Trafficked

8. Getting to Know the Relatives

I WANT TO GO HOME, Chinyere thought as she looked outside the bedroom window.

Her husband wasn't around, he hadn't come home the previous night. Not like Chinyere cared. He could die for all she cared.

Tears pooled her eyes and she dried them with the back of her hand.

She missed home. She missed her siblings and her parents, even her father's first wife who always seemed to be against everything she did.

She missed bickering with her siblings and fighting for the remote control with them.

She sniffed as fresh tears filled her eyes.

Why didn't she listen to Tunde?

Chinyere was so occupied in her thoughts that she did not realise someone enter the bedroom.

"Are you alright?"

Chinyere nearly jumped off her chair in surprise.

She balanced herself on the chair before she looked at the person who had entered her room.

It was her sister-in-law, the wife to her brother-in-law.

Chinyere studied the girl's face. She was a girl, not a woman. She couldn't have been a year older than eighteen.

"I'm fine," Chinyere said and wrapped her arms around her body.

She felt so insecure and exposed. Anytime she thought about what her husband did to her three nights ago, she ended up crying hysterically.

"You're not fine," the girl said.

Chinyere looked at the girl directly in the eyes. Who was this girl to tell her how she was feeling?

"I'm Tina," the girl held out her hand for Chinyere to shake but Chinyere turned her head and pretended as though she had not seen it.

She was tired of the women of the house. They always told her to go along with what the Oko's said and turned down her escape plans.

The girl lowered her hand and moved to the bed in the middle of the room.

Her bag was on top of the bed. It contained a few clothes, a bottle of water and some food.

"Are you planning on leaving?" Tina asked and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Why?" Chinyere asked, "Are you also going to discourage me?"

"I have no say in the matter," Tina said, "I wish I had taken the chance when I had it, but now I can't leave."

"What do you mean?" Chinyere turned to face Tina.

"I was in your position just a little more than a year ago," Tina said, "I was bought and married off. I had so many chances to escape but I didn't. Now, I have no choice but to stay."

"Why?" Chinyere asked.

"Because of Solomon," Tina sighed.

"Who is Solomon?" Chinyere asked.

"My son," Tina answered, "he turns two months old today."

"Why didn't you bring him with you!?"

"It's not safe for him to be on the road," Tina straightened her skirt as she spoke.

Chinyere nodded in understanding before turning to look back outside the window.

"Look," Tina stood up, "I have to leave, my husband must be waiting for me."

Tina made a move to give Chinyere a hug but Chinyere blocked it, "I-I'm sorry, I just don't feel like hugging anyone."

Tina nodded, "Bye. Good luck with your... Escape plans."

Chinyere nodded and Tina walked out of the room.

She felt good that she had spoken to a sensible person. At least they would meet again at Mr. Oko's wife's memorial service the following day.

     CHINYERE WOKE UP the following day to the sound of banging on the room door.

She got up from the bed and hid her luggage under it before running to unlock the door.

Her husband stumbled into the room with a half empty bottle of alcohol.

He smelled of cigarettes mixed with alcohol and his eyes were blood red.

He stumbled over to the bed and collapsed on it.

"Where's Esther?" he yelled and then hiccuped, "Gwa ya ka o me ka m rie nri!"

Chinyere rushed out of the room and into the kitchen.

She didn't want to be left in the same room with him again. She hadn't told anyone about what he'd done to her and she considered it better that no one else knew about it.

Her husband was a tall man with a fair complexion but he was also a drunkard.

The only time Chinyere had seen him sober was on the day of their wedding. And he had only been sober for thirty minutes before he got drunk with palm wine.

This was not the type of spouse that Chinyere wanted.

Chinyere slowed down as she entered the kitchen.

Esther was washing the plates and her shirt was soaked with water.

"Oh, good morning, Mrs. Oko," Esther greeted once she saw Chinyere.

"Kedu ka ị mere?" Chinyere asked.

"Don't speak Igbo," Esther said.

Chinyere wondered why it was a crime for her to speak Igbo when her husband had done it earlier. And had she not been told that he didn't speak a word of Igbo?

"My husband," it felt foreign to her tongue when she said those words, "wants you to make food for him."

"Your husband?" Esther chuckled, "Don't you know his name by now?"

Chinyere didn't know what was so funny. She was abducted, sold and made to marry a drunkard and first class smoker. How was she supposed to feel comfortable and have a conversation at such a circumstance?

When Esther realised that Chinyere wasn't going to answer she spoke up, "Chibinobim is his name and you're his wife, you should be the one to cook for him."

"I didn't choose to be his wife!" Chinyere snapped back, "and I'm busy."

Chinyere was dissapointed in herself for talking to an elder in that manner but she couldn't bear this anymore.

She was married off to a stranger and raped. She didn't even know Chibinobim's status; whether or not he was clean of STDs and STIs.

Chinyere walked out of the kitchen and snuck back to the bedroom.

She peeped through the door to see whether or not Chibinobim was still around.

He was sleeping on the bed and silently snoring.

Chinyere entered the room and went straight to the bed. She reached for her bag that was under the bed.

She brought out the bag and placed it on the oak table in the bedroom.

After checking the bag to see whether everything she needed was inside, she closed it, grabbed a fresh set of clothes from the closet and went to the bathroom to take her shower.

Today was Sunday and also the day she was going to leave the Oko household and no one could stop her.