Bestie93:
Still waiting for another update

Pentagon79:
Please keep this story on oooo . its getting more interesting.

EmpresFIDEL:
pls come and continue o.
this story has a lot of lesson

Akazeta:
Please more update,thanky..

queenDD:
Interesting and educative as always. Kudos.

horlah1:
This is way too much..
#1. Inspiring
#2. Motivating
#3. Interesting
#4. Captivating
Sincerely i learnt alot from dis.. Op may God bless u for dis interesting piece

samyfreshsmooth:
this isa really nice story and it was fun while it lasted


thumbs up bro

Caylia:
What a stigma to live with. Thanks sir Olajhidey22 for the wrk u do by bringing such beautiful stories here. May the good Lord continue 2 bless you and the writer

queenitee:
I missed this story

pearl009:
Am new here,but I can tell you your story is really captivating...keep it up, more grease to ur elbow

rachealfst:
I'm sorry I'm like three good months late. Thanks for the mention sis.

Great story with wonderful lessons. God bless you OP, more strength, inspiration and grace in Jesus name.

mercyymai:
thumb up. so inspiring. this is one of the best christian story i ever read on nairaland. God bless the hand that write this story. I must confess! i learnt alot from this

KingNom:
@Olajhidey22: Thank You so much for the mention and the story. The writer was my senior in Believers LoveWorld A.B.U, Zaria. Very inspiring lady, Sis Lizzy.
There was a time she gave me a life saving counsel (unknown to her).
Thank You once again and Thank You to Sis. Lizzy too !

Lemmy123:
I have been following this story from the very beginning and I wanted to see the end before I say anything. I felt weak while reading it, a case of child abuse and molestation, a heart-wrenching story. Nice story... My heart goes out to all Mesonma out there! Meso fvcked up sha. She gave him the freedom. Though, I liked that she admitted outrightly that she was wrong and i understand that she too young and probably naive but a 12years old should have some sense; couldn't she have at least related to any of her family members and let them know what Uncle Sam was doing herand prevent or reduce the damage? Poor her!

Sorry, you asked for criticism, now you get it! You know i wouldn't have done this if you hadn't asked for it because the story itself would have left you low-spirited by the time you finish reading it, that criticism
doesn't even cross your mind.
Here you go:
1. I like that you told most part of the story from a little girl's point of view and the simple English conforms with the her level but your grammar was quite misleading: you seem to blend both past and present tense. You should stick to just one next time.
2. The story sounds like an anecdote, like an account of something that happened to your fictitious character (as you claim) or something, thus, wasn't relaxed and doesn't look like literature. Sounds like one of those sad news in Nigerian newspapers
3. No be say I dey teach you your story o, but i feel you should have included Esther (Mesonma's younger sister) more. It was as if you shoved her away so that Uncle Sam would have his way to carry out his evil intentions.
I hope you read this, God bless you.

Goldenprinz:
God bless u for the update......more inspiration to ur brain

Timiblanko:
This is a wonderful write up, may God bless the witer...TIMILEYIN BLESSING[color=#006600]

