Jumia

Saturday, July 10, 2010

MIRIAM - PART II

In the time that Macharia was staying with her family she was raped every other day. To compensate for the pain he bought her “nice” things. He was so protective to the point no man or boy who wasn’t a relative was allowed around her. Her friends envied her and were awed with Macharia. They found it cool the way an uncle was so caring and attentive almost like a boyfriend. In fact, at first they though he was her boyfriend.

One day, she gathered up her courage to talk to her mother. She had bottled up so much she felt overwhelmed and needed to talk to someone. Her mother listened as she told her the details with the days and times included. Her mother was in shock. After listening to her daughter’s awful story, she refused to believe. She knew her daughter resented Macharia, she had seen her body language, but this was just too much. She instructed Miriam never ever to talk about it again.

Miriam and her mother had history. They were not close. Miriam was closer to her father. Miriam’s mother (Gina) looked at Macharia like a son. His parents had died of HIV and since the grandmother had passed away and they were taking care of his tuition. It was decided to let him live with them.

This led Miriam to become more of an introvert. She spent a lot of time alone. She still played sports but most of the time she was alone in her room. One thing she did make sure of she worked to keep her grades above average. She passed high school with distinction and was admitted to the university. Her parents were proud of her especially her father. In his arrogance, Macharia took all the pleasure.

Once she was settled in university she moved out of home. She did not visit home that often or the times she did she did not spend the night. It was while here that she started taking alcohol and smoking occasionally. It managed to drown the stress and dull the pain. Miriam was beautiful and the men wanted her. There was always a young man hanging around her. She did not let them come close even when tipsy. She shivered and loathed the touch of a man. This intrigued the men and they kept chasing her. They had nicknamed her the ice queen.

Four years later she completed university and a year later passed the bar exams. She was now a fully fledged lawyer. She had a dream to fight for the rights of abused children and get the culprits reprimanded but first she had business to take care of. She a job at a top notch legal firm. Her friends were so proud of her and took her out to celebrate. After all the celebration, she was so tired all she wanted was to get to her flat and sleep.

Getting to her flat she felt cold. The night was warm and the neighborhood was safe. She pulled her shawl closer to keep the shivers away. She felt strange and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up just as she opened the door to her flat. She felt like someone had been there but she brushed it off and blamed her paranoia on the amount of alcohol she had consumed. Just to reassure herself she checked the windows and the other rooms. She found the window in the kitchen open and cursed herself for leaving it opened.

Entering her room she went straight to close the curtain, she thought she heard the rustle of clothing, in the moonlight she saw a silhouette. It was strangely familiar, switching on the light what she saw made her blood freeze…..

To be continued……………

©thelma migue, 2010


From the cizoepoetry collection

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