UNTAMED

Part Forty Three

She had left with Cindy and he had gone to sleep, but this time, he locked his door. He spent the remaining time studying Ojogolo clan and their building structure. Jason had done a good work. Lunch and dinner came and he was happy Halima only appeared those two times. She was with Cindy throughout. But there was something he noticed about her, she was no longer disturbing him for a kiss or even finding every opportunity to touch him which was a welcome development.
        He had locked the door to prevent Halima from invading his room and had ignored the many knocks at midnight, but she was damned persistent. He stood up and opened the door after concluding she would not stop knocking. He stood by the door, preventing her from entering the room.
“Please can I sleep here?”
He wanted to say no but paused. She was shaking all over making him angry. He must find a way to understand why Halima’s fear made him angry. He shifted to let her in. She had her fudged message with her. He expected her to jump on the bed but she just stood close to it.
“What is it Halima?”
“I can’t sleep. If I close my eyes, I feel Chief’s whip on my body” she stammered.
She was really ready for debriefing and he was not good with things like that.
“You are having a trauma Halima, it will pass.”
“But can I sleep here? I will sleep on the ground, I won’t kiss or hug you.”
Why the sudden change? He went to her room and carried her blanket, then placed it on the tiles, then laid down on it.
“You can sleep on the bed” he said.
She entered the bed and slept off without saying anything. He studied her for some time. What happened within the past hours? She was suddenly acting matured and different. Soon he too slept.
     A scream woke him up. It was Halima. He was on the bed immediately.
“Please, I’m sorry, please” she screamed.
He tried to raise her up but she screamed more.
“No it hurts, everywhere hurts, please don’t touch me this time, please, I will die” she cried.
He was going mad, this was too much. He could not even stand watching the video, now he was being forced to watch a reenaction of some of her worst experience. Wild had explained a little of it to him. He had said trauma was different from a nightmare, because the person relieved everything and it was as painful as the actual event. That was why even his touch was painful to her. But he had no idea on what to do. She was not only screaming and pleading but also moving her body in response to the whip. His rage was on a high level and if Halima did not stop, he would be going out to find a criminal. He thought about calling Wild but changed his mind. She needed to wake up to reality. He raised her up and closed his eyes and ears to her reaction. He pulled her to him and wrapped her in his arms.
“No” she screamed.
“I look up to the mountains: does my strength come from the mountains? No, my strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth, and mountain” he whispered to her ears.
“He won’t let you stumble, your Guardian God won’t fall asleep.”
She stopped screaming as soon as he mentioned guardian. She took over from him and continued to the end.
“Good Halima, wake up, you are not with Chief. You are safe. Okay?”
Gradually, she opened her eyes.
“Beast” she said pushing herself closer.
Suddenly the feelings he had completely forgotten came back in full force. 
“Halima stop” he groaned.
She became still, then slowly pulled away. She left the bed and went to the blanket. He did not stop her, he wanted the heat in his body to cool down first. She did not sleep but sat down on it.
“I don’t think I can sleep again. I am going to stay awake” she said.
“Why are you doing that?” he asked.
“Doing what?”
“Suddenly you are not pressing me to kiss you.”
“Because it’s wrong” she answered like he was asking her where she kept her shoe.
“Says who?”
“Cindy and Bible.”
“Wow? What else did you guys talk about?” he asked sitting up.
“A lot, even things you must not know about.”
“Now I’m interested. What else did she say it’s wrong?”
“What is wrong is not for everybody, it’s only for Christians. I am a Christian, I remembered our prayers” she answered.
“What else?”
“Love.”
“What about love?”
“I now know the real meaning and the different types. We can only do all those stuffs if you love me and if we get married, that is what the gold thing she is wearing is meant for.”
“Why must I be the only one to love you?”
“Because I already love you” she said it again like he was asking her where she kept her shoes.
“I’m not sure Cindy told you what love really means, you don’t love me Halima, it’s a kind of syndrome, you want to stick to the person who saved you.”
“Cindy explained that, but that is why I know that I love you, it’s not because you saved me. You did not really save me, God used you to save me.”
That was it.
“Now I think of it, you should have met my mum Halima. She should have given birth to you because that is the only thing she had done that usually put me on the edge.”
