Chapter 1

Dad always says "because of you this evil child I have to marry plenty women cause non of them wants to stay with me when they meet you" that's what he says but then again its not me it's him.

He's a woman beater with a sharp tongue that can slide into any thick skin with insults. That's the reason mom left him.

My mom was the first wife of my dad which makes me the first born of him.

He says that he returned from work one day and saw me in the dark crying.

That my mother had taken off with her boyfriend.

According to him my mum left me when I was a toddler barely nine months old. He said he found me in a dark room crying due to mosquito bites. That he searched for her everywhere but couldn't find her, later he found out that she had been sleeping around with other men.

I didn't really believe him neither did I doubt it.

Leaving in Ghana is a struggle for some people, people like us and by us I mean dad and I. He used to love me, pampered me because he said he was told by some seer that he couldn't have kids even if his life depended on it.

Growing up,  it was him and I against the world. He was the only one I knew, I didn't really know my mother so I didn't dwell on it too much.

Dad and I had nothing, sometimes to feed was a big problem but we always managed. He worked on farms while I sat and watched. He went no where without me, I followed him every where that he got to calling me his personal hand bag.

Mum came back and begged dad to let me stay with her for awhile but he refused. Mum told me to tell dad that I wanted to stay with her that I should cry and that she'll buy me dolls and everything that I wanted which I did.

I was only 5 by then so I knew nothing. I didn't want to leave my dad alone but somehow I wanted to spend time with my mum too. I wanted to feel what others felt.

I blackmailed my dad with tears and he allowed me to live with mum.

Living with mum was cool, she bought me things. She had money more than dad and she took care of me. Sent me to school, bought me nice stuff. But the bond that I had with my father was missing in she and I's relationship but that didn't really matter.

Just as I started to get comfortable with mum, her current boyfriend had an opportunity for her to travel abroad. So she told me she had to travel soon and that I'd have to live with my dad again.

I didn't complain cause I loved my dad and having the feeling of going back into his arms made me all happy and anxious.

When it was two days for mum to travel out and she had my dad come pick me up. When he arrived he was the same person but slightly stable. He looked well taken care of but I didn't question him. I was always daddy's girl so I obeyed every single command of his without voicing out a thing.

When we arrived at daddy's new house he had a heavily pregnant woman who had a son named John. She seem to be okay with me when daddy was around, but when he wasn't she'll change into a complete different person. But the truth of the matter was that I wasn't the only one she was mean to, she did it to her own son too. When I complain to daddy he tells me it's pregnancy hormones and I understood immediately.

When she gave birth to a baby girl, I thought things will change but she was still the same person But this time her resentment was directed only at me. I never complained to dad again, I thought maybe she still had another baby in there for her to be behaving like that.

When the baby arrived things became very hard financial wise. Dad was a barber but that wasn't bringing in enough money to fend for 5 people.

He had me transferred to another town to live with one of his mistresses at B.A.

That lady had grown up kids and she was clearly older that dad but I guess that's not my business right. Her kids bullied me and so did she. I hardly ever went to school, she sold okra at the market so I took some on my head hawking about till I earned some money.

But at least she fed me, sent me to a government school and as at that time government schools were the worst. But then again when I was with dad I attended the same government school so I didn't really complain.

One day at school I was running to get to class quickly when the staircase grazed my shin. It hurt a lot but I was used to injuries so I didn't complain. The sore dried up and turn black and itchy. I scratched once and it felt good so I continued scratching until it came back to life. This time not small but huge and it hurt like hell.

My stepmom Abena Fosua tried everything she could but couldn't handle the sore. It was growing bigger and bigger and she panicked. She called my dad that she wanted to bring me back to but sadly he wasn't in Ghana anymore. I was told he traveled to Nigeria for work.

I was disappointed but what could I do? But she still sent me back though. At that time the woman that dad was with, Akos took off with the baby and we had no traces of her so I was sent to another mistress of dad's house that apparently dad had his first son with. Her name was Linda. She had a store. A grocery store, that she sells in.

That woman liked money more than anyone I ever met. My mom sent me money for her to take me to school but she kept the money to herself. She would tell me to lie to mum that I went to school, I didn't want to but I would lie anyway because i was scared for my life. She was a scary woman with huge eyes that once she widens them your whole being trembles.

I never went to school, I had to sell in the store for a whole day, everyday, in the evenings around 3 pm I go hawking.

I only ate once in the evening when they were eating. She never cooked the nice stuff, always the rotten ones. And I was the one to cook. So at the age of 8 I knew how to do everything, cook, clean and everything else.

I was still managing my life until dad came back. He came back with absolutely nothing but I was overjoyed to see him. He had nothing to his name, he only came back with a sack that held two of his cloths, not even a suitcase.

He didn't have a place to stay so he joined us at his mistress's house.

He lost all the rest they had left for him but my dad was a hard man who didn't care about anything so he didn't care. But the maltreatment on me hardened. My stepmother's mother made me her punching bag. But immediately she saw my dad she shuts up totally pretending to be a good old lady but he saw right her but couldn't do anything about it because his hands were tied.

I stole from my stepmom and gave it to my dad to save. When I sold something I divided the money accordingly and gave her half while I took half for my dad. Technically I was stealing the money my mum sent me from Abroad that she kept for herself so I felt no guilt at all.

My dad and I saved up and rented the cheapest apartment we could find and moved out.