(...Today)

                          
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'She is quite a beautiful girl though.' Femi thinks to himself. He does not want to touch her or anything. He only intends to stand here, stare at her for a while and then leave. 'There's no harm in that, is there?' he wonders. But he starts to fear that Uju might wake up and catch him lurking in the shadows. What on earth would he say then? In fact, what is he even doing here right now? 'This is insane!!!' he avers within himself. 'This girl has done no wrong. She does not deserve whatever THIS is.' His mind keeps running around in circles.

After a while, he starts to reassure himself, 'Calm down.'
'What's the worry about anyway?' he wonders. 'I have not done anything yet. I don't even plan on doing anything in particular. I'm just staring. Of course, I would never go that far.' Or would he?
Femi begins to move closer to Uju's bed while slowly stimulating himself. It is almost a subconscious act.
'Maybe just a little touch' he then says to himself. 'All I'm going to do is feel her skin; nothing more.' Her skin is starting to look more appealing to his atrocious eyes. Femi has always had a fondness for Uju. He had always seen her as the daughter he never had. It wasn't until a few weeks ago, that he began to see her as a woman and peer at her body in ways that a father should not. He knows that he should not be doing this. But for some reason, he does not stop himself. So extending his arm forward, he gently raises up a portion of her blanket.
Meanwhile, Uju is still fast asleep. She had always been a very sensitive sleeper. But nowadays, both school work and all seem to be wearing her out so terribly, that she is barely ever able to open her eyes until morning. Right now, she is almost snoring. And besides, she has never had any reason to feel unsafe in this house. All her nights here have been blissful. Not to mention, the softness of the mattress and pillow in her bedroom, which is a delight she is yet to get over. "Thank you Lord, for granting me such a kind family. It could've been much worse." prayed Uju every night, before going to bed. Little did she know what was in store for her.

With fiercely ravenous eyes, Femi keeps on examining her. He had thought that after getting a proper glimpse of her skin, he would be satisfied. But right now, he feels even more aroused. And as he holds onto the edges of Uju's blanket, she starts to turn as though slightly discomforted, but nonetheless remains in deep slumber. Like an experienced night marauder, Femi quickly throws open the blanket to the side while she turns. This action is so synchronous with her movement, that even the most sensitive sleeper would not notice. Or perhaps Uju was never a sensitive sleeper at all. What does it matter now anyway?
Femi knows for sure that once he touches her skin, she will rouse rapidly. Therefore, he decides to stop and go no further. The last thing he wants is for her to start screaming for help, as though he were some kind of monster or rapist. So he drops Uju's blanket and begins to touch himself even more, in a bid to quell his tension. But to his utter dismay, the tension only increases; ten fold, in fact.

How far Femi has fallen!

There was a time when he would have never even dreamt of doing what he is doing right now. 'What has come over me?' he wonders while shuddering queerly. His body has taken control of his mind; of his senses. And like a speedy car without brakes, he is headed for doom. He knows that he should not be doing this, especially here. And he does not feel like he wants to do this to his family, or to Uju. This is insane. 'Damn Amara, for turning me into such a beast! This is all her fault!!' he tells himself. Even while webbed in the strings of carnal pleasure, under his breath, he keeps cursing the day he met Amara; the woman who frustrated him into such perversion. Boiling streams of sweat keep trickling down his exposed chest and back, as he shivers and whimpers uncontrollably, whilst stroking fervently to his heart's content.

However, unfortunately, the sporadic vibrations of the bed eventually rouse Uju, who becomes utterly devastated by what she sees; or what she thinks she is seeing. It is quite dark. She is not exactly sure. She might be dreaming. But it looks so vivid, that she becomes more and more certain that it isn't a dream. This may very well qualify as the most horrendous sight she has ever beheld in her entire life. 'What on earth is going on???' she wonders.
Almost immediately, Femi notices that she has awakened and that she just caught him perpetrating such an unholy act in her bedroom; on her bed. He pauses abruptly, becoming just as mortified as she is. He starts to wonder how on earth he will explain exactly what he is doing here. In this befuddled moment, heavy streams of adrenaline begin to rush into his blood; pumping fear and a dangerous vigour into his entire being.

It may be because of survival instincts or just sheer insanity. But for some reason, Femi quickly pounces on Uju and presses his wide palm against her mouth, so hard that it nearly inhibits her breath. Right now, Uju's heart is pounding tumultuously. Her boiling blood is evaporating and condensing violently at the same time. As Femi balances on top of her, she feels a continuous stream of cold electricity running from the soles of her feet to the crown of her head. And with every ounce of energy within her, she struggles to break free, screaming helplessly beneath his palm. But her screams go nowhere. Nevertheless, she does not relent. She keeps on struggling, pushing, kicking and praying with all her might, that this man would release her. But he does not. As a matter of fact, he presses even harder, while balls of bitter tears effuse from her sorrowful eyes and course down her wrenched cheeks. Femi on his end, seems to be so devastated and confused about what to do next. A fusillade of thoughts begin to shoot through his already strained mind. He starts to feel both crazy and sane at the same time. And his heart continues to throb violently, with more sweat dripping from his body and forehead. Right now, he is not in the right frame of mind to make any good decision. Hence, at this perilous juncture, it would seem that poor Uju is in the capricious hands of fate or chance; whichever would be more merciful.

