Immediately after school, Adebayo called his father to inform him about Florence. Both Pastor Justice and his wife were at home by the time the boys returned home as they wanted to know all about the situation. Chidi called Florence as he had promised. Florence sounded scared.
“My father just entered the house. I don’t want to be raped again.”
“Calm down, okay. Lock the door to your room so that he can’t come in and leave the key at the keyhole. And you know the gift that I gave to you, it is a sound recorder. Turn on the record button now. Is there no family member that you can report this to?” Chidi said.
“I have an aunty, my mother’s younger sister. I trust her but she lives very far away. You will come to my house, won’t you? I’m really scared, please, come,” Florence begged.
“I cannot promise you anything. I don’t want to lie to you again. But I’ll ask for permission from my parents to see if they’ll let me. In the meantime, call your aunty. Let her hear your voice and know that this is a very serious issue. I’ll call you if I get their permission,” Chidi said.
Chidi told his spiritual parents about the situation. Pastor Justice immediately called Lawrence and asked him to get police escorts to Florence’s address. He decided to also go with Chidi. Adebayo asked for permission to join. Mrs Justice also followed them since the case had to do with a teenage girl. On their way, Florence called Chidi’s phone.
“Are you coming? Tell me that you are coming. I’m scared! He has gone to get the spare key to my room,” Florence said.
“We are on the way to your house. I tried to call but it did not go through. I guess you were on the phone with your aunt. Anyway, if you have bolt to your door, lock everything. And I asked you to leave the key inside the keyhole to make it very difficult for him to use a spare key from outside to access your room. You need to buy time. And also don’t just cry. When he comes back, speak the word of God to him. Let him know who you are now,” Chidi replied.
“I told you that he knows the Bible so well. What else is there to say to him? And besides, I can’t think of any scriptures to say right now,” Florence said.
“The word of God is always potent no matter how much anyone knows it or have heard it. Florence, hang up. I’ll call you back right now. I don’t want you to spend all your credit. I’ll be speaking to you through this and tell you what to say to him. Okay?” Chidi said.
Chidi returned the call using Adebayo’s phone so that he would record the conversation between him and Florence.
“Florence, please, no matter what, don’t let your father know that you’re on the phone with anybody. Okay?” Chidi said.
Chidi could hear as Florence’s father spoke filthy words, trying unsuccessfully to open the door.
“Tell him that you are saved now and you are a new creature,” said Chidi.
“Daddy, you know what happened today at school? One of my classmates prayed for me and I got saved. I am now born again, a new creature. I am Christ-like now. And you know as a Christian, I am not to commit fornication anymore because my body is God’s temple,” Florence said to her father.
“You are doing great Florence. Keep it going. As a Christian, the Word of God says that whoever unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit and so we should flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. My body is a temple of God now. I belong to God and I cannot belong to you. I have accepted Christ as my master. I cannot serve two masters at the same time. Whoever the Son has set free is free indeed. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of the righteous be delivered? Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away and the prey of the terrible be delivered; for God will contend with him who contends with me and He will save me. You don’t want to be judged by God. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God,” Chidi said.
As Florence repeated the words, her father wondered where she had learnt so many scriptures, but he would not desist as he kept banging the door.
“My child, I am not your enemy. Why are you saying all these? Well, even if I am your enemy, the bible says if your enemy is hungry, give him food and if he is thirsty, give him water. I am horny, please, give me sex. And when I bang you at one side, you’ll turn the other way. Don’t you love me? Don’t you want to see me satisfied?” her father said.
As Chidi heard her father twist the Bible to suit his evil desires, he felt like throwing up.
“Florence, say; I love you so much, which is why I don’t want to heap burning coals on your head. I don’t want you to go to hell even though you deserve it.”
As she said it, Florence’s father became so angry that he rained down curses and threats on her.
“I’m scared,” Florence whispered into the phone.
“Don’t be. Just keep it going. Really, father, the Bible says that the sexually immoral will have their portion in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur. God says that sexual immorality should not be named among Christians. No sexual immoral shall inherit the kingdom of God,” Chidi continued.
“If you don’t open the door now, I’ll break the door and you will not like yourself. And don’t worry, no one will ever believe you. What has gotten over you? You have grown wings, abi?!” screamed her father.
“Florence, we are almost at your house. Say; I have been trying to tell you. I am a Christian now. The Holy Spirit has gotten hold of me and is in me. He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world. That is why I know that you can’t hurt me again. You cannot strike your foot against the stone.”
Chidi heard as Florence’s father left angrily.
“What is happening?” Chidi asked.
