Unknown Betrayal

Chapter 18

Zaynab

“I have the clothes washed Zaynab, will you do the rest, I need to change Abisola’s diapers”, Abeke tells me as she picks her daughter up.

“Sure”, I cover the pot of moi moi and reduce the heat on the cooker. I pick up the bucket filled with Abiodun’s clothes and head into the living room then place the bucket on the floor beside the clothe rack and proceed to hanging the clothes onto it. As I finish hanging the last of his clothe, Abeke walks down the stairs while stretching with a tired look on her face.

“Abisola asleep?“, I ask her to which she nods before taking a seat on the couch.

“Go to sleep, when he comes I’ll wake you up before he can enter the house”, I say to her then take a seat on the chair close to the window so I can keep a watch out.

“Thank you, I don’t know why, am just so tired”, she yawns and sighs.

“Wouldn’t blame you. Take a nap”.

I look over towards the couch but the girl was already knocked out. Well, she wasn’t kidding when she said she was beat (tired). Her loose braids falls, hence, covering a side of her face and leaving the other bare. Her lips is in an ‘o’ shape. I think she might have a problem breathing or something, because every time that she sleeps, she always breaths extra hard. It’s either that or the girl having a wet dream which, in her case is FALSE. She is way too innocent, no wonder he chose her. She is obedient and listens to everything he says without complaining compared to me. I really don’t care, if it wasn’t because he uses her and Abisola to hurt me, I wouldn’t take his bullshit anymore. I hate myself for keeping up with it before we moved here. If I had fought back, I wouldn’t be here....but then again am glad we moved here. If I do ever escape him, I want to escape with Abeke and Abisola. They’ve endured enough. I wonder IF we’ll ever escape. I wonder how my family is doing sef. I bet my parents are annoyed with me. But I don’t blame them, they don’t know what’s really going on, they probably think I just don’t care about anyone anymore now that am married, which is not true but you know Africans. Mommy herself would kill Abiodun if they ever find out what he’s been doing.

“Take it off him. I want his head on my desk in the morning, if not, imma need yours. UNDERSTAND?!“.

I take a peek out the window and find HIM locking his car. He stumbles a little as he makes his way towards the door with a bottle in his hand. He’s drunk? Really? WOW!

I quickly rush over to Abeke and start shaking her but her ass wasn’t getting up.

“Abeke, he’s here”, I whisper yell and slap her lightly, I move my hand away then place it back on her cheek which is boiling. I place it on her forehead then her neck and gasp at how heated up she feels on the back of my hand.

“fever”, I whisper to myself just as the door bursts wide open revealing a drunken Abiodun who’s now stumbling over towards the couch.

He looks over at Abeke and anger instantly flashes across his face.

“Did I tell you to sleep?“, he screams.

Abeke suddenly jumps up in her sleep and starts shaking but this time it’s not out of fear. Her lips is literally shaking along with her. Her eyes is also a bit red.

“Abiodun she has a fever. Please, she didn’t mean to”, I try to reason with him but its pointless because when he’s drunk he doesn’t have ears at all. As in everything goes into one ear and out the other. LITERALLY.

“On your knees”, he slurs and stumbles forwards.

Abeke quickly does as told. There’s nothing I can do either, if I do or say anything, am increasing her punishment so it’s wiser if I stay silent.

“Now, who the hell gave you permission to sleep?“, he asks her and rub his face before taking out a gun from his back pocket.

“Abiodun, please, please”, I get on my knees and start begging along with Abeke who’s eyes is starting to close slowly.

“Stay awake”, I pinch her arm which made her jump up with shock.

“You. You don’t listen”, Abiodun bends down and holds my face in his hands. He smiles and tilts his head before standing up. I breath out slowly and just as I was about stand up, he spins around and his gun comes in contact with my face which knocked me onto the floor.

“Ah”, I hold my face and let out a low groan.

“Get up”, he yells.

I do as told making sure to keep a distance.

“Your, your family keeps on calling me. Don’t they get it? And that boy, what’s his name again? Aayan? apparently he adopted a daughter. Isn’t it so sad how everyone is living their lives WITHOUT YOU”, he says then he fake gasps before looking me dead in the eyes.

“Your pathetic”. He spat then kicks me in the face away from him. I just stay down, I don’t bother getting up.

“Where’s that daughter of yours? Bring her”, he tells Abeke whos eyes fill with fear and nervousness.

“She’s sleeping”, she tells him.

“And so?“.

