NYSC WITH ALICE EPISODE 10 (Not edited)

NYSC WITH ALICE

EPISODE 10 (Not edited)

Abubakar returned home after dropping Patricia at the hospital, he arranged her few clothes and that of her children in a Ghana-must-go bag and dropped it outside in the corridor of the house.

Patricia was discharged five days later with bandages and plaster all over her body, on getting home, she saw her bag outside, and she knew what that meant, all the same, she went ahead to knock on the door.

"Who's there?" She heard Abubakar's voice.

"It's me Patricia" She answered.

"Ok. Just a minute," Abubakar said.

He went to call the children, pushed them outside, and lock the door from behind.

"I'm done with you, you can leave my house now," He said, looking at her through the window.

"Abubakar, where do you want us to go?" She asked.

"You didn't think about that when you were running your mouth the other day."

"I'm sorry"

"It's no longer necessary, I am not one of those men that allows their wife to disrespect them, I won't tolerate that rubbish in my own house. There can only be one man in the house." He said.

"I'm sorry," She said going on her knees. "It won't repeat itself" 

"It's never going to repeat itself, because you are going to leave my house already, so there's no how it will repeat itself. And don't think I'm one of those men that comes to beg women after some time,  I will never come for you, so just leave and move on with your life, and I'm never going to ask of your children, they are yours. What am I even saying, these ones can't amount to anything good in life" He said and walked into his room.

Patricia cried and pleaded for some time, when he didn't answer, she carried her bag and left with her children.

They walked for a long time till night fell, then she decided to spend the night at an uncompleted building. She laid one of her wrappers on the ground for her children to sleep on, then she covered them with another. Then she stayed awake to keep an eye on her children and help them kill the mosquitoes feasting on them. She cried and cried thinking of her madam, if only she had listened to her.

Around 2 am, she started hearing footsteps, cold shivers ran through her spine. Then three men came in. They were tough-looking guys, each holding a cigarette.

"Who dey here?" One of them asked.

"Wetin una dey find?" Another asked 

"I'm sorry, we just want to spend the night here, we will leave very early in the morning," she said 

"Ahn! Ahn! You wan spend night for pesin house, you no take permission from the owner of the house" The third man spoke for the first time.

"I'm sorry sir, I didn't know it's your house" She begged.

"Ok, no problem, give us money" The first man came again.

"I'm sorry, I don't have any money on me" She begged.

"Wetin kon full this ghana-must-go?" The third man asked 

"It's just clothes that's inside" She answered.

"If you rent house, you no go pay Landlord?" The third man came again.

"Guys, make we leave her, she talk say she no get money," The first man who seemed cool-headed said.

"If she no get money, make she give us something else nah" The second man said.

"I don't have anything, it's just clothes that are inside here" 

"What of the one wey dey your body? It's something nah"  The third man said looking at her lustfully.

"I don't understand"

"No be woman you be? Give us your body if you don't have money" The third man explained.

"Ah! Please sir, please." She cried.

"Wait, turn around first," The second man said, and she obeyed reluctantly and he hit her butt, "I swear she no bad, but why plaster con full your body?" 

"I was involved in an accident" She lied.

" Oya remove your clothes and lie down" 

"Please have mercy on me, please" She cried on her kneels.

"Woman respect yourself o, or we go force you o," The Third man said.

When she didn't stop begging, they tore her clothes, threw her to the ground, and took turns on her. Her children woke up as a result of their mother's loud cry, their little brains couldn't comprehend what was happening, but they knew their mother was in trouble, they just cried.

When the men left her, Patricia couldn't stop crying, she rained curses on Abubakar. She gathered her children and they left the uncompleted building. 

They walked for some time and got tired, she decided to sleep under a tree, they had barely sat down when the rain started. It rained heavily that it flooded everywhere, the rain was so much that they tried to find somewhere to hide, but they found none. Patricia strapped her last child to her back, carried her second child on her chest, and held the first child close to her side, it rained for hours, and by the time the rain stopped, the flood had carried their bag of clothes, so they were left with no clothes to change to. 

