BETRAYED…chapter 3
By Rejoice Igbinovia Aluyi
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……Uncle clement didn’t st©p, he t©uçhés my br£@st at will,,I didn’t know what to do, mom didn’t want to listen to me when ever I wanted to have a discussion with her. She seems to trust uncle Clement more than she Trusted me….Uncle Clement would pl@ynice in the pres£nce of mom, buy her soft drinks on cold afternoons, give her money whenever she complained she was broke not knowing I was the price he was getting in return,,,
mom’s business soon crumbled,, I honestly didn’t know why mom couldn’t manage her business,she wasn’t paying our school fees, dad also paid the rent, he gave her some hvge sum, yet mom complained there wasn’t any money,she had spent all on God knows what, soon she st©pped going to the market, whether to buy or sell…..In as much as mom business wasn’t going fine which was supposed to make me worry, I was happy, that at least she would be home,,,but unfortunately that was not the case, mother was never at home, she wasn’t into any business but she was rarely at home,,, Grace was use to having me as a mother than having mom….
…..i decided I was going to tell mama Johnny about what uncle clement was doing, but she wasn’t around for sometime, she had traveled to meet her husband who was based in Asaba because of work.there was no other tenant in the compound…
……one evening, mom left me with what to cook, which certainly indicated she wasn’t coming home that day,,,mama Johnny was yet to return from Asaba,I feared my life, haven to spend the night with uncle clement.
Brother Clemy, I dey commote ohhh, mychildren dey house abeg, I no sure say I go come back today,I heard mom telling uncle clement,,,
Mama Bella, no wahala, I go take care of them
“thank you my brother,,, Bella,take care of your little sister, prepare the Noddles by 6, eat, bath your sister and your self, if you girls feel like eaten something later, you could take the peanut I bought ,and in case of anything, uncle Clement is there,,, be good girls, Bella you are almost eleven, you are no longer a baby” mom said
tell her, uncle Clement interrupted her, she no know say she no be baby,,,Bella shebi you heard your mummy, you are no longer a baby, you are a big girl,,,mom was just smiling all the way as uncle Clement spoke, if only she knew where he was driving at
okay I don dey go oh brother Clemy,, Gracie baby, bye.
“Bye mummy,my 8year old sister said
okay Bella bye….I didn’t say anything, I just stood and watch the woman who was meant to be my support and pillar leave me in the hands of a total stranger….
Bella baby, fine sisi, uncle Clement t©uçhed my cheek
Grace let’s go inside,my little sister and I went inside and remained there till it was 6, I c@m£ out to prepare the noodles, we ate ,had our bath and went inside again, I was trying so ha-rd to keep away from uncle Clement, who thankfully didn’t seems to be bothered about me,,I was very happy he had changed,,not until 9pm, I heard him knock on our door….
……I was studying my books, but Gracie was alre-ady fast asleep,,, Bella open its me uncle Clement he had said,I pretended I didn’t hear him,,,,, Bella I know you can hear me, your mom is on the phone, she wants to talk to you, I could hear him say ,mama Bella wait, she go soon open door, I wan give her the phone,,,when I heard that, my little br@in believed mom was really calling and wanted to speak to me, I opened the door….
Why didn’t you open before, take joor, your mom is on the phone, he gave me the phone and went inside his room.
