AROUSING DESIRES

EPISODE 1(the painful cut)

The dark clouds enveloped the once clear blue sky,the sun disappearing beneath it as the thunder rumbled and lightening struck...
In a far away small village,in the northern part of Ghana, under a small thatched hat sat a girl who was half naked,her arms crossed over her bare chest in an attempt to cover her swollen nipples that were gradually preparing to welcome the soft,round flesh,now growing...
She stared at her chest and sighed...
She could feel the lump in her nipples..
Was her breast finally grown like her grandmother had said?
She couldn't tell.... But one thing was for sure...
Her breast were not as developed as her teacher's or her mother....
So then why did her mother bring her all the way to the village when her reproductive organs were still yet to grow....
She shivered slightly when she heard the singing and chanting getting nearer and nearer...
From the corner of her eye,she spotted her grandmother leading a few other elderly women,dancing in an odd way...
If not for the confused state of mind her thirteen year old self was in,she would have found it funny and laughed out loud but no... For some reason,the more they neared her,the more her fear increased.....
And when she saw the broken pieces of glass her grandmother dropped on the on a plantain leaf in the middle if their compound, she gasped...
What were they going to do to her?
She watched her grandma place a bottle of water, a bar of soap and a bottle of gin near the plantain  leaf and then walked towards where she sat,smiling broadly...
"Come here Virginia, its time..."
"Time for what grandma?" She asked..
If only she had known beforehand... She would have run and never looked back...
But then,where would a thirteen year old like her,run to for shelter, especially in a village where she was visiting for the first time...
"You're a woman now Ginnie.. Come my dear"
Woman? Did she just say she was a woman?
Hell!, she hadn't even started to see blood in her pant yet...
What did they call it again?
Yah menstruation.... And they were addressing her as a woman?
Before she could fathom or comprehend what was going on, two elderly women dragged her up, walked her to the middle if the compound and sat her down, while the rest surrounded her...
Her grandmother turned to the short woman beside her and murmured something to her in a language she couldn't understand...
She watched the woman nod and then bend towards her to take off her skirt and panties while the rest of the women clapped and sang strange songs....
She felt trapped....
****
"Be strong my dear.. It will be a little painful but you will fine soon... You will see" the shorter woman said as she eased Virgina's legs apart, wide,revealing her private part....
The woman washed her hand,poured a little gin into her enclosed palm and sprinkled it on her private part....
Virginia hissed as the cold liquid made contact with her naked flesh....
Her eyes widened when she saw the woman pick up one of the numerous pieces of glass and then positioned her herself between her legs....
She shivered instantly... No one needed to tell her what was going to happen...
They were going to cut her with....with a broken piece of glass....
Instinctively she began to back away, clamping her thighs shut....
When her grandmother noticed what she was doing, she immediately took position behind the shorter woman and held both Virginia's legs apart..
Another woman took position behind Virginia to hold her arms making it impossible for her to move.....
"Let me go!!!! Don't touch me!!!! Don't do it!!!! No!!!"
"Noooooo!!!!" She wailed louder as she felt the cold glass touch her most sensitive organ...her clit....
She moved,backed away,screamed but her cries fell on deaf ears and when the shorter woman applied more force and friction, cutting her organ,she let out an ear piercing scream,loud enough to go miles.....
To say it was painful was an understatement...
Her entire body jerked and quaked endlessly,her screams of pain increasing as her organ continued to be cut,thick red blood gushing out and soiling her thighs, making a small pool of blood on the ground in the process....
The pain was excruciating, unbearable and soon,the singing and chanting of the women began to fade away as she stared into nothingness, her vision blaring... Soon she gave away to the darkness that engulfed her.....
*****
Her eyes fluttered open,only to land on her mother smiling down at her....
"How are you feeling Virginia" Mrs Reynolds asked her daughter,caressing her cheeks...
Silence...
"Does it still hurt? Don't you worry.. It will be gone in a few days and I will be here every passing moment... I will feed you your favorite cupcake...I will make lots of them for you princess" she blabbed..
Virginia wasn't listening.. She only stared at the woman she called mother... The same mother had purposely brought her all the way from the city to the village just for those women to do something as horrible and heinous as that to her.....
Staring at her now,she could only feel anger,hatred and disgust as her mother caressed her cheeks....
A bile rose in her throat and for a moment she thought she would
throw up...
"Princess? Are you listening to me?"
"Don't touch me!!!!!! Don't call me princess!!!!" She shouted and her mother gasped
"My baby..."
"Get out!!!!! Get out!!!" She yelled again as she began to throw anything in her reach at her mother...
Mrs Reynolds backed away as her daughter continued to throw stuff at her.... With tears in her eyes,she left the room.....
****
And so,that was how a thirteen year old Virginia started to know and feel hate.....
A girl her age was suddenly deprived of the carefree life that every child....
Soon,nightmares of that fateful day became her daily routine... She never went to bed at night without having nightmares....
Her parents refused to detect the change in their only child.. They refused to notice that she had become traumatised,emotionally and psychologically  drained and with that,she lived until....
*****
THIRTEEN YEARS LATER....
She walked towards the car that was parked outside their home,dragging her suitcases behind...
Her parents followed...
"Don't go Virginia please!!!" Mrs Reynolds cried
"Don't try to stop me mother... I'm leaving for good..and I'm never coming back!" She retorted without looking back.....
"Do you hate us that much?" Her father asked as he hugged his crying wife...
Virginia packed her bags into the boot,shut it before turning to look at him...
"You have no idea how much!" She ground out...
And with that,she hopped into the car as it sped off to the airport...
*****
"She's gone Patrick... Our baby's gone... I thought she will overcome that pain one day but i was wrong... She hates me... I... I was only following tradition" she sobbed into her husband's chest...
"We'll get her back.. I promise" he patted her back softly,wondering if he could really fulfill his promise..
If only,if only he was in town that day,years ago,he would have stopped them from practicing that stupid culture on his daughter,maybe,just maybe she would still be a normal girl but it was too late..... Or was there hope?
TO BE CONTINUED
Sad huh?
Who else thinks some superstitions and cultural beliefs should be done away with?
If you think it should, drop your comments below.....I'll appreciate it a lot..
Do you think Virginia's hatred and attitude towards her mother is justified?
What do you think?
Pls vote and drop your comment...
Every suggestion is welcomed..
    With love...
Ellen Eliza....