When you get bullied from childhood and then in your adulthood, trust me, you will not remember the names of those seniors in secondary school that bullied you. Unless it maimed or ended you.
I remember being one in a group of lady friends, here in the UK. They were all a bit older than me. At some point in this season of friendship, I became homeless and needed a place to stay. One friend housed me for a week and asked the other friend to take over. She agreed.
I moved in with Stella and as I did not have a job at the time, I decided to make myself useful. I would wake up, clean, cook, do her laundry and anything else that needed to be done.
One day, she found a DVD in my bag, and she played it without my consent. It was a video of my Father's coronation in Nigeria. This was the beginning of a long-drawn end. They started calling me names, I would just laugh. Soon the name calling became insults, nothing to laugh about. I took it all and intensified my job search.
When I would sleep on the sofa, Stella and her housemate would throw shoes and all sorts at me, laughing at me and calling me 'Homeless Nigerian Princess'. It was either this or outside in the cold.
One day, I was asleep and she came home about midnight with a man. I remember coats being thrown at me and the proceeded to have sex not minding if I was comfortable with it or not. Honestly, at the time, I felt more in her way than disrespected.
Another day, her housemate who was a young man, younger than me tried to have his way with me, I refused and fought him off. He slapped me and promised to tell Stella lies about me. I knew it was time to go.
The night I left, she just came home and told me to get out. I called her BFF who connected me to her. Her phone rang, no answer. I knew I was vuckd! I packed my stuff and took a bus towards Peckam, I got off and was just walking about aimlessly. Someone called my name "Chichi!". I turned, hoping it was someone that could help me. I did not recognize the man, but he was so friendly. I did not have a choice, I followed him. I was so naive... Chai!!
The drive to this stranger's house took like forever. He was upfront about the transaction he hoped this would be. I refused. He made me sleep in his storeroom. He turned off all his heating and left the house. It was scary but at 21, I had seen much worse. This was nothing compared to last year. The next day I left. 'Stranger-man' agreed to hold my stuff for maximum 2 weeks until I can find a place. I was grateful.
The next night, I rode the Bus 53 from dusk to dawn.
TO BE CONTINUED...
