FAUZIAT- A true story

My name is Fauziat Shaibu, I am from Edo state. I was born into an average family.  We are four children. I am the third child in the family of three girls and a boy but I double as a boy and a girl!

Let me add here that I was the black sheep of the family. I was very stubborn and would not come close to getting a distinction in school but I have a good heart. 

When we were little, I was my brother's brother and my sisters' sister. I would play girls play with them and boys play with him. We even went fishing together.

I was made to do almost all the house chores because my sisters were either too busy with their books or looks to do anything. I think my parents felt I wasn't going to be so much use to them when I grow up.

They probably thought that, unlike my younger sister who was always coming first in class and getting double promotion, I wasn't worth spending so much time on and giving so much attention. Or unlike my elder sister whose beauty could be compared to that of a mermaid I was too ugly to be given any attention.

Although I wasn't coming first in class I was an average student.  I also agree fully that my beauty cannot be compared to a quarter of my elder sister's.

My dad had a wife before he married my mum so I have a half brother who is 16 years older than me. It is so because after his mum left my dad did not marry again until after 12 years.

I am not going to bore you with so much talk about my growing up. So I will start from when I was in my final year in secondary school.

I was the social prefect and very good in English Language that by the time I got to my final year I was the most popular student and prefect. I was a virgin and prayed to God to help me keep my virginity until I got married. 

I wrote my WASSCE exams and passed. I then proceeded to write JAMB and POLYJAMB (it was not UTME then). I also passed but at this time my dad had retired from his job and we were depending on my mum's shop and dad's pension to survive. 

My elder brother and sister who wrote their exams before me and didn't pass also wrote that year and unfortunately for me, they passed their exams too and three of us got admission. Two of them to the university while I was offered admission into a polytechnic and university but I chose the polytechnic because dad said the university I picked was too distant. 

When it became obvious that three of us would go to school that year, dad became unsettled and in no time insisted he couldn't send three people to the university at the same time because of financial constraints and we just moved into a new house which cost him so much to build.

The worst was that he said I should stay back while my brother and sister went to the university. I cried and felt I was being treated unfairly. I studied so hard to pass JAMB, I crammed, I deprived myself of so much to pass Mathematics because it was a difficult subject for me. How will I start again, I asked myself. How will I write another JAMB or POLYJAMB? 

So I told my mum to help with anything she had. I was lucky that the school I got admission into went on an indefinite strike so I started selling recharge cards and making phone calls at the end of the street where we lived. GSM just came to Nigeria at that time. 

After a while the school re-opened and we were called to start registration. I had saved a little and was ready for school. I was so excited to go to campus. I was excited to leave home; I was excited to be free from all the house chores and stress.

I started my journey to school. I went through the hurdles and later finished with the registration. The next thing was where to stay while going to attend classes. I didn't have enough money to pay for a hostel so mum spoke to her sister that lives not too far from the school.  She in turn spoke with her husband and they both agreed that I stay with them.

The family was so nice to me. They were nine in the three-bedroom apartment including their mum, dad and their mum's sister who is also my mum's sister. We called her aunty Evelyn. I made the number of people in the house ten. I was reserved whenever their dad was home because his children were scared of him and I thought that was the right thing to do.

It made me always read my books and concentrate on important things instead of joking around which is part of my character.

After a while I became close friends with one of his son's and his dad became worried. One day he called his wife and told her to call my parents and tell them that I was too close to their son and because of that he wanted me out of his house so I won't end up getting pregnant for my cousin.

I called my elder brother who said I should take a taxi and come to his house. His house was also not too far from the school but farther than theirs. I bid my cousins bye and left the house. They were not happy. They thought their father was just being his wicked self. I stayed with my brother until aunty Evelyn wanted to get married and said I should come and live with her and her husband. Their house too was not too far from the school too but again farther than my brother's. 

It was when I started staying with aunty Evelyn that my ordeal began. Her husband, a pastor and General Overseer of a church started making passes at me. He would call me sweet names even in the presence of his wife who was pregnant at that time. She didn't bother but would instead laugh because she trusts her husband.

Pastor as he is fondly called told me that when he married my aunty Evelyn, I was given to him as a take away so he could touch me and fondle with me as though I am his. 

There were instances when I wanted to scream but I thought of my aunty and her marriage. There was a day he said I should help cut his nails. As I was cutting it, he began to have an erection. I could see it through his shorts and his wife was right there watching the television without noticing her husband's manhood.

I got up and headed to my room to sleep. In the morning, I went to take a shower to get ready for school. After I had taken my bath, I entered into my room and found pastor waiting for me. He kept himself busy by searching through my things, looking at my under wears in my wardrobe. I was infuriated, I asked "pastor what are you doing, please I want to get dressed, I am going to school." 

"Get dressed in my presence," he replied. I stood there not knowing what to do then he started to touch me, he was looking at me so seductively, I was irritated. I began to plead that he goes outside because I needed to get dressed and go to school. I had to lie that I was late for a test before he allowed me out.

I didn't tell anybody because I had no friend I could confide in. I had two people in class I talk with but I don't tell them things. They were intelligent girls but they had boyfriends and wanted me to get one by all means so I tried not to get too into them. 

I thought of what to do but I wasn't buoyant enough to get a hostel. Then rumours started going round that the school was going to be relocated to a rural area very far from where we were so that we could get bigger space. I prayed it happened so I could leave that house.

The last straw that broke the camel's back was the day pastor called me into his room after his wife had left for work. She had delivered then and because he doesn't do any other thing apart from ministering, he would take the baby to and back from the crèche where she attends whenever I wasn't around.

He called me and started with talks of how he wanted to go out and doesn't know that I was going to school pleading that I stay at home so I can go and pick the baby from the crèche when she closes. 

He locked his room door and began to beg me to kiss him just once. I refused; he asked why I was stingy with my body and pulled me close to him. That was when I perceived alcohol in his breath and became shocked. A thousand things ran through my head. "So this man drinks, it means he can be dangerous, he can do things that people don't expect from a pastor. He can even kill me here and nobody will know."

Then I became scared and wanted to run out of his room. I realised I was being stupid for not reporting him earlier. I became so scared I began to plead with him to let me go. 

He finally opened the door and let me out but not after he had insulted me, calling me a stingy girl. I couldn't believe he allowed me out just like that.

I ran out of the house with my school bag, picked up my phone and called my brother. I told him everything without missing any detail but he said I should take things easy, advising that I don't tell my sister because of her marriage. 

I got to school but couldn't concentrate. I began to scout the classroom looking for a male friend I could confide in, that was when I noticed Khalid from the front of the class. He was the most handsome young man I had ever seen. He was tall, his eyes were brown, his muscular body called me, his skin were shiny and when I heard his voice, I almost melted.

I told myself this was the man that I wanted to be friends with. It was my second year in school and I had fallen in-love at first sight. I wanted to fight it but I couldn't. I asked myself why I never noticed him until that moment. I waited and watched him until everyone around him had left, then I walked up to him. 

It was Friday so he was wearing a very attractive blue native Kaftan with a black cap. He had a small walkman radio in his hands and earpiece to listen to what was playing. I walked slowly up to him, my eyes fixed on him sizing him up.

I cleared my throat when I got close and said hi. 

To continue next week...