UNTAMED

Part Five

           
      {For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me}
         There was still light coming from the tiny window which was close to the roof of the room. Chief would come very soon. She had a chalk which she always used to mark the day Chief would come. Day meant light coming from the tiny window, night meant darkness and once darkness came, she drew a small vertical line on the wall, the seventh line meant Chief was coming. Every day, food was brought in when the light from the window started disappearing but on the days of Chief’s visits, food came along with darkness and darkness came along with Chief. That was the only time she saw light when light was no longer coming out from the tiny window. Her eyes left where she had left the seventh mark and travelled towards another mark close to the wardrobe. She had not drawn with chalk because Chief would see it and she would be punished. She only used the spoons she was served with to scrap a tiny mark to indicate how long she had been in the room and to know what year it was. It was long she stopped because somehow she had told Chief. She had to, because even if she didn’t, Chief would have known and he would have punished her more. She only suffered few chalk marks without food and few lashes on her back and that was the only light punishment she had ever received for misbehaving.
  As she stared at the tiny marks, she wondered how long it must have been after she had stopped marking. She remembered she had told Chief her secret four years after being locked up in the room. That was when she finally loved Chief. That was after she did not receive food for seven markings. She was also whipped twenty times on her back. She remembered it was because of her failed attempt to escape. No guard was allowed to see her. There was a locker outside connected to the room where her food was always placed, she was supposed to take the food after the guard had closed the locker, but she had shown her face to the guard and pleaded for help, she could not take the pain of feeling Chief all over her body, that was after he had whipped her buttocks. The guard had nodded and told her he was going to help rescue her. That night, the door was opened and she had followed the guard outside. The guard had told her to follow him inside the other big house because there was an escape route but he had actually walked her to Chief. She should have known something was off because there were no other guards outside.
She had watched in horror as Chief burst into laughter. Chief gave the guard a large sum of money and thanked him for telling him her plan. But before the guard could get to the door, he was shot on the head.
Chief had dragged her back to the room and had whipped all over her body till she had collapsed. The pain was too unbearable but Chief did not stop, he had tied her hands to a rope which was hanging from two nails on the wall. Her hands were up and her clothes were pulled off and Chief had whipped her twenty strokes on her back. He had refused her food until after seven markings. She had wished for death but it did not come. Chief had told her that there was no way of escape and she must never trust anyone but him. He was the only one she could trust. And as time flew by, she had discovered Chief was right, he had always given her food even if it was just once a day, he had only punished her because she disobeyed him. The guard had taught her never to trust anybody but Chief. She had accepted that there was no way of escape and she had given up hope of escaping. Even it were possible for her to escape, there was nowhere to go to, no one to give her food like Chief and she was going to meet people like the guard. She should be grateful Chief still took care of her. Chief had said everybody was like that guard and if that guard had not come to him, the guard would have killed her. Humans behaved like that. Chief said she must avoid humans but him, because he was the only good person. He always said it during his visits. He was the good man and everyone was like that guard. Last time he came to visit, he had reminded her that he had picked her from a far place where she was about to be killed and eaten by people like that guard. Chief said he had rescued her and gave her a place and food to eat. He always said that and it must be the truth. Chief had always been right. All the punishment she had received had always been her fault. Chief had said he would never hurt her except she disobeyed or except he had a bad time because she was thinking badly of him. Anytime that happened, Chief had always whipped her back. Last two visits, Chief had entered with anger on his face. He had complained that someone had insulted him in a meeting and disregarded his suggestions and it must have been because she was thinking bad things about him. She had tried to deny it but had stopped because Chief was always right, even if she could not remember she must have thought badly about him. She was lucky it was only two markings without food Chief gave her.
    She used her right hand to run through the mark and wondered what time had passed, how many years she must have been in the room. She wondered how the outside world looked like, she wondered about her family, did she have one? Where they looking for her? Apart from her name, Halima, she could remember nothing else. She stopped remembering after that guard deceived her and after her punishment. But she could not fathom why she was thinking about who she was, after such a long time.
A memory flashed through her mind as her hand touched the last mark, it was the image of a little girl heating and bending a wire, there were clay soils around her, she was creating a word with the wire. Suddenly, the image vanished.
   That was her, she remembered that event. That was when she was a house help for Chief and family, she tried remembering her age but could not. It was few months after Chief had put his body on her and had warned her never to disclose what happened to anybody or he would kill her. It was so painful and she had bled for days. At first, she had thought Chief would stop but he had continued and it was almost every night.  He had always tied her mouth to prevent people from hearing her wails from the pain he was inflicting on her. She was still free to move around the boy’s quarter where she and the gate man had always stayed. She had been taught on how to make native pots and had enjoyed making it but after what Chief did to her and continued doing to her, she thought of a way to escape; She had finally opened up to the gate man who had promised to tell Madam about it. The next day became the first time Chief whipped her back, he told her he was going to kill the gate man and it was because of her. She never saw the gate man after that day. Madam had beaten her for lying against Chief and she had kept everything to herself from that day. Sometime later, Chief had said they would be producing the last native pot because he and Madam were leaving and starting a bigger business in the city. He was also rebuilding his bigger house and she had somehow come across some wires. An idea had come to her mind. Chief’s wife and the gate man were the only ones who produced the native pot before she had joined them. Chief was into another business she could no longer remember, some days he had joined them. After some time, she was forced to do the last production herself. They were about five new ones she had produced to add to the old ones yet to be sold. Because she was left alone, she had heated the wire and formed ‘HELP’ with it and fixed it in one of the clay pot she was making. She had been excited after Chief said the last pots had been sold out. She had hoped someone would find her message and come to her aid like some of the story books she had read. 