The bus finally mentioned someplace and I signaled to the conductor that I was stopping there. He gave me my change and I was soon, dropped off at my destination. I looked around, not knowing what to do next or where to go next. It was getting darker and a few shops were already closed.
I looked around to see if I would find somewhere to get shelter. I wanted to stay in an area that wasn’t crowded by people so when I looked around, I found a spot just across the road. I looked around and made sure the road was clear before crossing the road. When I got to the other side of the road, I went over to the closed shop that I had spotted. It had a small shelter I guess were made for customers so I went over to a corner and laid there.
Throughout the night, I couldn’t sleep. I thought about a lot of things. I thought about what I had done and what I planned on doing. It dawned on me that I ran away from my family and in a place I couldn’t even tell if it was still Lagos. It dawned on me that I was about to do something that years back wouldn’t have crossed my mind. I would never have predicted the present. I cried in silence because I felt like I was alone. I was very scared. I kept shedding tears before falling asleep.
The next morning, the sound of a cock woke me up. I had a headache that made it impossible to think straight. It looked like it was about 6:00am. Some shops were already preparing and getting ready to open. I had to leave where I had slept because I didn’t know when the owner would arrive. Like I had thought about the previous night, I was going to look for a hospital that could help me carry out my plan. I was naive enough not to have known or remembered that I could not just walk into a hospital and meet a doctor to help me with an abortion.
I didn’t remember that it wasn’t that easy. All I knew was that a doctor would help me execute my plan. I had once seen it in a movie where young school girls went to the hospital themselves to abort the baby so I thought it would be that easy. I stood up from where I had laid and set out to the street. Still not knowing how to get to the nearest hospital, I decided to go to the bus stop anyway. Maybe I would find people who would direct me, maybe I would find help, I thought. I was feeling very weak, not sure why but I resisted the feeling and tried to be strong.
When I got to the bus stop, I looked around to see if I would find anyone to ask for direction but everyone seemed so busy. It was either they were rushing to catch a bus, attending to customers or walking really fast. I managed to see a man who didn’t look as busy as the rest. He was just standing beside a shop so I walked up to him and asked for direction. He told me the buses to enter and asked for some money in return. I had no other choice but to give him some money so after speaking to him, I set out to catch the bus.
As I stood by the side of the road, a car stopped by me. Remember Femi, the man who came to look for uncle Sam some time ago, he was the one in the car. He called out to me smiling warmly;
“Hey fine girl Mesomma, how are you? Long time.”
I went closer to the car, pretending like nothing was going on in my life. “I’m fine sir”
“Sir? Naa I told you my name is Femi. You can just call me Femi. What are you doing here far away from home? I was actually going to see your uncle this evening even though I haven’t called him yet.”
When he said this, I knew he hadn’t found out about the news of uncle Sam so I pretended still.
“Oh I’m going to get something somewhere.” I said, completely ignoring the part about uncle Sam.
“Oh! I see. Do you mind if I drop you? A girl like you shouldn’t be on the streets alone, you know.”
“I’m okay sir, I’m actually at my destination, thank you.”
“It’s okay if you say so. Maybe we could hang around some other time. I’ll see you later this evening.”
As he said this, I only faked a smile. He didn’t even hide his perverseness. I could see that he had other intentions. From the look in his eyes to the way he spoke. Maybe he didn’t know my age, maybe he didn’t know I was still a young confused teenager. At fourteen, a lot of people already told me how grown and mature I looked. Maybe that was what got to my head to do and allow the stupid things I regret. He smiled before driving off. I sighed in relief because I didn’t want him to know the truth. I didn’t want him to know what had happened neither did I want him to know my intentions. I went over to the bus stop and was walking to enter my bus when I heard my name.
“Meso! Mesomma!”
I looked back and to my surprise found Mummy Nonso, a woman that sold bread and akara on my street. She was very fond of I and uncle Sam but when I saw her, I felt a strange feeling. I felt a type of energy that I had never felt before. It made me very stiff and before I knew it, my name was the only thing I could hear.
I woke up and found myself on a hospital bed with my relatives around and Esther who sat beside me looking very worried. She looked like she had been crying and I couldn’t help but feel very guilty. I tried remembering what had happened and how I came about a hospital bed before recalling that I met mummy Nonso on my way to the hospital. I bet she was the one who called my family but how? I don’t know. She wasn’t even around.
When they saw that I was awake, they came closer and my aunt asked about my well being. I managed to say that I was fine even though she still didn’t look bright. I held Esther who didn’t seem to want to leave my side. I could only guess that my aunt knew I was pregnant. When the doctor came to check up on me, my aunt told Esther and my cousins (they were two, one around the same age as Esther and the other younger) to go get something to eat so we could be left alone.
After the doctor examined me, he spoke about my condition. He said that it was not uncommon to go through what I was going through because the cardiovascular system undergoes a lot of changes during pregnancy but because I was still very young, it was much worse for me. He said that the fluctuation in my blood pressure was part of the cause of the fainting and because of my diet. After he explained all these to my aunt and I, he exited the room. My aunt finally spoke up after a two minutes’ pause with a very pained look.
“Meso, where did you go? Why did you leave the house and gave us a scare? Ehn….even when you know your uncle just died.”
Nothing but tears came to my eyes before speaking;
“I was scared. I knew that everybody would be disappointed when they found out. I didn’t want to bring shame to our family aunty. I’m sorry”
“Meso, it doesn’t matter what has already happened. Sam’s wife already told us about your pregnancy. She is even on her way here. True, it is disappointing but we don’t even know any other thing apart from the fact that you’re pregnant. It is possible that you could have been raped. You are still a small girl Meso and even though I didn’t want to believe my ears when I heard it too, I know you that you know better Meso. What happened?”
When she said this, I didn’t know if to say the truth or just lie to her like I planned to in the beginning. I was so embarrassed and disappointed at myself.

To be continued……

As we got to the hospital, aunty Jennifer rushed to the front desk at the reception and asked the lady behind for some information concerning uncle Sam. I had anxiously been waiting for her in the waiting area while I watched her talk to the lady behind the desk. Then I saw a nurse coming out from somewhere and aunty Jennifer going to meet her. I stood up when I saw them talking because aunty Jennifer was looking really distressed.

