A Way Out

CHAPTER 6

It was the day of the hearing, I was dressed in a normal outfit, polo and three-quarter shorts and a pair of sandals. Our lawyer was the man who had refused to help us at first. The hearing started after we had payed respect to the judge by standing up and waiting for him to seat before we sat. Aunt Shelby had a carefree face on as she sat down in the box meant for suspected criminals, the crowd in the court room was really small but I still felt uncomfortable with the way they looked at me. This was the time that I needed Blessing by me and I needed her desperately. I had sweaty hands and my legs were shaking I couldn’t stop it. As our lawyer was the prosecuting lawyer, he started immediately after the clerk made an announcement that I did not get. “My lord, I am Barrister James Akpan, the prosecuting lawyer of this case. Mrs. Shelby here has been accused of sexually, mentally and physically abusing my client and not wasting your time and the time of the court, I simply just want to present my evidence but first I would like to ask the accused and the victim a few questions. Aunt Shelby was called to the witness box where she took an oath to say the truth and nothing but the truth. I knew that the oath was going to be broken. “Miss Shelby would you like to explain your relationship with the Mr. Tobi and his family?” “ Tobi is my nephew, and is mother is my mother is my elder sister. Since Tobi is autistic and he can’t take care of himself, I took care of him when his mother was always busy” “so because of that you decided to take advantage of this and abuse him because he could not protect himself” “no that was not the reason” “so you agree that you abused the young man” “objection my lord” the defending lawyer countered and the judge sustained it I smiled knowing the trick that my lawyer was using on aunt. My aunt was dismissed from the box and I was asked to step into the stand. It took the same routine, my lawyer tried his best not to be harsh on me and he wasn’t then it was time for the defending lawyer to ask me his questions and I was scared. He introduced himself and turned his attention to me “Mr. Tobi, you said that you were being abused by your aunt why didn’t you speak up?” I knew the answer to that question but I couldn’t answer. I began stuttering and the lawyer smiled. He turned to the judge “My lord if what this man says is true then I do not see any reason he would not be able to answer my question” Objection my lord the defending lawyer should know that my client is autistic and does not do too well with crowds” “if what you are saying is true then how come he answered your question with so much ease” this left my lawyer speechless and his objection overruled. The defending lawyer continued, “I put it to you that my client was framed by these frauds in other to get compensations but they could not get their lies together and so they are messing up. I doubt if the so called victim is even autistic.” The judge spoke up “prosecuting do you have a medical report to prove that your client is really autistic” a paper was passed down to the judge and after reading it, he nodded his head telling them to proceed. Wow I thought my lawyer was actually prepared for this case.. The defending lawyer sat and Mr. James took the floor telling Chi chi to come to the witness box. “Who are you to the victim miss?” “I was their maid” “You said was as in past tense does that mean that you no longer work for them?” “Yes” “And why is that?” “Because I quit” “And why did you quit?” because Shelby threatened me” “Why did she threaten you?” “Because this day I came to the house even though it was meant to be my off and I saw Shelby on top of Tobi slapping his face. She told me to get out and that if I ever came back she would kill me” “why did you not tell anyone?” “I didn’t tell anyone because as the maid, I knew that no one was going to believe me” “That is all my lord the lawyer said to the judge and took his seat. Mr. Ejiro the defending lawyer took the stand and said “My lord this is totally a false accusation against my client and the prosecuting lawyer should know that only a witness is not enough to prove one right. My lord I would like to ask the maid only one question why did you go to the house on that day when you were meant to be on your leave?” Chi chi didn’t seem phased by the question and answered casually “I was supposed to be writing an exam to get into the university and I forgot my books in the house so I went to pick it up” her reply was filled with confidence that it shut the man up. The lawyers kept on exchanging words and showing the court petty evidence until my lawyer decided to drop the bomb. “My lord, in my hand here is a Compact Disc also known as a CD and this CD contains a video and this video is more likely going to prove to you that the accused is guilty now this may be found disgusting by some of you as it contains some s****l activities”. Aunt Shelby was not showing any form of fear which got me tensed they played the video on the projector and just immediately, the spectators began laughing. The disc contained a video of a man dancing. I could feel my breath getting hitched up in my throat “IS this some kind of joke to you?” the voice of the judge boomed with anger shutting every one up. “I’m sorry my lord this is some kind of misunderstanding” My lawyer looked terrified. Mr. Ejiro started “my lord it is clear that they are clowns and are here to merely waste the time of the court. I reckon” I blocked him out; I was scared I rubbed my sweaty hands against my shorts and I felt something protruding from it. I put my hand into my pocket and brought out a flash drive that red ‘in case’. I remembered Blessing putting this in my pocket the answer to the commotion was in my hand and all I had to do was stand up. I easy it sounded but how hard it really was. I summoned up the courage and stood up. All eyes were on me, watching the crazy boy as he moved across the court room waiting for him to make a mistake. I went to where my lawyer was seated and handed it to him. He breathed a sigh of relief knowing what the flash drive held. I scurried back to my seat as James shut Mr. Ejiro up. ”My lord I’m really sorry for the mix up earlier but I want to assure you that this flash drive has all the answers” he quickly connected the flash to his laptop and the projector began loading. “Like I said before, this video maybe disturbing to some people as it contains some adult content. I looked down; I heard the moans coming from the projector, the sound of palms colliding with cheeks, of legs colliding with ribs. And then I heard the gasps of the audiences. The video was stopped abruptly and I could still feel people’s stares boring holes in my head. “My lord, this video is a strong prove that the accusations against madam Shelby are all true” “objection my lord there are modern day technology and their faces could have been cut and pasted on the faces of the people in that video.” “My lord this video was gotten from an account known as sexy shelly and this account was registered under an email account that was registered under Mrs. Shelby’s phone number.” He said whilst giving another sheet of paper to the clerk who passed it to the judge. “If the prosecuting lawyer still has doubt about this then I would like to throw this question to Mrs. Shelby if you are innocent as you claim, why did you pay an assassin to kill miss Blessing Patrick the lady who was meant to defend the victim and that same assassin you hired to kill Mr. Kabala because he refused to drop the case. I don’t know if you do remember, but you also bribed Mrs. Amanda to drop the case” “Objection my lord but this is all false accusation” “My lord it isn’t false accusation if you have witnesses to back you up. In this case I have two.” The lawyer was filled with confidence as he called Barrister Amanda to the stand. “I have only one question for you” he said after the oath was taken. “Did you or did you not take a bribe from Mrs. Shelby?” “I did.” “Thank you, you can go. I would like to call up Mr. Ade to the stand. I remember that man he was the one that tried to kill Blessing. “Did Mrs. Shelby pay you any money to kill anyone?” “Yes she paid me to kill two lawyers a male and a female” he said without any care in the world. “Thank you. My lord, the evidences are right in front of you, we can all see that the accused is guilty and all evidence point against her.” “Does the defending lawyer have anything to say?” “No my lord” “okay we would leave the jury to decide.”

