FORBIDDEN LOVE 16

Three weeks later…..
Life went on as usual, assignments to do, tests to read for, calls
from home and even uncle Sam. Trust me, I took life like nothing
serious had happened before. I let go of the past, not that I forgot
or wasn’t still hurt but it wasn’t as hurtful as I imagined it would
be. As long as I wasn’t pregnant or ill and no one knew about it, It
didn’t bother me. I was just fine, so my young mind made me
believe anyway. I still got to see senior Daniel at our usual spot who
just always made me happy. At least, he still had one more year to
spend before leaving secondary school. I would really miss him and all
his caring and loving features, I kept telling myself. I was even
closer to him than I was to my school mother.
Speaking of my school mother, senior Onome. She called me one
evening after prep and told me to come arrange some things in her
room. As much as I hated going to seniors room, I obeyed. When I
got to her room, she pointed at a heap clothes on her bed and asked
me to fold them neatly and put in her locker. I really hated her
that moment as I was doing an assignment with Anabelle. Anyway,
I started folding the clothes and I noticed they weren’t the normal
type of clothes you would expect students to have with them in the
hostel. They were fancy and actually pretty. I saw some dresses
that got me looking for the hand and some I thought were smaller
than her size. While I was arranging, I slowly chipped into senior
Onome’s conversation with her other friends.
They were talking about parties and boys and what not, not that I
really wanted to hear it but their voices weren’t as low either. I
heard one of the seniors say something about ‘doing it’. Although I
didn’t understand at first, I knew what she meant when she said
some other things. She was talking about how much she enjoyed her
first time with a married man and this time, my eyes opened with
shock. But as shocked as I was, I made sure it wasn’t obvious that
I heard. She mentioned some other things about how she gets money
from them just by having sex with them, calling it ‘a small thing’.
Not only did she say married men, but our school teachers. I could
remember her mentioning Mr. Pete, one of the science teachers. The
man had always been a pervert anyway. They went on and on with
topics like this and I could see them jumping up and being all excited.
Senior Onome and the other senior wanted to try all the things the
other girl had been saying so they were too engrossed in their topic
to notice that I was done with the clothes. As I was about to
leave, senior Onome finally noticed and called me back.
“Ehen Mesonma! Did I tell you to leave? Am I done with you?”
senior Onome spoke out.
I shook my head not saying a word.
“I hope you didn’t hear anything. If you open this your mouth to
say anything about us ehn. You’ll know how far. Get out.”
I ran out of the room not looking back. I couldn’t believe my ears.
I always knew things like this occurred in school but it was just my
first time hearing it from the executors themselves. I didn’t forget
it instantly as I thought about all they were saying. They made
everything seem so right. I mean my mates were already having
boyfriends with boys even their seniors and doing things that you
wouldn’t imagine them do. The seniors even did worse and some
teachers were even involved. I just came to think that it wasn’t
bad after all. I thought it was a normal thing and so I didn’t see it
as something wrong even though Anabelle still saw it as something
not right.
The next Saturday, my uncle with Esther came to see me. He had
said Esther really wanted to see me. And since my parents weren’t
able to bring her, he had offered to bring her as he also missed me.
Remember I made mention that I was no longer angry with my
uncle. I was actually happy to see him. I talked and played with
Esther until it was time for them to go home which got both of us
really sad. Uncle Sam told Esther to wait for him in the car while
he spoke to me for a while.
“Can I sit at the front now uncle Sam?” Esther asked.
“For now, just sit there but you know when I come, you’ll have to
sit at the back”
“Okay…,” Esther replied with a sad face. She always wanted to sit
at the front but they never allowed because she wasn’t always
behaved. And she could be a distraction to the person driving even
though children under twelve weren’t adviced to sit at the front.
Anyway, in order not to digress, I spoke to uncle Sam for a while
and he asked about school and everything in general. Saying he
couldn’t wait for me to come home for the break. He mentioned
how much he loved me and I told him I loved him too. Despite the
fact that he did what he did to me in the past, I still thought he
was very loving and caring. He fed me with a lot of things that I
enjoyed hearing. Things that I didn’t hear often. This was my uncle
but it started to feel like he wasn’t. It felt different, more like a
boyfriend. Yes, very stupid of a thought especially because I was
still so young and he was my uncle but it felt that way. Maybe
because I wanted to feel what my other mates said they felt with
their boyfriends or maybe it was just because of the situation and
the way my uncle was. I really couldn’t tell. I hugged him when we
were done talking and went back to my hostel.
Now this was when things got…..
After the term’s exams, we were usually supposed to stay in school
a week before going on our holiday. I guess it was because they
wanted to finish compiling our results for us to have them before
going home. Some people lived in other states and very far from
school so it was more convenient.
On a very calm night, Just two days before school was to close for
the break. I was returning from where I went to meet senior
Daniel when I saw some other senior boys at the extreme end of
the uncompleted admin building calling out to me. Initially I thought
they were saying something else or calling someone else but I
noticed it was me when I saw that there was no one else around. I
did like I didn’t hear because they didn’t look like they were in
their right senses and I knew that corner wasn’t safe either. I
kept walking hoping that they wouldn’t call out again but I was
wrong. They all walked up to me and grabbed me scolding me for not
answering but it didn’t end there. They dragged me to the
uncompleted building even when I was shouting for them to let me
go. I struggled and struggled and hoped it wasn’t what I thought
they wanted to do to me. These boys didn’t even look like high
school boys even though they were. They were big boys who looked
drunk of some sort.
I kept struggling and started screaming when I saw one of them
fumbling with his belts and trouser. I screamed and screamed
thinking this would be another case of rape. I couldn’t and wasn’t
ready to go through it again. I almost bit the one pressing me to
the ground but he realized on time and removed his hands. The two
boys kept on telling the one pressing me down to be fast. At that
point, I was ready to give up but I kept screaming and not long
after senior Daniel came to my rescue. I guess he had just been
leaving our spot when he heard me scream. Immediately senior Daniel
got to where we were, two of the boys ran away. The other one
who was pressing me to the ground was too slow as senior Daniel
punched him in the face. He kept punching him and I could see the
anger in his eyes. That was the first time I saw him very serious
and angry. I began to get scared for the boy so I started pleading
for him. I told senior Daniel to let him go as I was okay now but
he didn’t even listen to me. He kept beating him up even as I kept
pleading. I could see blood on his face and how weak the boy was
getting until he was too weak to even move.
To be continued….