Chapter 55
"You are evil!" He spat, now understanding that she had deliberately raped him in order to blackmail him." I don't want anything to do with you, ever!"
"Right..." She smiled wickedly. "That's what you think... But now that you have also tasted the forbidden fruit of your darling stepmother, it means that you'll just have to keep that mouth of yours shut concerning what you saw Father Thomas and I doing yesterday. If you dare run that mouth of yours to your father when he returns later today, I shall tell him that you have been sneaking to my door and peeping into my room to watch me bath or undress!"
Vincent could only helplessly stare at his stepmother in disbelief. As she started for her room, looking sated, she picked up his towel and tossed it on him. "Go freshen up and go to bed... It's really late." She said and was gone.
At that moment, Vincent felt like murdering her. He felt like grabbing a knife and plunging it into her chest, but the thought of spending the rest of his life in j because of her, restrained him. So, he got up, walked into the bathroom, bolted the door, sat down on the toilet lid, buried his face into his palms and wept bitterly.
It was hard to believe that the precious virginity which he wanted to give to the woman whom he would fall in love with and also get married to had been so cruelly taken away from him in just minutes. Comforting himself, he made up his mind that he would go to the church when it was daybreak and confess his sins.
Somehow, he blamed his late mother for what has happened to him. If she had not selfishly taken her own life, then she would have been here to protect him. Because of her absence, he had also become a victim of rape and blackmail too.
★★★
Later that morning...
Kikelomo sashayed down the bush path with her train of four friends Ifede, Fisayo, Abisola and Ronke. The group of teenagers was being escorted by two palace guards who followed from behind to keep them safe. As Kikelomo swayed her hips as she walked, holding her fly-whisk horse-tail over her shoulder, she said over her shoulder at her friends in a haughty voice.
"Haven't you all noticed how long and beautiful my hair has grown lately?"
"Of course!" The other girls said in agreement as they admired her long cornrows from behind.
"It looks shiny, very black and extremely beautiful! It must be the shear butter you apply on it." Fisayo said.
"Most definitely not! I heard that I inherited such beautiful hair from my great-great-grandmother." Kikelomo boasted. "Not even goddesses are this lucky!"
"I wish I had the type of your hair." Abisola cooed in envy.
"Dandruff wants to finish mine. I'm always scratching my scalp." Ifede complained, scratching her scalp now. "My mother said that I might have no choice but to cut it if the terrible itch persists."
"Well, my hair is too stringy to comb and it hurts whenever I plait it. I think Iya Ibidun's hands hurt whenever she plaits didi for me." Said Ronke.
"Anyway..." Kikelomo rolled her eyes, impassive to her friends' plight. "I'm sure that in the whole four kingdoms around, no other girl has hair as long, full and beautiful as mine. I'm one of a kind! In fact, I should be given an award and given recognition in all four kingdoms." She bragged.
"We agree... there's no one as beautiful as you are too Kikelomo." Fisayo said and Kikelomo's head literally swelled with pride. "You are indeed one of a kind."
As they continued to walk, they soon saw Ewatomi approaching from the opposite direction with a stack of firewood on her head which she was going to deliver to her mother, Ireti. Without saying a word to them or acknowledging them in any way, Ewatomi fixed her eyes ahead as she walked past them and Kikelomo turned to look at her as she continued walking, noticing how long Ewatomi's hair was when the breeze blew aside her white veil. Kikelomo's countenance darkened now in displeasure and disdain, especially when she realized that her friends were secretly admiring Ewatomi's hair and murmuring in awe amongst themselves.
"Guards!" Kikelomo snapped now, stopping and turning around, and her friends quickly flinched, turning to look at her and composing themselves, pretending they never admired Ewatomi's hair.
"Yes, Princess!" The two men stepped forward.
"Bring me that peasant!" Kikelomo pointed her horse-tail whisk at Ewatomi who was still moving further away from them, oblivious to what was going on.
The guards obeyed, ran after Ewatomi, and while the first guard forcefully brought down the stack of firewood from her head and placed it on the side of the path in the bush, the second guard seized her by the upper arm. As he dragged her towards Kikelomo, Ewatomi didn't struggle.
