Contract husband

Until the coarse voice called out.

” Omare!!” The voice thundered but was greeted with no response.

” Omare!!….. Get right here now!!” The voice thundered.

Omar crawled in the darkness, until she located the handle of the door and opened it. She left hurriedly into the presence of her father.

” Good evening sir.” She greeted quietly, with her head bowed.

” Are you telling me you didn’t hear me calling you Omar?” Mr Edeh’s coarse voice filled the room.

” No sir…. I was sleeping.” Omar lied.

Mr Edeh cleared his throat loudly and belched.

” I believe your mom has discussed with you as she said she would….. you must get your things ready!!….. Your bride price will be paid this week and the wedding preparations will begin immediately….” He said with authority.

Omar stood silently rooted to the spot. She knew better than to argue with her father, except she wanted another round of aggressive beating.

He observed her silence, and continued.

” You are seventeen years now and you are no longer a child…… now that you are done with your secondary education, it’s time for you to get married so that you will assist in raising your younger ones….. besides Chief Ogbu is a wealthy man, and he will take good care of you.” Mr Edeh added.

Omar was still silent.

The door opened and Mrs Edeh entered and greeted her husband. She had just returned from fetching the fire wood, so she began preparations for the family dinner immediately.

” You can leave now!!” Mr Edeh instructed and Omar left his presence, recoiling back to the small room she shared with her siblings with tears streaming down her eyes.

” Omar….. mummy is calling you!” Grace called out to her amidst the darkness of the room.

Omar got up immediately and left to the kitchen, fuming in anger.

” I thought I told you I don’t want to marry that man!! ….. why is daddy still forcing him on me?” She asked her mother amidst anger.

Mrs Edeh gazed at her daughter and sighed.

” Omar my child… this is not my wish for you, but you must make sacrifices for your family.” She answered softly and sighed again.

” You see.” She continued.

” Ever since your father lost his job five years ago, we have been living from hand to mouth….. Chief Ogbu is a wealthy man who has a good record of taking care of his wives, …… so he will take care of you and this family…. He is coming this weekend for the wedding rites already….. please my child, this family is counting on you…… do not disappoint us..” Mrs Edeh begged Omar.

” Mom!!….. How can you all be so selfish!!…. Why should I be the one to make the sacrifice of being the fourth wife of a chief that is old enough to be my father!!….. All because of your selfish gains!!…. Go and tell your husband that I won’t marry chief Ogbu!!” Omar retorted amidst sobs and walked out of her mother’s presence.

The weekend came and Chief Ogbu came with some elders to carry out the wedding rites.

But Omar refused to come out when she was called upon. It took Mr Edeh excusing himself from his in-laws and going to Omar’s room to threaten her, before Omar reluctantly came out.

She wore a frown and ignored the songs the women sang in her praises, as she sluggishly walked up to the elders.

Their smiles and laughter irritated her more as she approached, until she was taken over by rage.

” I don’t want to marry you!!!” she yelled at chief Ogbu angrily, and ran out of the compound in tears, ignoring the call of her parents.

Omar didn’t come home until it was midnight.

She quietly called out to Grace through the window of their small room, and Grace opened the front door for her.

That was the beginning of her woes.

As soon as she entered her father’s house, she saw every member of her family seated in the living room.

They had been waiting for her to come home. Omar saw this and was about to walk out, when her father pulled her by her clothes and gave her the beaten of her life.

Mr Edeh was no doubt enraged by Omar’s misbehavior before his in-laws and he never failed to take it out on her. After beating her to his satisfaction, he locked her in the store room and kept the key in his pocket for 3 days, then he threatened everyone not to open the door.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

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*Back to reality.*

” I never forgave my father for torturing me that night and locking me up without food and water for three days.” Omar said with tears in her eyes.

Ife exhaled deeply.

” I’m sorry for all that you went through Omar….. but how did you get out of the store room?” Ife asked her.

” On the third day, it was Grace who broke me out of the store room. That was the beginning of life outside my father’s house.”

Ife narrowed his gaze and gave her arm a light squeeze.

“I journeyed down to Lagos through the help of one of my neighborhood friends named Ruth….. she took me to her Aunty’s place to live with them….. that was when I met Paul; Ruth’s Aunty’s eldest son…..” Omar said and sighed, but she was not done.

” Paul told me he loved me and I believed him….. I got pregnant….. his mother found out and threw me out of the house…..

the streets became homeless and survival was tough for me….. when my due time came, I gave birth but lost the baby…… it was during my struggle I came across the agency that shaped the path of my profession….. it was through this agency that I met my friends; Ashley and Judith.”

” Once again Omar, I’m really sorry about what you went through….. I believe everything you went through happened for a reason, and one of it is to strengthen and make you an inspiration to as many who are also passing through similar situation.” Ife said.

She nodded her head calmly and he gave an encouraging smile.

” Come on, let go finish our breakfast.” Ife said and led her back to the dinning table.

They were greeted by a knock on the door but ignored it, until it came a second time. It was a Saturday and they weren’t expecting any guest.

” I’ll get the door.” Omar said and went to open the door.

It was her friends standing right in front of her.

” Hello bee!” They chorused.

Omar gasped in surprise.

She had never given them her home address. So how on Earth do they know her home?

” Surprised to see us?” Judith asked.

” Yes!…. How did you know this place?” Omar asked surprisedly.