CHAPTER 7
1493 Words
THE GIRL WHO RUINS EVERYTHING**
Amara sat in the dark, the weight of Kai's words pressing her down, suffocating her.
"You destroy things without even trying."
She couldn't stop hearing it. It burrowed deep, latching onto old wounds she thought she had buried.
But nothing stays buried forever.
The past always finds a way back.
---
She was a child again, She was 6—small, quiet, sitting on the cracked kitchen floor of their old house.
Her mother was on the phone, her voice sharp, cutting through the thin walls.
"I can't keep it," her mother said, her words clipped, furious. "You think I want this? You think I wanted her?"
Amara had barely understood then, but the words stuck.
"You promised me forever Ugom, You lied, I thought keeping her would make you stay."
Her mother's voice trembled—half rage, half desperation.
But the man on the other end, her father, didn't care.
His words came cold, detached, echoing through the speaker. "I never wanted it in the first place. It's not my problem, I'm happily married Theresa, don't ruin things for me." He said.
Silence stretched. Amara remembered holding her breath, her small hands clutching the edge of the counter.
Then her mother's words came—sharp as a knife.
"I love you Ugom, Please don't leave." she sobbed uncontrollably.
But he hung up.
And just like that, he was gone.
---
Years later, she was 10 this time, her mother told her the full story—though not out of love or regret. It came during a bitter argument, words flung like knives.
"You ruined everything from the moment you existed," her mother had spat, her face twisted with resentment. "Your father wanted nothing to do with you. He begged me to abort you. But I thought—stupidly—that keeping you would make him love me. Get him to marry me, but I was wrong." She was drunk again. She does that always when she's drunk.
Amara had stood there, frozen, each word slicing through her like a blade.
Her mother's lips curled in disgust. "He left anyway. He never called again. And I was stuck with you." she said in tears.
The truth settled over her like a thick fog, impossible to escape.
She had been nothing more than a pawn—an unwanted bargaining chip that failed to deliver.
---
Amara had spent most of her childhood carrying that shame.
She learnt how to stand her ground the hard way, sometimes exchanging words with her mother, telling her how much she hates he too...
Her mother never let her forget it, though she tried to hide it several times, but in everything she did, it showed.
Every slammed door, every cruel word, every cold stare—it all reminded her she was never meant to be here.
She wasn't loved. She wasn't wanted.
She was a mistake.
---
But the worst part came later. She was 15 almost done with high school.
When her mother remarried.
Pastor Daniel was everything her mother thought she needed—charming, well-spoken, and respected in the neighbourhood. He was a pastor. Her mum gave up drinking for a life with him, which was a good start at first for Amara.
At first, Amara thought maybe things would get better. Maybe they could finally be a family.
But it didn't take long for the cracks to show.
It began with the stares—lingering too long when her mother wasn't looking.
Then came the small touches—innocent enough to brush off, but too deliberate to ignore.
Amara didn't know what to do, it didn't feel right to her.
She tried telling her mother once.
Her mother's response was swift and brutal.
"Don't be stupid," she snapped. "You're imagining things. Don't ruin this for me too."
Amara stopped trying after that.
---
Until that night.
It was raining hard—the kind of storm that drowned out everything else.
Her mother had gone out for a night shift, she was a nurse at that time, leaving her alone with Daniel.
She stayed in her room, hoping he would ignore her.
But the knock came anyway.
Soft at first. Then louder.
Before she could react, the door creaked open.
Daniel stepped inside, reeking of alcohol.
He locked the door behind him.
Amara's heart pounded as she scrambled back onto her bed.
"Don't be scared," he slurred, his eyes glinting with something terrifying. "It's your fault, you know. You're too pretty to ignore."
She screamed.
But the walls were too thin to protect her.
The storm outside swallowed her cries.
---
That night broke her.
She couldn't remember everything—just flashes.
His weight pressed her down.
The sharp pain.
The suffocating smell of sweat and liquor.
When it was over, she was left curled on the floor, too numb to cry.
He told her it was their little secret.
That no one would believe her.
And for a long time, she believed him.
He made her wipe the blood on the floor.
---
But one night, he came back again—this time more aggressive, more confident.
Something inside her snapped.
She fought back—screaming, scratching, clawing at him until he stumbled away.
He tried closing her mouth but she bit him,
She was not going through that again,
"Not anymore" she thought
Her cries woke the neighbours.
They called the police.
Amara was rushed to the hospital where she was confirmed sexually assaulted. She was given medications and taken care of. They conducted different tests on her which came out negative except for the assault.
The W.H.O., (World Health Organisation) took on the case and Daniel was arrested in no time.
Her mother? She didn't cry. She didn't even look at Amara. She felt disgusted by her. Her daughter.
Sometimes, she just sat, her face pale and cold, as if watching the ruins of her life collapse again.
---
Two weeks after his trial.
Daniel killed himself in jail.
He couldn't bear the shame. He was guilty of all charges and sentenced to life after most of his church members testified against him.
He hanged himself with a bedsheet.
The news spread like wildfire.
The headlines were everywhere—Stepfather accused of molestation found dead in cell.
Amara became the girl everyone whispered about. The assaulted girl.
It was a rumour in high school, but no one dared talk about it in the open. Amara was a girl you didn't mess with.
Her mother blamed her for everything.
"You killed him," she hissed one night, her eyes full of hate. "You destroyed this family again. You ruin everything, you destroy things, Amara, That's what u do well DESTROY. Now his dead, Hope you got what you wanted. You've ruined my life again. " Her drunken voice echoed.
---
That was the moment Amara stopped trying to be loved.
She stopped speaking unless necessary.
She stopped trusting anyone.
She carried those words with her like chains, dragging them wherever she went. She graduated from high school after some months. She furthered as a student of business administration at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, with a scholarship from the W.H.O.
She graduated at 21, got a job, and stayed in Lagos, away from her mum.
She built confidence over time and feasted on her prey.
---
Now, lying alone in the quiet apartment, those memories crashed back with full force.
Her body shook with silent sobs, her fists clutching the sheets tightly.
Her mother's words.
Her father's abandonment.
Her stepfather's betrayal.
It was all tangled together, suffocating her.
And somewhere in the storm, Kai's words echoed again.
"You destroy everything."
She had blamed herself for everything and now Kai too.
---
But this time, something in her shifted.
She wasn't going to sit here and let herself drown. She was going to be strong.
She wasn't going to keep repeating the same story—being the girl who stayed and suffered in silence.
No more.
Amara sat up, wiping her tear-streaked face.
Her body still ached, but her mind was clear.
She pulled out her suitcase with trembling hands and began to pack.
She didn't care if she had nowhere else to go yet.
She didn't care what anyone thought.
She just knew she couldn't stay here—not after this.
She folded her clothes slowly, methodically, her heart heavy but steady.
She would have left in the morning, but she doesn't know where to go, Jane's squatting with her boyfriend Fred, while Bella stays in the dorm.
"Okay, I'll just get my things ready, By tomorrow I'll look for an apartment with Jane and Bella's help,
I'll be fine". She sniffed cleaning her tears
It wasn't about running away anymore.
It was about saving herself.
She told herself what her school teacher told her after her stepdad's scandal.
:You're strong,".
"Ama you're strong, baby".
She kept repeating those words.
- Writer
