Stepmum was out for a party with our guardian giving us liberty to actually do what we want. As free as we were though we knew our boundaries. We had played several games all morning with our uncle before he went out and were all exhausted. Right now we all sat on the sofa facing each other. We were at lost on what next to do. There was no light making our TV useless for the moment. Going outside was not an option either as we had been warned to stay indoors.
Just then Bingo barked outside. We all raced to the window to look at him.
"He looks sad" I felt for him as I saw his drooping tail.
"Can we go outside? " Charles looked at me in the eye pitifully.
"No, mummy says we cant".
"We won't take long. Just a little " he squinted his hands to drive home the point. I wanted to reply him when Dara spoke instead.
"No! Will you quit whining and come inside? " she pulled him along and others followed meekly inside. I stayed glued to the window pane watching the dog whine out of loneliness. Inadvertently my hand rested to the door handle opening the door slowly. My right sense told me to close it back but my hands remained rigid.
"Mum said no going out! " Dara cried in shock from inside. I ignored her as the temptation was too much. I stepped outside and hesitated. I could feel the silence from behind as everyone held their breath and looked on at me. I heaved then looked back. All eyes were on me.
"We could go out for just a few minute and not tell mum when she returns" I spread my hands sideways and shrugged. No one answered but I could see they were contemplating it as no one threatened to report me. "Okay" I said and went out.
Bingo started barking and wagging his tail in happiness. It started running towards me but was restrained by his neck chain. I moved closer to it but kept an amicable distance. I waved at it and pushed its feeding bowl close to it which it hurriedly gobbled down.
"Wow that's fast" I turned back sharply to see my siblings lined up behind me. I laughed "So you finally came out".
Dara rolled her eyes "Just for a bit". She moved closer to stroke it's body as it growled quietly in satisfaction. Others came closer and we kept stroking it and making small comments on it until...
"The chain is coming loose" Martin's observed getting up. "Let's go inside". As much as we had confidence stroking it, we had no idea of what it was capable of when loose. Nevertheless, I stayed courageous "It can't do anything".
"Are you sure? " Martin asked again. Dara got up too and went to stand by him. "I think we should go inside now".
"No, let's wait a bit" Kingsley said when Dara pulled Charles up. "it won't bite"
"Yes" I nodded in agreement hoping they would change their minds.
"No we can't. You both can stay". They both turned and ran inside.
I shook my head and waved them off "They are all weaklings".
"Yeah sure" Kingsley agreed. "It hasn't even loosed fully".
We began throwing biscuit bones at Bingo who jumped at each one with relish wagging its tail profusely. Then I noticed and paused.
I tapped Kingsley calling his attention . "What is it? "
"The rope has loosened"
We became scared. "What should we do? ". I looked at him and his face had become white with fear.
"Let's retreat slowly". I looked towards the door and saw the others watching us. "Open the door, we are coming in".
Instead they began to laugh and mock us from inside. "Didn't we tell you? " Dara shook her head. "No we aren't opening it".
We began to shake and retreat slowly. Bingo noticed and began walking towards us as slowly as we retreated. Eventually, it noticed it was loose and started walking faster towards us. We turned and started running as fast as our legs could carry screaming and calling for help. We ran round the house with Bingo hot on our trail. As we passed by the living room window I saw my siblings laughing hard.
I began to get tired but couldn't stop. Finally our cries alerted the neighbors around and they came knocking on our gate. I heard it but could not dash or stop to open it. Eventually, whoever was at the door opened it from inside through the opening on the gate letting himself in. Immediately I saw the gate opened I dashed past the man outside the house with Kingsley following behind.
We looked back and saw it was following us no longer before we stopped. I do not know how the neighbors who entered managed to stop it but I was glad when the man came back outside and told us he had tied it down. I couldn't believe him when he said the dog thought it was a game. Like seriously?. They all began to ask several questions and console us but we were still trying to catch our breath. Anyway we are safe. Eventually they told us sorry and began to disperse bit by bit.
