Desperate Moves

6

6

One of the permanent staff in the school I served! Could it possibly have been him?

He had pestered me to be his girlfriend. Even after I told him I was engaged, he never gave up, but instead suggested we have a one night affair. Even if I were to be sure he was the culprit, what evidence do I have against him? The fact that he pestered me to go out with him was no evidence in a r**e case. I felt helpless and became very dejected. I made to stretch out and make myself more comfortable on the bed. Just then, I heard the shuffling of feet outside and then a knock on the door. I quickly wiped the tears that were streaming down my face, stood up and cleared my throat before saying weakly,

“Come in.”

And in came Cynthia and Tosin, followed by the one person I dreaded to face. Sam’s eyes were focused on me as soon as he stepped inside. I avoided his gaze and instead turned to Cynthia and Sam, who were standing awkwardly by one corner of the room.

“Thanks.” I mumbled to them.

They took the cue and left. I was left with my fiancé of three years and suddenly, I felt the urge to pee. For about two minutes, we just stood there, him looking at me and me looking at everywhere and everything else except at him. It was awkward just standing there. Finally, he broke the spell of silence. He moved close to me and touched my arm. I jerked with fear and took a step backward. He withdrew his hand and made to say something but quickly closed his mouth again. Then I realized it: I may never have a healthy relationship with a person of the opposite s*x again. I was broken! I looked up at him and saw the confusion and pain in his eyes. He stood riveted to the spot and just stared. I then beckoned on him to sit on the bed. He thought for a moment before obliging. As soon as he sat he asked,

“Edidiong, what is happening? What is wrong? You are driving me mad with confusion. Are you dumping me? Are you pregnant? What? Please talk to me.”

“I ... I was...” I stuttered.

“You were what?”He cut in.

I let out a huge sigh.

“I was raped.” I said it as fast as my tongue could allow.

“What!” he nearly screamed.

Then the tears I had been trying to hold back since I set my eyes on him found a release. The sobs shook my entire frame. Sam sat dumbly for a while probably trying to digest what I had just told him. Then I felt his arms around me. I shuddered and made to withdraw from his embrace, but he held me tight. I gave up trying to move away from him and settled into his embrace. Thankfully, he allowed me the luxury of weeping without pressing me to stop. For ten full minutes, I wept uncontrollably, it was all coming back. I had lost the one thing I carried with pride. Then he shifted me away from him a little to look at my face. When he did, I noticed he had been crying as well. Guilt washed through me. I wiped my face and my nose with the sleeves of my dress, picked up the handkerchief that lay on the bed close to me and offered it to him. He took it, wiped his face slowly and handed it back to me. I collected it and kept it back.

“Tell me everything.” He prompted.

In as much as I hated to recount the story, I reasoned within me that he needed to know it, after all we were going to be married in a matter of months. I paused at the thought of that. “Would Sam still want to get married to me? What if he decides he cannot stand the idea of settling down with me after what happened?”

“Edidiong!” he called out to get my attention.

I turned and looked at him briefly before turning my attention back to my hands that were shaking. I recounted the incident as coherently as my shaky voice could allow. I made sure to lay emphasis on the part the men said, “na she”. He was patient till I finished my narration. When I finished, he cleared his throat and said,

“Is there a possibility that those men were sent?”

“I have the feeling they were sent, seeing they did not take anything from the house and they never entered another place, plus the fact that they came looking specifically for me.”

He seemed buried in deep thought for a while and then said,

“Have you had issue with anyone around you?”

I furrowed my eye brow, deep in thought before replying,

“Nobody that I can think of, except...” I suddenly felt there was no need to mention the staff that had been asking me out. I was reasoning, why would he wait for close to a year to get his revenge if I could call it that?

“Except what?” he asked, giving me a quizzical look.

“One of the staff in my school that was disturbing me, the one I had told you about some time ago.”

“Could he have done this? Simply because you refused to go out with him?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t know what to think anymore.” Fresh tears stung my eyelids and I fought to keep them from pouring. I couldn’t stand Sam crying again because of seeing me in tears.

“We will get to the root of this matter!” Sam said, matter-of-factly.

“Please, I don’t want to pursue the matter. As much as I want to know who did this to me, I wouldn’t want to keep dragging the matter. It will not allow the wounds to heal.”

“Sweetheart, I know, but we can’t let the culprit get away with it.”

“I don’t want to keep reliving this nightmare.”

“Edidiong...!

“Please, I don’t want to talk about it again.” I said, dismissively.

“We will still have to talk about it sometime later.”

“A least not now.”

I got up from the bed, where I was sitting and made my way to the door. I could feel Sam’s eyes boring through my back, but chose to ignore. He had expected me to say something, but when I was not forth coming, he asked,

“So, where are you going to now?”

“I’m going outside for air; inside is hot and stuffy and feels stifling.” I responded without bothering to look back.