A Narrow Passage by Mofifunoluwa Aje (@rossymorph)

Relaxing from the stress of the day in her sitting room, Bolade stretched her spotless legs on the footrest placed in front of her. She was a very hardworking young lady in her early 20s, if not a workhorse, she was close to that. She was so famished that day but she could barely take her dinner because she was worn out, so she decided to relax and sip an energy drink.

Bolade was a stunning and beautiful lady, the fantasy of every man. She however did not allow her beauty to take over her senses. She had broken up with her boyfriend about five months before and she had not been able to get him out of her head though she had tried very hard, probably because Wale was her first love. Their relationship was barely two years old when Bolade had to let go, she could not afford to jeopardize her future because of his insistence on sleeping with her. She had kept herself for many years and she had promised not to open her thighs for any man no matter how strong the love was until her wedding night. It was difficult but Bolade had to say goodbye when Wale totally changed his attitude towards her.

Reminiscing, strokes of tears rolled down her pretty and fresh face and then a knock on her door brought her back to reality. She opened the door.  It was Wale. She was taken aback because she wasn’t expecting anybody and if anybody, not Wale and not even at that time.

“Well, whatever he is here for, courtesy demands I allow him in.” She unconsciously voiced her thoughts.

“I wasn’t expecting you and not at this time Wale what do you want from me?” She said with a straight and uninviting look.

“Whoa, my name is still so sweet to hear from your mouth, oh! How romantic.”

Bolade wished she hadn’t mentioned his name which now sounded so irritating to her. “Let me tell you and you listen well.” She talked to him as if he was one of those primary school students she takes home lessons.

“If you are here for peace, I’m so not interested in that so…” She didn’t finish her sentence, she instead showed him the way out.

“You have never stopped amazing me sweetheart, you know?” he said as he confidently walked to the sofa and sat. “You can join me here” he chuckled and focused his gaze on her, ignoring her you-are-not-wanted-here look.

She wasn’t comfortable with his presence, she told him to go that she needed to rest from the stress of the day. Wale jumped up as if he was angry and headed for the door, within a twinkle of an eye, he locked the door and gave Bolade a you-are-in-trouble look. Bolade immediately read his face and thought of the next action, because the atmosphere already announced rape.

Her eyes flashed to the remote control on the center table, but that was too light to save her. He moved closer to her, grabbed her cloth so tight with his hands, and forced her fragile back on the sofa. She could barely do anything because she was very weak, the only thing she could do was to plead for help.

Nothing could stop Wale from doing what he had planned to do, not even the plea and the helpless cry of this innocent lady. Bolade realizing this, gathered strength, yanked him off and ran to the kitchen in search of her knife or any other sharp object she could use to protect herself.

“I can’t use this” she said to herself while holding the glittering knife. “He might die.”Her eyes caught the stirring rod which was as old as her grandmother, she usually did not prepare swallow so it had never occurred to her to get another one, left with no other option at that time, she took it instead and ran back to the sitting room because the kitchen was not the safest place to hide since her door was faulty and She had been too busy to repair it. She briskly searched for Wale but couldn’t find him. Fear gripped her heart the more, because she didn’t know where he could be hiding or what next he was planning to do.

Then, suddenly from nowhere, he gripped her from behind, making her rod fall on the floor; she thought all hope was gone. She tried so hard to catch her breath and gathered momentum to give him a very hard blow on his face, which affected his vision, he staggered to stand and see, but his eyes remained blurred, yet he held on to the hem of Bolade’s cloth not willing to let her go. She however, forcefully snatched her cloth away from Wale.

Bolade gasped, she tried to open the door which Wale had locked. It seemed as though the door was not locked with the key she had always used, she thought that maybe it was because she was panicking; she twisted the key to the right and left about four times. “Oh! Thank God, it’s opened” she thought aloud. She was about running out when a force from behind drew her back. Obviously, Wale had regained his strength; the force made her fall down. The fall was like an answer to her prayers as she saw the high heeled shoe she had not taken inside after she came back from work. She had to forget her feelings for him as she strongly hit the shoe on Wale not minding what part of the body the shoe would hit. She took to her heels, locked the door and ran to her neighbour’s house to put a call through to the police. It was a narrow escape.

Hmm! I wonder when ladies will be free from this. The news carries it almost every day; “A 65-year man rapes a girl aged 15,” “A 25year old lady was raped to death” and so many other headlines. This is just a medium to tell guys and the men out there to help put a stop to sexual harassment by controlling their “appetite” and desire for sex, to also give respect to ladies and their body. And also for the ladies to try as much as possible in their own way to avoid anything that could lead to rape.

 

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