Chapter 32

"Don't go into the woods alone. Okay? Walk in groups, and be very wary of your surroundings please. Hear me?"

"Yes mom, I can hear you"

"One more thing, I want you to call me if you need any help especially if you cannot talk to your counselor or Camp director. Okay? Don't hesitate to call me. I'll call you too, okay baby?"

"Yes mom I promise"

She touched my shoulders and rubbed them lightly. "I'll miss you. I'll miss you so much"

"It's just seven days mommy" i said, trying to smile. She pinched my cheeks and smiled too. We were so fond of each other

"I trust you'll do your school proud in the competition. I trust you so much, I don't have to tell you to do well, my smart child with an adult brain" she smiled. I laughed too. I indeed had an adult brain. I behaved like a fifteen year old adolescent or maybe even eighteen or twenty, even though I was only eight.

"Sure mom, I will do my school proud. I'll do you proud too" I said. She sighed and looked away. I knew she was worried about something and I knew what it was about

"Mom it's okay. I believe you'll be fine. I hope Cameron doesn't hit you though"

"He's likely to travel this week. If he does, I'll be away from home until you get back. I really need help with my kids. I'll be fine baby. Have fun" she said. I nodded. It was three hours till the meet-up time. I was going to meet with other students at school at exactly 1:00pm, it was a six hour journey according to what I heard. So, I had time to talk to Mom before I finally left.

"Won't you say bye to Mike?" She asked, surprised I haven't even talked about missing him and stuff.

"I will, when I'm leaving" I said, quickly changing the topic, "Errm, mom, tell me about your camp experience. Your camp experience when you were in high school or college, how was it?"

She smiled, frowned and smiled some more. The smile did not reach her eyes. It seemed like she was indecisive about whether to smile or keep a straight face.

"It was both intriguing and challenging. I attended several camps but the last, the one i attended in my last year at College was the most conspicuous"

"Wow, really? What happened?"

"It was where I met Cameron" she said. Now I was about to listen to the story of Cameron and mom. I started to get really interested, but it seemed that she didn't want to talk about it.

"How did you meet? Were you in the same college?" I asked curiously. Mom shook her head.

"No. He was a counselor. A camp counselor for another school. It was a inter-school Summer Camp. Combination of two colleges, mine inclusive"

"Oh. So how did you get talking? How old were you then?" I asked. She was silent.

"I was fourteen, and he was nineteen I think. And we always crossed each others' paths everyday till the camp ended"

"Wow mom" i smiled.

"I'll tell you this story later, when you're grown up. You don't have to know now" she said rubbing my hands.

"Please mom, tell me" i pleaded. After a while, she decide to tell me. "Im sorry you don't have a good father. I'm so sorry"

"It's not your fault, mom"

"It is. I agreed to marry him" she sighed.

"He made advances to me throughout the days of the camp. I didn't like him. I've never loved him, I've always known that. I mean I appreciated his looks and all but I didn't want to date him or anything. He forced it on me.

At that age, my mom was very ill and I needed money to take care of her. Besides, I needed money to take my final exams but there was no money. I don't know how he found out but he walked up to me one day. That was after the camp. It was at a birthday party. My friend's boyfriend was having a birthday party and I decided to join her to celebrate him. I knew that guy so well, he was a good, brilliant chap and fun to talk to."

"Hmmm"

"Cameron also happened to be there, and when I saw him, I tried to avoid him but it was not easy because he kept bumping into me. He walked up to me and flaunted a wad of cash at my face. It was a huge amount of money. He said, and i quote, "Hello, Ruby, I learnt you needed money to further your education. I'm here to help you, I think this will do, right?" I was shocked. It was more than enough to take care of my needs. It was a big temptation for me as mom was very sick and already stopped working a long time ago because she had an accident that rendered her paralyzed from the knees downwards."

"Yeah. I know that" I shook my head. It was sad. The last time I saw granny, she was limping. She got better but she couldn't walk until her death.

"He left before I could even say a word. I touched the money on the table and swallowed hard. It was really huge but I could not take it because I didn't know this guy. After thinking twice, I left the money there and walked to the far end of the venue to clear my head. I had to make a decision"

"Hmmm" i listened with rapt attention. Mom swallowed every now and then like there was a lump in her throat.

"He found me in no time and he was holding the cash. He tried to talk me into taking it but I was insistent on knowing who he was first. "Who are you? Why are you giving me money?" I asked but he refused to reveal his identity to me. I left him there refusing to take the money until I knew his identity. When I told my friends about him, they sounded so excited. "he's a rich guy! You're so lucky! Don't you know Cameron? His parents are in money! Don't you know the models-Cam family?? You're so lucky babe" they kept yelling in excitement but I felt like something didn't add up. Why did he want me? I was much younger and only a student. I knew the models--Cam family but I didn't know he was their son.

