Abike #2

Read Also: Abike #1

Chapter 2 – Abike’s Pain

Chike

It had been a really long day for me and all I had planned was to get home to my wife and spend my weekend, resting. If I hadn’t been driving slowly, I probably would have hit her. I ran out of the car and made an attempt to pick her up only to notice how brutalized her back was. She wasn’t bleeding but the swellings on her skin were something else. I helped her up and asked what was wrong and her reply gave me shivers in my bloodstream. She said that her life was a mess. I didn’t know what to say, she was right apparently; what other reason will make her run out of her house at 10 in the night? I put her in the car and decided to take her home. My wife is a nurse and would be able to tend to her wounds. When we got to my place, I got her out of the car and helped her into the house. My wife was on the sofa so I simply called to her

“Uju, please get your first-aid kit”

“Kit for what?” She asked and turned around.

Immediately she saw her in my arms, she quickly ran up to get the kit. I placed her as gently as I could on the couch. She looked fragile, broken and pretty sad.

“What’s your name, please?” I asked

As soon as she looked at me, I could see the tears gather in her eyes.

“Abike”, she managed to say before she burst into tears loudly. She was hurting and the sadness in her eyes was like nothing I had ever seen. I grabbed her and tried to console her. My wife returned with the kit and without asking questions, she pulled her out of my grip and looked at the wounds.

“Let’s get you into one of the rooms, we might need to get you out of this towel.” She said to Abike.

“And honey, could you get a night-dress from my lower drawer that she can put on once I’m done tending the wounds?” She beckoned to me.

If there was one thing I never understood about my wife, it was how quick she was to help. Abike was in good hands, that I knew. I went to get the dress and getting to the room where Uju was taking care of her, I could hear her cries.

“I still love him, I can’t stop loving him. He is my life. Am I stupid for loving him this much? I never did anything wrong to deserve this. I try to be the perfect wife. God knows I try.” She continued crying.

I stepped into the room and there she was, taking solace on my wife’s shoulder. I honestly couldn’t make out why a man laid a finger on a woman who was completely and utterly in love with him.

“You need to rest or you will feel far worse in the morning.” I said to her. She looked up and replied, “there is no feeling worse than this.”

“I will put her to bed Chike, your dinner is on the table. I will be with you in a minute” Uju said to me.

I hadn’t eaten all day but looking at that broken woman had reduced my appetite drastically. I sat at the table and waited for Uju to come join me. She had obviously gotten her to talk a little and I was curious to know what had pushed this woman to her breaking point. Uju came into the dining room and I could see that Abike’s pain had gotten to her. She sat beside me and held my hand.

“How can someone do that to the person he vowed to love, cherish and adore. He is so careful when he beats her. She wasn’t bleeding at all but her back is swollen all over. She has a burn scar on her thigh inflicted by her own mother-in-law, can you believe that?” She paused to catch her breath and stop herself from breaking down.  “Chike,” she continued, “she’s so hurt and damaged, she’s only a step from breaking. The words were bleeding out of her mouth as she told me all that she had endured. She is even afraid to open up to anyone without feeling judged.”

By the time she stopped talking, she could no longer hold back her tears. I held her in my arms as she sobbed.

We both went to bed barely eating that night and I waited for morning to arrive. And it did arrive and the first thought on Abike’s mind was to return home. She slept peacefully but woke up in fear.

Image Art by Dempsey Osahon Eguae 

Naomi A.

I learn to live my life as everyday comes but still controlling the elements around me. I’m not perfect but the more I strive towards perfection the more things fall in place