For When You're A Man (under reconstruction)

Discovery

Trigger Warning : Mentions sexual abuse.

Today, Biola and I did a bad thing with good intentions.

Jonah had moved out, but all of his old stuff was still in his room. I thought back to what Dad wrote to me about reaching out to him. We just wanted to understand him, we just wanted to know why he was so angry. We just wanted to help him.

There was a small bin that he kept under his bed. So we took it out and dug through it. It was full of family photos with us and Uncle Mofe ripped up. We checked the photo albums and there was no trace of Uncle Mofe. That was odd, Dad had him come over every year when we were growing up. Uncle Mofe was always so kind, he loved us all and he especially doted on Wale. 

We searched for hours for any more clues. Then we checked his old bible. I remember clearly now, Jonah used to pray the most out of all of us. He used to drag us to church, he would never eat anything without thanking God first. 

"Biola, should we be doing this?" I asked her, she was always a better person than me, if she said no then we'd leave it.

"How else are we meant to help him?" She replied. She had a good point there. We had been trying to get him to open up for weeks.

Be careful what you wish for.

Dear God,

Please touch Uncle's heart and make him stop. When he comes to visit, he does odd things. I don't have anyone else to turn to. Last night, he came into my bedroom and took his clothes off. He made me watch him do things that I don't understand. But it was scary. Is this a part of your plan, God? Are you trying to teach me, or test me? It happens every year when he comes to visit. It gets worse every year. He says if I do what he says, he'll leave my siblings alone. He's Dad's older brother. I know Dad loves him. Uncle said that Dad will hate me if I tell. Says he won't believe me. He's coming again tomorrow. Please Lord, make it stop, I can only come to you,

Read the note that was neatly tucked into the book of psalms. 

What are you supposed to do when you realise that your whole childhood has been a lie? What do you do when you realise that you've been hating the wrong person?

Biola was just as dumbfounded as I was, there was nothing that could be said.

We realised how terrible the mistake we made was, when we saw Jonah frozen in horror at the other end of the corridor.

How many conversations about the great times we had with him did Jonah have to endure? I have no idea.

He just stood there, looking at us. He knew we knew. He couldn't put up his wall anymore. It was horrible. 

Then another horrible question popped up in my mind.

Did Dad know?