When Life Happens (A STORY; Part 2).

Kindly click here to read part one of this intriguing story.

Ella continued to bury her head in her hands when suddenly she felt a subtle tap on her back. She raised her head and saw a boy that wasn’t older than 10 years of age. On his small head laid a bucket filled with cold sachet water, and the weight was obviously too much for him as he was struggling to stand steady. “Aunty you no well?” He asked Ella, looking honestly concerned. “Your eyes red, you dey cry? If your body dey disturb you I fit run go buy medicine for you.” He said in an innocent but concerned tone.

Ella felt a rush of emotions all over her. She didn’t know how to react to this unexpected display of kindness from a child that was obviously having a hard life. She could see scars on his body as if someone had flogged him using a wire. Without uttering a word she carried her bag, stood up, and walked towards a taxi. 

“You dey go G.S.S?” She asked the driver coldly. He nodded and opened the door for her. 

The concern the kid had shown her made her feel ashamed. Here she was wailing over not getting a job, but this child leading a harder life was actually showing empathy towards her. She shut her eyes and stayed quiet. The vehicle got filled with passengers and they started their journey. “Bye-bye!’ The little boy said waving at Ella, but she didn’t reply. 

When she got to G.S.S she alighted from the vehicle, paid the driver, and walked home. Ella’s family lived in a public yard and commotion was quite normal, so she wasn’t surprised when she saw the place in a state of unrest as a small crowd gathered. She decided to walk briskly towards her house, she was not in the mood for any drama, but the moment the crowd caught a glimpse of her, they all hurriedly walked towards her throwing questions at her.

“How’s your brother? How’s Hannah? She dey okay?” Ella was taken aback by these questions.  “I don’t understand, what happened?” She asked dumbfounded. “You never hear?” one of her neighbors retorted. “Hear what?’ Ella asked shuttering, she felt chills down her spine. “Your younger brother Kachi caught Emeka, that rich man’s son who is a friend of our landlord’s son Ade molesting Hannah, your 7 years old sister at the back of your house. Your brother confronted him, but the boy shoved him and he fell hitting his head on a pile of blocks. Kachi fainted, and Emeka escaped. Your mom took both your bleeding sister and brother to St. Elizabeth Clinic.” The woman ended her narration with a howl.

Ella went numb for a few seconds, but to the astonishment of everyone she let out a loud laughter. She laughed so loud her neighbors moved away from her with fear spelled all over their faces. “Are you mad?” A man asked loudly. “This girl is a witch” retorted another. However, Ella kept on laughing, she had no single tears left to shed. She had always thought laughter was used to express happiness, but today it was the only way she could express her pain. She laughed so hard that she fell on the floor. She was ignoring her mother calls thinking it was about the outcome of her failed interview. Whereas, there was real trouble at home.

It took Ella a while to stop laughing, after she finally stopped, she swiftly set off for the hospital without changing her dirty clothes. On reaching there, she called her mom for directions and was directed to the ward her siblings were. The moment her mother saw her she started crying loudly. 

Mrs. Okafor walked towards her daughter and shook her quite aggressively while wailing that they needed money to conduct some tests. “Ada why were you not taking your calls? Do something, we need money and your dad has nothing.” Her mother said almost shouting. Ella freed herself from her mother’s grip and fled, she wanted to break down but she knew more than ever her family needed her. Her head felt heavy but she managed to bring out her phone from her bag to call for help, but suddenly she remembered Kingsley.

Ella and Kingsley were close friends during their university days, and based on his WhatsApp status updates he was basking in money. However, he was the same guy that raped her on her graduation night, and Ella never told anyone. Though Kingsley had apologized to her they have never spoken to each other since the incident.

Today, Ella was on a crossroad, her boyfriend was not financially stable, neither were her close friends. She must decide if she should call her rapist for help, in order to save the lives of her siblings that have been engendered by another rapist. What would she do?

To be Continued.