Featured Blogger

Conquered #2

Read the first part of Obynofranc’s Conquered here

Nkechi became seventeen and a final year secondary school leaver. She was in senior secondary school three, and attended a prestigious private school in the neighbourhood with her mother as the sole provider. She had it more than most children with both parents. She had come to the terms of accepting her mother’s choice to remain single. It was disheartening watching her mother narrate her sordid tales. She was raped at twenty six for beinh a young lady that worked hard and kept late most of the times. Being a banker who was highly ranked, she always came home late, till a fateful day. It was some minutes past ten, and she halted her car in the compound and got down. She walked towards the door and stopped to ransack her bag. She took out the key as she opened the door. It opened and she pushed the door.

As she made to walk in, a hand pushed her forward. She staggered, struggling not to fall down. Her bag and key had fallen to the ground. She finally located the switch. She pressed it and the light came. It was Deji. Her former boyfriend. He hit her hard and she fell on the ground. All she heard was, “You think you can abandon me and be living your life. I’m still going to nut in you. You will remember me forever.” She went black.

She was lying lifelessly on the ground. Deji pulled off her clothes, inserted his manhood and raped her. When he was done, he fondled her and scurried away. She almost bled to death until a neighbor who walked past and saw her door open. She wanted to say a ‘Hi’ and saw her llying on the floor and bleeding. He screeched and her voice attracted other neighbours before they took her to the hospital.

Tears was running down from her cheeks as she was narrating the whole scenarios to Nkechi. She was talking and stuttering. Nkechi couldn’t help but continue to cry. “It’s been sad years for me since then. I hated men so much. I was no feminist before that time. I didn’t know about the ideology. I was a woman slowly transitioning. It was some bad times. I wanted to have nothing to do with any man, till I was in my mid thirties and the pressure became too much for me because society expected me to get marriedβ€”” she took a handkerchief and cleaned off the tears.

Nkechi interrupted. Her soft cry sounded shrill. Mama gripped her tight and smoothed her back. “It was until I met the woman who I will tag as my heroine that delivered me from societal status quo, I didn’t have a good relationship with men after the rape because I expected too much from them. Few I had lasted not more than a year. There were  times I wanted to commit suicide but I was always staring at you, lying innocently on the bed. You gave me hope. Few that were nice, didn’t want to marry me because I was a single mother. The heroine assured me that my misandry β€” which I despised so much β€” is justified. There are lot of men and women out there that have internal misogyny including those two women you told me about, the other day, and their misogyny isn’t justified like my misandry. I had every rights. My daughter, I don’t need marriage anytime sooner. I know I’m almost in my mid forties but I know what’s best for me,” she said.

They hugged each other and Nkechi kept crying. She lifted her face from her mother’s embrace and Mama cleaned away her tears.

***

There was a new classmate and everyone found him different. He stays alone to himself. Quite and secluded. They called him a sissy girlboy and it didn’t take time before they all began to address him with the name. He walked and gestured like a girl. He catwalked, rolled his eyes, snapped his fingers and flipped his hands. His voice sounded girly. Some students taunted him especially his fellow boys. He didn’t play football or did other masculine things like his fellow boys. Nkechi found him fascinating. She would gaze at him and smile. Their eyes lock together and they look away after some minutes of a freeze. During the break time, he would always be in the midst of girls and giggle at them. Most girls didn’t give him attention because they didn’t find him ‘woman’ enough. He was always secluded. 

In the afternoon, during the break time, he catwalked into the Hall filled with other students. It was a recreational hall for those who didn’t want to play outside. They did indoor sports there. Some boys stared at him and made a jest of him. He rolled his eyes, and swung his hand at them. Nkechi admired his guts. 

He sat on a chair and brought out a novel from his bag. A boy walked towards him, grabbed the book and flung it away.

“How dare you stupid gay, stare at us in that manner,” he said.

The “sissy girlboy” stood up and matched up to him. “Pick up my book or else you’ll have me to deal with.”

Nkechi eye balls grew. Such a gut, she admired 

The boy moved back a bit. “Don’t touch your filthy gay body or hand on me,” he said.

“What about my book you threw on the floor?”

“You can pick it up yourself.”

The boy made to walk out on the sissy girlboy, but he dragged him back and a threw a punch on him. He moved back and got a grip, lunged forward and made to return the blow, but the sissy girlboy blocked his hand quick and hit his clenched fist on his lips. It cracked and blood began to drip out. The student stared in surprise. Their noises attracted the principal. They were summoned into the office.

When the principal asked for a narration from eye witnesses, all the students were in support of the boy, Eric. They went against the sissy girlboy. Nkechi didn’t want to speak when she was asked to. She felt overshadowed and speaking the truth looked somehow. “I didn’t really know how everything happened,” she said to the principal.

Before the closing hour, the principal addressed them. “Eric and Tega come out,” he said.

Eric walked out followed closely by Tega. Some students in the crowd jarred sissy girlboy.

The principal stood on the assembly ground while a cane dangled in his hand. “Tega, one would have thought since you behave like an aberration, you’d be very calm,” the principal said.

All the students laughed. Nkechi covered her hand with her mouth. That’s a strong word to use for a human and one would think he is educated, she thought.

Tega was suspended for a week while Eric walked free. Nkechi still couldn’t assimilate why the boy was hated so much. She thought about discussing it with her mother.

Obynofranc

Obinna Tony-Francis Ochem, is an undergraduate student of the University of Lagos, Nigeria. He loves reading and writing. His love for horror and fantasy stories can be dated to his early days of fiction till he found about something called a Speculative fiction. He is still on his early age of writing and hoping that one day, he will become a power house.

You may also like...

5 Comments

  1. Awwwn
    Rape victims go through a whole lot
    And I feel for Tega

  2. Datoks says:

    Really feel for him

  3. AOS says:

    Hmmmmm, another again….so sad. Thanks.

  4. Tony-Francis says:

    Thank you, guys.

  5. Mariam says:

    I wish she spoke up for me but then how many of us speak up when people are being bullied? The sad part is even the principal who was suppose to chastise the students for calling Tega a sissy boy girl saw nothing wrong in it . I like Tega sha.

Comments are closed.