Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out
with fools and watch your life fall to pieces.
I stared at the blank wall. I have been like that
for days, lost in my own world of painful and
agonizing re-enactment of the ordeal I went
through. Different people tried to reach me.
They talked, pacified, advised and reassured
me, but their voices seemed too distant. Their
voices were completely disenfranchised from
the reality of my pain and wounds, mere faint
sounds from distant vocal chords, too far away
to connect with my wounded, battered and
shattered soul.
I could hardly eat. My parents were devastated.
All my friends could not reach me. I had simply
hibernated into the secluded section of me
where I hoped to live and erase the events that
lasted a few hours but sentenced me into days
of erratic behaviour that was symptomatic of
insanity!
The more I withdrew to deal with the
experience, the more I discovered that the
experience has been tattooed into my frontal
lobe. That very day, as was my usual routine of
affliction, the experience replayed itself, as real
and as vivid as it happened. My body quaked in
pain and disgust as the experience replayed
itself, my mien fell into a melancholic precision,
hot tears emanated and ran freely down my
now gauntly face.
That was a year ago and on this unfortunate
day, there was nothing to warn me that I have
just began the first few hours of the saddest
day of my life. It was on the campus in my very
first year. I was only nineteen years old. I had
never been nice to Ade who lived three houses
away from the hall where I stayed. He had done
all he could to ask me out for a relationship and
I totally rebuffed him.
He just didn’t seem to qualify for my definition
of a handsome man. He persisted and the more
he did, the more stubborn I became. Rather, I
was interested in Charles, who looked more
refined and handsome and had a nice Golf car.
He always looked charming. I knew that. He
seemed nice. I saw that. He was handsome.
That was obvious. He even looked and sounded
responsible. I figured that out. What I didn’t
know and never imagined was that he was also
mean.
We had started a relationship in my second
semester and everything was looking fine, until
he asked for jeru trap.
I said, “No!”
I thought the kissing and petting should be
okay, but jeru trap? I wasn’t ready for that. He
persisted and I refused blatantly. I was a virgin
and I was scared of having jeru trap. After, a
while he stopped asking and I thought I had
won.
That very night, I had gone to his house on a
short visit. He was there with his roommate and
we chatted away. He brought out a new bottle
of juice and served me. I did not suspect
anything. I drank a whole cup and then I
quipped,
“Won’t you take some?”
“All for you,” Charles said.
Knowing him to be a voracious drinker, I shifted
on my seat, suspecting.
“Tom, should I serve you some?”
“No!” he said. Then my thoughts flew.
“What if the drink has been drugged?”
“Stop that thought,” I said quietly to myself.
“Charles is not like that!” I reasoned.
I told him I needed to go because it was getting
late but he quickly stood up and inserted a
Comedy VCD knowing that I was a Comedy
freak.
You need to see this, it’s short, he said.
Being a lover of Comedy, I said, “Okay, fifteen
minutes, that wouldn’t hurt. I was enjoying the
comedy show and then the next thing was that
I woke up!
The first thing that greeted me was the smell
of India hemp. It took a while before my head
cleared and then slowly, stealthily, the truth
stared me in the face, I had been drugged.
Charles and Tom were busy smoking away.
They were in their boxers and loud music blared
from the big sound system.
Charles spoke up, “You know if you shout;
nobody will hear you? You had better cooperate!
His face has changed. He was no longer
handsome. He looked daring, with lust-filled
starry eyes rolling in their sockets. Tom looked
at me and gestured at me to remove my
clothes. I knelt down and started begging.
“Charles, please, you know that I love you,
please…
“Yes, I know you love me and I want you to
prove your love tonight,” he said
But not this way, your friend is here and…”
“Shut up!” Tom cut me short in a gruff tone.
“Who is talking about love?” “
He continued, “If you love your life and you
don’t want me to give your fine body some
tribal marks, start removing your clothes now.”
