15/03/2021
tory inspired by the Holy Spirit
Written by Precious Obialor Ukazim
THE CAPTIVE'S DIARY
Episode 4(unedited)
©Precious Obialor Ukazim
The caterer handed me my plate of food through an opening with a kind of smile I wasn't interested in, all I wanted was the food in his hand and immediately the plate of food entered my hand, I began to devour it ravenously without minding whether anyone was watching me or not. When I had eaten half way,my friend spoke up again.
"Hey! You aren't fighting with anyone over the food, calm down!" She said,feeling embarrassed at the way I ate the food like a severely starved animal.
"You won't understand my dear." I replied without looking up as I was determined to finish up the delicious food before me.
"I can see you are mummy's pet, you have not experienced hunger in your life." I finally looked up at her in satisfaction seeing that there's nothing more left in the plate.
"Tell me about your self." She said and I observed she had not touch her food.
"You have not eaten your food, why?" I asked looking at her worry stricken face.
"I miss my mom and I feel drained as well." She complained bitterly and I encouraged her to eat so she could gain strength.
"I will tell you about my self when you finish your food." I told with a smile and she forced out a smile, revealing her front gap teeth.
"You are very beautiful." I admired her and she liked it.
"Thank you." She replied shyly.
" You are even more beautiful." She beamed with smiles and began to eat her food cautiously as I stared at her with some inordinate feelings burning inside me towards her.
"Do you feel the same way with me?" I spoke up when I noticed her uneasiness and I saw the expression in her eyes.
"The urge?" She asked and I nodded in the affirmative.
"It's a normal feeling that comes after rehearsals. Don't you know that those seducers are demons? There's a transfer of spirits going on here and believe me, we can never leave this place the same way we came..." She was still talking when she sighted a male captive ma********ng and pointed my attention to him.
"What!" I shouted in shock.
"Stop shouting, you too will soon do likewise. It's a normal thing here." She said then continued with her food and I shook my head in disgust but the urge became intense and I didn't know when and how my right hand went down between my legs... In less than thirty minutes our moaning filled the entire hall as all the captives were lost in the acts of pleasuring themselves as if we were under an influence.
She sat down on her bed still with her diary in her hand and tears trickle down her cheeks as she remembered her experiences in that cell.
"This is not the kind of life I wanted, I wanted to be an evangelist as my father fondly called me when he was alive." She said and wiped off the tears with her white handkerchief.
"Maybe, just maybe if mom and dad had not died, I wouldn't have found myself in this kind of life because I wouldn't have had to be passed from one hand to another." She said and dropped her diary on the bed.
My parents died when I was just nine years old in a ghastly motto accident on their way to a prayer conference in Aba. They were fervent believers and worshippers of THE LORD BELOW and they made sure that I and my little brother follow their steps which off course I did with all my heart. After their burial, my aunt from the paternal side took my younger brother with him and traveled to Lagos while I remained in the village with my uncle and his wife.
The stay was a bit nice until my uncle's wife who had older children than I was began to lay much burden on me domestically which did not go down well with my kind uncle. They quarreled over how she treated me several times and my uncle threatened to give me out to a family who would take good care of me but she didn't stop, so it became obvious that she didn't want me in that house.
A man of God who knew my father and uncle very well came looking for a young girl who could stay with them and take care of their little baby because of the work of the ministry and of course, I was the one he wanted so my uncle was very glad to release me to him with the hope that he and his wife will take care of me since he was a man of God and well to do financially and materially.
The joy of returning to the city alone kept me awake through out that night as I waited for the morning to arrive so I can follow the man to the city. Finally the long awaited morning came and I traveled with the man of God in his air conditioned car to Onitsha where he was based with his family. I met a very fair complexioned beautiful woman carrying a new born baby as the gate man ushered me into the parlor and as expected I greeted her. With excitement, she opened her arms wide to receive me in a hug.
"Daddy, she has grown bigger just within the space of two years." She told her husband who was smiling from ear to ear as he watched us and I suspected that they had seen me before the death incident.
" Come over here." She said and drew me to herself again in admiration so I felt at home with the warmth reception I was given in the house.
"This is your new house, you will be well taken care of okay? We would train you in school to any level you desire,okay?..." The woman dished out many wonderful promises to me and I felt really relaxed.
Mom had taught me so many domestic works so it wasn't difficult for me to do most of the works in their house while she sat down in the parlor watching movies and eating whatever she requested of her husband. I wondered why the man of God said it was because of the work of the ministry that they needed a little girl that would stay with their baby whereas his wife was always at home watching movies and laughing. That however was not my business as I was enjoying every bit of my stay in that house, ate anything I wanted, took my bath under showers without having to go to the stream to fetch water and sleeping on a whole bed to myself.
I loved carrying babies, so whenever I was done with my chores, I go over to baby Favour and play with her until when she asks me to bring the baby to her or when the baby cries. At a stage even bathed the baby, I literarily raise their second and third child as she left every work in the house, including the children in my care.I stayed with them peacefully and served them faithfully until she gave birth to her fourth child who was a boy and the woman's attitude towards me changed drastically that even her husband couldn't talk to her. I was already preparing for my Senior secondary school external exams then but it seemed she didn't want me to write it. She accused her husband of having an affairs with me and requested that I go back to the village where I came from but her husband refused because he knew that she was putting up those attitudes in order to prevent him from sponsoring me in the university.
