image credit: Pixabay
so many people especially from West Africa are afraid of letting their children have stepmothers for any reason at all because we all know the wickedness that is prepared for such child! This is no surprise because I have had a stepmother and I would like to share with everyone my story, my unforgettable experience with my stepmother.
My mother left us after having my younger sister, and we spent most of our lives as children living with our grandmother in the village.
We arrived at my father's house in the city where we met with our Step-mother, The same woman we used to know in our village, Ms. Julie. We were so happy when we saw her, the moment i set my eyes on her, i ran into her waiting arms, we hugged, we cried and we kissed, them my two brothers came to share in our affection, Ms. julie embraced them, hugged them and kissed them. She ushered us into the house, our new home. This was the first time to see what my dad's house looks like, it was a far cry from what we where used to, which was abject poverty which we used to live in with our grandmother.
Image credit: Pixabay
The house was tastefully furnished, a three bedroom flat. I was showed to my room, my brothers were showed to their room, we all took our bathe, Ms. Julie who we called aunt had saved some rice and fired plantain for me and my brothers, this dish happened to be one of our favorite food, the food had lots of meat and egg, this kind of food was not the kind of food that we ate when we lived with our grandmother. Ms. Julie squeezed some fresh orange juice for us in a glass, I remember it was my first time using a glass, it was also my first time using a chinaware to eat, we were used to using rubber plate and spoons all our lives while we were living with our grandmother. I remember we handle the plates and cups so delicately, we wrap our two hands around the glass cup very carefully and our stepmother would laugh at us, she would tell us not to worry, that even if the glass get broken, there will always be another. Later that evening, Ms. Julie told us some stories and being that we were so tired we went to bed early.
image credit: Pixabay
The loving way my stepmother was treating us continued for a while, but unknowing to us; there are wolves in sheep clothing. In the morning she would give me a bath, also bathe my little brother, my elder borther could bathe on his own. During these period, our holiday had ended and we all gained admission into a new school. The name of our school was St. Micheal, St. Micheal was also one of the schools that was handed over by the British missionaries to the Nigerian government to manage after the colonial era. This is how we were always raised, we were brought up in the religious way, as we started attending the school, I was made to repeat my previous class of which I had failed the promotional exams, that was primary 2. Now we were in a new environment, though it was hard but I and my brothers manage to make new friends.
Our stepmother, Ms. Julie, we now called her mommy instead of aunty like we used to, because she would bathe us and treat us as if we were her own, she would see to it that our assignments were done, at this behaviour only lasted for a month. on one faithful morning, I had woke up to say "mommy good morning ma", I went into the bathroom and waited for my water, and for her to come and give me a bathe, she just entered the bathroom and gave me a very hard slap across my face, she suddenly grabbed my head and hit it against the bathroom wall and said, "who is your servant?" "who do you think you are?" "I have been working my ass, cleaning for you, bathing you..." I was confused, this was a total different person, this wasn't the loving person that I knew, it is not easy to describe how I felt, I felt heartbroken, I hadn't done anything to deserve this. Before we moved into my father's house, I knew how to have my bathe, but she would have just told me that she could no longer give me a bathe rather than walk into the bathroom and start beating me. For the first time, she made me and my siblings bathe cold water, and that time our Father had already trusted her with everything because of the way she was treating us. My Father started leaving for work early, and Ms. Julie made us to go to school without eating breakfast.
image credit: Pixabay
The first day we did not eat to school, when we came home that afternoon from school, my brother took off his uniform and put it in the basket, the basket in which we put our dirty clothes, and it was my stepmother who told us to put our dirty clothes there, I did the same, I removed my school uniform and put it in the basket as well as my younger bother Timothy. For this, our stepmother gave us a very bad beating, she hurt my elder bother david on his head, she was banging his head continuously on the wall, she did the same thing to me, she slapped my younger bother timothy, and pushed him about while beating him, after giving us so much beating, she asked us, who do we think should be washing those clothes that we packed into the basket? We were used to washing our clothes when we were with our grandmother, it was so different, my brother David was shocked and broken, there was this kind of fear that we hadn't experience came over I and my brothers, and after beating us, she gave us left over food which was left ove night and was already spoilt, she made us to eat it. While David was washing our dirty clothes, she met him sitting down and washing, our stepmother came and pulled David's head and pushed his head into the soapy water where he was wahing, David was drowning, when she realized that she was killing David, She suddenly left him. Towards the evening, around 7:30pm when our father usually returns home from work, my stepmother called the three of us and told us that if anyone of us should report to our father, we shouldm be very sure that the next day she was going to kill us, and that the marks on our body that she gave to us, we should find whatever we have to say to explain those marks on our bodies to our father. By the time our father returned from work, we had already gone to bed. the routine of our father leaving very early to work continued.
This went on for a very long time before my father started to become suspicious. There were a series of events that happened that led to father being suspicious and made him to think about his decision of having a new wife.
All the events will be shared on my next post.
In the mean time you could check out the previous events and how my relationship with Ms. Julie began.
https://steemit.com/nigeria/@rotasmariamngozi/call-it-vengance-for-wickedness
https://steemit.com/nigeria/@rotasmariamngozi/how-i-was-raped-at-7-a-tragedy-that-has-never-left-my-memory-bbdc445e1257
https://steemit.com/nigeria/@rotasmariamngozi/an-event-that-marked-the-end-of-the-british-administration-in-my-school-606d1e2bd8f8a
Today in Africa many do not want their children to have stepmothers because of the way they maltreat the children. Please leave your comments. Thanks!