The way my mother froze when I narrated all to her, you'd think she just saw a ghost. Mother dropped her pestle and gave a shrill cry a dead man could have woken up to ask what happened. I sat there, confused and somewhat more afraid than before. My mother began to cry and blame herself for what could have been, she kept lamenting "Chim eee, Chim eee". I began to cry too and my mother, seeing what she had caused, quickly cleaned her face and drew me close "no no nwa'm, I'm not blaming you, it's not your fault". I stopped crying and she calmly asked "did he touch or do anything to you here?" She asked touching my groin area. "No mom" I responded feeling relieved. Of course mom had to be sure so she later examined me.
I was woken up on Sunday by my mom, even though she pretended like she hadn't mentioned it to my dad, deep down I knew she had because she avoided my gaze. Blessing came to the house as usual because we went to church together, little did she know there would be no church for us all that sunday. Calmly my dad asked us both to tell him all that has been happening, we both looked at each other, Blessing giving me a look that said "look what you've done now" and me giving her a look that said "I'm so sorry B". Anyways, we did and my dad went awfully quiet, while my mother looked on. It was such an uncomfortable day for us all. We all proceeded to our neighbor's house and my dad knocked on the door, our neighbor opened and one look at the small crowd told him his jig was up. I watched him intensely and I knew right there and then he would deny all accusations so I resolved to speak with conviction. My dad spoke and told him all that we had told him and sure, our dear neighbor denied vehemently and even swore but I kept shouting "you are lying!!, you liar!!". My mother would have torn him to shreds if not for my father who held her. She spat on him and rained curses on him. She told him that we would never associate with him ever again and that he should stay away from her path or she might be tempted to pour boiling water over him. We all left but I never spoke to him ever again.
This has left me scarred forever, whenever I see an adult holding a young child in a manner I don't feel comfortable with, I flinch inwardly and wonder if the child is facing abuse and I just wanna run to the child and ask questions. I get uncomfortable when I see a child running errands for neighbors most especially "male neighbors". My name is Uzoamaka Christiana Jasmine Obasi and this is one of my many stories.
I was woken up on Sunday by my mom, even though she pretended like she hadn't mentioned it to my dad, deep down I knew she had because she avoided my gaze. Blessing came to the house as usual because we went to church together, little did she know there would be no church for us all that sunday. Calmly my dad asked us both to tell him all that has been happening, we both looked at each other, Blessing giving me a look that said "look what you've done now" and me giving her a look that said "I'm so sorry B". Anyways, we did and my dad went awfully quiet, while my mother looked on. It was such an uncomfortable day for us all. We all proceeded to our neighbor's house and my dad knocked on the door, our neighbor opened and one look at the small crowd told him his jig was up. I watched him intensely and I knew right there and then he would deny all accusations so I resolved to speak with conviction. My dad spoke and told him all that we had told him and sure, our dear neighbor denied vehemently and even swore but I kept shouting "you are lying!!, you liar!!". My mother would have torn him to shreds if not for my father who held her. She spat on him and rained curses on him. She told him that we would never associate with him ever again and that he should stay away from her path or she might be tempted to pour boiling water over him. We all left but I never spoke to him ever again.
This has left me scarred forever, whenever I see an adult holding a young child in a manner I don't feel comfortable with, I flinch inwardly and wonder if the child is facing abuse and I just wanna run to the child and ask questions. I get uncomfortable when I see a child running errands for neighbors most especially "male neighbors". My name is Uzoamaka Christiana Jasmine Obasi and this is one of my many stories.
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