His mum had always thanked God every time he had saved them and the land. She would beg him to stop his actions but most times, he had refused and he had ended up saving them but after that, she would say it was God that used him. The same God that let his dad die, the same God that did not heal her cancer. She had refused to disclose it because she knew he would have found a way to get money to treat her. She had suffered in pains and died yet God had not saved her. Now it was Halima.
“How come this same God allowed you to suffer for more than fourteen years, Halima why are you so easily brainwashed, it’s too early.”
“Don’t say that. I know what brainwash means and I’m not brainwashed. Before I forgot everything, I always said psalm 121 before I sleep, God used you to save me” she adamantly stood her ground making him angry.
“Then how come your parents had to die because they converted to Christianity? How come God allowed them die?”
He had said it before he knew what he said. She started crying.
“Shit” he said moving over to the blanket.
He pulled her close.
“I’m sorry Halima.”
She did not say anything for a long time.
“Are you not a Christian?” she suddenly asked.
“My mum was, I had to go to church till she died.”
“So you don’t follow the rules?”
“What rules?”
“No sex till marriage.”
That was so out of the blues.
“That is my private life Halima.”
But she started laughing and it was having the wrong effect on him. He gave himself sense and went back to the bed.
“Halima what is funny?”
“There is nothing personal and private about you. I listened to everything that man said you did. You are really a beast.”
“I think you guys had too much time together and why would Jason do that?”
“It’s not Jason, its Cindy that played it for me.”
She would not understand even if he explained.
“So tell me” she said.
He was beginning to understand Halima. She would never stop except he answered.
“Not anymore, stopped long before I met Abigail.”
“Why”
“Cause I always felt my mum’s disapproving look each time I slept with any girl. And it stayed like that for days. Some days, I could almost hear her screaming at me that I will go to hell if I don’t repent.”
Halima responded with laughter but it was not funny.
His mum had three places; the market, the house but the Church took more of her time. She had never mentioned hell to him until she had caught him kissing one of the girls in line to have a taste of him. The one hour hell fire lecture was the worst lecture of his life. Instead of a sex education, his mum had spent time reading the bible passages about fornication and hell fire. She had even started crying when she felt he was not listening to her and she had only stopped crying after he had promised to stop. His mum knew how to play the emotional game with him. She did not need cane, she only needed to cry and the only times he ignored her tears were times she was trying to prevent him from saving her.
“Halima, you are going to be having visitors tomorrow. You’ve seen them before.”
‘Don’t worry, Cindy told me.”
He gave a sigh of relief. Finally, something good came out of Cindy.
“Can I ask something?”
“No let’s sleep.”
“Just one.”
He had almost forgotten her personality.
“What?”
“Your Uncle. Did he not come back again after he got caught by your trap?”
She always asked what he would never fathom.
“No, he took me to the Asagba. I defended myself by asking the Asagba to choose from two options.”
“What options?”
“Either he accepted me as the reincarnation of my great grandfather, which would make me more than hundred years old meaning I don’t need anyone to manage my land or he would have to accept me as a minor. Minors don’t get jailed for a crime, and as a minor I would continue to do my best to protect my mother and somebody might die by accident.”
Her laughter was very intoxicating. It was doing something to the empty hole in his chest. He had only had that feeling once. It was for Abigail and it had died with her death but why was that feeling happening again?
“Let’s swap places, so you can sleep. No more questions please” he said moving over to her side.
But she did not stand up even when he was already lying down, she was just staring at him and it was disturbing.
“My heart beats fast when you are close, I want to touch you, I want to be closer, I want you to kiss me but I’m not supposed to do that until we are married.”
“And that’s not gonna happen.”
“I feel like it will happen because I’m praying about it.”
“Oh not again, Halima goodnight” he said closing his eyes but she was still there.
“Halima you can stay if you want me to kiss you.”
“What?” she asked.
He sat up and immediately pulled her closer, then moved his lips closer to hers. Her breathing changed.
“Now that I know you are matured, I can guiltlessly kiss you and have sex with you to quench my desires” he said touching his lips to hers.
It worked because she pulled away and ran to the bed.
“Goodnight Halima.”