I saw a pen-knife on the table and with that,
the remaining effect of whatever drug was on
me cleared off. I weighed my options in a tear-
filled face. The wall clock showed the time was
2.am. The music from the sound system was
loud, enough to drown my loudest shout. Tom
stood up and yanked off my shirt. I screamed
the loudest I could and my hands flew up
automatically to cover my chest and they both
laughed comically.
“You need to shout more,” said Charles.
I could not believe what was going to happen to
me. I prayed silently. I knew I had been stupid
and naïve. I thought of my parents. I wish I
could rewind the hand of time.
“Charles, I really love you, you know I am still a
virgin…”
“Cut the crap! Virgin, my foot!” Charles shouted
at me. “I have been begging you since and you
were adamant. Do you know who I am on this
Campus? Nobody refuses me, you hear?”
With that Tom moved closer to me and tore my
very expensive silk mini-skirt! Now, I didn’t
know where to cover; I bent down on my knees
again and begged!
An incredible deafening slap landed on my face
and sent me flat on the floor! I screamed, but
the pop sound blaring from the deck absorbed it
like it was part of the symphony. It became
clear that they were going to rape me! I
screamed with all my might, but they only
laughed. Charles held my two legs and turned
me around violently.
Before I knew it, Tom had violated me. There
was blood everywhere and I wept the more.
Tom took turns at holding my legs and Charles
prepared to take his turn on me. At that point, I
was livid. With every inch of strength in me and
every fibre of my being, I pushed Charles away
and at the same time kicked at Tom. Tom’s
head hit one of the legs of the table, sending
all the books, plates and glass cups on the
table across the room. Tom stood up, with
visible pain and looked for his belt.
That was to be my saving grace! With all his
might he swung the buckle end of the belt at
me. The buckle caught the chord of the sound
system and pulled it out of the wall socket.
Silence, unbelievably descended on the room,
while everybody stood transfixed for a few
seconds.
The belt dropped from his hand and he ran for
the sound system to connect it back. But that
moment was all I needed. Charles made to
cover my mouth, but he was too late. A loud,
audacious and piercing scream that penetrated
the darkness of the night escaped my bleeding
lips.
In a jiffy, they both grabbed their trousers and
ran from the room. As I laid down there
weeping profusely, a few people came to the
room. My scream had attracted them. They
knew something was wrong when they heard
the painful scream of a lady in the hall of a
hundred guys.
I could not even muster enough strength to
cover myself, I only muttered, “they raped me!”
“Who?” They asked repeatedly. “Where are
they?”
“Charles and his friend, they just ran out,” I
managed to say.
The evidences were all there. A guy took his
phones and took the pictures of the bed. One
of the boys got me a shirt and covered me.
That same morning, I was moved to the nearest
hospital at 4.30am by the hall porter who came
later on. He could not believe his eyes and he
promised to deal with the boys.
The hall security men fished out Charles and
Tom and handed them over to the Police. They
were rusticated from the school eventually.
If you think I was raped, you are right. If you
think I was battered, you are right. If you think I
was shattered, you are right. If you think, I
couldn’t be fixed, you are wrong!
It is now over a year. My healing did come, but
it was a long slow process. I discovered that I
needed more inner healing than the physical
bruises I had. The more I held on to my pains,
the more my life had no meaning.
Looking back with hindsight, I could see my
misdemeanors.
I was naïve. I had no mentor. I wanted it my
own way, hence the consequences. I was not
close to God, and that defined the kind of
friends I was surrounded with.
I was unsuspecting. Charles and Tom actually
used syringe and needle to inject the Juice I
drank and didn’t need to open it.
I had to deal with unforgiving spirit. Despite
what they did, I had to let go. Until I forgave
them, I was not healed. The power to forgive
didn’t come naturally, it came from God who
aided, cleansed and reassured me.
I had to forget. Not as in amnesia, though. I
forgot the pain. I let go of the past. Now, I am
wiser and have grown better.

You got talent...I wish you all the best has you pursue your career