Twenty Years Ago…
You’re good for nothing. Just look at you.
her mother thundered….she was constantly embarrassed and disappointed because of the only daughter she had. Bella felt hurt by her mother’s harsh words and immediately left for her room… yes, she knew she had a weight problem but that didn’t mean she had to starve.
Don’t you dare walk out on me.
The woman followed aggressively. Bella was everything of a daughter she never wanted. She was slow, dumb and very fat. At sixteen she had the hips of a mother of five. She wasn’t pleased with her daughter’s outcome. She shut the door behind her, tears flowed uncontrollably down her cheeks as nobody knew what she went through every day in this house; nobody understood her humiliation and what was worse, her father was late and they lived with an Uncle. Who was very accommodating but nobody knew what he did to her every night. It started when she was ten, her mother usually left her behind, too ashamed to take her outside, only her brother, Omale, had that privilege.
The first day, she had sobbed quietly in her room after her mother’s rejection, Uncle Oche had found her alone as his wife and children had all gone out. He offered to give her some snacks and took her to his room; he gave her the snacks alright but then began removing his clothes. Her young mind was startled by his action. Innocent as she was, she didn’t understand what caused him to remove his clothes. He then walked closer to her and began to touch her.
Uncle stop it…I don’t like what you are doing.
she began to sob… But he lifted her plump body and dropped her on the bed, and then he undressed her quickly and rubbed his shaft against her. She screamed…she sobbed bitterly but nobody could hear her as she was all alone. On their return, she quickly showed her mother her reddened and bleeding vulva …she was amazed at her mother’s reaction…
You foolish girl, why do you always land yourself in trouble’? she snapped…. ‘Mommy Uncle Oche did it to me’ she cried…. ‘Shut your mouth, do you hear me? Tell nobody about this…never …now go and have a bath’ she thundered…
She was so confused; she still was…what kind of mother would do that to her only daughter? Now she was sixteen and he still came for her…sometimes she fought him off, other times he succeeded…. She was depressed most of the time but no one noticed…even if they did, they didn’t care… In school, she had no friends… she wasn’t classy enough to mix with the rich kids, she wasn’t brilliant enough to join the bright ones and she was too fat to hang out with the beauty queens… nobody liked her, even Omale, her brother, was ashamed of her. ‘Open this door…you fool’ her mother banged heavily on the door….
Stay away from me.
Bella found her voice, she saw his face. ‘Chimobi’ she touched the picture gently. He was two years ahead of her in class as she’d repeated a few times, in age, he was above her by two years…. Chimobi was the most handsome student in the entire school…. he was tall and dark… his chest was broad and his stomach was flat and well muscled… his nose was well chiseled ….his lips were slightly full but well shaped and his eyes were dark and seducing… It wasn’t only about his looks… he was very intelligent and had won many awards for the school and he was from a very wealthy family…so he was an idol to many especially the female folks… She smiled as her fantasies blossomed again… she imagined going on a date with him…she saw his attractive eyes staring deeply into hers… It was only in her daydreams that could happen….
Chimobi didn’t even know her name apart from the degrading nicks she was given by the mean girls in her class… ‘Pork meat’… He had never spoken a word to her before…she only saw him at close range when he came to address her class or whenever Omale sent for her…he was Chimobi’s classmate. She secretly envied his beautiful friend… ‘Sexy’ was her nicks…she was very attractive just to him…Seyi was tall and slim…a light-skinned beauty with full breasts. But she was nothing compared to Sexy, she was fat and undesirable. It was that time of the year in school, where the boys betted.
They would write the names of all the girls in senior classes and drop them in a jar. One of them would shuffle it…while the rest would pick the names then the betting would ensue… ‘I picked your sister’ Chimobi sighed disappointedly in his ‘choice’. ‘Wow make sure you ride well…you know she’s so wide down there’ he teased and the boys broke wild with laughter…. ‘How could you even say something like that about your sister’ Chimobi was surprised… yes, the girl had weight issues…it was very obvious but he didn’t believe in disrespecting women, his parents had brought him up well. ‘See this player…you better shut up…’ Omale’s temper began to rise… why would Chimobi talk to him like that? ‘Guys stay calm, what’s important…is if this girl agrees to go down with him’…one of the boys chipped in… ‘Yes…I know my sister well…you don’t need to waste your time…she’s as cheap as they come’ Omale continued… ‘You are pathetic’ Chimobi hissed angrily and left the gathering for his chase… He didn’t know why he was doing this…but it was a school tradition… his girlfriend couldn’t find out else she’d break up with him and that would hurt him badly as he was deeply in love with her. Seyi was not just very pretty… she was intelligent and cared as well for him but she was haughty… he’d slept with many girls without her finding out… he just prayed this went out well.
She took time and brushed her long hair…it was the only accessory of beauty God had blessed her with… she had a dream the previous night, she saw herself in a field of roses and butterflies danced eagerly around her… She felt happy for no reason… today was just a beautiful day and she vowed that nobody would spoil it for her not even her mother… ‘Good morning’ she greeted … ‘Good morning’ her mother replied… ‘Where are you off to’? She spoke in that commanding tone… ‘School of course’ Bella replied… ‘But you haven’t taken your breakfast’… This was really a good day, what was her mother up to? ‘Thank you …am not hungry today’ she responded and made for the door but her uncle’s voice stopped her…the evil man that molested her … She had killed him many times in her heart…she had already made up her mind to run as far as possible once she was done with her Senior Secondary exams… ‘Come back early…there’s a man I want you to meet’ he cleared his throat and positioned himself by the table.
[Source]1,2,3