The day it happened, I was done with everything I had to do and was about sleeping. The night was cold and quiet. I could feel the rusty breeze coming from my window.
I heard my door open but looking towards it, it was locked. My phone rang and it was Aunty Onyi, “Why would she be calling by this time of the night?” “I am in Enugu, coming to your house.” she talked so fast and ended the call before I could say a word to her.
The last time I saw Aunty Onyi was at Uncle Emeka’s wedding, she looked pale and had a little cut on her left eye. She avoided the table where I sat with my parents and disappeared before I could get close to her. She was pregnant.
I never knew there would be a day when Aunty Onyi would leave home and never come back. I was surprised how quickly Mum moved on from looking for her, she made everyone not talk about Aunty Onyi.
That night Aunty Onyi left, we had just finished having a dinner of pepper soup Aunty Onyi made, when her phone rang and she looked at me, I didn’t bother looking at her screen.
“He has been calling, I think he has changed,” she said looking at me, her eyes lit up like someone who was newly engaged.
“Who has been calling? Did you meet another man?” I asked her.
“What kind of question is that nah? You should know who I am talking about”
“Wait, I thought Mum asked you to stop talking to him? Are you okay at all?”
“I miss him and too I am pregnant.”
“You are what? How? You have been in this house for 5 months, how are you pregnant?” I was staring at her to get answers. She looked at me and looked away.
“I snuck out to see him last month.”
“Wow! Interesting, Mum might kill you. Once they come back from this journey I will tell her.”
It was just a few months after Mum brought her home and arrested Chukwudi for abusing her.
When she was done with his call, she stood up and started walking towards the door, I followed her but she stopped me.
“I will be back in 20mins”
I sat alone on the couch and wondered if Chukwudi charmed Aunty Onyi, I wondered what was so special about him that had her stuck to him. He wasn’t handsome and had bulgy eyes that made him look like an owl and a small face that didn’t match his body. He was just a struggling businessman in Onitsha. Aunty Onyi looked just like my mother, with light skin, she was tall with straight legs, and her lips were perfectly curved like her body. When she graduated from fashion school, Dad opened a fashion store for her. She was doing well till she met Chukwudi at a wedding. When she was relocating to Onitsha to live with her husband, I thought she would continue with her fashion store but she didn’t.
I waited for her to come back till I slept off on the couch.
Later in the night, she snuck in. The sound of the door woke him up. “You went to see him, right?” while I waited patiently for her to answer me, she sat next to me smiling. “He is a good man; he is very kind and romantic.” I looked at her and felt so much pity for her, she was grinning from ear to ear.
I don’t know if Aunty Onyi understood the damage Chukwudi had caused her but I can tell from the way she was smiling that she was finished.
“Which good and kind man beats his wife? Tell me how abusive and good are related. A man who sits down and watches his wife carry gallons of water to the 5th floor is kind? Are you out of your mind, Aunty?” At that point, I didn’t mind if she was older than me. I needed to talk her out of her delusion.
“Do you realize you have no right to raise your voice at me? What do you know?” she asked.
“I don’t know much but I know I should stay alive rather than die chasing shadows, I know having a family that loves and protects me is better than sneaking out to meet an abuser who keeps hurting me. Mum and Dad have tried so hard to save you from this man but you keep running back to him like you lack love at home. I was thankful that you came out of that marriage without a child but what did you do? You ran back to him and got pregnant. God! You need help.” I left her in the sitting room without waiting to hear what she had to say because I was sure she would always defend him.
The next morning I woke up and I couldn’t find Aunty Onyi, she blocked us from reaching her. Mum drove to where Chukwudi lived but they had moved out. Mum tried her best to search for her, she reported to police stations and sent out her pictures to bloggers but stopped when he received an anonymous message from Aunty Onyi “Stop looking for me, I am safe and fine” was what the message said. Even though Mum felt the pain of Aunty Onyi leaving, she had to move on and banned us from talking about her.