"Take off her veil!" Kikelomo ordered and the guard yanked off Ewatomi's veil to fully reveal her hair. "Turn around!" Kikelomo ordered Ewatomi, gesturing with the horse-tail whisk. When Ewatomi stubbornly refused to comply, the guard placed a hand on her shoulder and forcefully turned her around so that she had her back to the princess.
"What do you girls think?" Kikelomo asked her friends as she stared at Ewatomi's long hair in disdain. When none of her friends spoke because of fear of how the princess would react, Kikelomo suddenly snapped, making them flinch in fear. "ANSWER ME!"
Abisola who was the boldest of the girls cleared her throat and tentatively said, "My princess, please take no offense at what I'm about to say but I'll have to be honest with you. Your hair is indeed beautiful and long but none can beat Ige's own, not even yours. Her hair which is as black as Raven's feather shimmers in the sun and unlike yours which reaches the middle of your back, Ewatomi's hair sweeps down to her buttocks. I'm not sure that there's any maiden in the four kingdoms who has such beautiful hair as hers."
"I see..." Kikelomo swallowed hard, knowing that Abisola had spoken nothing but the bitter truth. After glaring at Ewatomi's hair for a moment, she said to her guards, "Guards, cut off her hair!"
The girls gasped, exchanging surprised looks among themselves while Ewatomi turned around to face Kikelomo. She was rather too calm and was completely unperturbed about what was about to happen.
"My princess..." The first guard said in hesitation. "We don't have a pair of scissors here."
"You have a machete, don't you? I'm sure that it's very sharp, so use it! Cut her hair right now!" Kikelomo impatiently ordered.
The first guard swallowed hard, unsheathed his machete, approached Ewatomi, wrapped his fingers around the end of her hair and was about to cut it off when Kikelomo interrupted him. "Higher!" The guard adjusted his hold but Kikelomo shouted higher and higher and higher until the guard was now holding Ewatomi's hair right under her nape. "Now, cut it off! No one is allowed to have longer hair than I do! No one!" Kikelomo hissed in jealousy.
The guard placed the blade of the machete under Ewatomi's hair and sliced the long black hair off, throwing it on the ground. While Kikelomo's friends dreaded what Ewatomi would do next, they were rather surprised when the girl gave absolutely no reaction at her hair being cut.
"Good!" Kikelomo smirked now at Ewatomi. "Let's see how you will compete with me now. Abisola! Who has the prettiest hair now in the four kingdoms?!" She asked without taking her eyes off Ewatomi.
"My princess, you alone. None can compare!" Abisola soberly answered now.
Kikelomo's smirk widened but slowly started to fade when much to everyone's shock, Ewatomi's hair began to slowly grow again before their very eyes until it fell below her waist.
"What witchery is this?!" Kikelomo suddenly cried out in shock, eyes wide in horror and anger. "How did that just happen?!" She asked Ewatomi, but the girl said nothing. "Guard!" Kikelomo barked again. "Cut her hair off again!" She vehemently ordered.
The guard hesitated, took Ewatomi's hair and cut it off but he had barely dropped the second cut hair when Ewatomi's hair rapidly sprang down again and dropped below her waist.
Kikelomo slowly began to back away from Ewatomi while her friends quickly took to the bush in terror. "No...no..." She said, slowly shaking her head in disbelief. "This can't be! How are you doing that? How, you little witch?!" Turning, Kikelomo took to her heels now, heading back to the palace and her guards quickly followed, jogging behind her.
Now that Ewatomi was all alone, she simply returned to her stack of firewood, carried and placed it on her head and continued her walk home. After a few seconds, her hair which had been cut twice, vanished from the ground like they were never there.
★★★
Vincent stepped into the confession stand and knelt down. He could see the bishop in the other side through the grated window. After the Bishop did the sign of the cross, Vincent spoke,
"Father bless me, for I've sinned."
"Confess your sins so that the Lord can forgive you." The bishop said.
"Father, early this morning, I was raped by my stepmother...but first, I made a mistake by letting her take my member in her mouth..." He awkwardly murmured the last sentence, ridden with renewed guilt.
"Go on." The bishop urged.
"And, a priest who raped my mother years ago has been having an affair with my stepmother...but now my stepmother is blackmailing me in order to prevent me from telling my father the truth."