The nurse walked away immediately I joined them, so I asked aunty Jennifer about uncle Sam. She didn’t say anything for a while, then sat down on the closest seat as she said;

“They said he’ll be fine hopefully Meso but that he lost a lot of blood due to the shooting and car crash.”
All that rang in my head was ‘shooting’. Uncle Sam was shot? I almost said out loud. I was so scared because I knew that there was a probability he wasn’t going to make it. At that moment, he was in the emergency room so I bowed my head and said a little prayer. I asked God to help uncle Sam so he could live again. I begged God and promised him that he would change his ways and I would change mine as well. In my mind, I thought God wanted to punish us for the things we had been doing behind the curtains.

I looked at aunty Jennifer who sat beside me with her face buried in her palms. She was muttering some things and I could see she was really worried. Tears were rolling down her eyes and I joined her in tears. Not just because I was worried about uncle Sam, but also because uncle Sam and I were guilty of a crime that if only she knew, would be so disgusted with us and feel even worse. She looked up and saw me crying, then held me close to her chest, whispering to me that it would be alright. She also said a little prayer and I whispered an ‘Amen’.

Aunty Jennifer was a good woman. As much as I loved uncle Sam, I knew she deserved a better man. A lot was going through my mind as my head rested on her chest. After about an hour, a doctor came out to meet us at the waiting area.

“You must be Sam’s wife and his niece”

Aunty Jennifer stood up and responded with a ‘yes’.

“It’s a miracle he’s alive.”

When we heard this, we sighed in relief and thanked God.

Then the doctor continued, “….Please come with me to my office.”

We followed him to his office and he spoke to us concerning uncle Sam’s condition. He told us that uncle Sam was really lucky to have still made it even with the shooting and car crash. He also said if he hadn’t been brought to the hospital immediately, we would have probably be mourning him already.

Then aunty Jennifer said she wanted to see him so the doctor picked up the landline, dialled a number and spoke to someone, before a nurse walked in. The nurse was asked to escort us to uncle Sam’s room so we left with her. We got into his room and saw uncle Sam in the worst condition we had ever seen him. He had bands on his left arm extending to his chest area. He had a drip placed on his wrist with an oxygen mask resting on his nose and mouth. He really was in a horrible state. He was asleep, so we took our sit on a couch that was in the room. None of us could say anything because we were still trying to believe the state of uncle Sam. It was not a pleasing sight at all.

Uncle Sam woke up after some hours. It was about 10:00pm in the night. Neither I nor aunty Jennifer closed our eyes to rest. We had been waiting for uncle Sam to wake up so when he opened his eyes, aunty Jennifer went and sat beside him. I just sat where I was and watched them both. I watched as aunty Jennifer leaned in and pecked him on the cheek. He was trying to smile at us but I could see he was in pain. I was only at peace because he was alive. Aunty Jennifer had asked if I wanted to go home and I had told her that I was fine staying with them so we were up till about 2:00am.

At this hour of the night, uncle Sam suddenly started gasping for air. I couldn’t understand what was happening because he was using an oxygen mask. My heart was racing as aunty Jennifer signaled to go get the nurse or doctor. I ran out and returned with a nurse who checked and saw that his oxygen mask was working fine. She tried doing so many things but it didn’t take long before uncle Sam stopped breathing. The nurse looked at us and said he was dead. He was recorded as a dead man right there and then, in our faces.

“eeehhhhhhh, eeeehhhh, Sam! Sam! Samuel!” aunty Jennifer who was right beside uncle Sam shouted while crying and gripping him.

The only thing I can remember is that at that moment, I blacked out. I woke up beside a very sad aunty Jennifer who was seated on a chair with some people I guessed were her colleagues, consoling her. She had even stopped crying. She was just mute. I looked around and found myself laying on a hospital bed with a drip placed on my wrist. Then, my eyes went straight to the wall clock that hung on the wall directly opposite me and saw I that it was almost 2:00pm. I was about to get up when one of her colleagues asked me to lay back while she goes to get the doctor. The doctor came into the room and checked me up. He said I was discharged but decided to spill the result of my blood test, they had obtained when I passed out.

“Do you know that you’re pregnant?” the doctor asked, looking down at me.

I looked around first and saw that everyone in the room heard the doctor including aunty Jennifer who laughed sarcastically before maintaining an expressionless face. The people around her were just talking to her I guess trying to console her. I thought I didn’t hear properly after the doctor broke the news. First, uncle Sam was dead, and then me being pregnant. This had to be a dream.

