Desperate Moves

4

4

I had felt numbness since morning; I had already shed so much tears in the past few days and was beginning to feel I had no more tears. But the realization that those men had come for one thing and one thing alone: to r**e me, brought on a fresh bout of tears. Everybody present did their best to console me, but how exactly do you console a lady that has just lost her most prized possession to armed strangers. To think that I have been doing my best all these years to keep myself for the one special man that has won my heart. I couldn’t think of a better wedding gift to give my man on our wedding night than my virginity. But now, that has been brutally snatched from me; I allowed wallow in self pity

Just then, I remembered Sam. How had it escaped my memory? Sam must have worried himself sick, not having spoken to me this long. How long was I there? I wondered.

At that instant, I reached for my phone which I had dropped beside me after collecting it from Cynthia. I dialed Sam’s number as fast as my fingers could allow. He picked up at first ring.

“Oh my God! Baby what happened? I have been trying to reach you for the past four days. Your phone rang and rang the first day but you didn’t pick and later I was told your line was switched off. I’ve been so worried! Baby, are you there?”

I then realized I had not thought of what to tell him. I thought of the best way to tell him but didn’t come up with any.

“Didi.... are you there?” he was the only one that called me that. That was a special short form of my name that was peculiar to him alone even though he hardly used it - mostly when he was serious or upset.

“I’m here, I can hear you.” I managed to say. My voice sounded strange even to my ears.

“Baby, are you alright? What is it? Please talk to me!” I could hear the concern in his voice.

After a short pause, still thinking of how best to respond, I said,

“I’m ...I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound like it. Didi, you are making me more worried.”

I couldn’t bring myself to tell my fiancé that I was r***d. He had always been proud of me being a virgin and had vowed to wait till we got married - soon.

“Baby, I had already concluded plans to come to Rivers state tomorrow. I wasn’t sure of how I was going to locate your apartment, but I couldn’t risk waiting another day. I could have come sooner, but couldn’t get off work.” Sam said after waiting endlessly for my response to his question.

I did not know how to respond to that. How was Sam going to feel when he got to know what had happened? Did he have to come down? I know I will have to tell him, but just the thought of it sent shivers down my spine. Since I couldn’t come up with a simple way of letting him know what had happened, I took the easy way out of the situation. I decided to postpone it.

“Sam, we will talk when you get here.”

After some seconds of silence, which seemed like forever, I heard him release a huge sigh.

“Ok.”

He hung up after assuring me that he will be on his way the following morning and encouraging me that everything will be alright.

I sat there staring into space, looking like a total zombie! It was when Tosin wrapped his arms around me that I realized he had walked to the side of the bed where I was. I looked up to him and knew at that instant that he felt what I was going through. The doctor came in later to check on me and declared I would be free to leave the following day. I was supposed to be happy that I was finally going home, but the thought of going back to that house gave me chills. When it was getting late, all my neighbors that came to see me in the hospital left, except Tosin, who volunteered to stay back with me again. I couldn’t have been more grateful to have him around me, especially as night comes with fear for me. I was relieved that the following day was a Saturday and he doesn’t have to go to the office. That night was relatively better than the previous one. I fought sleep for as long as I could until I was finally overpowered by it - 3:00 am. I had the nightmares again, but this time, not as scary. By the time I woke up, it was nearly dawn. I looked around to see Tosin still sound asleep on the chair beside the bed. Usually, when I woke up, the first thing I did was to pray. The thought suddenly crossed my mind. But I couldn’t bring myself to pray. I somehow blamed God for allowing the evil to happen to me. but then I another voice in my head said that God cared, but men just allowed the devil to use them for evil.

I turned to see Tosin sitting looking at me. From the look on his face, I knew he had been looking at me for a while without my knowledge, but I still asked anyway.

“When did you wake up and for how long have you been staring at me like that?”

“I have been awake for the past ten minutes or there about and you’ve been sitting there like that.” He responded trying to bring humor into his voice.

“Sorry, I zoned out.” I said, equally trying to lighten up the mode a bit, at least for his sake.

“You are always zoning out these days.” He stated matter-of-factly.

As he said that, he came to sit beside me, placed his hand firmly on my shoulders, looked into my eyes and said,

“Edi, it will be alright, you will be fine. You are a strong woman; I know you will pull through this. I’m here to help; if you need anything, even if it’s just someone to talk to, do not hesitate to call on me.” He stressed on the last part.

I quickly blinked away the tears that were threatening to pour. A huge lump sat in the middle of my throat and I couldn’t find a way around it, so I simply nodded.

“Ok beautiful, let’s get you out of here.” He said brightly.

I turned and gave him a little smile and got up to go to the bathroom. I had my bath and changed into fresh clothes. When I was done, he went into the bathroom as well but just for urination, I think. While he was in there, Sam called to say the bus just left the park. Tosin came out to meet me still talking on phone. When I hung up, I told him Sam was on his way. He shrugged his shoulders and said okay. Seconds later, he asked,

“How many hours is it from Akwa Ibom to this place?”

“About three hours.” I responded coolly. “Why do you ask?” I asked raising my eyebrows.

“Nothing; I was just curious.” He said shrugging his shoulders.

I was finally ready to hit the road home, after the doctor came in, checked on me, gave me some drugs and advised that I go for counseling. After the doctor left, I quickly placed a call across to Sam that I was discharged from the hospital and will be heading home soon. Tosin helped me pack my stuff into a bag and we left.