Femi attempts to remove his hand from her mouth. But his arm refuses to retract. It is almost like a spasm of some sort. The amount of force her muffled screams are exerting on his palm is so great, that he feels like he cannot let go of her, as long as she keeps screaming. But then again, maybe he just does not want to let go, because despite all the tension, he still feels immensely aroused; even more so, by her muffled screams. It slowly begins to dawn on him that he is already ruined, no matter what he does. His marriage is already over; his reputation flushed down the drain; everything is gone.
Thank the heavens, there is no knife around! In this arrantly decimated state of mind, Femi might have taken Uju's life, his own or both. But while emotionally immersed in a mixture of shame, fear, wanton desire, frustration, pain and vile anger; anger at his foolish self and anger at his despicable wife; he forcefully pulls up Uju's night gown and grabs her flesh.
Devastated Uju keeps on screaming helplessly; trying so hard to wriggle out of Femi's grip; bite his palm if possible. But he does not stop. He just keeps on staring at her with bloodshot eyes, tainted with a primal sneer that makes her heart nearly stop in stupefaction.

This seems to be a typical scenario of 'oppressor and oppressed'. Both are God's children, both are sinners, and both have full control over their actions. Sooner or later, both will receive the reward for these actions, good or bad. So whom amongst them shall God strike down?

Divine love is a difficult thing to understand. Earthly ways are much different from the ways of the divine. But perhaps we can glimpse slightly into the ethereal concept of love, by likening it to the kind that a mother feels for her child. Perhaps we can grasp to some extent, the greatness of God's sorrow whenever humans sin against one another, by picturing a mother watching her own child being stabbed in the heart by her other child, whom she loves just as much. Even the most ruthless of hearts would be hesitant to take action. But does this mean then, that all hope is lost for the oppressed? Does this mean that we must all love to the death? As humans, the only thing that tends to hurt more than the truth is love. But in like manner, no greater balm can truly soothe an aching soul than love, in its purest and truest form.
Very oddly, at this moment, a quick sort of mixed memory flashes through Uju's mind. It is partly from one of the sermons of Father Francis, fragments from her past thoughts, contemplations on divinity and opinions from Nne,
'... As we all know, Jesus Christ was no fool; although meek as a dove he was. He was arguably the wisest man that ever lived. Yet he suffered for love; more so than many men ever have. He died for love; love for you and I who crucified him. He knew that he had to pass through the fire of suffering, in order to gain new life. Although, he may have had an undue advantage, having been privileged before hand to gaze upon the unfathomable glory he was to receive; not in this life, but later in heaven. But like us, he was also afraid. However, in the end, he was brave enough not to succumb to the wiles of the world. His bravery and testimony to the living truth serve as beacons to us all, to follow his example; to remain fervent, despite the many tribulations of life, till our day of salvation will come ...'

Whilst in immense pain and suffering, Uju gasps sorrowfully, as Femi steals her virtue again and again. Her virtue; which she had hoped to preserve for as long as possible has been destroyed; taken away, just like that; without warning; without courtesy; without consent. Her traumatized head remains tilted to the side as she lay flat on her back. The last thing she wants right now is to look at the pulsating beast on top of her. She no longer even has the will power to scream anymore. She just keeps staring into space, weeping and breathing heavily like a living corpse.
Half-caught in a trance, she begins to see vivid flashes of her entire life before her; her birth, her growth, her mourning, her sorrow, her pain and her moments of fleeting happiness. She begins to see everything playing like a sad movie, right before her very eyes. She starts to remember how Obiageli beat her to stupor, for a crime she did not commit. Then her mind flashes even further back, to when she was assaulted by Emeka. This makes her clench her swollen eyelids even tighter, as fountains of hot tears gush from her eyes and boiling driblets of mucus exit her reddened nose while she sniffs in pain. It is almost as though her spirit is floating outside her body, just watching, as her body is being raped and defiled by a dog.

'What did I ever do to deserve all this??? Why was I even born into this world?' she wonders, in anguish. How on earth would she live life after this? Who would believe her, even if she complained? As far as the world is concerned, she is just a wretched house girl, like Bolanle said; like Emeka said. She has no face. She has no voice. She has no saviour. She is all on her own. She used to think she had God. But these days, she isn't so sure anymore.

'Aunty Amara would never believe me. She is just like the rest of them.' Uju thinks to herself. 
Amara would most likely conclude that Uju tried to seduce her husband. She would call her a gold-digger and a home-wrecker; a witch, if possible, sent to destroy her happy home.  Therefore, who can Uju even turn to for help? The School? The Church? The Government? The Impartial Judiciary??? Femi already knows full well how deplorable her situation is. Thus, it is no surprise that in the end, his seemingly heavy conscience ended up conceding to his wanton desires.

                         
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