Scars (Romola 2)

69: Rags and Scraps

The first sign that something was off was that her room mates were outside, along with a couple of her belongings. Her bags, shoes, clothes, wigs, the mat she slept on and even her cooking utensils were strewed across the interlocked cement tiles while her roommates picked her things aside and set them in a pile.

"What are you doing?" She screamed and pulled her bra from Lydia's hands.

"Good. She has come. Oya, hold her." Iya Tobi's voice overpowered the sound of Lydia's explanations. No wonder the car outside the gate looked familiar

Romola scrambled to turn away but one hefty man with a huge chest and a scar at the base of his neck. The man starred her down, his eyes widening in shock at the sight of her bloodied chest.

"What are you waiting for?" Iya Tobi's bark brought him back to life.

He grabbed Romola's shoulders and forced her to kneel in front of Iya Tobi. The woman knocked her head and she roared in pain, rising, only to be knocked back down again.

"Idiot. Do you think you can ruin my store and get away like that?"

There was no time. She rose herself to a squatting position while she surveyed her things. Her bucket was missing, along with a bag of her much better clothes. If she could still get inside, she could grab her small saving box, add it to what was in her bank account and they could start Sunbo's treatment. Then, she would have more time to beg from other people. But time was her most precious resource now.

She clasped her hands together and held Iya Tobi's dress. "Please. I didn't mean it."

"Come on, get off." Iya Tobi kicked Romola away. "I should've just fired you the first time. You'll pay for what you've done."

"Ha!" Romola screamed. The bags and shoes on that rack were not the most expensive or the best quality but Iya Tobi would surely not demand a repayment at cost price. "Ma., I don't have that kind of money."

"You should've thought of it before you tried to ruin my shop. Someone will suffer to build something; another person will destroy it in minutes."

"I didn't mean it like that. Sekemi accused me to trying to steal your husband."

"And so? Poor girl, the bleeding from her head was so bad, she had to go home but you, you ran here thinking I would not catch you. God na catch you, I got here before you. Come on, pack everything outside."

Another hefty man emerged from the shared room and tossed out a few of Romola's belongings. The brown wooden savings box was tossed out along with the rest of the things. Romola hurried towards it and she held it in her hand, ready to turn away, when the first of Iya Tobi's gang men, seized the box from her and offered it to Iya Tobi. Romola ran to Iya Tobi and clutched the box. "You can take everything else but not this."

"Do you think these rags and scraps that you own can pay for the damage that you've caused. We haven't even added Sekemi's treatment fee because I am not going to pay that with my money."

"No. No." Romola shook her head, trying to drag the box to her chest. "This money is for my sister."

Iya Tobi dragged once and pulled Romola along with it. Fat muscles that had sat dormant for years, moved along with her effort to dispose Romola of the box. "If you want it, then I must have it."

Romola cried. "My sister is going to die without it. She's in the hospital."

"That is not my problem. You should've thought about it before trying to kill someone's child."

Iya Tobi's words hit her like a needle through a baby's sole. She was responsible for Sunbo's condition but there was still a chance that she could help her sister. She knelt down at Iya Tobi's feet. "You don't understand, my sister is at the hospital. She needs treatment now. It's a life and death situation."