ABUSE 2

 

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‘Did you and your friend get into a fight?’ Mrs. Anthony asked daughter in frustration. She couldn’t understand why her daughter insisted on not following Omawunmi home. The whole thing was her idea in the first place.

‘I’m asking you!’ She said when she got no response from DJ.

‘No.’ DJ finally said as her shoulders fell and her eyes fixed on the ground.

‘No? Why then?’

‘Nothing.’ Dubem mumbled.

‘You mean you just woke up and decided it was a good idea to stress me? You know, you are a lot like your father.’ DJ’s mother immediately regretted letting those words slip from her mouth. She sighed.

‘Dubem, what do you want from me? I clothe you, feed you, you don’t pay rent, I send you to school. Who caters for you? Me! Who pays for your books? Me! Who makes sure you get everything you need? I do for God’s sake Dubem. I work for almost 18 hours a day to make you comfortable. And now you want me to pick you from school too.’ Mrs Anthony took a seat and covered her face with both her hands as she sulked. DJ was stung by her mother’s statement. How could she be compared with a man that abandoned his family to ‘explore the treasures of the world?’ She loved her mother and always supported her in the little ways she could. She found it difficult to tell her mum about the incident with Mr. Kolade. She thought of a million ways to say it, but she didn’t. She couldn’t. She parted her mouth but the words wouldn’t come out.

‘I’m sorry ma.’ DJ patted her mother’s shoulder.

‘I’ll go to Omawunmi’s house after school today,’ she said and left the parlour. 

It had been several weeks since the day DJ had an episode with Omawunmi’s father. She now looked at the man differently. The respect she had for the man was replaced with fear and anxiety. She clung to Wunmi and never let her leave her sight, especially when her father was present. 

There was no question on DJ’s mind that telling Omawunmi about what happened that day was a bad idea. Who would like to hear such news about their parents? DJ had heard about her father and seen him disregard her mother and now she wished she had never met him. 

She wasn’t going to ruin the bond between Omawunmi and her parents, especially not now that Wunmi’s mum had just recently given birth to a baby boy, Baby Wale. Mr. Kolade was probably drunk and ignorant of his actions at the time. He hadn’t made any strange advances for a while and it looked like it would remain that way. 

‘Grownups take a bit too much alcohol sometimes,’ DJ thought.

‘I have no idea what to wear for Baby Wale’s party. I don’t get why they’re doing a naming ceremony sef . We already know they’ve chosen to name him Wale,’ Omawunmi grumbled, bringing DJ back to reality.

‘I’m sure it would be easier to find what to wear if your room wasn’t this messy,’ DJ teased her, as she looked at the stationeries, clothes, bags and biscuit wraps scattered on the floor. Wunmi’s room would take a whole week to fix.

‘Help me joor!’ Wunmi hissed.

‘Okay, okay…wear what I’m wearing na, ‘

‘No!’ Wunmi said after scanning her friend’s dress.

‘It’s not a Yoruba attire.’ She added as she began to sort the clothes in front of her.

‘So what do you want me to do?’ DJ asked, amused by her friend’s confusion.

‘Please go downstairs and check what other Yoruba girls are wearing.’ Omawunmi pleaded.

‘Hmm…okay,’ DJ smiled and exited the room.

by Sona Camille

If you haven't read the first part of this story, please click this link to access it: https://onesquarebell.blogspot.com/2023/02/abuse.html#more