IZIGORA

Chapter 31

'Do you have any other witness, Mrs Idahosa?' the judge asked Izigora's counsel as she was discharged from the witness box.

'No, my Lord,' Furo responded. 'That is the case of the Petitioner.'

Two months had passed since the failed abduction. Kainye had still shown no interest to defend the petition and so Furo had filed an application seeking the leave of the court to set the undefended petition down for hearing. The application was granted. However, although Furo led the sequence of her testimony, Izigora was reluctant to lay herself completely bare before an open court. Had Kainye defended the case, perhaps she would have revealed a lot more of what she had been compelled to endure in the seven plus years they were together.

Call her stupid, but she was simply grateful Kainye's ego had kept him away from the court. She wasn't exactly sure how she felt about him or how she would react if she found herself alone with him. Love, she had learned from experience, didn't die in just one day or just because you wanted it to. She had loved Kainye for seven years; seven years in which he had been her world. Surely the process of recovery wouldn't be an easy one especially when she didn't even have a distraction!

As she returned to her seat at the back of the courtroom, she could feel all eyes on her. Dressed in a simple fuchsia pink dress which ended just above her knees, the knee brace she still had to use was revealed for all to see as well as some of the scars from past tortures. She had chosen a long gown but Sotonye had immediately snatched the gown and replaced it with something shorter.

'You need to leave a lasting impression, girlfriend. People need to see what that monster put you through.'

Izigora tried hard not to falter under the stares with mixed expressions of pity and pride. Worse were the judgmental stares. She was the abused woman who had dared to speak up and end her marriage. They were probably wondering why she didn't do more to make her marriage work or perhaps she was simply taking advantage of the fact that her husband was not defending the petition to level all sorts of allegations against him. They didn't even have any idea half of what she had been through or that she had only tendered recent medical reports and photographs but not the most embarrassing ones! They had no idea that she had been made to feel so worthless.

Izigora was grateful for the gift of friendship she had gained in the last few months – Sotonye, Efosa and Kobi. Before then the only one she'd had on her side was Zuby and now Zuby was far away. Kobi! She had apologised for what she had let Alicia do to him. Making Kobi believe she had a multiple personality disorder had seemed okay at the time but after she had given it a thought, she realised it was a really expensive joke. And the frightening thing was that after what she had gone through in the hands of Kainye, she couldn't really be certain that she didn't have that disorder, especially since in most cases, the victims had no idea about the existence of the other personalities.

She had no right to be mad at him for not being available when she needed him the most. Now she had to make do with a short once-in-a-week call. But it was better than nothing.

'You're asking too much of Kobi,' Sotonye had told her the morning after Kobi had left the

apartment. 'He has a life outside your friendship. The rate at which you are going, you are going to suffocate him with your brand of friendship and lose him for good. He's in a relationship and you can't expect him to be at your beck and call. You wouldn't even like that if you were in his girlfriend's shoes. You would suspect his intentions if he was always coming around the same woman even if it was for medical purposes.'

True. But that didn't mean she didn't miss talking regularly to him. He was her voice of reason.

'...the Respondent is hereby foreclosed. This case is adjourned to the 2nd of February 2018 for adoption of final address,' the judge concluded.