"You are worthless, useless to me. Another girl?" Dad stormed angrily out of the room and the skies rumbled in agreement.
"All children are the same, is it my fault that I had girls? Is it" mum sobbed uncontrollably, rocking us to sleep."
A wift of seconds passed.
"Papa, my teacher said I should not come to school unless I bring my school fees tomorrow and we start common entrance tomorrow." I fiddled with my worn dress and looked at my toes.
Papa narrowed his eyes in full concentration while he tried to tune the radio to the his favorite station, whistling Osendi owendi
I adjusted my stance, what is it a bad time? Should I come later? No. My future depended on this 100 naira. My dream to be an accountant depended on it. I could almost see myself in the Navy blue pleated skirt and white shirt of my dream school-St Agnes, Owerri. No, it was worth fighting for.
I began again
"Papa, I.."
"Mechionu!" Papa thundered, as he rose from his cane chair, "It is enough that your useless mother brought you into this world, just when the dibia said it was a boy. But now you open your unfortunate mouth and have the audacity to ask me to spend my money on you? I'd rather gamble all my proceeds from the farm.Now, listen to me carefully, your days in this house are numbered. If you know what is good for you, you will carry your two left legs and meet your mother to teach you how to be a woman cos two full moons from now you are going to be Ichie Obasi's wife!"
My heart was in pieces.
Stop!
"Your father didn't know better" a voice echoed from behind me.
I turned and saw a young man mowing a lawn.
"He was a monster!" I hissed, frowning as I tried to make sense of where I was.
"Nobody was born that way, that wasn't the plan in the beginning" he stood, cleaning his hands with a towel.
"Who are you anyway and where am I?"
He smiled
"Nkechi, always wanting to be a step ahead
Wait how did he know my name.?
"I am Emmanuel, but you can also call me Jay- which is a short for my other name. Actually I have many other names, but Emmanuel, is fine." He beamed with a knowing smile.
"I wouldn't want to think of this as a destination, for you it's a journey." He paused, and stretched out this hand,
"One I am willing to walk every step of the way with you"
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