She gulps then walks up the stairs slowly. Once I see him take a seat on the couch, I stand up and wipe the blood off my nose and lip.

Abeke walks over to Abiodun with Abisola securely held to her chest.

“Yes daddy?“,Abisola whispers with her head down.

“What I tell you about that? Don’t you learn? GOD! What is wrong with all of you today”, He lashes out at Abisola who hides her face in the crook of Abeke’s neck.

“Am sorry, she forgot”.

“Get her down and stop treating her like she’s some i***t”, he snaps at Abeke who lets Abisola go.

“Now You! Get me a stool”, he tells Abeke who does as told. She places it in front of him then bends down and helps him put his feet on it.

“Begin”, he tells Abisola who whimpers.

“Did I touch you?“, he stands up making her jump backwards. She falls on her butt then starts crying with her hands covering her face.

“Mommy”, she cries harder.

“DID I TOUCH THIS GIRL? WHY ARE SCREAMING?“, he yells into her face which just made her increase her mixture of screaming and crying.

Anger seemed to take over Abiodun because he kicks the stool away then uses the back of his hand to slap Abisola who hits the floor and cries harder.

“Abiodun, she’s only a child. Please, I’ll take over. Please”, Abeke begs him.

“She wants to cry over nothing? I’ll give her something to cry over”, he pushes Abeke onto the floor then storms into his room.

“Baby shh, shh, you got daddy mad, keep quiet”, Abeke whispers desperately to Abisola who continues crying. I don’t blame her, that slap was too hard, even I felt it.

“Acting like I beat you, now I’ll give you something to cry over”, Abiodun grumbles to himself as he walks out of his room with a cane in his hand.

My eyes widens instantly, I cover my mouth realizing what he was about to do.

“Abiodun she’s only 2 years old for God’s sake”, I yell at him.

He turns to me then whacks me with the cane. I cover my- well, I ATTEMPTED to cover my face but it didn’t help much. I felt each and every hit sent my way.

“Am sorry please, am sorry”, I hide behind the couch with tears running down my cheeks.

“I don’t need you”, he hisses then storms over to Abisola but Abeke stands in front of her blocking her.

“Abiodun please, am sorry please, she won’t do it again”, she begs him. He ignores her by holding her throat in his left hand then picks Abisola up by her throat also.

“Abidoun STOP she’s a child”, I scream at him as he continues to strangle both Abeke and Abisola.

“Abiodun please, I’ll take her beating, please stop it. You’re going to kill her. I beg you”.

Abisola’s legs drops and her little hands starts to slip past his.

“Oh my God, oh m-“.

I look over towards the stool he kicked away. I rush over and pick it up while he continues screaming at the two.

“YOUR JUST AS USELESS AS YOUR MOTHER. SHE’S BEEN HERE FOR HOW LONG? AND HER IDIOTIC SELF STILL CAN’T GIVE ME A SON BUT INSTEAD I GET YOU? YOU PATHETIC PIECE OF s**t”.

“GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER YOU f*****g BASTARD”, I scream louder than I’ve ever screamed before. I don’t know what got over me, I just attacked him with the stool. I didn’t care that he already dropped Abisola and Abeke, I just continued hitting him with the stool.

“Zaynab STOP! He’s bleeding”, Abeke screams then she pushes me away and snatches the stool away from me leaving me in a panting mess.

“He- he- Abisola”, I rush over to her tiny fragile body curled up in a ball. I just hugged her. I held her close to my chest while crying.

“Am so sorry, am so sorry”, I tell her continuously as I rock us both back and forth.

“He’s unconscious but alive”, Abeke breaths out with relief then she falls onto the floor and covers her face.

“We have to get out. At any cost. We’re leaving. TONIGHT”, she says with a finalized tone which meant it wasn’t up for discussion.

“Don’t pack anything, we don’t need anything from here”, she stands up and takes Abisola from me.

“My teddy”, Abisola whispers.

“I’ll get it”, I tell Abeke who nods. I drag myself up the stairs while ignoring the pain I felt in my knee. I think he may have broken it. I don’t know but it feels weird.

I walk into Abeke and Abisola’s room and look around the neat and tidied room. Everything is always organized and neat here which is a good thing because today of all days is not the time to be searching for some bear. I pick her pink teddy bear up from the bed and make my way down the stairs when I hear a loud scream.

“Abeke”, I whisper then run down the stairs.

Abiodun was smashing her head into the wall repeatedly.

“Let mommy go”, Abisola screams then she starts crying and covers her eyes.