“He has gone to get what he’d use to break the door. Chidi, what was I even thinking? Our gate and entrance doors are locked. You won’t be able to come inside. And if you do, how are you going to save me? I am in big trouble,” Florence said, crying fearfully.
“I am not your saviour. Christ is. Look up to Him. He has said, no evil shall come near you. Don’t bother about us. God will make a way for us to get to you. In the meantime, keep doing what you are doing, okay?” Chidi said.
As Florence’s father was angrily looking for tools to break Florence’s door and teach her a lesson, he did not hear the noise at his gate as a policeman jumped inside the compound and broke the gate padlock to let the others in. Florence’s father got some tools and went to her door.
“I’m giving you till the count of ten for you to open this door now! One!” her father ordered.
“You are the daughter of the King. Stand your ground,” Chidi said.
“Two!”
“I am the daughter of the King of kings. I cannot be scared of you,” Florence said.
“Three!”
“Florence, we have entered your house. We need to know where you are, so shout as loud as you can to your father. Say; you are making a huge mistake. What you are doing will destroy your life. What about your reputation? You want to throw them all away?” Chidi said.
“Five!”
Florence shouted as loud as she could. The police looked for means to open the front door, as quietly as they could.
“Father, you are breaking my door, you are breaking my door,” Florence alerted Chidi.
“Just be calm, we can hear him. Is there another room there like a toilet where you can hide?”
“Yes, but the door has no lock,” Florence whispered faintly.
“Enter there to buy time. Jam it with anything heavy in your room. God is with you.”
The noise Florence’s father made as he tried to break the door was the needed diversion for the police to break the front door and also trace where Florence’s room was located.
“Daddy is in. Daddy is in. He’s coming towards the toilet,” Florence cried.
“My baby, what is this hide and seek game you are making me play,” Florence’s father said.
“Chidi, please, where are you. Don’t lie to me. You’ve lied to me once. But this is not a joke like my mother’s sculpture. Please, talk to me. He’s trying to open the door. Where are you?” Florence cried.
Chidi could not talk as he was very close to Florence’s room. He did not want Florence’s father to discover that they are there and attack them or run. But Florence was restless and desperate.
“God, sorry, if I’ve looked up to anything or anyone other than you. Please, save me. I don’t want my father to hurt me. Please, help me out of this,” Florence prayed.
Florence’s father pushed the toilet door and was about to enter. He taunted Florence as she prayed.
“God will not save you from me,” he said.
Florence felt it was network issues that prevented her from hearing Chidi’s voice and so she prayed the more to the only One that could save her. Florence’s father did not see the policemen enter the room and approach him, to get him arrested. He did not see Chidi enter too. Chidi carefully found where Florence had dropped the sound recorder and slipped it inside his trousers’ pocket unnoticed.
“Florence dear, open the door,” Chidi said into the phone.
Florence opened the door to find her father being arrested by the police. Florence ran out and gave Chidi a long hug. She also hugged Adebayo. Then she knelt to greet Pastor and Mrs Justice and Lawrence.
“You have to call your aunt to let her know that you are safe,” Pastor Justice instructed.
Florence was still crying as she had been scared out of her wits.
“My friend in school who I opened up to came through for me,” she told her aunt.
Her aunt requested to speak with Pastor Justice. She showed her appreciation for everything and promised to pick Florence up the evening of the next day. Florence’s neighbours were attracted by all the noise and came and saw her father being led out by the police. Lawrence went along with the police while Florence was taken to Pastor Justice’s house.
During the trip, Mrs Justice wrapped her arms around Florence and cuddled her. She also phoned a doctor friend, told her about Florence and asked her to come to the house. At home, Florence was taken to the visitor’s room where Lawrence stayed whenever he slept over. There, the doctor and Mrs Justice attended to her. They saw all the injuries in her body that her father had inflicted on her. Chidi gave Adebayo the sound recorder so that he could duplicate the evidence in case it got lost.
At dinner, Florence told the family about her experiences.
“I thought of committing suicide. And because of my father, I hated everything that had to do with God. But when everyone spoke about SU Fellowship meetings and how God moved, I decided to give God a chance. And I became hooked by the meetings, which is why I believed that I will feel much better about everything I went through if I befriended Chidi,” she said and turned to Chidi with tear-filled eyes, “And you have proven to be the best friend anyone can ever have.”
However, Chidi’s eyes were red, he would not look at anyone and he struggled with his food.
“Chidi, nice work. God’s wisdom is really being manifested in your life. I love the way that you handled everything,” Mrs Justice said. “Why are you not saying anything?”
