CHAPTER 13

CHICHI

Chichi steps on the brake suddenly at the middle of the road, she struggles to catch her breath, her

hands are shaking terribly but still fixed on the steering. She puts her gear in park, opens the door, and alights. She has been driving for hours with her mind occupied with so many thoughts and flashes of the attack from her past keep coming back. She felt too weak all of a sudden and wishes her life could end, her pain and agony would all go away, she wants to go away from this wicked world She sits by the concrete culvert on the road, but her headlight is left on, her car door is also left open, she just sits staring into the sky then all of a sudden, she screams into the quiet night. The tears she has been trying to hold all these years gushed from her eyes, she released them as she couldn't pretend to be strong anymore. She cries bitterly, she had thought running from her past or anything that connects her to her past would make her forget about her pain but no, that wall she built to shut the past had also shut everything off her life. She had been a living dead all along and finally, her emotions had failed her.

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The flashes continued, Richard had passed out on her after raping her for several hours, she never knew he does drugs until that day. She pushed him aside gently as she groaned in pain, shifting and pushing herself gently till she was close enough to the table. With her chin, she draws one of the knife closer until it fell, she picked it up with her tied hands, and after several attempts, she gently cuts through the rope and unties herself. She groaned in pain as she stood and walked with her legs widely separated as her vagina in between her legs was in burning flames, her cloth had bloodstain all over, and her face, hands, and neck were badly bruised. She tiptoed out of the place before the monster of an ex woke up.

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Tears gushed down her face as memories of how she got home and away from the devil's den keeps coming back, how her life had changed from then. She had been cold towards men since then; she stayed away from them totally and shut herself off from the world. She was a loner in the new environment she moved to in Lagos, but that only lasted for a while before she met Tade and the girls even though her experience had made her so introverted but the girls gave her a reason to loosen up, a sense of belonging and shoulders to lean on. "The girls!" she remembers she has somewhere to go, she has friends to turn to and share burdens with though they never shared their stories, maybe tonight would be that night.

She walked back to her car, and picked up her phone to ring Nora "Hello" she called out almost in a whisper, "Hello Chichi are you okay?" Nora sounds worried at the sound of Chichi's voice and the time she was calling "No, I'm not okay" she burst into tears again. Nora panicked as she hears her crying "what happened? Where are you? Do you need me to call an emergency?" Chichi shuts the door and ignites the engine "I am coming over to you, we will talk when I get there"

"oh! shit!" Nora exclaimed as she had forgotten to inform the girls about her unplanned visit "Baby, I am not in my house at the moment, I am in my family's house, got an emergency call that my mom was sick so I took my leave and traveled down earlier today. But stay put, I will call Tade and Susan immediately"

Nora adds Tade to the call "Yo! Babes whatsup?" Tade picks up promptly, "Tade, I think Chichi is in distress, can you go down and pick her up" Nora informs Tade who becomes worried instantly "Distress? What happened? Is she okay? Where exactly is she?" Chichi replies Tade on the conference call "that deserted road off Zest supermarket along Mediz road, my car is here"

"Please stay safe, hold any sharp object close to

you just in case. I will be there soon. I will call Susan also" Tade assured her before she hangs up.