TRAPPED Final Episode – Evelyn Ivie Ojo
Mama was pronounced dead on arrival. Aunty Ejiro was already with us at the hospital while Papa was on his way. He was not aware that Mama had passed on. He wasn’t informed because they feared he might run away if he knew. Meanwhile, Police men were already waiting for him at the hospital.
Mama’s body was being prepared for the morgue. I screamed my lungs out; I found it hard to believe that my morning rose was gone. The one in whose smile I delighted in was no more. I was in a complete state of denial. My world crashed completely. I couldn’t imagine living without Mama. I sat by the entrance of the hospital with Aunty Ejiro sitting beside me.
She tried to console me but she couldn’t stop crying too. She wrapped her hands around me as we both mourned.
Immediately I sighted Papa, I charged at him screaming and hitting him with my fist. Aunty Ejiro joined me too.
“You have killed her now….devil…wicked man” Aunty Ejiro screamed as she hit him with her shoe.
“You killed my mother, you killed my mother” I cried out rough handling him in every way I could.
Papa was not expecting the attack at all. He seemed confused; he could not make out any meaning from what we were saying. He did not even fight back. By then Mama Fejiro, her husband and the police men had come to join us outside hearing our voices. It took the help of the police men to get us off him, they tried to calm us down; Aunty Ejiro could not stop cursing him while I wailed on.
“Please can someone tell me what exactly is going on here, where is my wife?” Papa asked amidst our raised voices.
“Oga…Mama David is dead!” Mama Fejiro replied him with a scornful look pulling me close to her.
Papa was shocked; he stood frozen without saying a word. He was immediately handcuffed by the police.
“I hate you…I hate you…you are a devil ” I shouted as the police men took Papa away
To my surprise Papa started crying.
“I didn’t mean to kill her…I only wanted to threaten her…Oh God! Onome please come back… please I want to see my wife…I know she is not dead, the doctor should check her well” He struggled to free himself as the police men dragged him to their vehicle.
Papa was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour. He didn’t deny the charges against him; he was found guilty as charged. He cried through out his trial. He even said he loved his wife. As at then, I felt the sentence was not enough; I wanted him to die too.
This is 15 years after Mama was brutally killed but I still can’t forget her. I see her in my dreams every night. We still gist like we use to. I wish Mama had left Papa when Aunty Ejiro urged her to. The family she was trying to keep together was no more. She left us her children and moved to the great beyond when it wasn’t her time all because of an abusive marriage.
We grew up with Aunty Ejiro and she did her best at raising us up but she was never able to fill the vacuum Mama David left behind.
As an adult and a Christian I’ve forgiven Papa; I go to visit him in the prison once in a while but I miss Mama so much.
“Say no to domestic violence.”
THE END…
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Written by Evelyn Ivie Ojo
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