Since the night she left, she hasn’t called my line till that day.
I was wondering how she found out that I was staying in Enugu and how she was going to locate my house.
Growing up with Aunty was blissful. Aunty Onyi was 15 when she lost her Mum who was my Mum’s only sister. Mum brought her to live with us, I was 10 then.
Mum loved her and never treated her differently from how she treated me, we bonded so well.
The day Aunty Onyi brought Chukwudi home and introduced him as her boyfriend. I wasn’t comfortable with the way he kept staring at her, she said it was love and he couldn’t get his eyes off her but I saw a man wanting to be possessive of her. He was built like he spent his whole life in the gym.
One year after the marriage, I had just finished writing my degree exam and needed to spend time away from home. I went to Aunty Onyi’s house. They lived in Awada, their flat was on the top floor.
Chukwudi came in that night and frowned at the sight of me. I greeted him excitedly but he murmured. “Follow me now” he commanded Aunty Onyi. I sat in awe watching them walk away. They walked towards the balcony; they talked in a very low tone. Chukwudi went into his room and came out with a belt, he stared at me for a while, and our eyes locked, he hissed and walked angrily towards the balcony.
Before I could say jerk, I heard Aunty Onyi screaming. I rushed towards the balcony and found Chukwudi flogging her with the belt. I pushed him but he was firm, he left us there and went inside.
“Is this what your marriage looks like? What did you do to him to justify this?” I asked her still confused about what led to that beating.
“He said I didn’t inform him before allowing you to come over” she sobbed.
“I am calling Dad, was he the home accident you said you had the last time you came home?”
She grabbed my phone and begged me not to call them.
“You will die if you keep staying here, I can’t even sleep in this house, he didn’t even acknowledge my presence”
“He is not always like this, this is the first time he is doing this”
“This is not the first time, you know you are loved at home, right? Follow me home.” I was already angry and boiling up, I left her house to Awka with my bags, I tried to convince her to follow me but she refused.
I wondered how she kept defending him. I couldn’t sleep in their house that day. I went home and told my mother everything that I saw. The next morning, she went to Chukwudi’s house, arrested him, and brought Aunty Onyi home.
Mum and Dad made sure he wasn’t in contact with him. They paid a therapist who came in weekly to have a session with her. She gradually started coming back to her bubbly self; she stopped staying in her home and started interacting with us again. My Mum hugged her every morning and reminded her that she was loved at home. Everything felt normal till that night when she told me she was seeing Chukwudi.
I heard a soft knock on my door, “Chinwe, it’s me, open the door.” It was Aunty Onyi’s voice. I wondered how she passed the gate because each tenant had the key to the gate and could only open the gate for their visitors. “I found the gate open,” she said like she heard my thought. I opened the door to see Aunty Onyi clutching a tiny baby to her chest, she was no longer pregnant. “When did you give birth and why did you travel this far with a newborn baby.” she ignored me and went straight to the bed. She looked pale and her blood stains on her legs. What happened to you? Did Chukwudi beat you again? Should I call Mum? I was asking her multiple questions but she kept quiet.
Her name is Ebube” she said amidst tears. I made to hug her but she refused, “I need to use the bathroom” I pointed to the bathroom to her and she walked in.
My Phone rang and it was my Mum, “Aunty Onyi is dead” she was crying. “Mum, Aunty Onyi is not dead, she is in my house, even her baby is here” I walked towards the bathroom to give Aunty Onyi the phone to speak with Mum but found it empty. There was no back door and the window was so tiny for someone to pass through. I quickly rushed back to the room and saw the baby sleeping peacefully. I felt a shiver. “Her husband beat her into labor and abandoned her, we are taking her to the morgue already.” I was confused. Ebube was on the bed crying, Mum was on my ear narrating Aunty Onyi’s death. It was the most unbelievable experience I have had.
Comment here