“Pregnant? I’m pregnant?” I asked the doctor in a surprised but sad low tone.

“Yes! Miss Meso, you’re one month pregnant. You haven’t had any symptoms?” I shook my head in reply to the doctor as I began to shed tears. How was I pregnant and didn’t have any symptoms? I did miss my period but I thought it was normal after I learnt about irregular periods. It didn’t even cross my mind that I could be pregnant. I was definitely pregnant for uncle Sam. I cried even more when I remembered that he was no more.

There was obviously no other explanation. I remember it was about a month ago when uncle Sam came to lie with me the night we almost got caught. I didn’t want to believe my ears. Not after uncle Sam already passed away.

What would I say to aunty Jennifer? How will I tell her that uncle Sam was the father of my unborn child? What would I tell my sister, my relatives? This would be too much to bear in just a day. I thought about uncle Sam and I didn’t know whether to cry that he had gotten me pregnant just before his death or to cry that the man I once said I loved and couldn’t do without was nothing but a corpse. I couldn’t understand what was happening. Everything was too confusing. Was uncle Sam really dead? Am I really pregnant? I couldn’t even say much again so the doctor spoke to aunty Jennifer and I in his office before we left the hospital.

One of aunty Jennifer’s colleagues drove us home. Even when I had just heard the news of my pregnancy, the only thing I could think of while seated in the car was uncle Sam. I let down the tears that I had been trying to control but hid it so that aunty Jennifer who sat beside me wouldn’t see me. She didn’t even say anything to me.

Nothing about uncle Sam or even my pregnancy.

Nobody in the car even acted like they knew I was pregnant. Neither did any of us mention uncle Sam. I looked to my right where aunty Jennifer sat and found her in a worried state. Her face was swollen from crying a lot. I was expecting her to ask me questions concerning the pregnancy because we were both seated at the passenger’s seat, behind. I was ready to lie to her that I was once raped by a stranger but she didn’t say a single word as we drove home. It even scared me because I thought she would have guessed uncle Sam as the father to my baby. When we got home, we saw cars packed both outside and inside the compound. Everyone was waiting for us to come back because of the news of uncle Sam, including his families and friends, except my relatives who lived outside Lagos and Esther.

As I got inside, I went straight to my room with tears still in my eyes. I sat on my bed as I wept bitterly. At that moment, some of my aunties and uncles walked into my room and came to console me. They sat beside me and told me to take heart even as they were trying to console themselves. Everybody had a worried look.

When the doctor had said he survived, I didn’t know things were yet to get worse. I thought he would live and things would be different after the promise I made to God. Nobody couldn’t just believe that uncle Sam would leave this soon especially after just getting married. I even heard aunty Jennifer from the sitting room wailing and screaming on top of her lungs for her husband to be brought back home. She shouted for a while, then kept quiet before continuing with her lamentation. She bitterly cursed and cursed the armed robbers who had caused the accident.

My relatives who surrounded me thought I was mainly crying for uncle Sam but I was crying because of the guilt that I felt, because of his death and because of the baby in my womb. They didn’t even know I was pregnant except aunty Jennifer and a few of her colleagues who still hadn’t said a word about it. I wished I could turn time or change a lot of things but it was too late. It was probably when he was coming to pick me up, that he got attacked. This thought caused me to blame myself for everything. From his death to my pregnancy and the pain everyone was going through.

I had a plan. I suddenly stopped crying, then wiped my tears and told my relatives that I wanted to sleep so I could get some privacy. Only one of them stayed with me for a while before I was left completely alone. I told myself that I wasn’t going to keep the baby so I decided to abort the baby on my own. I even thought of committing suicide because I believed it to be the best decision for myself. I didn’t want to live to see the shame and disappointment that I would bring to my family when everyone finds out that I was pregnant for my dead uncle.

To leave the house, I had to pass through the back door so no one could see me. I had already gathered all the money I had saved from the times uncle Sam gave me money. I put them into my small shoulder bag, put on a sandal and left my room. The back door was in the kitchen and my room was on a corridor which was the closest room to the kitchen. The kitchen wasn’t around the sitting room where everyone was present so I was able to get out of the house through the back door. I didn’t see Mohammed at the gate so I ran out as fast as I could, making sure that I wouldn’t get caught.

I managed to escape and walked as far as I could from the house. It was dark after sunset and I had a scarf tied around my head and face so no one could easily recognize me. I was crying as I was walking. I finally got to the bus stop and entered the first bus that stopped at my front. I didn’t even want to know what kind of bus or where the bus was headed to. I just wanted to be as far away as possible from everyone I knew.

To be continued…..