I Am Woman – Episode 14
A Story By Brian Ngoma
He opened the door wi-dely and stood in front of us motionless. We couldn’t see his face clearly but could almost hear his heart beat and sweat dripping from his face. His silence was dead as night and as scary as a ghost. It was like he was in a trance of some sort. A spiritual person could have said he was possessed. A medical person, mentally unstable. As he stepped forward, we could see his furrows and burning eyes as he stood wondering what to do with us. He took another step forward and I shouted.
“Get back Enoch!”
Still quiet he moved further.
“What do you want from us?” I shouted.
Kasuli was crying and holding me ti-ghtly. We moved back to the wall whilst on the be-d. Enoch moved to the edge of the be-d.
“So you thought you could embarras-s me and walk away with it?” He asked breathing heavily.
“We can talk about this in the morning,” I tried to reason with him. “Look at the time Enoch, its 01:40.”
“I don’t care about that. I am here to give you what you deserve. You think you have grown. Disrespecting everyone in this house.”
“Who have I disrespected?” I asked trying to calm him down.
He was quiet for a while seemingly thinking and snapped, “My father and mother feeds you and you dare go behind his back and tell the company to st©p giving him the money.”
“No Enoch. Your father will continue getting the money from next month. We just nee-ded it for some clothes and other necessities but what I got is enough.”
“So you admit now?” He smiled wickedly. “He asked you about it and you made him look like a fool. Do you know that you guys are a handful?”
“Yes we know Enoch,” I answered.
“Then why do you treat my parents with no respect,” He paced about.
“If that’s how it seems, we will st©p disrespecting them Enoch. Now can we plea-se talk about this in the morning. Look at Kasuli, she’s scared.”
Enoch laughed, gr@bb£d and pu-ll-ed Kasuli from me. It happened so fast that I didn’t contemplate it. One second, Kasuli was in my hands, the other she was in Enoch’s. I knew that Enoch wasn’t pla-ying with us. He had come for revenge. His silence since the last incidence didn’t mean he had forgotten and buried the issue, he was planning on when to attack next and that was it.
“Tinashe!” Kasuli screamed.I stood up and started begging Enoch not to hurt Kasuli.
“She’s just a child plea-se, let her come to me.”
“But you are not a child, are you?” He asked.
“No I am not.”
I knew where this was going and screaming for help couldn’t have helped. The neighbourhood my uncle’s house was located in had mind your own business kind of neighbours.
“Let her go Enoch,” I pleaded with him.
“In exchange for what?”
“Me,” I answered hesitantly.
With a smile on his face, he let go of Kasuli and she ran to me. I held Kasuli in my arms and told her everything would be fine. She couldn’t st©p crying and telling me she nee-ded mama.
“Follow me to my room, I will be waiting for you on the door and if you dare try to do something foolish. Your sister and you won’t ever enjoy city life again,” he left the room.
I looked at Kasuli and told her to go back to sleep. She refused and said she won’t let me go anywhere. She was crying profusely and holding me very ti-ght I couldn’t get away from her grip. I knew Enoch would be back and I had to hurry up lest he had his way with the both of us.
“He won’t do anything to me I promise,” I as-sured her.She looked at me and said, “You are lying Tinashe.”
Tears were dropping from my eyes. I couldn’t control them. I regretted going to Papa’s company. Perhaps that was the reason Enoch was so upset with me.
“Tinashe we don’t have the whole night, its 02 alre-ady,” he shouted from the corridor.
I got up, looked at Marlon’s letter on the table and left Kasuli in the be-droom. I told her to close the door and close her ears because we might be talking loud with Enoch, I lied. br@ve as she was, she closed the door. I went into Enoch’s room and found he had re-moved his clothes except for his p@n-ts. As soon as I entered, he told me to lock the door. He got up from his be-d and c@m£ to where I was standing.
“Are you scared?”
Fool, I thought to myself.
“Don’t be, I will be gentle.”
“Enoch I am your cousin, can’t we talk about this plea-se.”
“Cousin ni ndiyo,” he pu-ll-ed me and la-id me on his be-d.
I watched him take away his p@n-ts down looking at me while I was fully dressed. He put his p@n-ts on the other side of the be-d when the door ban-ged. It was Kasuli shouting my name and crying. Enoch immediately got away from me and looked at me furiously.
“Shut her up!” He said angrily.
I got up and went to the door. I opened it and there she was, angry and upset. I had never seen her that angry before. She carried with her in her hands a knife she had gotten from the kitchen.
“Didn’t I tell you to sleep Suli?” I asked her calmly.
“Let’s go Tinashe,” she said.Surprised, I asked, “Where Suli?”
“To mama.”
It then dawned on me that we still had time to leave the house. I told Mr Lubase about leaving but I didn’t know where we could go. Kasuli was right, we had somewhere to go and that was Mama’s place. I then remembered the piece of paper she left me at Papa’s funeral. It had her physical address. I wasn’t going to give in to Enoch’s selfish and wicked de-sires.
As I wanted to turn around to stand up to him, I saw him charge at me fiercely and pushed me aside with so much power I hit the wall. Trying to get myself up, I heard Kasuli scream once and went quiet. I fell inside the be-droom and Kasuli was still in the corridor. I got up and saw Kasuli laying on the floor with Enoch standing beside her. He c@m£ towards me.
“What have you done to her!” I shouted.
He gr@bb£d my hand and pushed me on the be-d. I tried to get away from his ti-ght grip but failed. I bit his ear and while he was screaming from the agony, I rushed to where Kasuli was. I shouted her name but she wasn’t responding. Without anticipation, Enoch gr@bb£d me by my hair and pu-ll-ed back into his be-droom. He pushed the door and didn’t lock it with the keys and c@m£ at me. I tried to put up a fight but the more I tried, the ha-rder he hit me especially in the stomach. I decided to st©p putting up a fight. My mind was on Kasuli and the sooner he was done, the better. Fighting back made him angrier. His eyes had even changed their colours.
That was the first time
I saw such color
Springing in his eyes
His muscular arms
Where his piano and drums
For this abominable song-
A r@p£ chorus
No shame at all
He made his intention known
Where could I have escaped from?
The closed!
Like a Jew
Met with jihadists
My clothes were r!pp£doff me
It was hopeless pleading
Or saying it wasn’t fair
For he left his s-en-se of reasoning
At the market square
…
Where could I have escaped from?
The doors were closed
I could sight his walking stick
ma-king a kick
Shouting made no mark
He was set to swim
wi-de as he was,
He nee-ded an accommodation
My legs were made
To pave the way,
To give the satisfaction.
One went East
And the other west
Ah!
There my strength less b©dy la-id
Like a billboard that boldly says
“FOOD IS re-adY”
…Food is re-ady
Come and taste
There was no barrier anymore
My skin from his,
His beast from my stream
Left only, was a whistle
To tell him
“thrû-st in’
To be continued
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