I wrote my WAEC under that atmosphere and the woman began to make issues out of it openly so that rumors began to make rounds that I was sleeping with the man of God. In order to preserve his ministry, he took me back home to my uncle and promised to see to my university education but my uncle did not wait for him to fulfill his promises before giving me over to another rich Christian family living in IMO state...
THE CAPTIVE'S DIARY
Episode 5(unedited)
©Precious Obialor Ukazim
I moved in with the Christian couple who had three kids between the ages of 5 to 10years old. Tochukwu the first born son was ten years old and was in primary six; Kamsi was the only girl among them and was seven years old and then Chinonso who was the last born and my favorite of them all.
He was my favorite because he was respectful and kind hearted unlike his siblings who could insult me even in the presence of their mother and she would not reprimand them.
This family was different in every way from the man of God's family where I had enough food to eat, freedom to do whatever i liked, move around and talk as I like in the house. The man of God's children were respectful and loved me, they were even closer to me than they were to their parents,maybe because I was literarily the person that carried them from infancy.
When I first moved into this family, I met a woman who looked very spiritual in the physical unlike the previous woman I lived with, she doesn't put on ear rings, she doesn't wear attachments like weavon and the likes, she doesn't make up, she tied her hair with scarf even in the house and wear clothes that covers her body down to her toes - atypical ancient born again portrayal, you know what am talking about. She was the women leader of her church and also the general women coordinator of the Joint Christian Women Mission (JCWM) in Imo state chapter. She was a respected woman of God within and outside the state and her husband too was a staunch Christian leader of one of the popular nondenominational ministry across the country, the name of which i won't mention for security purpose but of course,people who in that group are known to be highly righteous and upright people.
Seeing the woman at first sight reminded me of my own mother because she dressed exactly like her,so I breathed down a sigh of relief with the hope that living in the same house with a spiritual woman like my mother was going to help me grow more spiritually and possibly align me to the path of holy and righteous living my parents were already building me into before their demise. I was willing to submit under her spiritual authority as much as I wanted to serve her family with all my heart. But my hope was dashed when the woman called me on the third day of my stay in her house and read out the rules and regulations that I must adhere to for as long as I shall live in her house. I had no problem with all the rules she was listing out to me because they had to do with her husband and their private lives but my blood pressure rose high when I heard her mentioned the next restrictions..
"...On no occasion should you open my pot of food to dish out food for yourself,be it in my absence or when am around. I shall dish food for you with my hand when necessary...
"You have no right to lift a finger on my kids no matter what they do....
She continued listing out more restrictions and duties but I can't remember hearing anything she was saying as my mind was occupied with the food restriction rule.
" How on earth am I going to survive waiting for this mummy to come back from her regular meetings everyday before I could eat?" And lot more were the questions in my heart as the three days I had stayed with them, she came back late in the night. I was still deep in thoughts and didn't even know she had finished listing out the rules and was already asking me if I had any objections.
"Chizaram!" She shouted my name angrily and I was jolted back to the realization that I was with someone.
"I'm asking you a question and you just stand there staring at nothing like a demon possessed. What's your problem?" She fired at me harshly to my surprise.
"My mother was not like this." I thought as fear gripped me.
"I'm sorry ma. I didn't get the question." I replied with a shaky voice and she weighed me up from my head to my toes several times with her eyes in a such a demeaning manner before speaking up.
"I asked the question three good times, how come you didn't get it. Listen, demon possessed people don't survive here because my house is a zone of fire. My God is a consuming fire and he will consume you and your agents, so if you know what is good for you, come out from any kingdom of darkness you belong..." She blurted out to my amazement.
"I..I.. Don't belong to any..." I wanted to defend myself but she shushed me to keep quiet.
"You dare not talk when am talking, am not your mate." She lashed at me and I kept quiet.
"I'm sorry ma." I said after some minutes of listening to her talk to me the way she wanted.
"Keep your sorry to your miserable self and get out of my sight." She threw back at me and I hastened out of the parlor.
My work in that house began in earnest the next day and I made up my mind to carry out all the duties expected of me in that house, even some of the little little chores that Tochukwu and Kamsi could do, I was mandated to do them while they stay back in the parlor watching cartoon and playing games. I was already used to doing house chores, so it wasn't a problem to me at all.
I woke up before 5am when everyone in the house were still sleeping and go to bed very late when am sure that both the woman,her husband and children have gone to bed and wouldn't need my services anymore. I found that one very difficult as I was always battling with sleep and struggling to stay awake even while working or helping the kids with their home works. It was on one of such occasions of battling to stay awake while helping Tochukwu to solve his quantitative reasoning that he gave me a hot slap on my face.
"How can you be sleeping when you are supposed to be guiding me. Do you want my tutor to flog me like she did the other you made to clean my work and rewrite again?" Tochukwu blew hot at me while I sat back in shock and at the same time trying hard to control my temper not to pounce on him. Kamsi sat at the other side of the table laughing and Tochukwu joined her in the laugh.
