little makeup she knew how to and leave the professionals for the wedding
day. She had insisted she wanted it small, just in her father’s sitting room
and with only their parents in attendance. Mofe had however insisted that no
matter how small she wanted it to be, he was going to come with his step sister
and her kids. His sister had maintained that ever since she met Toju in that
hospital, she knew she would be coming into their family. Toju had finally
agreed and included her in the cooking plans.
She had known she would
definitely return home someday but she never thought things will play out the
way they did. It’s been 1 year since the whole incident and her life has
completely turned around. She had written post jamb and gotten admission into
Covenant University to study Education because after the 2 years she spent at
Sam Kiddies School, she had discovered how passionate she was about teaching.
She had thought it impossible to continue a relationship with her son’s uncle
but Mofe had insisted he wasn’t giving her up. He told her he was ready to
fight for her because he couldn’t suffer for his brother’s stupidity. He had
taken her to Maami and although she had been shocked, sad and weakened by the
entire story, she had supported her son. According to her, Ire was still within
the family and he also had Adewole as his surname. She was particularly happy
that she had a grandson.
Next visit was to her
father who had vehemently refused. Not just about her getting married to him but
her getting married at all; she was still too young and had her whole life ahead
of her. Maami had met with him and tried to convince him
“Isn’t
she too young to have a 2 year old son too, but doesn’t she already have? Your
daughter is already a woman Mr. Badmus, she is already a mother and so there is
nothing too young about her anymore”
“She needs to go back to school. She needs to graduate
and become who she has always wanted to be”
This time, it was Mofe
who spoke.
“She
will sir, I will do everything within my power to ensure she returns to school.
Besides, we do not even plan getting married right now, I will give her time to
get back on her feet and secure admission. She is so special and precious to me
sir and I intend to care for her with all that I have”
“So what will you tell her son when he grows up? Who will
be his father?
Mofe had no answer this
time so it was Maami who spoke
“Ire
is our son. It is so unfortunate the circumstance surrounding his birth but
when Ire is old enough to understand, we will tell him everything but for now,
let us take it one step at a time.”
Her father had finally
accepted and Mofe had immediately gotten her a jamb form. He wanted her to go
to a private school this time just so it could be faster. Being the genius that
she was, she had excelled in her exams and had resumed with the next September
batch.
They had finally
released Shola from the guard room after three months and charged him to court
for rape, assault, damages and theft. He had pleaded guilty to all charges and
had been sentenced to 25 years in prison. She knew she would have to plead with
her father to help him soon because at the end of the day, he was the father of
her child.
“Darling, you look so worried”
“Hmmm,
my love, I am fine, was just thinking about your brother. We are going to have
to talk to father soon, he has spent 5 months in there already and even though
Maami is trying to be strong for us, it is killing her”
“I know darling, but let us give Father some time, let
him really calm down, we will talk to him.”
She had hated God for
so long, she had blamed him for everything that happened. But right now, she
realized He was the one who had stood by her all these years. How did she
manage to survive the 2 years she spent in that neighbourhood, raising a son
with little or no experience? She smiled as she remembered the way Mrs. Akpan
had burst into tears when she had returned to pack her things. Those women
taught her a lot and she will never forget them.
“Honey, God is indeed faithful. These past years has
taught me to never doubt Him because he actually never leaves His own. He saw
me through the miry clay and then beyond cleaning me up when I came out of the
clay, he dressed me in royal garments by giving me a man who loves me so much
and is willing to accept me as I am. Thank you my king, you are my priceless
gift from God”
“Oya o oko ati iyawo (husband and wife), we are about to
start o.
Maami’s voice had sweetly
interrupted their precious moment.
*The End*
Honestly, writing this finale was quite overwhelming
for me. The past month has been a wonderful experience writing this story and
reading your comments. This story was inspired by real events that happened to
different people and I just felt to share so I could encourage one or two
people reminding them that no matter how difficult it might be right now, it’s
not the end and God is still in the business of putting smiles on faces, you
will certainly laugh last!
I also seize this opportunity to give my 2 cents on
rape, it’s a no no so please, STOP RAPE!
Hope you enjoyed this series, another short story is
loading already *winks*
PS: You have a story to share or something you want me
to write about, you just holla!
See ya!
