It
was the most surprising thing in my world for father to have done this to me,
his only daughter.
The
morning looks so deserted, arms folded, lips sealed, words not forth coming;
calamity has stricken. The devil, as has always been accused, has perpetrated
his agenda in the family. This time he struck without an option of remedy.
Birds have lost their wings; trees lost their branches, house now in fire,
destinies burnt to ashes; father forgetting his fatherhood and mother losing
her motherhood. The family has collapsed, father has torn it apart. “When shall
I see my beautiful home?” goes an old primary school poem.
Mother
has gone for her usual annual 3 months business trip to Dubai leaving me, dad
and my two siblings – elder and younger brothers – at home. Her trip to Dubai
every year falls within the ‘Mber
months,’ usually within September and November ever since she began her
business in clothing materials 5 years ago.
Her business in conjunction with dad’s job accorded us the privilege of
being regarded as people from a well-to-do family. Dad is a director in the
state ministry of works, in his early 50s but looks like a young chap in his
early 40s. This, I believe, is due to his stature coupled with his habitual
love for regular exercises which he has prevailed in inculcating into us. He
took us to the gym centre every Saturday morning where we exercised, using the
available facility in the gym centre which takes nothing less than an hour
thirty minutes on each occasion. He made sure that every routine took
precedence over any other activity for that very morning. We enjoyed every bit
of it, but sometimes it was very tiring. We have the opportunity of making use
of any facility available because dad has duly paid for us all, including mum.
We were recently bought a complete set of new kits for that purpose. This,
among other adventures made my family a place to be indeed. Dad was never a
boring type neither was mum. They initiated mindboggling games for the whole
family. Rooms were made for us to come up with invigorating ideas on how the
next weekend should look like. Each of us came up with awesome ideas after
which an election is conducted to select the best idea. Mother’s business trip
never regulated the weekend fun. During her absence, father invites Aunty Mary
over to our home to stay with us pending mother’s arrival from Dubai. Aunty
Mary does the whole lots of the house chores with little or no assistance from
us.
This
time, unlike other times, dad, after mum has travelled, refused to invite his
sister Aunty Mary to our house with the excuse that Aunty Mary is very busy
these days and besides she is preparing for her wedding ceremony coming up in
December. Despite thorough persuasion, nothing came positive; he remained
adamant and never yielded to our plea.
At
age 15, and my brother 17, my anatomical structure has already advanced and
this is as result of my buoyant body structure which I genetically inherited
from my parents.
Recently,
dad decided to surprise us one evening on his return from work that day. He
bought us lots of new sets of clothes. He has never bought such a great number
of clothes for us. What also surprised me even the more was the type of clothes
he bought for me. He violated his rule by buying for me what he vehemently
warned me against not to wear when mum bought me similar stuff. Funny enough,
he bought the ones more dangerous than that bought by mum. It was indeed a
great surprise. He went further, to my chagrin, insisting I must put them on
every night particularly when he is around. He never stopped there; he insisted
I wore them every night. However, he warned me strongly never to wear them
outside the home.
Though
I was amazed at his decision, I love every bit of them. They look so good on me
despite the fact that I felt so uneasy in them. They made me look so seductive.
One thing I know for sure is that mum, if was at home, will never allow me wear
them because they reveal partially my body but dad convinced me to wear them that
that is what is in vogue and that he sees his friends’ daughters putting
similar things on.
To
my further chagrin, dad started talking to me about sex, he called it sex
education. He told me stories of sexual content and admonished me to desist
from sexual acts as it could ruin my entire future. He also insisted I never
allowed or kept any friend who delights in sexual activities. He told me to
bring home all my friends, male and female alike. This further strengthened my
confidence in him. I loved him the more. It was so fun being with him each time
he called me in to his room for another round of sex education. In all of these
times, he, in his unusual manner, invites me into his room for sex education.
Sometimes, he went extreme in educating me about sex that I wondered if, at my
age, I ought to be told that. All the same, I believed every bit of what he
tells me, for whom else will I believe his words if not my parents.
I’ve
cultivated the habit of putting my door on lock ever since I became 15 for
reasons I do not know. Dad and mum have persistently warned me against doing
that but I remained so recalcitrant and never adhered to their warnings. Dad
finally succeeded in giving me reasons why I must not put my door on lock when
going to bed that night. For those reasons, I left my door opened ajar and go
to bed to catch my sleep. I have hardly slept shortly after I came into my room
than I heard someone struggling with my door. On opening my eyes, I saw my dad
in my room having succeeded in locking both of us in my room. He told me to go
back to bed and continue with my sleeping, that he only came to inspect my room
in other to ascertain the befitting colour of paint for it. By that, I shut my eyes
to continue my sleep.
Opening
my eyes some minutes after, I saw dad sitting on my bed, starring at me so
lustfully and attempting to pull up my short skirt.
“Dad, what are you doing?” I screamed.
He
shut me up and threatened to kill me and dump my body in the lagoon if I do not
shut up and co-operate with him. I screamed but no help was forthcoming as my
elder brother, who recently gained admission to study medicine, has travelled
to school and my younger brother was fast asleep. He overpowered me amidst all struggling
and succeeded in raping me. Dad has defiled me. He has raped me like an animal.
I
wept and bled profusely. He promised to take me to the clinic first thing
tomorrow morning. So magnitude was the pain I went through. Dad, or should I
say devil, threathened to kill me and kill himself if I dared reveal this
secret to anyone. My life never remained the same after that night as I swam in
the ocean of pains and looming shame and disaster. I made up my mind to conceal
this secret from everybody including mum.
Mother
arrived few months later, discovers I’m pregnant and inquires who got me
pregnant. At last, the secret is revealed, mum is aware now. Dad has fled from
home and has never returned ever since. Mum has left home, abandoning us.
Junior has dropped out of school and the home is dissolved, the home has been
torn apart. Our future has been ruined by father’s quest to gratify the lustful
desire of his heart. The bone has indeed been broken into pieces, who shall
mend them?
This
is my untold secret!