……Hello mom, hello, hello, hello, I couldn’t seems to hear anything from the other end, I went to his room and stood by the door
uncle ,mummy isn’t talking
“Really, it must be network, if you had opened when I knocked, this wouldn’t have happened, anyways go and plug the phone there, pointing to the socket,, I went in, bent over and was trying to plug the phone, uncle Clement immediately pla-yed his DVD pla-yer, which I believe was on pause, a music c@m£ out, he shut his door and was trying to re-move my pyjamas,,, uncle Clement what are you doing, I could ha-rd ly hear myself, due to the music,,,, he then paused the DVD pla-yer, see Bella, just relax, you will like it, it is very sweet, calm down, you are a big girl, you even heard your mom say so
uncle Clement what are you talking about, plea-se let me go, my sister is alone in the room, plea-se,, my heart was racing fast, I didn’t un-derstand anything, but I know being alone with uncle clement wasn’t safe,,,he pla-yed the DVD pla-yer again, and carried me to his be-d, he started undressing me, I was sacred, I pleaded, i was in tears, but no b©dy could hear me, i was alone with him, and my sister was alre-ady slee-ping,,,he undressed himself too, and he ABUSED ME, uncle Clement DEFILED ME, I was in severe pain, h0t tears were rolling down my cheeks, I was crying profusely, but no b©dy c@m£, my plead and tears didn’t st©p uncle Clement, he continued, I begged and begged and begged, but uncle Clement didn’t st©p, suddenly he was doing it in so much rush, I felt I was going to die at of the intense pain, after the rush, he suddenly st©pped…and was smiling at me, calling me,my sisieko, my baby, my darling….
There was blood stain allover, I thought I was injured, I didn’t know why blood c@m£ out of me, I couldn’t stand either, Uncle Clement helped me up, he said I was very sweet, but I didn’t know what he meant,,, he asked me to go and have my bath, and sleep,that by day break the pain will be gone, and I dare not say a word, else he would kill my little sister, your mother won’t even believe you, she will beat you for saying such ru-bbish.he said smiling..
I did went to bath, I went inside our room, but I couldn’t sleep, in as much as I didn’t know what had happened, I knew I was certainly a bad thing, to the extent I had to injure, so I thought….I was able to fall asleep in the early hours of the day…..
By 7am, uncle Clement c@m£ knocking ón our door, Bella are you girls not going to wake up and do your house chores before your mother comes back, I was so tired but I managed to open the door, it was day break indeed and I wouldn’t want my mom meeting the house a mess..upon getting up, I observed I wasn’t walking exactly like me, and could still feel the pain, but I managed to do my morning chores with my sister….
Soon mummy c@m£ home, she didn’t even observe anything about me, the pains in my eyes nor my sudden strange walking steps…
Boil water for me to bath Bella, was the first thing she said, welcome mummy, okay ma, I replied, I boiled water, she bath and Gave us money to get bre-ad and tea for breakfast and then sle-pt off……
…my little sister, who happens to be my best friend noticed
what is wrong Bella?she had asked
what do you mean Gracie,,,
you have not been yourself today, and you aren’t walking well either, what happened, do you have an injury?I smiled, how do I explain something I do not un-derstand to my kid sister,,,I looked at her, and could see the love in her eyes
thanks Gracie for your care, but I shall be fine……
That evening again, mummy left again,,, of course Uncle Clement c@m£, knocked and knocked, but I didn’t answer, he told me mom was on the phone, of course it was a lie, I didn’t open, he asked me to help him with a glas-s of water, I didn’t answer, haven tried all he knew to do, and I didn’t open the door, he went back….but that didn’t mean it never happened again, because it sure did, many a time un-der my mother’s nose while she was around
Bella come and help me clean my room plea-se, I am not feeling too well,,he would say
uncle Clement am sorry I can’t
will you keep quiet and go and help him, don’t you know how nice and helpful uncle clement has been to us, helping him out with some domestic chores is the least you can do, come on go and help him, mother will f0rç£ me, getting inside, uncle Clement will do it again, go and bring gallon from uncle Clement so you could fetch water with it
Bella there is water inside oh, but come and turn it inside another bucket, while turning the water out Uncle Clement will do it again,,,, uncle Clement didn’t st©p he kept doing it again and again and again,with no one coming for my help…..
Soon school was on vacation, the long vacation, when mother’s sister c@m£ visiting, asking me to come live with her, I was very happy, but mom refused, saying she doesn’t want her kids living with anyb©dy, the only thing she would allow was me spending the holidays with her, I was happy still, because I knew staying in the same house with uncle Clement during the long holiday, will be a death s£ntence….
Days later, I was going with aunty Sarah for the holidays,,, I hvgged my sister so ti-ghtly, I will greatly miss her……
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TBC