  Chief and his wife, with their two boys had moved out few weeks later and Chief had promised his wife he was going to sell her to one of his friends which he never did. He had pushed her into this room with a tiny hole covered with wires as the only way to see light from the outside world. No savior came, no one saw her message. Someone might have seen it and had thrown it away, there was no hope, there was no escape and she had accepted her fate four years into captivity.
     She slapped her cheek with her right hand and hit her head on the wall.
‘What is happening, why all of a sudden am I remembering all that’ she thought.
She hit her head on the wall again, hoping it would stop her foolishness. Chief was coming and her memory had to choose that moment to remind her of that event. What if Chief found out what she had thought of? How was she going to keep it from Chief? If Chief found out what she had done and that she remembered it, she would not get food until another seven marking, and she would be whipped again. She hit her head on the wall again. She was a bad girl, that was why her memory wanted her to be punished. She looked at the tiny window and discovered light was disappearing.
‘Ha! And I’m not ready’ she said.
She immediately pulled off her gown and sat down on the bed naked. That was how Chief always wanted to meet her. She quickly checked if her hair was well combed and her makeup was the way Chief always wanted it. From what she was seeing through the wardrobe mirror, it was not. She quickly picked up a comb and combed her hair to straighten up, she added an extra red lipstick exactly the way Chief liked it. She was about dropping the lipstick when the door was opened.
“How dare you?” she heard Chief’s angry voice before she saw him.
She turned, the lipstick falling from her hand. He came too early, he was not holding any food, nor torch but on his right hand was a whip.  He was very angry. At last Chief had known what she was thinking, she was going to be punished and it was her fault. She opened her mouth to explain to Chief that she did not want to think of what she had thought about, that the memory just popped up but stopped when the first whip hit her on her shoulder.
“Who was he? Who was the man I was told came looking for you? Halima I told you not to show your face to the guard who brought food, what did you discuss and plan with him? The guard has refused to confess. He keeps saying he never saw you and he does not know the man who came looking for you but you must tell me the truth” he shouted as the whip landed on her body.
The pain was too much, the whip was cutting through her skin, it was like a fire was being passed through her body.
“Please it hurts. I will never plan with any one, I will never leave you for the evil ones. I swear I do not know. I cannot leave you please. I’m sorry I do not know” she begged.
“Good to know you still know you must not leave me. Do you remember that guard that deceived you?”
She nodded.
He had stopped whipping her.
“Good” Chief said moving round the room like he was thinking about something.
“He had asked after the boy who molded native pots years ago. This means he is not aware you are a girl, but how did he know to come here? And why would someone ask after you after fourteen years? I just don’t get it. And the men I sent after him have been reported dead. I’m very confused.”
A music started playing in his trouser pocket, it happened sometimes and Chief had always put the music box on his ears and spoke to himself. Although he had called it a phone, it looked like a small music box with a glass at the front.
“Yes, what do you have to tell me?”
He paused as if waiting for someone to respond.
“Are you sure he is the same man that has been hunting our men. The same person we’ve placed a bounty on his head?”
He paused again.
“I don’t know how he got to know about my boy but I think he is not the real enemy, I’m suspecting some of my political opponents.”
Another pause.
“Okay, make sure you keep watch, I will try find out who wants to bring me down and cut him off, that is our bigger problem.”
He paused again.
“Yes, I will be moving him out tomorrow night, I’m sure my enemy will want to plan before coming to attack this place because of the many security guards. I don’t think they will come here for now. Make sure every guard is alert, he would not dare show his face now.”
She just listened to him talk and tried as much to bear the piercing pain that was all over her body.
“I am going to prepare another place and move you from here. Tomorrow night, I will move you out, then I can sort out that intruder later. You will not plan anything silly when I move you tomorrow, will you?”
She shook her head vigorously.
“And if someone tries to take you away what will you do?”
“I will say no. I will not go with the person.”
“Good girl. No one can enter here anyway. I have many guards outside and this door is bulletproof and can only be opened with a card. So if you don’t want to be punished, be a good girl and don’t talk to the guard that will bring your food from the box. And you will wear your men’s clothes and cover your face before I come for you tomorrow. Okay?”
She nodded. A miracle had happened. Chief would still give her food even after what happened.
  “Now lie down on the bed, I have to leave soon to start preparing where you will stay.” 
She nodded and moved over to the bed. As she climbed the bed, she wished Chief would be fast although she was grateful the punishment only ended with a whip.
  Chief was out few minutes later, after warning her never to think of escaping. She ran to the bathroom and emptied her bowels like she had always done anytime Chief visited. She was hungry but she knew there would be no food that night until the next day and she could bear it because she had faced worse and she should be grateful Chief was lenient with her.