The jury as expected decided in our favor, aunt was sentenced to life imprisonment along with the hired assassin. I was all over the news for weeks, and I didn’t like the attention. Momma decided that no matter how poor we were, I still needed my therapy and so I started therapy all over again. Blessing got better after about two weeks and she never left my side except for work. I knew I found a friend in her. Chi chi still wasn’t living with us but she came to visit once in a while. And I, I was proud to say that I finally found all happiness.

******* ******* ******* ******* *******

I sat on my comfortable chair as I twisted the sides and corners of the Rubik’s cube trapped in my hands. I found this small cube rather fascinating, how its parts were loosely tight waiting for someone to twist them until their colors matched both in rows and columns, it would always take a while for one to complete this puzzle. My shaky hands would not let my brain think as they would probably make a move which was uncalled for making the puzzle harder for me. I felt someone’s presence behind me, I didn’t know who it was so I looked back, and it was my smiling mum. “Tobi I’m going out, Blessing would be here soon.” I nodded. She touched my shoulder and I did not flinch she was happy. I was happy. Everything was falling into place for me, I was not alright but I was getting better. I had friends, I had family, my insecurities were beginning to disappear my fears were like they were never there. I had a little bit of confidence added to my big bottle for everything I did and did right. I wasn’t scared to go out any longer, I mean I wanted a life and if I wanted a life I had to go out of my comfort zone. I was on a quest, on a search to find myself, my talent, my purpose. I knew that I was going to face some ups and downs, some people telling me to quit some people who saw me as disgusting. But I wasn’t going to try to change myself or their thoughts, who was I to do those things. I was also not going to be frightened; if there was anything I was going to be it would be determined. I was tired of hiding behind those walls, I was going to take the bull by the horn and face life. Thinking back, I realized that I actually did owe a sense of gratitude to that journalist who saved me because if not for him, I wouldn’t have gotten a chance to live. I was tired of hiding behind the shadow; I was not going to give up on life. I wasn’t perfect, but then no one was

It was the day of the

hearing, I was dressed in a normal outfit, polo and three-quarter shorts and a

pair of sandals. Our lawyer was the man who had refused to help us at first.

