Mr Teacher

Episode 19

Dragging me to the church on a Wednesday evening, the priest came to us and asked what was going on and why was I crying and my mother said, “This stupid girl here is claiming that you are responsible for the pregnancy!” The priest gave me a cold look then placing a hand on my mother’s back, he led her some feet away from me so that I wouldn’t hear them. Their backs were slightly turned to me and I could see my mother nodding to every word the priest said. Soon, he left to his car and returned a hundred thousand naira which he handed to my mother. My mother happily took the money and tied it in her wrapper then he blessed her and did the sign of the cross.

I was confused when my mother told me that we were going to a place and I should make sure that I told nobody what would go on there. She took me to a matron who owned a pharmacist and had a small room at the back. That was when I knew that my mother had bought me there for an abortion. I heard them bargain the price as soon the matron slipped on her eye glasses and told me to lie down on a bed-like surface. Pulling a stool, she sat down in front of me, brought a bowl of water and held some tools then she asked me to raise my knees and open my legs.

The abortion process was even more painful than the priest’s sexual assault. I felt the cold tools go inside me, cutting things. I was in severe pain and I cried the more while my mother tried to comfort me. Soon, the matron announced that she was done and my mother paid her. On our way home, I kept crying. I couldn’t walk properly. I kept bending over on the road because of the pain in my stomach. Before I reached home, blood was streaming down my legs. My mother took me into the house and brought her wrapper to clean me up. She assured me that all I needed was a little rest and that I’d be fine.

My father had gone out so he was unaware of what was going on. My mother sat down on the edge of my bed and began to count the remaining money while she occasionally touched her fingers on her tongue. I was squirming and m0an!ng in pain as I felt more warm blood gush out of me to soak my mattress. I realized that my mother had actually taken me to a quack because she didn’t want to spend more. By the time she had finished counting the money, my life had left me. I was dead. I had died a very painful death.