Her last child, who was also her only daughter started shivering, she had already reacted to cold since she was a baby. Patricia didn't know what to do, she removed her cloth, squeezed it and wore it for her back and strapped her to her back after some time, Patricia felt her heart stop beating, she was afraid, she removed her from her back, checked her heartbeat by putting her hand on her chest.

"Noooo!" She screamed "Hannah, please don't leave me" She cried hugging her baby passionately.

"Jesus! Why do I have to face so much in one day" She felt God had forsaken her.

"Abubakar!" She screamed again "You will know no peace in life o" She cursed.

"Hannah!" She wept on the child for a long time till she became cold and stiff even when the sun was already bright in the afternoon, she went into the bush and dug a path, and then bury the child.

Ten months later, she was sitting by the roadside begging for alms to feed her children when a Mercedes Benz packed beside them, her children rushed to the car, then she heard her name, she didn't answer because she believed no one knew her name around there.

"Patricia" The person called her the second time, this time louder and clearer, she recognize the voice immediately, she stood up immediately and moved close to the car. She came face to face with that one woman who meant a lot to her. 

"Aunty Rachel" Tears dropped from her eyes. "I'm sorry" she whispered.

"It's okay, come inside, we'll talk about it when we get home," Rachel said opening the car for her.

"My kids are here," She said pointing to two malnourished boys.

"My God! Patricia! Why did you do this to yourself?" Rachel asked almost crying "It's okay, just bring them in, let's go"

"Thank you ma" They went into the car and went home.

When they got home, she narrated everything from the day she left the house till the moment Rachel saw her at the roadside. 

"If only you had just listened and go to school," Rachel said with pity. "Look at you now, you were one of the most beautiful ladies then, you let a man take all that away from you"

"Honey, there's no point adding salt to her wound, she has already learned her lesson, it's just painful she learned it the hard way" Issac said.

"I'm sorry about your daughter," Rachel said.

"It's fine ma, it's been ten months already" Patricia answered 

"But why didn't you come back home when he sent you out?" Rachel said.

"I didn't know, I was scared you would push me out," She said looking down.

"Patricia, you don't know me at all, even if I am angry with you, will I be angry with these innocent children," Rachel said "At least they didn't choose to be your children, you were the ones that drag them from where they were" 

"Honey, it's okay," Isaac said "We thank God, the prodigal daughter is back home" Isaac laughed.

Isaac and Rachel adopted Patricia's two children and added them to her children, at that time, they already had two other male children apart from Fehintola, so altogether they now have five children.

Patricia went back to school and after a few years, she graduated from the University. Isaac opened a big supermarket for her where she sells a variety of different types of things such as wears, kitchen utensils, household equipment, provisions, etc. She named it Pat SuperMart, that was where she got the name, Madam Pat.

It didn't take long before men started coming for her hand in marriage again, but due to her past experiences, she already hated men and sex, so she didn't accept any of them. All the advice Rachel and Isaac gave her fell on deaf ears, she just wanted to make money, take care of her children and enjoy her life.

Many years later, Fehintola got married and died after giving birth to her first child, Patricia volunteered to take care of the baby, but Adewale insisted his child must be nurtured under his roof, Patricia had no option than to move into the house, luckily for her the house isn't far from the supermarket"

****** Back to the present ***** 

Madam Pat thought with tears in her eyes.

"Thank you Jesus" she muttered.

"Good evening, Madam Pat" Adewale's voice came from the door. She quickly wiped her tears to prevent him from seeing it.

"Welcome Dewale, how was work today?" She said everything in a rush.

"Work was fine mama, how was yours too?" Adewale smiled 

"It was fine my dear, go and freshen up while I set the table," she said.

"Thank you ma," Adewale said going into his room.

To be continued...

Holy Spirit's inspiration 

# nyscwithalice 

©Tomisin E. Adebisi

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