TRIALS: CHAPTER 6⃣
I ran away from my marriage. I cannot take it anymore. She cried; it’s been years of marital hell. I haven’t known peace and joy since I married Dami; he’s a devil charity. A handsome devil.
Dami beats me up at any little thing; it first started with slaps, then progressed to kicks, and finally full-blown beatings. He has broken me emotionally and mentally. He berates me for being a nobody and tells me how I married him for only his money. He uses dirty words on me and threatens me all the time.
Dami rapes me; it started four months after our wedding, and he continued doing that and even invited his friends Tobi and the others to have their way with me repeatedly.
What!!!, I screamed, marital rape? the same Tobi I know? The one who looks like he can’t hurt a fly? I sat in disbelief. Tobi is not what and who you think he is; she told me sadly, he is a devil. Do you know he is a junkie? Forget the gentleness he wears on the outside.
The flashy smiles and caring attitudes he portrays to people. Tobi is brutal, I am happy you insisted on not marrying him, despite mama’s pain and afflictions on you, you stood your ground if not today you would have been in my shoe.
She went on, I have lost two pregnancies to Dami’s consistent beatings. I also cannot leave the house without his permission, maybe once or twice a week, as he has insecurity issues. Something I never knew as he hid it well. The day I smiled and greeted hello to a male neighbor, he accused me of cheating on him, and I got beaten to stupor.
He smokes and drinks heavily too. Now that came as a surprise too, he brings home all sorts of women who also join him in smoking, drinking, and partying in my house. My marital bed has been defiled countless times.
Do you know my husband is into selling drugs and human trafficking? She sadly asked. He’s into hard drugs, and he supplies little girls with them through kidnapping charity. That is the source of his wealth and expensive lifestyle and I found out the hard way when I gained access to his phone on one of his drunken nights.
It dawned on me that I married and lived with a man without a conscience. It turned out he had people working underground for him who lured or forcefully took them away from schools, neighborhoods, and
streets, condemning them to a life of brutality.
Since he knew I was aware of what he does to make his money, he locked me up in one of the guest rooms and threatened to deal with me if I ever say a word of his dealings to anyone. All I get is food and water once a day and beatings from him and or his friends, especially Tobi.
Tobi took it all out on me; he blames me for your refusal to marry him and takes the opportunity to hurt me each time my husband invites him. Asides forcing himself on me, he cuts me up, sister, and has used hot iron on me once. You can see the scar on my hand charity.
I sat shocked and speechless as I looked at the long, ugly scar on precious right hand. I have been in hell. I’m currently HIV-positive. Dami infected me with the disease. He knew all along and never mentioned it to me.
He’s a pornography addict, and the day I refused to let him imitate what he watched on me, he hit my head on the wall and dragged me down the stairs repeatedly.
I was able to escape because one of his side women in the house took pity on me and asked me to run for my life or I would end up either dead or trafficked by my own husband. I have worn this dress for 3 weeks and haven’t had a bath since I escaped. He used a chain to tie me to the bed so I wouldn’t move around.
Charity, look at my body—the cuts, wounds, and scars. I had to turn a beggar just to raise money to eat on the street. Wandering from city to city trying to locate you. She sniffed softly. Why didn’t you go to mama? I asked her, and she laughed a bitter laugh.
Mama chased me out of the house when I arrived; she stopped visiting us when my husband pounced on her and chased her out for coming without his permission. He was in his right sense when he did that.
Dami told mama, the huge bride price he paid, and all the money and gifts he has lavished on her has bought me from her. He called her a greedy woman, and so she’s not welcome anywhere near his house. Mama never expected such sudden change, she thought he was an angel of light and so she left vowing to never have anything to do with me again
I had to ask questions about your new location, after successfully locating mama’s sister and she was kind enough to give me your address and some money to find you.
I sat with my mouth open wide. Is this a true story? or was a movie being narrated to me? Is this karma for all I have gone through in their hands? Truly, my sister looked like a mad woman who escaped a mental hospital with bloodshot eyes and a shaven head.
What happened to your beautiful hair? I asked precious, she used to have full, long and dark hair. Something she inherited from papa. Dami shaved it, it was the night of my second miscarriage, he forcefully shaved it himself. He said if I’m mourning my lost pregnancy, I should do it with a shaved head because it’s his family tradition, and since I am married to him, I must obey his tradition. He never cared if I was in pain or not. It was his own child too but he did not care at all.
He was so drunk that night. He also cruelly said there’s no money for hairmaking, so I had better go bald instead. On his good days, when we go out, I wear a wig, and when we return, I go bald again. He monitored my movements and chased all my friends away.
On the outside, people envy me charity, thinking I have everything and live the best life because of the cars and big house, but on the inside, away from the world and the closed gates I am a punch bag, a broken woman who has been dealt with a bad marriage and man.
Something I brought to myself. I saw the glitters he offered; all I saw were the cars he drove, the vacations he took me on, the expensive gifts he gave to lure me in, and the big parties he and his friends threw. The lavishness of everything blinded me.
I did not know he was a devil, hidden from the outside of the world and unleashed only inside the walls of his house. I brought this to myself. I blame mama for pushing me into this kind of misery. I felt she wanted me to have only the best; she encouraged me to go with someone who has the money and luxurious opportunities to offer, and I thought she loved me. Mama spoiled me. Mama put me in hell; she cried loudly.
Speechless, I sat there and tried processing everything I heard from my sister. My heart broke again and again, seeing my sister in this pitiful condition. I tried connecting the dots of the young woman I used to know who was bright and full of life and the one who sat before me right now, but I couldn’t.
And the tears started. I cried for her, for her pains, for her lost pregnancies, for all she had been through in a bad marriage. I felt like her burdens were mine and on me for if mama had turned her back on her at last, I could not for she was my sister and my blood and despite all she had done to me in the past. I still loved her very much.
My husband joined me that minute; he’s been in the kitchen cooking us lunch. My John loves cooking and has been in charge of the kitchen since I got pregnant. I’m not complaining but it’s a relief knowing I don’t have to stress myself with my current condition.
Tearfully, I introduced them, and I shared everything with him. John felt pity for her and asked she stay with us for a while to recover herself and also gain her sanity back. Something precious was grateful for as she had nowhere else to go.
At that moment, I fell in love with my husband all over again. Even when she snubbed our little wedding, rejected our invitations and never bothered to reach out to him in anyway, he didn’t hold it against her; he didn’t condemn or kick her out, but was greatly concerned about her sanity and recovery. I couldn’t help but inwardly appreciate God for the amazing man he blessed me with. I am indeed a blessed woman.
© Wofai Patrick🌹
