THE CHAT ROOM : PART 11 – 20
PART 16
By Temi Akintade
I was in my 7th month of pregnancy when my mother was buried. My mother’s relative accused me of klling my mother.
They said it was the news of my pregnancy that klled her but when I wanted to explain to the scrawny old women that my mother was crushed by a trailer not my news, I was silenced with a biting sIap. Tears rushed down my eyes immediately.
There was no one to defend me not even Frank because he mentioned that he was traveling home to Jos to see his parents. Nevertheless, he left me with fifty thousand naira to arrange for the burial rites.
Aunty Joy, my mother’s younger sister kept comparing me with her firstborn Joy. “Joy is just a year older than you yet she is not pregnant. Do you even know the father of this child?”
I was in the kitchen on the 5th day after the burial. I was famished and I should have been mourning the death of my mother but the baby in my womb was hungry.
I wanted to tell aunty Joy that I had seen the father of my child the previous day on the motorcycle and when he saw me, he ignored me like he had never known me. But knowing just how fast she passed information around, I kept shut.
“May God help the children of these days. You even want to eat after your mother’s de.ath have you no conscience?” She spat!
My mouth hung open in shock. Was she blind? Didn’t she see that I was pregnant? “Aunty I’m pregnant. My baby has no conscience.”
She wanted to slap me across the face but I held her hand until she succumbed. She raced into the sitting room, I followed her closely.
She began to explain to the other relatives that I was rude to her but I halted her lies with my rude scream. All eyes turned to me, scared and surprised. They had never seen me in this way.
“I give you all 24 hours to leave my parent’s house else I will deal with each of you!” I stomped out of the living room and settled beneath the mango tree in the compound.
Just after a few hours, all of my relatives including aunty joy rushed out of the house with their luggage in hand. They were probably scared of what I could do to them.
I began to laugh but the laugh soon faded and my face contorted into a sad one. There was no one around me who would laugh with me.
At least my mother should have been alive. I preferred her scowl to her being dead. But somehow, her death had taught me just how short life is.
My phone buzzed. It was Frank. He had called to remind me that school would be resuming in a month. But his heart broke when I broke the news to him.
“Why?”
“Nothing.” There was a light buckle movement in my tummy and I knew somehow, that my baby had kicked.
I couldn’t stop the lazy smile that blanketed my face. It was a beautiful feeling. Knowing that I was carrying a new life inside me.
A new and beautiful life. But how would I give her beautiful life when I had no beauty in my life? The question prodded my mind that evening.
“There must be a reason don’t just tell me no reason! Are you the first to get pregnant outside wedlock?
Are you the first teenager with pregnancy?” Frank scoffed. I could feel the pain in his words because they were like arrows piercing my skin, not mere words.
“Just stop Frank!” I busted into tears. “Do you know how hard it is to face people with the evidence of my sin? Do you know how hard it is to breathe in this choking country as a young unsupported mother?
Do you know how difficult it is to keep living even when you have no one to live for? And do you know how hard it is to be an orphan?”
There was a brief silence. And then followed by his clearing of throat. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry you think that you are not supported.
But that is why I do all I can to help you in any way. Look, I want you to face the reality now.
You are an orphan but you will soon be a mother to that child you are carrying so you need to be strong. Forget about those who keep judging you for your past.
God remains the ultimate judge and at least you are better than those who aborted their child or keep doing other sins.
I hope you know fornication is not the only sin? And I hope you know that Christ has forgiven you?”
As if he saw me nod, he continued. “So please come to school.
I will pay your school fees for this last session since you will be rounding up this year, and I will rent an apartment for you.”
I didn’t know how else to thank him but I simply busted into tears.
THE CHAT ROOM : PART 11 – 20
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