The hearing started after we had payed respect to the judge by standing up and

waiting for him to seat before we sat.

Aunt Shelby had a carefree face on as she sat down in the box meant for

suspected criminals, the crowd in the court room was really small but I still

felt uncomfortable with the way they looked at me. This was the time that I

needed Blessing by me and I needed her desperately. I had sweaty hands and my

legs were shaking I couldn’t stop it. As our lawyer was the prosecuting lawyer,

he started immediately after the clerk made an announcement that I did not get.

“My lord, I am Barrister James Akpan, the prosecuting lawyer of this case. Mrs.

Shelby here has been accused of sexually, mentally and physically abusing my

client and not wasting your time and the time of the court, I simply just want

to present my evidence but first I would like to ask the accused and the victim

a few questions. Aunt Shelby was called to the witness box where she took an

oath to say the truth and nothing but the truth. I knew that the oath was going

to be broken. “Miss Shelby would you like to explain your relationship with the

Mr. Tobi and his family?” “ Tobi is my nephew, and is mother is my mother is my

elder sister. Since Tobi is autistic and he can’t take care of himself, I took

care of him when his mother was always busy” “so because of that you decided to

take advantage of this and abuse him because he could not protect himself” “no

that was not the reason” “so you agree that you abused the young man”

“objection my lord” the defending lawyer countered and the judge sustained it I

smiled knowing the trick that my lawyer was using on aunt. My aunt was dismissed

from the box and I was asked to step into the stand. It took the same routine,

my lawyer tried his best not to be harsh on me and he wasn’t then it was time

for the defending lawyer to ask me his questions and I was scared. He

introduced himself and turned his attention to me “Mr. Tobi, you said that you

were being abused by your aunt why didn’t you speak up?” I knew the answer to

that question but I couldn’t answer. I began stuttering and the lawyer smiled.

He turned to the judge “My lord if what this man says is true then I do not see

any reason he would not be able to answer my question” Objection my lord the

defending lawyer should know that my client is autistic and does not do too

well with crowds” “if what you are saying is true then how come he answered

your question with so much ease” this left my lawyer speechless and his

objection overruled. The defending lawyer continued, “I put it to you that my

client was framed by these frauds in other to get compensations but they could

not get their lies together and so they are messing up. I doubt if the so

called victim is even autistic.” The judge spoke up “prosecuting do you have a

medical report to prove that your client is really autistic” a paper was passed

down to the judge and after reading it, he nodded his head telling them to

proceed. Wow I thought my lawyer was actually prepared for this case.. The

defending lawyer sat and Mr. James took the floor telling Chi chi to come to

the witness box. “Who are you to the victim miss?” “I was their maid” “You said

was as in past tense does that mean that you no longer work for them?” “Yes”

“And why is that?” “Because I quit” “And why did you quit?” because Shelby

threatened me” “Why did she threaten you?” “Because this day I came to the

house even though it was meant to be my off and I saw Shelby on top of Tobi

slapping his face. She told me to get out and that if I ever came back she

would kill me” “why did you not tell anyone?” “I didn’t tell anyone because as

the maid, I knew that no one was going to believe me” “That is all my lord the

lawyer said to the judge and took his seat. Mr. Ejiro the defending lawyer took

the stand and said “My lord this is totally a false accusation against my

client and the prosecuting lawyer should know that only a witness is not enough

to prove one right. My lord I would like to ask the maid only one question why

did you go to the house on that day when you were meant to be on your leave?” Chi

chi didn’t seem phased by the question and answered casually “I was supposed to

be writing an exam to get into the university and I forgot my books in the

house so I went to pick it up” her reply was filled with confidence that it

shut the man up. The lawyers kept on exchanging words and showing the court

petty evidence until my lawyer decided to drop the bomb. “My lord, in my hand

here is a Compact Disc also known as a CD and this CD contains a video and this

video is more likely going to prove to you that the accused is guilty now this

may be found disgusting by some of you as it contains some s****l activities”.

Aunt Shelby was not showing any form of fear which got me tensed they played

the video on the projector and just immediately, the spectators began laughing.

The disc contained a video of a man dancing. I could feel my breath getting

hitched up in my throat “IS this some kind of joke to you?” the voice of the

judge boomed with anger shutting every one up. “I’m sorry my lord this is some

kind of misunderstanding” My lawyer looked terrified. Mr. Ejiro started “my

lord it is clear that they are clowns and are here to merely waste the time of

the court. I reckon” I blocked him out; I was scared I rubbed my sweaty hands

against my shorts and I felt something protruding from it. I put my hand into

my pocket and brought out a flash drive that red ‘in case’. I remembered

Blessing putting this in my pocket the answer to the commotion was in my hand

and all I had to do was stand up. I easy it sounded but how hard it really was.