I thought it was all over until we saw our step mum coming from a distance. She began to walk faster when she saw the crowd at the front of the gate. Kingsley also saw her and began to cry. "Ruth, mummy is coming. What do we do? "
"Let's go!" I exclaimed and dashed inside. When I got to the door I started banging it. "Mummy is coming, open the door. " They unlocked it and we quickly completed ourselves and praying silently. Some minutes later she came in from the kitchen door. She spent a while there looking around, that was when we remembered we had spent the whole day playing and creating drama. We looked at each other passing a silent message.
She came in eventually and dropped her bag. Dara and Charles ran to her and the rest of us greeted her casually. "How are you dear? " she smiled at them before facing us. She folded her hands. "What happened here today? "
I stood up to speak but Dara beat me to it as she narrated cooked up stories of how she told us to clean the kitchen but we refused and also went outside against her warnings. Our jaw dropped. "Mummy it's a lie o". I finally came around to talking. "I told Dara to let us wash plate but she refused ". She coughed. "Did she also not warn you about going out? ".
I could not lie about that and I shook my head knowing I have lost this battle. "Go and get me my cane".
"We all went outside " I tried my best to protest. "I said go and get me my cane" she repeated ignoring me. I sauntered in taking my time. I picks the cane from the back of her room door and slid into the bathroom adjacent to her room. I soaked the cane in water for a few minutes. I had heard of hacks which made canning less painful from my classmates. Her voice rang out again and I hurriedly pulled it out and tied it on my dress.
"Why is the cane wet? " she asked when I handed it to her. I kept quiet. It was better I said nothing than lie. I still need to get out of here. I didn't want to make God angry.
"Turn your back" she ordered when she got no response. I closed my eyes as the cane landed on my back. Contrary to the opinions, the cane stung like a bee bite. I ran towards the door to save myself but crashed into my guardian who had gone to drop her bag was also coming to question us. She pushed me back and I fell on the floor. I laid there whimpering before my step mum pounced on me again.
When she had dealt with me to her satisfaction, my guardian collected the cane and started hers. I had no strength to cry anymore. I began to feel faint. The cries of "don't disobey instructions" from my guardian began to fade away until I could hear it no more.
I opened my eyes and the pain from my body sprang like a reminder all over me making me groan deeply. I was in my room alone. I looked outside and saw that it was dark already. I couldn't recall how I got into the room. The memories of the beating came back and I made up my mind then to run away. I tried to get up but my body pains pulled me back.
I closed my eyes and willed myself to get up. With tears in my eyes I got up. I looked t my body filled with marks and fresh cuts. The house was silent, I looked at the time and saw it was past midnight. I cried fresh tears. I couldn't believe I was left to die. I dragged myself to my wardrobe. I shelved my clothes to the ground and began to shove them into my school bag. When it was full I packed the rest back into my wardrobe. I kept the bag behind the door and went bag to bed waiting patiently for dawn.
I jumped up from the bed. I had fallen asleep while waiting. It was 4 thirty am. I was glad. I had 30 minutes more before the whole house got up. My body pains were minimal now. I picked up my bag and sneaked out of the room. I meticulously opened the gate door by pushing it up with my body disregarding the pains that came from it and quietly slid it open.
I walked out into the night glad the moon was full today illuminating the darkness. I walked to my guardian's car. I opened the boot glad the lock broke a week ago with she always forgot to fix. I closed it back. I had accomplished the first phase. She goes to Church in her car but the boot was out of use since it broke and we kept any church belongings in the family van which takes us to church. I went back in and laid in my bed for the morning devotion bell to ring.
The bell rang at 5am and my step mum came in. Surprised to see me awake, she said "Shey you are awake now? Come out for devotion". I nodded and came down from bed. Morning devotion was short on Sundays since we would still serve God all day. We went out to have our baths and my uncle and siblings asked how I was. I just smiled and said "I am fine".
I drew Martin's aside to ask what happened when I passed out.
"I was scared o" He started "but mummy and mama poured water on you and kept checking you. Then mama said you are still alive and carried you inside."
"What if I had died ehn" I questioned.
"mummy said you can't die. I came to check you too before we slept, your body was hot. I ran to tell mummy and she said its because you are alive". I nodded in thought. I couldn't really understand but I was satisfied with the fact that I was pronounced alive even before I woke up. E went to join others outside and had our bath. We never ate to church on Sunday so we all picked our Bibles and cramped into the Bus.
I am going home.