chapter 6

Trigger warning ‼️

Contains subjects of abuse.

*******

"wakey wakey..." Mrs. Adewunmi said, kissing her daughter's forehead.

The girl pulled the blanket back over her head and Mrs Adewunmi chuckled heartily.

" Well if you don't wake up now you'll be late for school...." She said but the young girl didn't budge.

" .....and I might just change my mind about taking you along with me to my office." Mrs. Adewunmi said and that seemed to do the trick because in the next second, the girl was up instantly causing the woman to laugh.

" Get ready and come down for breakfast. Mr. Wale is already waiting to drive you, okay." She said and the girl nodded, dashing into the bathroom. Mrs. Adewunmi smiled fondly as she watched her daughter, she felt a tinge of sadness and guilt but quickly shrugged it off. Standing up, she left the room closing the door gently.

******

The young girl sat in front of the mirror as she styled her long dark curly hair into pigtails before applying a little lipgloss and standing up to straighten her uniform. Satisfied with her overall look, she picked her school bag and hurried downstairs.

" Good morning Miss Martins." Mr. Steven, the butler greeted the young Miss with a smile.

' Good morning, Mr. Steven, looking sharp today as always ' she signed, causing the Older man to laugh.

" Thank you, miss." He answered.

' Where's mother? ' she signed.

" She's at the dinning table, hurry now if you don't want to be late for school. " He said.

' will you tell the cook to prepare Mac and cheese for lunch, please ' she signed looking at the man with puppy eyes. Mr. Steven shook his head in amusement, she haven't had breakfast yet and she was already thinking of lunch? The young Miss sure had a big appetite.

" Sure, miss." He smiled.

' yay! Thank you. ' she signed before heading to the dinning area.

' why did you wait for me? You'll be late for work ' she signed when she reached the dinning and a maid quickly pulled out a chair for her. She sat.

" Nonsense, darling. I'm the boss so I go anytime I like." Mrs. Adewunmi said and the girl rolled her eyes with a smile before picking up the cutlery to eat. The two women chatted as they ate, soon enough they were done and were already in the car.

" I'll pick you up at 2:00. Be good and study hard." Mrs. Adewunmi said as they reached her daughter's school. The driver quickly came down and opened the door for her.

' I love you, mother. ' she signed and the woman smiled.

" I love you more, princess." She responded before the car zoomed away. The girl took a deep breath and plastered a smile on her gorgeous face as she walked into her school.

" Siri !" She heard her name and turned to see a tall dark skinned boy who was walking towards her.

' wats up ' she signed and he smiled stretching out his hand for their secret handshake. He was her childhood friend and probably her best friend because he was her only friend . Khalil mark- Johnson.

" How was your weekend, I missed you." He said, flinging his arm across her shoulder.

' Uggh.. it was boring. I wanted to follow my sister camping but mother said I can't miss any of my therapy sessions so I pretty much stayed at home and binged watched vampire diaries while stuffing my face with popcorn. ' she signed and Khalil laughed at her plight.

' idiot ' she signed, hitting his arm.

" Well you're not the only one that had a shitty weekend. My Dad had to go to Canada on Friday and I was stuck baby sitting Daisy and Damien." He said and it was her turn to chuckle.

' baby sitting your brother and sister isn't a bad thing, ' she signed.

" Whatever." He said as they hurried to class.

' oh no... ' she signed when they got to class and sat down.

' what ' Khalil signed.

' look, promposal. ' she said and just then balloons and confetti were every where as a boy from the basketball team came in singing one direction's what makes you beautiful.

" Helen, would you go to prom with me." He asked the girl who screamed and squealed excitedly nodding her answer.

' uggh.... Pathetic. ' Siri signed.

" I think it was cute" Khalil said.

' seriously, I see highschool as a torture I have to endure and all this unnecessary displays of infatuation—'

".. are stupid. Yeah yeah. You always say that." Khalil completed her statement earning a glare from her.

Siri Anne Ayomide Martins was the only child of her parents Mr. Michael Bamidele Martins and Mrs Adewunmi Martha martins.

Mr Martins was a business man who owned several companies in Nigeria and was in partnership with companies in countries like south Africa, Kenya, Uganda, United Kingdom and Cote D'Ivoire. He married Mrs Adewunmi at 29 years, they had met in the University of Texas, her father was owned a big business firm in the US so she came from a wealthy background and was born and raised there, after they got married they had their daughter before they moved to Lagos, Nigeria.

The family of three lived happily and lavishly until things started to go downhill.

Mr. Martins business was doing terrible and he resulted into drinking and substance abuse. Although they weren't bankrupt and because of the money Mrs Adewunmi had, they still lived well, Mr. Martins just couldn't take the fact that his business was failing. Coming home at odd hours of the night or not even coming home for days on end, shouting and complaining over every little thing, hitting his wife and two year old on several occasions,

Mr. Martins became a monster. Mrs. Adewunmi was distraught, scared and helpless.

That wasn't the man she married, he would slap, hit and insult her every chance he got. If that was just it, maybe she would have overlooked everything but the man went as far as hitting their little girl also with whips belts even his bare fists.

Mrs. Adewunmi couldn't take it anymore. She wanted out but she was scared and maybe deep down in her heart she still loved him and knew the Micheal she fell in love with was in there somewhere, thus she stayed three more years, hoping he would change and doing everything she could to help him but it just moved from bad to worse.

She had disconnected herself from her family and friends because she knew if someone was to discover what was going on, her beloved husband would be sent to jail or worse. She didn't want that,he was her husband and she certainly didn't want the father of her child to be in jail so she kept it up until one day, her Oldest sister Mary came to visit her from Jos, despite her continuous refusal

. No matter how hard Adewunmi tried to hide it, it was still obvious. The bruises, the swollen body parts, the quiet and scared little girl that started speaking less and less. Mary threatened to throw Mr Martins in jail if Adewunmi won't leave him, at least if not for her sake, for her daughter's sake.

After much persuasion, they moved to Jos with Mary leaving Mr Martins in Lagos. He didn't contact them since then and it was as if everything came back to place after that, his business started blooming more than ever before and he became even more successful.

After series of medical attention and therapy Adewunmi became better and got a job as a manager in a museum, she established her self and opened up large supermarkets all over the state, with the over 5 billion dollars her father had left her, she would have never had to work in her life and still be comfortable but she loved her work and wanted to leave a legacy behind for her child.

Soon enough she had built a mansion for her and hired helpers to get things done. They now lived an amazing life free from abuse and together with the people they loved. It might seem like everything was now perfect for Adewunmi but fate had played a cruel joke on her....

Siri who was a lively and bubbly child while growing up suddenly withdrew.. before everything went down, the little girl would skip around the house playing and singing at the top of her voice, for she had a melodious voice that always sounded angelic and out of this world. She had wanted more than anything to be a singer when she grew up and Adewunmi supported her full-time, buying her musical instruments and even hiring a music/voice trainer for the little girl but everything changed, she started talking less and less, won't even sing again and rarely ever smiled or played with anyone.

When they moved to Jos, she was 5 years old, Adewunmi had thought she would get better and for a while, she was, though she still never spoke, Adewunmi just assumed it was a phase, she made a music studio for her daughter with the best musical instruments there were but even that didn't make her daughter go back to her bubbly self. Growing worried, Adewunmi began to watch Siri closely, it was then she noticed that the poor little girl cried a lot silently, would flinch in fear over the slightest things and had reccuring nightmares.

The woman was scared again, she talked to her sister and little Siri was taken to see a doctor. She was diagnosed with psychogenic mutism.