I woke up in a hospital bed dazed; attempting to make sense of it all; to recall what happened and what I was doing there. I tried to get up, but I couldn’t. I opened my eyes to see my mum by my bedside with a worried look on her face and at that moment, the memories of the previous day came flooding in.
“My God! why am I still alive?” I thought as I tried to recline away from her; I felt dirty and I didn’t want my mom there. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I recalled what had happened.
I was a student in one of the higher institutions in Imo state. My parents were living in Lagos with my younger ones at the time. We had been given just thirty minutes to vacate the hostel after a very violent demonstration by students. Since I had nowhere to sleep in town, I had to leave for Lagos that night.
I arrived in Lagos early the next morning and took a cab home. I went inside expecting to be welcomed by my surprised parents but to my own surprise, the house looked empty like no one was home.
“Perhaps my younger ones had gone back to school” I tried to make sense of it all.
“But mum and dad should be home.”
I went to my mum’s room but she wasn’t there. That was odd, so I decided to check my dad’s room because my parents were one of those weird couples who slept in different rooms. As I opened the door the stench oozing from the room threw me off.
“Crap! What the hell is that” I cursed.
My curious nature egged me forward and that was when I noticed my dad on his knees, with a red towel wrapped around his waist. I listened closely and noticed he was reciting something.
“Dad” I called.
He didn’t respond.
“Dad!” I called again, this time raising my voice,
Nothing
At that moment, I felt I was intruding, so I turned to leave.
Just then, he got up, “Good morning dad”, I said, but there was still no response as he walked towards me.
The look in his eyes was strange. It was my dad but he looked different; I knew something was wrong, so I panicked. I tried to run away, but before I could get to the door, I felt his hand on my shoulder.
He turned me around viciously, making me scream: “Daddy! Daddy! It’s me Angie, dad, it’s me.” My screams fell on deaf ears. He grabbed me and threw me on the bed.
My thoughts went wild, what was the matter? I couldn’t make sense of it all. Was he going to kill me? Had my dad gone mad?
Suddenly, I felt him struggling with the buttons of my shirt and the realization of what he was going to do made me scream for help. “Mummy!! Mummy!!! No! Somebody help me! “Daddy it’s me”! I cried. “It’s me Angie, your daughter!!” He was like a possessed man! “Was my dad drunk?” But I couldn’t smell the alcohol on him; he didn’t look drunk.
He tore off my clothes piece by piece as I struggled with all my strength to push him off. When I realized I was down to only my pants, I whimpered, and with a teary voice, I asked: “Dad! Why are you doing this?”
He paused and looked into my tear-filled eyes and for a second, I felt he had come to his senses but I was wrong; he tore off my pants and with a swift thrust, he was inside me! I screamed but it didn’t help, so I stopped and lay down quietly while my dad killed me one thrust after another.
I felt the world had come to an end. I wanted to die! It wasn’t more than a minute, though it felt like a lifetime. When he was done, I got up and attempted to run out of the room, but he dragged me again, flung me to the floor and landed heavily on me again. I tried to free myself, but I had no strength left.
… To be continued next week Saturday.
Story by Nkiru Okoronkwo.