I summoned up the courage and stood up. All eyes were on me, watching the crazy

boy as he moved across the court room waiting for him to make a mistake. I went

to where my lawyer was seated and handed it to him. He breathed a sigh of

relief knowing what the flash drive held. I scurried back to my seat as James shut

Mr. Ejiro up. ”My lord I’m really sorry for the mix up earlier but I want to

assure you that this flash drive has all the answers” he quickly connected the

flash to his laptop and the projector began loading. “Like I said before, this

video maybe disturbing to some people as it contains some adult content. I

looked down; I heard the moans coming from the projector, the sound of palms

colliding with cheeks, of legs colliding with ribs. And then I heard the gasps

of the audiences. The video was stopped abruptly and I could still feel

people’s stares boring holes in my head. “My lord, this video is a strong prove

that the accusations against madam

Shelby are all true” “objection my lord there are modern day technology and

their faces could have been cut and pasted on the faces of the people in that

video.” “My lord this video was gotten from an account known as sexy shelly and

this account was registered under an email account that was registered under Mrs.

Shelby’s phone number.” He said whilst giving another sheet of paper to the

clerk who passed it to the judge. “If the prosecuting lawyer still has doubt

about this then I would like to throw this question to Mrs. Shelby if you are

innocent as you claim, why did you pay an assassin to kill miss Blessing

Patrick the lady who was meant to defend the victim and that same assassin you

hired to kill Mr. Kabala because he refused to drop the case. I don’t know if

you do remember, but you also bribed Mrs. Amanda to drop the case” “Objection my lord but this is all false

accusation” “My lord it isn’t false accusation if you have witnesses to back

you up. In this case I have two.” The lawyer was filled with confidence as he

called Barrister Amanda to the stand. “I

have only one question for you” he said after the oath was taken. “Did you or

did you not take a bribe from Mrs. Shelby?” “I did.” “Thank you, you can go. I

would like to call up Mr. Ade to the stand. I remember that man he was the one

that tried to kill Blessing. “Did Mrs. Shelby pay you any money to kill

anyone?” “Yes she paid me to kill two lawyers a male and a female” he said

without any care in the world. “Thank you. My lord, the evidences are right in

front of you, we can all see that the accused is guilty and all evidence point

against her.” “Does the defending lawyer have anything to say?” “No my lord”

“okay we would leave the jury to decide.”

The jury as expected decided in our

favor, aunt was sentenced to life imprisonment along with the hired assassin. I

was all over the news for weeks, and I didn’t like the attention. Momma decided

that no matter how poor we were, I still needed my therapy and so I started

therapy all over again. Blessing got better after about two weeks and she never

left my side except for work. I knew I found a friend in her. Chi chi still

wasn’t living with us but she came to visit once in a while. And I, I was proud

to say that I finally found all happiness.

******* ******* ******* ******* *******

I sat on my comfortable chair as I twisted

the sides and corners of the Rubik’s cube trapped in my hands. I found this

small cube rather fascinating, how its parts were loosely tight waiting for

someone to twist them until their colors matched both in rows and columns, it

would always take a while for one to complete this puzzle. My shaky hands would

not let my brain think as they would probably make a move which was uncalled

for making the puzzle harder for me. I felt someone’s presence behind me, I

didn’t know who it was so I looked back, and it was my smiling mum. “Tobi I’m

going out, Blessing would be here soon.” I nodded. She touched my shoulder and

I did not flinch she was happy. I was happy. Everything was falling into place

for me, I was not alright but I was getting better. I had friends, I had

family, my insecurities were beginning to disappear my fears were like they

were never there. I had a little bit of confidence added to my big bottle for

everything I did and did right. I wasn’t scared to go out any longer, I mean I

wanted a life and if I wanted a life I had to go out of my comfort zone. I was

on a quest, on a search to find myself, my talent, my purpose. I knew that I

was going to face some ups and downs, some people telling me to quit some

people who saw me as disgusting. But I wasn’t going to try to change myself or

their thoughts, who was I to do those things. I was also not going to be frightened;

if there was anything I was going to be it would be determined. I was tired of

hiding behind those walls, I was going to take the bull by the horn and face

life. Thinking back, I realized that I actually did owe a sense of gratitude to

that journalist who saved me because if not for him, I wouldn’t have gotten a

chance to live. I was tired of hiding behind the shadow; I was not going to

give up on life. I wasn’t perfect, but then no one was