Sitsofe Sorkpor, 12 years old, had never felt more secure as she nestled in the loving arms of her Auntie.
It was such a warm feeling and one she had never experienced since her mother died 7 years earlier. Her Auntie had been the best thing to happen to her since mom. She shared her secrets, was her advocate when Daddy was being difficult, was her perfect singing partner, took her to all her favourite places. Indeed, right after seeing Daddy off tonight, they were going straight to her favourite beach resort.
Daddy was going away for 3 years. 3 long years! It would be difficult being without him for that long.but Auntie was here. She will make it much easier.
Kekeli Sorkpor paused at the entrance of the departure lounge and turned to take another look at her daughter and sister. He had mixed feelings. Leaving Sitso for 3 years seemed like madness. But yes, Sitso had her Auntie Dzifa. They both had Dzifa. She was the sweetest thing.
They were in an Uber now on their way out of the airport. Daddy's flight had just taken off. Sitso leans forward from the right side of the back seat, hugs the sides of the front passenger seat, "Auntie, I am really looking forward to the house-special cocktail and chicken at our favourite beach resort".
"Would you shut your stinking mouth? I've endured the nonsense of you two for far too long? Stupid girl. I have treated you as if I love you more than my own self. How did you and your equally stupid dad not figure out it didn't add up. You guys actually thought it was normal for me to abandon my own daughters in Benin and come here to devote my life to you?", Auntie Dzifa spits back immediately.
Sitsofe immediately felt sick. It wasn't the words. It was the force of the words and her aunt's visage as she spoke them.
Could this woman talking to her now possibly be the same as the ever-sweet Auntie she knew?
Dzifa Sorkpor leaned back on the front seat of the Uber car and reflected on the last year. She mentally patted herself on the back for a super theatrical job well done. She had surprised herself how she managed to bring herself to pretend to love her niece. It was all Kekeli's fault. We had a great family arrangement until you brought in that lady to spoil everything.
My brother! Rich and more importantly with no plans of marriage. My daughters and I were the centre of your world. You took care of our upkeep. You took care of everything. Until that lady came into your life. Then you reduced the attention on us. Then along came that brat of a child..and you completely forgot about us. Your fault brother; your fault. Yours and your daughter's, Dzifa thought.
How she will suffer these next 3 years. She has no idea. But oh I know. Yes I know. Starting from tonight, she thought further.
Home! Finally!
Immediately they enter the house, Auntie Dzifa drags Sitso straight into the bathroom where there is a basin of water already waiting. Without warning, her face is in the water. Her Auntie's strong hand is holding her neck hard, pushing her face deeper into the water. She can't breath. She begins to choke. Just when she's about to pass out, her aunt releases her. She can finally breath. It's so relieving. She can?.face goes down again. She's choking. She's dying. Brief respite. Back into the water. Torture. Respite. Torture.
Then her neck is painfully turned around. She sees pure evil in her Auntie's face. "If you ever dare tell your father about this, you would experience worse. I would kill you. When he calls, you will have the sweetest attitude as you tell him how much you enjoy being with me and how well I am treating you."
When Sitso's father calls the next morning, it is amazing how she manages to pretend she is okay right until the end of the call when her voice wavers just a little. Her father misses it, but her aunt doesn't. And immediately after the call, she makes sure Sitso pays for it as she takes her through the water torture all over again, only worse this time.
The next few days would run into weeks, then months, then finally close to three years. The worst 3 years of Sitso's life. Well, the worst 3 years of anybody's life. Starvation for days! Heavy flogging! Torture with water! Strangling! In 3 years, she never left her Auntie's house. She couldn't go to school. Any time her Auntie had to go to town, she would put her in shackles and gag her firmly before leaving. That was a different kind of torture on its own.
But of all the things that happened to her, the worst was when after some 2 years, her Auntie decided to take the water torture to a completely new level. She now tortured her out on the compound, always standing at the exact same spot. Right over the concrete cover of the well that was built under the compound. The concrete top was covered with a thin piece of black polythene material held in place by stones placed at the corners of the polythene.
Kekeli is on the school shuttle home after closing from his last class session of the day. It has been two and a half years of hard academic work combined with part-time work to earn his upkeep. The past six months, he has had to add an internship job to that because of the requirements of the academic course he is pursuing. He has had very minimal sleep hours and has been stressed most of the time. Many times he has considered giving up but the very thought of going back home to tell his family he has given up takes away that option. More importantly, he needs to complete the course in order to secure a better job than he had before he left just to secure a better future for Sitsofe his darling.