"Sorry, Aunty Chizaram. Don't worry, I will report him to my daddy okay?." five years old Chinonso consoled me childishly and I didn't know when I forced out a smile at him as my anger began to subside. I swallowed hard on turning to face Tochukwu then drew his book closer as if nothing had happened and began to guide him to solve the works. I struggled with sleep that way for the next three weeks after which my body system began to acclimatize it and it became a lifestyle to me so that even when I wanted to sleep in the afternoon or any other time, sleep would not come until that particular time between 12am-1am when I usually go to bed....
T.B.C
THE CAPTIVE'S DIARY
Episode 6(unedited)
©Precious Obialor-Ukazim
A visitor came to the house one Sunday evening and I had gone to knock on their bedroom door to inform her husband that there's a man in the parlor asking to see him. I lifted my hand to knock but held back as I could hear them arguing over something.
"I don't like the way you treat that young girl, she is a poor orphan and deserves your motherly kindness, that's the point I've been trying to make you see but you don't want to.." I heard her husband telling her and that moment, I knew he was referring to me.
"How I treat a girl under my roof is none of your business. Human beings are not good to be given too much freedom; if that girl is given that hand you are asking me to give her she will stop respecting us in this house. She is here to work, so let her work!" She replied with a tone of stubbornness.
"What i am saying is this,put your daughter in her shoes. If your daughter is the one being treated the way you are treating this girl, will you like it. Tomorrow it may be you and I's turn to die and leave our children, what..." The man was still talking when she cut in.
"Mba! mba, mba..." She cut in sharply and angrily.
"Don't even say that concerning me and my children. My Bible tells me that I shall live and not die. So, I will live to see and carry my children's children even to the fourth generation. Do I know what evil her parents did that led to their death on the same day?.." She said and my heart sank at the mention of my parent. My legs suddenly became hot as their pictures flashed through my mind afresh, I didn't know how they heard my sobs from inside and opened the door to find me sitting on the floor close to their door post.
"Chizaram, what's the problem?" The man asked and rushed over to me on sighting me sitting on the floor and my heart skipped because I didn't even remember I was still at their door post.
"My tommy." I cried. " I've got stomach cramps." I lied, I knew I will be termed a witch for eavesdropping on their conversation if I tell them my reason for crying and that was definitely going to stir up another trouble for me.
"So, why is it here that you decided to come and cry?" The woman asked care freely from behind and didn't bother to come close.
"I'm sorry ma, a visitor is looking for daddy and I was coming to call him before..." I was still trying to fabricate my lies when she cut me short.
"Keep your stories to your self. Go back to the kitchen, there's paracetamol on the fridge, take two tablets of it and stop crying as if it's something serious." She told me,
"Daddy, leave the girl,you have a visitor waiting for you in the parlor." She told her husband with a commanding voice and I watched how the man obeyed like a weakling and began to walk helplessly to the parlor.
"Bia, what are you still doing sitting down there. Come'on get up from there o`si so." She shouted at me and I fled from her sight.
She came back from a women's program one evening and ordered me to bring my bag of clothes so I ran into the room I shared with her children to bring my bag of clothes. I didn't know whether someone told her to do what she did or maybe that was part of what they were taught in the so called Joint Christian women mission program she attended in which a female guest minister was invited from Abuja to preach to them. Maybe the female minister preached on 'seven ways to keep their husbands from the clutches of house helps' and burning my clothes was the number one lesson she learnt from the women program.
She sorted out all my beautiful clothes which I came with to her house from the previous family I lived with in Onitsha and burnt them before my tears filled eyes,leaving the not too good and the old ones for me to wear. The loss of those beautiful clothes which were the only assets I had then still hurt me till this day, I mourned for months because of those clothes. Those clothes were decent clothes bought for me by a pastor's wife and a married woman like her; most of them were even my church wears so I didn't see anything wrong with them.
This mummy served me soured food on many occasions so much that I was always falling sick, but was never given proper medical attention. Many times I worked on empty stomach because she mandated me to observe a fast from six in the morning till late in the evening. I loved fasting but I wasn't used to that elongated kind of fasting, so on one of those mandatory fasting days I couldn't stand the hunger pang as I was in the same kitchen with a pot of well prepared spaghetti reserved for the children to eat when they comes back from school.
I opened and closed the pot of spaghetti several times, tried so hard to overcome the temptation no to touch it but the food in the pot kept calling me to come take at least one spoon and that was how I found myself eating the second, third, fourth spoon and couldn't stop until I was left with an empty pot, then my eyes opened wide on the realization of what I had done.
" ngha nwu taa. (I will die today)" I said panting in fear and didn't even know whether the food digested or not as different thoughts ran through my mind. The worse thing was that the mummy of the house was around and didn't go out as usual. I knew committed three offenses, first was eating when I was told to fast, the second was violating one of the rules and the third was eating the food reserved for the children. I made up my mind to face whatever punishment that would follow then went about my chores and waited for the worst..
TBC
