by Aromeh Ameh

     Episode 1

The Jaws of Death

I passed out and I woke up in the hospital, he had already told the hospital staff a made up story about how we were attacked by robbers, he begged me to go with it ,I was ashamed and so I went with it, I lost the baby, and the doctor later told me I had lost my womb.

I woke up with a start, I felt constrained ,I couldn’t move, I knew my eyes were open, but I couldn’t see anything, suddenly I began to panic, a deep seeded fear arose from within me, the first thing that came to my mind was death, was I dead? Was I in a small confined box? What was happening, I tried to move my wrists and feet, but it was difficult, with every jerk I felt a sharp pain, like something cutting into my skin, then I realized I was tied up, and once again another wave of panic enveloped me, why was I tied up, suddenly I heard the door open and the lights came on, the rays of the light hit my eyes and this made me squint, he stood above me, fire beaming from his eyes, an object in his hand, I couldn’t make out what it was, suddenly he bent over and spat in my face, he emptied some liquid on my chest and my crotch, from the smell I realized it was alcohol, he put a knife to my neck, then he raped me.

My name is Ifeoluwa, and I am about to let you into my world, well my world as it was before now.

Life wasn’t always this messed up, I had dreams and aspirations, no woman or man goes into a marriage with the mind set of being unhappy, lawani and I met under normal circumstances, not a fairy tale, but it was nice, we worked together in the same ad agency and we spent a lot of time together as colleagues first, then friends and slowly it graduated into a real relationship, he never showed signs of aggression, we dated for about 7 months before he asked me to marry him, and I immediately said yes without hesitation.

“Thinking back now, I should have probably hesitated, set him on fire and took to my heels”.

I guess the problems started 4 months into our marriage, well I wouldn’t call it a problem because everything was ok, we had everything we needed and wanted, and we had a baby on the way, but Lawani was just different, he complained about everything, even the smallest things, he complained about my cooking, my hair do, sometimes he complained when I even touched him, initially I would ask and ask what the problem was, but then he’d fly into a rage and storm out of the house, bear in mind these were just mini tantrums, but the first major one happened on the 3rd of October 2005.

We just got back from the hospital, because I had pains all through the night, we left the house quite early to see the doctor because I was worried about the baby, well the doctor confirmed I was ok and just needed bed rest for a couple of days,  we got home and immediately Lawani demanded for something to eat, naturally I was not myself, my hormones were raging, I had nausea and I just couldn’t go anywhere near food, so I simply told him to fix himself a plate, stating why I couldn’t do it, and without warning he slapped me on the face, and I hit my head on the center table, he just went off, saying a lot of things, said he had been watching me, and was disgusted at how lazy I had become, if I knew then what I know now, I would have kept my mouth shut, I tried to stand up and explain why I said what I said, and he pounced on my punching and kicking, he kicked me so hard, I felt my womb rupture, he beat me up, he didn’t stop until he noticed I was bleeding, I passed out and I woke up in the hospital, he had already told the hospital staff a made up story about how we were attacked by robbers, he begged me to go with it ,I was ashamed and so I went with it, I lost the baby, and the doctor later told me I had lost my womb.

Yes at this point a lot of you would be screaming blue murder, but keep your comments for now, my story is just unfolding.

 

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Arome Ameh is a former Banker turned Screen Writer/Producer/Blogger. He has written both True Life/Fictional Stories Via his blog www.ameharome.WordPress.com.