The young girl sat on the bathtub, quiet and still in the dark bathroom. Perhaps, if she didn't move he wouldn't hear her. The darkness gave her the chills but she didn't dare put on the light, he would find her if she did.
She wanted to call out to her mother but the poor woman was asleep tired from her hectic job.
She could call out to her aunt, her mother's elder sister but the woman already thought that she was bent on causing trouble. she wouldn't do much good for her. If anything, calling out to her, would bring trouble faster to her doorstep. No pun intended.
He would hear her and be able to find her quickly.
She prayed he would sleep longer or rather her mother would wake up but when she heard the sound of her mother's room door opening. She knew that yet another prayer had gone unanswered.
Bolt the door.
She didn't bother to look around, no one was with her and his voice was not that calm.
So, it wasn't him. She didn't know where the voice came from but she wasn't going to question it. She tiptoed to the door and bolted it. The click it made was so loud, she waited, expecting to hear his angry whisper demanding that she opened the door. She stayed still by the door.
It felt like forever. When she heard nothing, she tiptoed back to the bathtub and sat on it.
The door to her room opened. She knew it was her room door, because of the noise it made when it opened. The hinges were rusted and the wood was soggy. Her mother didn't have the money to fix a new one. Money, that was the problem. No matter how hard her mother worked, how little she spent, they never seemed to have enough.
He was at the door, she knew it. He knew she was there. Her heart beat increased, she wanted to quiet it . How do you make your heart beat slower and quietly?
"psst, where are you?" she could hear the anger in his whisper.
She wouldn't answer. He had no hold over her, that's what pastor had said on Sunday. Sin and trouble have no hold over you, break loose from them. She couldn't remember if those were exactly his words but she could still picture him jumping and prancing across the alter as he said them with confidence, his shoe shining under the brilliant light. He probably had no problems and why would he, he most likely had all the money he needed.
She heard the ruffle of her bedsheet. He would soon realize that the figure on the bed wasn't her, just some of her dirty clothes and her one hard pillow.
He would soon begin to look for her.
"If you know what is good for you, you better come out here now"
He has no hold over me
"I know exactly where you are, come out and stop being silly"
He didn't know where she was, she could be in her aunt's room. It used to be the parlour before it was turned to a room for her aunty. She could be in the kitchen or in her aunt's toilet. She could be anywhere. He didn't know where she was.
He has no hold over me..
A ray of light flashed under the door of the bathroom. The light was too dull to be her room light, it had to be his Nokia 3310 flashlight. She put her leg up, in case he could see under the door.
The door handle turned. He had won again. She stared at the door waiting for him to enter but the door didn't move. He pushed at it, the door shuddered but wouldn't budge.
She wanted to kiss the old door. While, she had kicked it numerous times in anger, it did not hold any of those times over her. It held for her.
He hissed, she heard his mutter, 'I thought I spoiled the lock'.
His whisper came sharply. "You this stupid brat, I know you are in there, open the door now or I will break down this door, I will kill you, your mother and your aunt…"
She heard her door room open with its cranky whine. She heard something click and from the hole under the door, she could see her room flooded with light.
Her aunt's voice came through. "ahn ahn, Emeka what are you doing here?"
"Ah aunty, you are awake, hope I didn't wake you?"
"No, you didn't"
Aunty must have given him her famous unsettling stare because she heard him say. "I thought I heard Baby scream, I came to check on her"
"I didn't hear anything"
"I was going to the kitchen to drink water, when I heard her "
"You can go now"
"I want to check, I think the door jammed and she maybe in the bathroom.
" She is sleeping in my room. She is with me "
"ohh, okay, I must be hearing things now, I can almost swear I heard a scream"
"Don't worry, go to bed. Goodnight"
"Goodnight ma"
She heard her door close.
She waited. He left but she knew her aunt was still in the room.
"If you know what's good for you, you will stay there all night, he may return again.
She didn't answer and she didn't need to. She heard her door open again and close.
She climbed into the tub. She couldn't sleep, he could come back anytime.
Emeka had taken everything from her. First, her time with her mother, the little she could spare when she wasn't working. Then her mother's heart and love, Mama only cared about him now. Next, He had taken her space in her mother's room. Immediately he moved in, her mother had made her stop sleeping in her room and turned her dressing room into a room for her. He had taken everything and now he took her sleep too. It didn't matter though, today, she had won. She had stopped him from touching her, from sucking on her breast till they were tender and painful. From touching her till she was sick.
At dawn, she wouldn't have to scrub her skin raw to get the smell of cigarettes, alcohol and stale urine off her, to remove the feel of his musty, clammy fingers. She would still be dirty but today she would be a little less.
She closed her eyes and waited for dawn.