Saving third

Lights up. A man in his early twenties carries a girl up the stairs in his apartment. He tightens his grip on her with each step, making sure there was no room for escape. He stops in front of a door, opens it and throws the girl on the bed locking the door behind them. With speed and every energy burning within, he unbuckles his trousers and makes his way to the bed with a grin on his face. She tries to speak but she is too tired to; she rolled over to the other end of the bed but he drags her towards himself giving her slap on one side of her face. She begins to cry and tries to utter a word but he didn't want to hear it so he picks one end of the blanket and presses it against her mouth to restrict her from talking.

She had no say now. She had no strength to fight back so she just let things be. By the time he finished, she had already passed out. He looked at her and cursed under his breath. He didn't know what the feeling inside of him was all about. He just wanted to ease the stress he was feeling and he had done that now. He turned to look at her face and stared at her for a while before making his way into the bathroom to wash off.

Few hours later, she opened her eyes. She waited for a few seconds before making attempts to get out of bed. When she finally did, she made her way into the bathroom; closing the door behind her. She turned to the mirror, scanning her reflection and caressing the side of her face he hit earlier. She hissed, turned on the shower and began to wash her body with teary eyes. She closed her eyes, stood still for a while and continue to scrub her body with her eyes closed. She remembered everything regardless of the fact that she was weak. He was fast, had no pity and didn't care when she said 'please stop'. He had every inch of her to himself and did whatever that pleased him. She was at his Mercy and it gave him joy; one that made him happy enough to take her rounds after rounds till she passed out. She opened her eyes and continue scrubbing her body. She felt pain like never before; this time, she was sore.

After a while, she sat on the bathroom floor with her eyes closed allowing the water from the shower hit her skin. She became tired of the water in no time. She stood up, grabbed her bathrobe, covered herself up and stepped out of the bathroom. She grabbed her ringing phone and swiped left to answer. She ended the call when she heard nothing from the other side of the line.

Her name is Folake Benson. She's the only daughter and child of Adenike Ajayi Benson. She lost her father when she was 2 and every since then, she had lived with her mother in an apartment on Lagos island. Her mother had done nothing but pressured her into reading nursing. She wanted Folake to become a nurse by all means possible so she saved up lots of cash right from the time she had her. On the other hand, Folake would have wanted to become an artist. She's 5'5ft tall, light in complexion and chubby. She barely has friends; well, except for one Chiamaka Obi whom she had been friends with for a while. They both would have been in the same department if not for the fact that Amaka couldn't get into nursing. They're both 17, born in the same month and are very close friends.

Folake has a boyfriend, Chidi Philips son of Nnaemeka Philips; a multi millionaire and CEO of Phil's corporation. popularly known as Cboy. He's 23 and had just bagged a Bsc in Business administration. How on Earth did she ever end up with someone like Chidi? Of course he had a lot of money and he spoilt her with the latest things money could buy but she had to be punished each time she spent a night in his house.

It was the third day in the week of the month of January. Folake and Amaka had planned on going shopping and nothing in the world was going to stop them. They spent nearly the rest of the day at the market buying lots of things; shoes, bags, clothes, and wigs. Shopping for her along side herself was a way of paying her for allowing her stay in her house most of the time when she didn't want to be home and needed to be away from her nagging mother. They got back to Amaka's apartment as soon as they could and settled down. After a while, both girls started talking and Folake made mention of what happened between herself and Chidi. She talked about how bad he treated her at times and how she was also considering staying in the relationship. She told her that he was a nice person when he was less annoyed. Hearing everything from her, Amaka was shocked and thought about what to say to her friend for a long while before finally breaking the silence.

"Fk,You don't want him hurting you again do you?"

She asked, standing up from the chair and moving towards her.

"I don't know if it is something I can control though. It just happens once in a while so I guess it'll stop anyways."

Folake answered inhaling deeply.

"He said he'd pick me up by 9pm. He wants to make it up to me, bla bla bla. I really don't know Amaka. My mom cannot hear about this. She doesn't have to know how bad Chidi treats me, she'd kill me. She doesn't even know that her 17year old daughter is going out with a man not to talk of hearing about abuse. That woman will roast me!".

Amaka looks at her for a few seconds before responding.

" Do I look like someone in charge of cases of child abuse? You better pack your things and get out of that bondage you call a relationship before you die one day when he's inside you."

She stands up and began to make her way into the kitchen.

"Can your boyfriend ever?!"

She mimicked as she entered the kitchen closing the door behind her.

"No o. He can never! Ever! God forbid. I can't date a psycho"

she said in a very low tone, reaching out for the lighter and turning on the gas.

It was getting late and she didn't to eat something heavy so she made noodles enough to fed the both of them. She dishes it in a plate, steps out of the kitchen, closes the door behind her and drops it on the table.

"I can see you already started eating cornflakes"

She rolls her eyes at her, pulls out a chair and makes herself comfortable.

"Ehn.. But I'd still eat though. Shay you made noodles for me?"

Folake asked with a grin on her face.

"Is that the kind of grin he gives when he's about to get in action?"

Amaka answered with a different question entirely.

"Oh, you want to eat so that you'd have enough strength for the monster."

She giggled

"Of course I made for you. Come and eat o, it'll soon be 9pm".

"You're a mad girl"

Folake said standing up and making her way into the kitchen. She comes out with a plate of noodles and a fork in her hand.

"Something nor dey heavy you for mouth. Na wa o."

She pulls out a chair opposite her friend's.

"Go lock my kitchen door e! Madam Fk Benson."

She says amidst laughter.

"nor be your fault. Shay you go put frontal wig for head go club."

Folake replies, sitting down.

They continued eating and cracking jokes. In no time, they were done and Folake made her way into the bathroom. She freshened up, put on her joggers and a t-shirt, tied her hair into a bun and picked up her bag. She took glance at the wall clock and saw that it was already passed nine. She slide her legs into her slippers and made her way out of the house telling Amaka she'd be back by morning.