“Abisola, babygirl, I need you to run, go hide sin our hideout. Don’t come out until I say so”, I whisper into her ear.

“But mommy”

“I’ll get your mother. Just go. NOW!“.

I stand up and watch as she runs out of the house completely before turning towards Abiodun. He was breathing hard while punching Abeke repeatedly.

“Get. Off. Her”, I tell him word for word.

Am angry, oh am pissed.

“I SAID GET OFF HER”, I yell then kick him from behind. Once he was off her, I start grabbing his hair and pulling it so hard am sure it hurt because that s**t ripped.

“Your a monster. A MONSTER”, I scream as I punch him repeatedly while also crying.

“You messed up my life so bad. You tortured and abused us everyday. You insulted us, turned us into petty slaves, turned us into s*x dolls for your own entertainment. You SICKEN me. I hope you rot in hell”, I scream with hot tears rushing down my cheeks involuntarily.

“Let’s Go”, I feel myself being pushed off but I just ended up falling over. I suddenly felt the urge to vomit.

“GET BACK HERE”, Abiodun yells. He drags me by my feet before I could reach the door.

“Leave me alone”, I try to kick at him but it was of no use, he had suddenly increased in strength because all of a sudden he was standing above me.

“YOU ARE DEAD!“.

His face turned cold, his body language said it all. Like I said, he’s a monster. Nothing he does anymore surprises me. I know what will happen but the difference this time is, am not going down without a fight.

“IN THAT CASE WE’RE DYING TOGTHER. b***h!“, I tell him in the same cold tone as his.

“So now you got balls huh”

“You are pathetic. You’re not even a man. You’re nothing but a monster, you’re shaitain in the flesh. You beat your own wives and your daughter? As if killing your first wife wasn’t enough, you want a second, a third and a fourth one also?“.

“SHUT UP!“, he screams.

“You shut the f**k up”, I scream even louder.

He doesn’t say anything this time, he just turns away from us and starts panting heavily. I get up from the floor and glance at a bloody looking Abeke, her eyes are both swollen, her lips is badly busted. You can already tell that her face was going to be one hell of a swollen one later.

“ZAYNAB WATCH OUT!“, she screams then she jumps on me making us both hit the ground just as a gunshot goes off. I turn to Abiodun who holds the gun towards us.

“You’re right. I am a monster. I am shaitan in flesh. In that case, I hope to see you in hell”, he smirks down at me then he holds the trigger.

“Not today you not”.

I kick Abeke away from me then throw the stool I used to beat him on his face but unlucky for me he caught it. I didn’t care, it gave me a chance to stand up.

“You’ve hurt me enough. Am n-”

“Just shut the f**k up. Save the speech for your grave”.

“Now!“, I yell.

Abeke screams loudly and jumps on Abiodun. She pulls his hair aggressively so I grab for the gun.

“Let go and run”, I yell.

“Am not leaving you”, she shakes her head.

“For Abisola”.

There was no more arguing. She looks at Abiodun and I struggling for the gun then makes way for the door.

“Goodbye motherfucker”, Abidoun punches me then pulls the trigger towards Abeke.

That punch really messed me up because my vision suddenly got blurry and all I could hear next were gunshots, not one, not two but three.

“MOMMYYYY”, I hear Abisola scream even louder than I’ve ever heard her scream.

“Gooodbye Abisola”, I hear Abiodun say.

“Abisola?“, I whisper.

I shut my eyes tightly and reopen it then do that a few times before my vision started to come together. All I see next is Abisola shaking Abeke who’s on the floor and Abiodun aiming the gun at Abisola.

I don’t make my presence behind him known at all as I creep beside him.

Before he could pull the trigger I jump in front of him and try to smack the gun off but unfortunately he held a good grip on it. I wasn’t backing up either. I couldn’t save Abeke but I damn sure as f**k ain’t letting her daughter go out like that.

“LET GO”, Abiodun and I scream at each other. My hand was at the back of the gun while his was at the front. His grip was slipping too. I glance at his bare hand then at him. I bend down and bite his hand HARD.

“f*****g b***h!“, he screams. The gun slips out my hand so I flip it over trying to figure out what to do now. I didn’t go far with my thoughts when the gunshot filled the entire room.

“Auntyyyyy”, is all I heard next. Everything suddenly seemed blurry, my feet felt tied to the ground and my heart, my heart was just beating faster and faster by the second. What happened next....

“Hands up! Nobody move. Put your hands up, anything you say or do will be held against you in court. Stay where you are!”