WOUNDS

The ravishing

It was a dark hot night and the hour hand on the clock was almost hitting the 10 O' clock mark. There was neither moon, star nor cloud in the sky. Nothing could be heard for miles beside the noisy drones of generator sets from every house on the street and the occasional zoom of cars speeding home to family from work. The generators did not disturb the peace of the night. In fact it was a necessary acquisition to the residents of Lagos who suffered from the constant deprivation of electricity privileges. People hardly noticed the noise until the generator sets went off around midnight and real silence descended. These days the generators ran far beyond midnight because of the suffocating February heat.
Halima slept in her bed, the bed sheet already coming undone because of her constant tossing and turning. The labouring ceiling fan was almost useless against the stubborn heat of that night. She had rolled up the curtains to let in as much air as the windows would allow. Blue florescent light streamed into her room from the corridor through the slightly ajar door, giving her exposed thighs a bluish hue.
The door shut slowly and silently, blocking out the light from the corridor. A shadow moved stealthily in the dark in the direction of the bed. The bed sank in under the weight of the shadow just at the spot where Halima had her right knee drawn up. Presently she opened her eyes in alarm and tried to sit up quickly even as the weight pushed down upon her. Halima tried to scream, but nothing would come out of her mouth besides a muffled groan. A thick beefy hand was firmly clasped over her mouth.
"Shhh. Don't scream." She heard the gruff voice of her uncle whisper.
The voice made her go cold and drained the strength from her limbs. If it had been a strange voice, she might have struggled and fought with all her strength. Maybe it was the disappointment from hearing this familiar voice and the knowledge of its intentions that froze her limbs or the sheer malice she heard in it. Maybe it was the knowledge that her life after that night would change in ways she had never imagined and she could do nothing about it.
"Hmmm" she tried one more futile groan, but his hand was crushing her jaw underneath. So much for not hurting her.
Halima could smell him and feel his sweaty body pressing, rubbing against her, bringing the heat to suffocating degrees; his bulging stomach pushing into her. His breath was raspy and hot on her face. Sweat trickled from his face onto her neck in blobs. Tap. Tap.
A thousand thoughts must have run through her mind in the short moment his weight on her subsided as he propped himself on one elbow so he could work his boxer short. Was he going to go ahead with this? Was this a bad dream she would wake up from sweating and breathing hard?
She knew it wasn't a dream though. This was happening and she was powerless to stop it. The two of them were nothing but shadows in the blackness of the room; one a prey, the other a sweaty heaving predator. Halima closed her eyes in defeat as tears of humiliation flowed from them.