It's a long one and half hour drive home so he spends the time catching up on the class lesson by reading the notes he had taken. So far, he is in the top 1% of his class. His aim is to be among the top 5 at the least. Currently, he is the top 15. He looks outside the bus and across the road and sees what he considers to be a family taking an evening walk together. The older male child is on roller skates as he circles around the rest of the family. The youngest of them, a little girl about the age of Sitsofe, is holding on to her father's hand and skipping along. They look like a very happy family. She looks like a very happy girl. That's what he wants for Sitsofe. It is moments like this that make him forget about the stress and push on. Sitsofe will be as happy as this girl very soon.
Kekeli's bus is close to his neighbourhood. Today, he is elated that he is not on duty at either at his part-time job or the internship one. He does not know how he could have survived work seeing how exhausted he is now. When he gets home, he will fix himself a quick meal, finish reading the notes from class and retire early to bed. Tomorrow should be a busy day. He will have to leave home early because his first class of the day is very early. He also has to be hand in an outstanding class assignment and manage to find some time to visit the mall close to the school. He has finally been able to save enough to buy that special present for his darling Sitsofe.
His thoughts move on to his sister. What a gift? He's always wondered what he would have done raising his daughter without the ever present support from Dzifa. He and Dzifa had not always been this close. Although they had never had any relationship problems as children, they had also not been particularly close friends as they are now. However, once they found that click, they have kept that sibling connection very tight. It hasn't been without challenges. He remembers very clearly how his childhood friend Nancy kept telling him that Dzifa had only become nice to him since he had found a good job. Nancy was always finding one fault or the other with Dzifa. She had told Kekeli that Dzifa did not like his wife Lamisi. How could that even be possible? Dzifa was always saying good things about Lamisi. Who cried the most when they painfully lost Lamisi? Wasn't that Dzifa? Obviously, people like Nancy were poor readers of character and did not really know what a gem Dzifa was.
He can't wait to finally complete the course soon and go back home to his Sitso and Dzifa. He has not yet told them that the course schedule has changed and he would be coming home earlier than planned. He wants to surprise them. What a pleasant surprise it would be. As he finally puts the key in the door and opens it, he starts to hum the one of the songs they sing in their special medley each time they go together to their favourite beach resort.
Sitsofe sneaks out of the main building one night. She knows there is no way she can escape from the house because of the electrical wiring. She knows she dares not try to shout. But she doesn't need any of those. She knows what she has planned. She takes off the black polythene cover over the well, uses every energy within her to take of the cover and carry it behind the house. She then puts the black polythene back over the exposed opening and secures it with the stones in their positions. Her Auntie wants to kill her. She will kill her Auntie first.
It's dawn at the Kotoka International Airport as the aircraft touches down. Kekeli had deliberately not told anyone he was coming 3 months ahead of schedule. He wanted to give his sweet sister and daughter a pleasant surprise.
He's home now. The gate is locked but he still has his key to the house. He opens the gate. Two heads turn sharply toward the gate from the living room.
Dzifa's heart skips a beat. Brother! How is that possible? How would she explain the brusises and scars on Sitso's body? Is this the end for her?
Sitsofe's heart skips a beat as well. Oh how wonderful. Today her troubles end.
She rushes out to meet her father.
He sees her, drops his bag and run out to meet her too.
Several different emotions run through her as she gets closer to her dad.
Relief. Joy. Anticipation.
And as she is just a jump away into Daddy's arms, it all comes together. Bliss.
She's in daddy's arms now. The entire weight of the world is lifted off her shoulders.
All the pain is gone. She's so happy it's as if the world is practically disappearing from under her feet.
Then as her father gasps, she realizes the earth is literally disappearing from under her feet. She realizes too late that she has fallen into her own trap.
She falls down the well still cradled in the arms of daddy. Neither knows how to swim.
It has been said that drowning is the most painful form of death. Sitsofe would soon realize that was an understatement. All the pain she's suffered at the hands of her Auntie pales to nothing compared to the intense pain she feels now.
Then it all seems to fade away and she feels the most divine peace. And as clear as daylight, she sees her mother with open arms welcoming her to wherever that would be.
As she takes her last breath, there is only one clear thought on her mind. Free at last!
