Recovery!

“Are you awake?”

I tried to open my eyes, not sure where I was but I recognized Tina's voice. My mind was still hazy as I searched my memory. It was daybreak already. I had no idea how I got home from the night before. How did I get clean? I remembered absolutely nothing.

As usual I would already be in the kitchen at this time but this morning was different.

I needed to get up to start cooking. I struggled to move my body into a sitting position. I felt heavy as if I were laying under a ton of bricks. “Ayy” I couldn't help letting out my cry when I was reminded how badly my body had been abused. My face was still stinging with pain and the last I remembered was a man pounding on top of me.

“Aunty I can explain” I could hardly speak and I wanted to apologize. My face was swollen. This man did a number on me. I managed to open my eyes and saw her expression.

“Explain what? Do you know what you have done?”

I was dumbfounded. Her question was somewhat confusing to me. Her tone indicated that I was to blame for whatever happened to me. I did not understand how this was any of my fault but I was not about to make Tina more upset than she already was so I remained silent.

I couldn't remember how I got home or even got into bed. My body was cleaned, and I was wearing a different set of clothes. I wanted to ask Tina all the details, but it's evident that She was in a foul mood. I already knew my aunt’s temper so it's best to wait until she calmed down.

“Do you know how difficult it will be to get you a husband?”

“I will not talk about this to anybody.” I said inaudibly while trying to divorce the pain from my mind.

“Do you think not talking about it will keep it a secret? Do you know who found you?”

I understood what she meant. My life was really ruined and if I guessed correctly. It turned out that my neighbor Adeline found me unconscious just a few steps away from the outdoor kitchen.

Adeline was a good woman. I always tried to set her up with Jonas but he gave up on living after Paulette. She had many flaws but one thing that Adeline was known for was that she talked too much. Gossiping was her nature. She was not malicious, she just couldn't keep any secrets.

Adeline wanted to borrow some salt, thinking that I was home and most likely preparing dinner. When she called for me, Tina was forced to step out to tell Adeline that I was not back from the river.

Tina could not have noticed the man who carried me and laid me down near the kitchen earlier because she rarely went outside, especially when it was starting to get dark.

Adeline frowned.

"That's unusual. Why is she so late? That's not like Saintilia to stay at the river for this long.," Adeline felt that something was off.

"What do you want?" Tina asked.

"Can I borrow some salt?"

Tina's POV

I rolled my eyes with annoyance. This woman always wanted to borrow something. I could never turn her down because Adeline was very giving. Whenever she went to the street market she always brought me back something. And when she cooked, which was very often; she would always make extra to share with me and Saintilia.

At that moment Adeline noticed something unusual on the ground but not sure what it was. Her inquisitive nature wanted to know so she had to investigate. As she slowly approached, careful not to make too much noise just in case it's an animal, avoiding it jumping on her. Instantly she knew when she noticed the pile of hair covering the ground. "Saintilia" she screamed and rushed over.

"Tina, it's Saintilia, bring me the lamp." I heard her asked,

My heart skipped when Adeline discovered Saintilia. She was lying there like a corpse. At first we weren't sure what we were looking at. Thank goodness for Adeline I really didn't know what to do. And most likely Saintilia would have probably been left there overnight. Only God knew what would have happened.

I was frozen in place when she asked me for the lamp. She noticed me standing there unable to move. She rushed into the house and grabbed the small galvanized metal lamp from the table. On her way back, she grabbed my arm with a little force bringing me back to my senses.

I was hurt and angry when I noticed she was covered with blood. How cruel? I thought. What kind of animal of a man would do such a thing? I suspected that whoever did this to her was not a stranger. And would we ever know. This would have never happened if Jonas was still alive. Perhaps this was the right time to send a letter to Francois letting him know about Saintilia.

I was burning with anger and I didn't know why. I was mostly angry with Jonas for dying and leaving me with such responsibility. I was not ready for this kind of life; I was simply fulfilling a promise. When I thought about my conversation with Jonas, I wondered if he knew he was going to die.

The last time I visited him a few months before his death, Jonas was in tears while pouring his heart out to me. He expressed to me how desperate he wanted Saintilia to leave Boudins.

"Where is Saintilia?" I called

"She's running some errands. You can meet her next time."