"Rape is never the fault of the victim and even God understands that. The good Lord shall forgive you, but concerning the priest who's having an affair with your stepmother, you are not to tell your father such nor anybody else. Remember that the Bible is against your speaking against God's anointed. I'll advise that you pretend that you know nothing. Keep this secret to yourself and leave it to God who will eventually vindicate you by taking care of the situation."
Vincent sighed. This wasn't the advice he had expected, but he couldn't go against the counsel of a bishop.
"But my conscience will continue to prick me if I say nothing." He said in worry.
"If you confess to your father about the rape and the affair, it might be to your detriment, for you might end up being accused falsely by your manipulative step-mother and also being thrown out of the house. Are you ready to risk that?" Asked the bishop.
"No." Vincent murmured. "I'm not."
"Good."
"But my father wants me to become a priest."
"How old are you, boy?" Asked the bishop.
"Seventeen going on eighteen." Vincent answered.
"And why haven't you gone to the seminary yet?"
Vincent hesitantly replied. "Because I really do not want to be a priest."
"Why not?"
"Because my mother died because of one."
"Well, boy, not all priests are bad. There are good ones as well as the bad...you could be one of the good ones who make a difference by serving the Lord the right way." The bishop stated.
"But how can I become a priest after I've been defiled?"
"Do not let that worry, what really counts is that you stick to your vows of abstaining from any sexual immorality besides other sins. In order to be able to control any lust or temptation, you'll go through as a priest, you'll have to start practicing the act of celibacy starting from today."
Vincent sighed, "This is a hard decision to make, father. I really don't see any future in being a priest. I just want to fall in love, get married and have a family of my own. I'm the only child of my late mum; who will continue her legacy if I submit myself to the priesthood?"
"If you were older...keep this between us," The Bishop quietly said, "I would have advised that you get some girl pregnant before joining the priesthood, but you can't do that once you are in and you have taken your oath of chastity."
"What!" Vincent uttered in surprise. "Isn't that a deliberate sin? Getting a girl pregnant whom I'm not married to is fornication...aren't we supposed to keep the bed undefiled?"
"Grace abounds for all, boy... God is always merciful."
"Oh..." Vincent said thoughtfully.
"Is that all?"
"Yes...I guess that's all I remember, father."
"Well, since you have confessed your sins, the good Lord will surely forgive you for them and for those that you do not remember. Your penance is just to fast and pray for three days. Since you are still very young, you can break the fast whatever time you want." The bishop instructed.
"Thank you, father." Vincent said, feeling a bit relieved.
"Say the act of contrition." The father stated.
After Vincent had said the act of contrition, the bishop prayed for him, blessed him and asked him to go. As Vincent walked towards the main door of the church, The Bishop stepped out of the confession stand to watch him exit the church.
★★★
A Week Later...
As Njideka was having a chit-chat with Father Thomas outside the church and beside his car, a young girl in her early twenties passed by and greeted him.
"Bless you, sister." Father Thomas said, lustfully following her with his eyes as she walked down the street. His arms were folded on his chest and he was leaning his back against the body of the car.
"Bia, what's the meaning of that?" Njideka who had noticed how he had lustfully admired the girl, angrily asked now with a displeased and jealous frown on her face.
Father Thomas turned his head to look at her, feigning ignorance. "What's the meaning of what?" He asked.
"Don’t play dumb with me! Why were you staring at that girl like that? Especially when you know very well that I'm here; have you no respect for my presence at all?"
The priest scoffed. "Why are you suddenly acting all possessive, Njideka? Have you forgotten that you are married?"
"No, I did not forget, but I was not the one who promised a married woman that I'll always love and cherish her." Njideka said in sarcasm.
"Njideka, please don't start again o. You knew what you were getting into when you agreed to be my sex partner." Father Thomas stated.
"Sex partner, okwia?!" She flared a bit. "Oh, so that's what I'm, sex partner!"
"What else? You don't expect me to remain committed to a married woman who's already legally committed to another man, do you?" He retorted.
"No, I did not forget, but I was not the one who promised a married woman that I'll always love and cherish her." Njideka said in sarcasm.
"Njideka, please don't start again o. You knew what you were getting into when you agreed to be my sex partner." Father Thomas stated.