He came to my lodge about three days later, he told me that it was safe to take the money that he didn't want anything in return. So I took it and took care of my needs. Before then, I had researched about him and found him to be safe and free. immediately I took the money, I stopped talking to him. I didn't want to have anything to do with him. He looked dangerous to me"

"About a month after, I started to regret taking the money because this guy wouldn't let me rest. He called and visited at will. I never gave him directions to where I lived, but he found out on his own. He wanted me to be his girlfriend. I've always found him scary. He's a goodlooking, sexy model that every girl wanted and all but I didn't like sexy guys, I felt they were dangerous. It was all me alone in the world with my mom. I didn't want to be used. I told Cameron to stop calling me or coming to my place at will but he was hell-bent on getting what he wanted. He started to threaten me at a point. He said his words gently but they seemed like threats. I mean, i felt threatened. It was not easy, baby. It's a long story"

I sighed. It probably would take me several days to hear everything that happened with mom and Cameron in the past fourteen years

"Mom used to take me to church. I heard doctrines about men who offered money or whatever it was in order to lure girls. It was my greatest fear--being used and dumped.

Sometimes I'd open my door and find him there , waiting with flowers in his hands and a note. He came by, almost every week. It started to get on my nerves, I reported him to the school authorities but it was taken with levity because everyone knew him.

"He's not harmless, he's just being friendly, stop making it seem like a big deal" Actually he didn't do anything harmless, he just wanted to be close, he didn't ask for more but I had a bad feeling about him..

When he started to threaten me, I didn't tell anybody. I instead got another apartment and got myself a roommate. I was so scared of him. He practically frustrated me every day of my last days in college. When I finally wrote my exams and graduated, I thought I'd be free from him. I went home to my mother and forgot about him. But he appeared again on my doorstep one afternoon. I hadn't told him about where my mom lived. So you could imagine the shock on my face when I opened the door and he was the one there, with flowers and a gift bag of course.

"What do you want?" I yelled. I had already had enough of his august visits

"Brought something for you and mom" he said, smiling and gently shoved me aside and entered the house. Without invitation! He was popular, he's been popular for long and he was known for his humanitarian services and philanthropy, so no one saw him as bad or dangerous. He was a model, a camp counsellor and a teacher. His parents were models too and according to everyone,they were a humble household. He was young and humble, but to me, he seemed dangerous. Besides, I didn't want to be in a relationship then. I wanted to just be with mom all the time"

"What did granny say to him?" I asked Mom. I was so curious.

"Mom knew him although it was the first time she'd be meeting him physically. Like I said, he was a popular model. She accepted his gifts and asked me to see him off when he was leaving. I only saw him off to the door and he left, after waving for the umpteenth time. To me, it was not humility; it was childishness. Which model goes into people's houses randomly without being invited? I told Mom about his advances and she advised me. She asked me if I liked him. I told her the truth. She told me it was best not to date at my age..She was so understanding."

"One day though, Cameron had his way with me. He invited us to his modelling agency, me and a lot of my friends from my school. I wanted to see his skills and stuff, you know, I had to know this man who was troubling me. So, along the line, some men called me upstairs, said their model for the day, Cameron wanted to take pictures with me. I went there with my friends but I was the only one allowed in. It happened too fast that I could not even make a decision on the spot"

"Did you take pictures with him?" I asked

"Yeah, and afterwards he took me to a large room where several delicacies were laid on the table, I guess it was a VIP dinner. He wanted me to be there. It was there he said it so plainly what he wanted, to my face. "Be my girlfriend" he said over dinner, before everyone. His mom and dad were there, his friends and many big people. Everyone was shocked to hear that. They stopped eating as soon as he uttered those words. I was even more worried for what would happen next. I thought they'd throw me out. But they didn't. They all were staring at me, waiting for my response."

Then I said, "Give me some time to think" and everyone started to eat again. I could not. I was so self conscious. It seemed that his parents were indifferent about me. They didn't care that I was from an average family and didn't have a father, and I had a disabled mother."

"That night, after the whole show, I was about to return home with my friends when his mom pulled me back and asked me to stay overnight. I was shocked. She said she'd like to make me a model and be under her, she said I was very beautiful and had the figure and poise and everything it takes. It was all too much for me to process. It was a very big offer. In fact meeting with these big people was a big opportunity but I didn't know whether to be excited or not. I wanted to run home to tell Mom of the good news but she wanted me to stay overnight"

"So I called Mom and told her of the new development. I slept over in their luxurious house that night. I was given my own room but that night was the worst night of my life because Cameron came into my room in the midnight and raped me. It was even worse that I cried for help but no one came to my aid."

"I'm so sorry,mom" I whispered

She swallowed hard and pointed at the clock. "You have to go now. Please enjoy yourself darling, have fun" i stood up, packed my bag and waited in the car for mom. She was going to drive me to school from where I'll travel with other students to the camp ground