He thought she was too pretty to remain in this village. I agreed with him but now I was in no position to do anything for her at This time.

I did not know what happened to Saintilia until after we carried her in and inspected her. We both looked at each other and knew that someone evil did this to her.

I couldn't fight back my tears when I saw her injuries to her. Her dress was ripped, her bra was all the way up to her neck exposing her breasts. We continued inspecting the rest of her body, and discovered that she was bruised and bloody.

"Where's her underwear?"

We both questioned almost in unison. We did not know what to make of the missing underwear but the deed was done and there was nothing we could do about it. I was relieved that she was not dead. I knew this because she was moaning with pain as we inspected her.

"How did she get so close to home and you noticed nothing." Blurted Adeline. I was not happy with her tone. I felt somehow I was being scolded as if implying that I did not care enough about my niece.

"We need to clean her." I said, ignoring her comment.

"I am going to boil some water." She reminded me that I did not have a fire ready so she would go home and fetch hot water since she had started cooking. I agreed and told her that I would have clean clothes ready for her.

Meanwhile, I prepared her bed and everything else that was needed. In just a short while Adeline appeared with 2 buckets full of leaves and hot water. I did not question what the leaves were for because I already knew. Adeline dumped the water in the basin that already had cold water.

She then checked the water temperature and it was perfect. Adeline went to the kitchen, she was no stranger, she knew where things were kept. She grabbed a few sour oranges that were in the bucket, and cut each in half. I took some of the oranges from her to help, I understood Adeline's intentions.

We squeezed them in the water first and then dumped the skin in the basin. Once everything was mixed we were ready to give Saintilia an herbal bath treatment. I took my niece's arms, and wrapped them around my neck. Then with my arms enveloping her waist, I then lifted her and placed her on the small bench.

I kept very close eyes on Saintilia during the night. She had developed a high fever and seemed to be in pain because she kept moaning. Adeline returned home briefly to finish cooking. She came back with food for me and some soup for Saintilia which she never got to taste.

"It's late, you should get some rest." Encouraged Adeline. It was a long night. I took her advice and went to sleep.

Saintilia

According to both Tina and Adeline I moaned through the entire process. Tina held me upward while Adeline gently tapped the leaves on my wounds. Then she washed my entire body, careful not to cause me more pain.

The only thing I remembered about this process was when I tried drinking some bitter tea that Adeline had concocted for Me. It stung my mouth because of the cut on my lips so I made a noise. I rejected the tea but Adeline insisted that it was good for me. so Tina spoon fed it to me.

I felt embarrassed realizing that Tina must have suffered waiting for me to wake up. Little did I know, the day that I woke up was not the following day. Two days had already gone by. I wanted to know how I got home and how I got clean.

“I am truly sorry auntie.” I mumbled.

I rummaged through my mind trying to recall what I did wrong and how I could have avoided what happened to me. I could not see his face. He made sure of that when he kept my arm pinned to !my forehead. So I could not accuse him or anybody else for that matter.

I remembered he had a strong scent and he perspired a lot but nothing else that stood out to me. I knew I was careless and I should not have stayed at the river so late. Perhaps that was the reason that Tina was so infuriated with me. How many times have I been warned to not come back so late.

"Are you hungry?" She asked. I couldn't respond.

I was overwhelmed with anger and I wanted to scream. I shook my head instead. At that moment I couldn't control the tears from coming down. I needed to calm down so that I could talk to my aunt.

My body was still sore but I managed to get out of bed and walked to the table. The house suddenly seemed so much smaller to me. I quickly sat down before I hit the floor.

The house was indeed small. It consisted of two very narrow bedrooms, one of which was my late father’s room now occupied by my aunt Tina. A dining room with a small wooden table and a couple of chairs built by Jonas himself, in the right corner where we ate our meals.

She placed a plate of food in front of me. I recognized Adeline's cooking and I smiled. "She's been here everyday and once you fully recover, you need to do something for her to show your gratitude." I shook my head in agreement while slowly bringing a spoonful to my mouth.

It was weeks before I felt strong enough to return to the river for my daily chores. Tina was becoming paranoid when I stayed out for too long. She was very concerned that I might be pregnant but to her relief that was not the case.

I was no longer allowed to go to the river by myself no matter the time. I could only go in the morning with a couple of other kids from the neighborhood.