Lydia's pain

Lydia's pain Episode 5

The following day, I was dressing up for school when some middle aged men walked in. I was feeling so much pain but I couldn't bear staying back at home cos of her.

The three men sat on the couches and asked me to call my Uncle and his wife from their room, and I did.

They said they had come in respect of Stephen, their son, begging my uncle to take back his words and not disown him, and also blamed him for beating him up like that, like a common thief, so they said. It was then I knew that they were his wife's people.

My Uncle initially remained adamant, swearing on his late father never to take him back but when they persisted, he agreed.

Stephen moved in with us, and that marked the beginning of my nightmare...
The day he moved in, Aunty Pat came to my Uncle asking him if he could rent even if it's just a room for Stephen, adding that he was an adult and may need his privacy. My Uncle was confused why Aunty Pat was telling him such, and how she got to know also that Stephen was moving in cos they weren't that close, just hello and hi neighbors.

"How did you get to know all these please, and what exactly is your point?" My Uncle asked, staring at her.

"Well, I think Lydia has the right answers to your questions" Replied Aunty Pat, then stood up and left.

My Uncle called on me immediately she left, asking me what sort of relationship I had with Aunty Pat but my heart skipped as soon as he popped the question.

"She's... just... my friend!" I said in stutters with head bowed and then, my Uncle's wife walked in.

"Listen, don't you ever discuss what happens in this family with anyone in this compound or outside the compound ever again. Do you hear me?" He yelled and I immediately nodded.

"That's where she goes to whenever you're not around, and would sneak back in as soon as you're back from work. She doesn't do anything in the house, she goes to her flat running errands for her and doing all sorts when it's just I and her at home. It's when you're around that she does eye service, washing and cleaning the house so you will think she's hard working" She said and hissed folding her arms.

"Ah!" I only managed to say with my mouth agape.

"Lydia, is that true?" My Uncle probed but before I could say anything, his wife replied.

"Are you expecting her to tell you the truth? Thief" She said staring at me.

I just stood there unable to say a thing while tears made its way down my cheeks.

"Any day I see you close to that lady, after dealing with you, I will then push you out" My Uncle threatened, and then asked me out of his sight. That night, I couldn't even sleep a wink cos Stephen was lying on a couch in the living room, while I slept on a mat in the same living room but I was lucky, nothing happened.

We slept for days, weeks and even months, still nothing, that I started wondering if it had been the guy all along .

Then one day, my Uncle traveled out of town for an assignment. I didn't know what was going to befall me, so I laid on the mat like a log of wood.

I felt this weight on top of me and by the time I opened my eyes, Stephen was already having his way. I tried screaming but when he noticed what I was about to do, he covered my mouth. After he was done, he sat back on the couch cleaning up himself and again started to threaten me not to tell anyone, otherwise he'll kidnap and kill me. I wept so bitterly that night that my Uncle's wife heard and came out of her room carrying a lamp.
"What is it this time? She quizzed with eyes glued to me.

I pointed at Stephen who was now lying on the couch pretending to be asleep.

"Ehen, what did he do? " She yelled.

"He was on top of me " I said sobbing.

"You this girl, you have started with this your nonsense again? This one that hardly turns not to talk of waking up in the night whenever he's asleep is who you are accusing wrongly? Come on will you go back to sleep? " She yelled again and I immediately laid down and I wept till dawn.

My Uncle arrived after a few days and Stephen wouldn't stop warning me to keep my mouth sealed.

Gradually, I became a shadow of myself and by the time I was twelve, I already fell into depressi0n.

I was no longer talking to Aunty Pat or visiting her, and each time we came across each other outside the compound I would dodge her and run away. She would call severally but my Uncle's thre@ts would replay in my head and I would run far away from her.

Two months later, I was in the kitchen when I noticed that bl00d was coming out from in between my legs. I was so sc@red and had never been told what it meant. The only person I would have shown was Aunty Pat but I couldn't anymore. In fact, I thought it was as a result of what Stephen had been doing to me. Unknown to me that,  it was the beginning of my suffer!ng. I had to go show a woman selling provisions beside our place who told me what it meant but she didn't go into details. Then handed me a tissue telling me how to use it...