Evil 2
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Immediately Shade said that, Ruth gave her a hard slap across the face for spewing out such abomination. She couldn’t believe such taboo. Shade staggered backward holding her cheeks with both hands. Tears had started dropping from her eyes as her mother continued attacking her. “It is not enough for you to bring in such shame into this family, you now want to save yourself by accusing your father of such sacrilegious evil? What are you planning to do to us?”, Ruth thundered at Shade in agony and anger. Shade stood where she was, nursing her cheek with her hands and crying profusely.
“Mummy, daddy raped me twice the last time you traveled to get your goods. He came home drunk when we had gone to sleep. I was the only one sleeping in the parlour and he pounced on me. He covered my mouth so I would not scream. It was very painful and I was bleeding, but he continued. When he was through, he warned that if I talk about it, the gods of our land will kill the whole family. He said that was our tradition. The next night, he did it again, but he was not drunk then. Mummy, I’m not lying. Daddy is here, you can ask him”, Shade said crying and trying convince her mother that she was telling the truth.
Ruth couldn’t believe her ears. She turned to Tunde hoping to hear him shun Shade for lying. But he didn’t. Rather, his countenance was reeking of guilt. Ruth collapsed to the floor and started wailing. “Okunkun ti gbe mi mi. Kini mo śë asîse? Tani tirë ni mo ikogun? Aye mi ti yipada (the darkness has finally swallowed me. What did I do wrong? Whose own did I spoil? My world has turned upside down)”, Ruth wailed. As she continued wailing, Shade went and sat beside her and held her. “Mama, ma binu. Emi ko mó Kini lati śë. Mama, Jówó (mummy, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to do. Mummy, please)”, Shade cried beside her mother. As they were crying, Tunde stood up and left the house.
All through that day and a couple of days that followed, Ruth thought of what to do next. She thought of aborting the pregnancy but the thought of losing her daughter in the process deterred her. The darkness was already covering her family and losing her daughter would be irreparable. As she thought of the weight of the calamity that had befallen her family and a way forward, she continued crying. As she cried, she cursed Tunde and the day he came into her life. She regretted ever knowing who he was. At a point she wanted to tell the whole world what the beast she married in the name of a husband did to her child. She felt the urge to broadcast the sacrilegious act of the devil’s incarnate who could not place a boundary between family and pleasure. But she held herself. She needed to protect her daughter. It was shameful already that she got pregnant at that age. Letting the world know that the man she called father was responsible for her pregnancy would be devastating. After thinking about the matter for two days, Ruth decided.
She called Shade when only two of them were at home and had a heart-to-heart talk with her. “My child, I’m sorry that you have to go through such shame. I’m sorry I was not there to protect you. Please forgive me”, Ruth began. Shade was already crying. She never stopped crying since she found out she was pregnant for her father. Many thoughts which included running away and killing herself had come to her mind, but the thought of her mother and her siblings stopped her. “I would have suggested you have an abortion but you could die from it. I can’t forgive myself if that happens. My baby, you will carry this child and bring him or her into this world”, Ruth continued. Shade started protesting. She didn’t want to keep the child or have anything to do with her father again. She didn’t mind dying in the process of having an abortion.
But Ruth held her in a motherly embrace and started soothing and convincing her. “My baby, please hear me. I have failed you once by not protecting you from the monster I married, I won’t fail you again. I cannot let you go under the blades because you want to spare us the shame your father brought upon us. I and your siblings will be with you each step of the way. We will support and care for you. And please, my love, let it be known only to you and I and the monster who is responsible for the pregnancy. That way, your siblings would be spared of the hurt and the world would not see your child as an abomination”, Ruth convinced Shade. Shade couldn’t talk anymore. She held her mother tightly while crying out her eyes. Ruth held her tightly as well trying so hard to hold her tears. But she couldn’t. The tears flowed silently down her cheeks at their own accord.
After the heart-to-heart talk, Shade continued the journey of the remaining eight months carrying and developing the child put inside her by her own biological father. She dropped out of school in other to do so. True to Ruth’s promise, she and her other children supported Shade and took care of her as much as they could. Ruth made sure Shade had a good antenatal care. She also tried her best in shielding her from the ‘righteous’ public who would want to defame her for getting pregnant at such young age. With the care and support from her mother and siblings, the pains of her (Shade) situation started diminishing. She started seeing herself as just a pregnant woman without focusing so much on how the pregnant came.
The ninth month of the pregnancy came and Shade went into labor. Ruth knew she was due and had kept the necessary things ready. Not quite long after Shade got to the hospital, she put to bed. She gave birth to an incomplete baby boy. The child came out with half legs and one hand. His head was also very much out of proportion.
What happened next?
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