THE MAID Part 4

Dawn barged in on my night sleep. A sleep I have not had in four years. The harsh crows of the cock chased my dreams. I jumped awake. Was I dead? Sleep has never been more than a fleeting doze. Aunty Egondu will skin me for sharing in the right all of humanity considered inalienable. Sleep.

My eyes gently opened. A woman with a whip flushed through my mind. But when I summoned courage to stretch my eyelids to its limit, I noticed something was different. I was lying on a mat. A privilege I have not enjoyed in a four years. I stretched on the mat that the old woman had given me. The events of past night rushed in on me, bruising my morning’s serenity. I saw the cock walk pass, obviously moving from house to house. Not all homes are worth visiting, I thought. Many are a den of cruelty. I cannot let her take me back. No longer will I endure the inhumanity. I found a piece of paper on a table. The children must have left the stationery while doing the previous day’s assignment. I wrote a simple, thank you note and dropped it on the table and off I ran. To where? I don’t know, but running to freedom was not negotiable.

I have become a wanderer. I trekked till my bones ached, I was tired, hungry, drained. Bondage seemed better than this scorching sun and hunger belly. My veins were drawn, lining my wrist like a map showing my pain. I was almost dying when I got to the St Peter’s Catholic Church. I slumped at the gate. I drifted between reality. I saw unfamiliar figures looming in my eyes. Hurried steps, frantic arms carried me to a chair. I was fed water and consciousness sipped into my eyes. People gasped at the straps of cane that had marred my flesh.

St Peter opened a warm arm of care. And I walked into his embrace. The church became my home for 15 years. I would only see Egondu occasionally, though she would perhaps out of shame take the other way.

To be Continued

http://chiomangaikedi.com/maid-part-4/#more-194