‘You think I am stupid and senseless? I must look like such a fool to you!’ He barked at the top of his voice. He had been pacing around with a clenched fist and raging eyes ever since she broke the news to him.
‘Donald got the job for me’, she had said, sitting next to him on the dining table.
At first, he ignored her and started eating his food. The way he swallowed ball after ball of eba, immersed in the oha soup -she cooked with goat meat just an hour before his arrival- showed that he was enjoying the meal, but she had long ago given up on expecting any compliments from him about her culinary skills.
‘They said I should resume work next week Monday’, she added after a long silence.
That was when he pushed the food aside and started shouting at her.
Photo credit: Ynaija.com
A dead silence had suddenly fallen on the compound, the loud noise of music from Dumebi, their next-door neighbor’s flat had gone mute, and the chatty voices of the tenants living at the boys quarters, who always sat on the covet by the fence every night to gossip, had become quiet.
It was as if the night had suddenly frozen, with all in it standing still and waiting for the volcano to erupt upon her again. And here, the volcano she married was staring furiously at her with his accusing eyes piercing through her mind and making her feel a little less than a filty rag.
‘How could you say that? Dike, how could you imply that I am having an affair with Donald?’ she asked, keeping her voice as low as she could.
She knew that the whole world around her was waiting to hear her cry again. It had been a week and four days since the last time he beat her up, and she almost lost her three months pregnancy, which made him promise the doctor that he would never lay a finger on her again.
She knew she couldn’t wish the rage in his eyes away, but she only wished he could make him lower his voice a bit. Her heart longed for him to see through her, to realize that he was the only one for her, to understand that they needed that job. She was tired of sitting at home with her Second-class Upper result in Economics, while depending totally on him for survival.
‘Baby, we need this job. Think of how much the salary is going to help us.’
She walked up to him and looked into his eyes.
‘My love, we need this. We need the money. We can’t continue living like this when our lives could be a lot better.’
She held his arm, trying to reassure him, but he shoved her away with a quick push, and she slammed into the sofa.
‘Get your hands off me, you this bloody slut! You want to get out there and flirt with that Donald man and all the men in that office, abi?’
‘Stop saying that!’ she cried.
She wondered why he didn’t trust her. He had kicked against all the efforts she made to secure a job. At first, she thought he wanted to just be the man, to be the one to provide everything for her and Emmanuella, their little daughter, but the insecurity hidden under his disguise were beginning to give him away.
‘Stop it Dike. Stop accusing me of things I can’t even imagine doing.’
‘Are you raising your voice at me? You’re shouting at me? His eyes almost popped out of their sockets, his inside weas burning. She was talking back at him, and he couldn’t believe it.
‘You’re shouting at me?’ he repeated, walking towards her.
At that moment, she knew that the monster had fully woken up. She searched for the words with which to tame him, but before she could gather her thoughts, a heavy slap landed on her face. He sat astride her, hitting and punching, as she tried to hide her face from his attacking fists.
Photo credit: Times of India
The sound of her painful cry filled the compound. The world stood still listening. He loosened his belt, drew the thick leather weapon out, and was ready to use it on her again.
‘My love please, I am sorry please’, she knelt down pleading.
She could still remember the last time he flogged her with that belt, how its metallic head had cracked her forehead open, leaving a stream of blood trickling down her face.
With a quick fling of his hand, the belt lashed down on her back. She yelled out in pain. She screamed as he continued lashing her with the belt like a demon-possessed slave master, till the ringing sound of his phone jerked him back to the half-sanity.
He dropped the belt, quickly reached for the phone, and walked into the bedroom to take the call. It was Omolara, the curvy marketing assistant in his office. Dike had been drawn to her electrifying buttocks from the first day she resumed work at their branch. He had sworn to make that piece of ass his little toy, and he did.
He closed the bedroom door behind him and picked up the call.
“Hey baby,” her voice rang out sweetly.
“Hey, how’re you?”
“I am fine, I just got home. The traffic was just too much.”
“Eyaa, sorry. I hope you feel better now. ?”
“Better? I am still feeling pains on both my legs,” she complained. “Dike, you sef, you’re so mean. Sometimes, when you pound this thing, try to remember that I am somebody’s daughter”
He laughed. ‘You didn’t act like you didn’t want the pounding. Remember the way you were screaming “harder!..baby, harder!!’
‘I didn’t want it jor. Enh… I was just playing. Abi somebody cannot play with you again?’
They both continued teasing each other and laughing till the call ended.
He walked back into the living room, Alice was lying on the floor crying bitterly.
To be continued