“I felt it. I asked God to let me feel what she felt and it was terrible and most painful. I could not concentrate in class. I felt like the pain was going to kill me, especially as she felt when I lied to her,” Chidi said crying. “Florence, daddy, I am very sorry for lying and I promise never to lie ever again.”
“Wow! Finally. Phew. So, daddy, can he watch TV with me today?” Adebayo said excitedly.
“I don’t get. Haven’t he been apologizing?” asked a confused Florence.
“Yes, he has. But he has never promised never to lie again. He has always been so scared,” Adebayo answered.
“Yes, he can watch television. Chidi, your punishment is lifted,” Pastor Justice said.
Adebayo had some exciting movies that he wanted to watch with Chidi. Chidi was still shaken from the day’s events and did not feel like watching TV but he had punished Adebayo enough since from the first day that he lied and was put under the punishment, Adebayo did not have a playmate that would join him in his workshop, or the ‘playground’ or to watch movies and visit exciting places. Adebayo was very glad to have his friend back, so Chidi had to watch TV with him and Florence. As they watched the movie, Florence became gloomy and withdrawn.
“Flo, what is the matter?” Adebayo asked.
“My father will cook up a lie to get out of this. He is the world’s best liar. What happens then? He’ll come for me, I’m sure,” Florence said.
“He can’t, the sound recorder got everything,” Chidi said.
“Yes! The sound recorder. I forgot all about it. In fact, I forgot it in my room. By now, he must have sent his lawyer to get to the house and erase all evidence. He must have found it for sure,” Florence said, feeling more hopeless.
“Don’t worry. I took the recorder immediately I got to your room. I’ll give you the recorder tomorrow when your aunt comes to pick you. Bayo has already duplicated it in case you lose the recorder. And not just that, the phone conversation I had with you was recorded. I’ll also send a copy of the recording to you. Okay?” Chidi said.
“Yes. Thank you very much,” Florence said and hugged Chidi.
“Okay then. Can we now watch our film in peace?” Adebayo asked.
Florence refused to go to school the next day. Mrs Justice opted to stay at home with her to monitor her recovery. That evening, Florence’s aunt and her husband came to pick her. Her aunt was very angry that Florence had not told her what was going on for so long and vowed that she would make sure that Florence’s father paid for what he did to Florence.
“A lawyer has already been hired to make sure that Florence’s father goes to jail,” she stressed.
The next day, Chidi’s class teacher asked the class if anyone knew about Florence’s whereabouts. Chidi and Adebayo raised their hands.
“Wow, it’s surprising that the one that hurt her so much is the person that knows where she is. So, where is she?” the class teacher asked.
“She travelled. She’ll be staying with her aunt from now on and will not attend school here again,” Chidi said.
“Why, what happened?” everyone in the class asked.
“She wants to have a video call with the class to explain it herself. Can I call her?” Chidi asked.
The class teacher volunteered his laptop for the call. Adebayo did the connections and called Florence. The principal and some teachers also joined in the video call.
“It is nice to see all of you again. And I’m really sorry for everything. I regret putting you all in a position where you want to help but don’t know how to. The truth is that ever since my mother died, my father had been abusing me sexually and physically. Not knowing how to say that to anyone, I kept to myself and was dying inside me. I’d look at my mum’s sculpture to draw strength from it when I couldn’t take the pains anymore. I told Chidi what was happening on Monday, explaining to him why it was so difficult to forgive what he had done to me. He led me to Christ, as you all know and he and his family helped to get my father arrested. The case is presently in court and I’m staying with my maternal aunty from now on. By the way, it turned out that my aunt has lots of pictures of my mother.” Florence said.
Everyone expressed their love for Florence and congratulated her for being able to pull through. They sympathised with her for going through all that and were glad that it was all over.
The next day, which was a Thursday, the principal invited Chidi and Adebayo in front of the entire school during assembly and explained how they were instrumental in ending a sexual assault case and the entire school celebrated them. Those that had jeered Chidi now cheered him and felt bad for saying so many hurtful things against him.
On Friday, almost the entire students and some teachers came for the fellowship. Chidi recounted the testimony of the week and afterwards led everyone in a hot praise session, beginning with the song, ‘God is able to do…’ Everyone danced till the sweat their body looked as if someone poured water on them. Mr Oladayo, who had also heard the testimony, preached on the topic, ‘Cast all your cares on Jesus’. He pleaded with everyone to meet the fellowship’s leadership if they have any issues rather than allow the devil to put them in bondage when the Son has set them free.
