CHINYERE FELT STUPID. She felt foolish. She felt like an idiot. No amount of insults could describe how she felt about herself.
Her hands were tied behind her back and her feet were tied as well. Her hair was all over the place but that was the least of her worries.
Where was she? Was she far away from home? Where were they taking her?
Chinyere huffed as she struggled to sit up. She had faked being asleep for the past three hours and not only her head, but her entire body, was aching.
"Look who's finally awake," the man who had knocked her to the ground said and walked up to her.
The truck was large and it hadn't stopped moving since she had woken up.
She wasn't the only person in the truck. There were other several kids and teenagers, both boys and girls.
Some were crying, others were sleeping, while others were shaking with fear.
There were two benches on both sides of the truck. Muscular men occupied the seats. Tobi was sitting alongside one of the men.
The man crouched down in front of Chinyere and held her chin, "This one is a pretty one. She'll bring in millions?"
Bring in millions? We're they planning to sell her?
Chinyere's eyes widened and she jerked her head out of his grasp.
The man chuckled and stood up, "She needs to learn some respect."
Chinyere tore her eyes away from the man and they landed on Tobi.
Tobi. The person who betrayed her.
Chinyere wanted so much to blame her misfortune on Tobi but she knew it wasn't his fault.
It was hers.
It was her fault for trusting someone whom she'd never met before.
It was number one on her list of 'What Not To Do', a list she'd created in her head as she faked being asleep.
What Not To Do
1. DO NOT trust strangers.
"Don't worry," the man announced to the hostages and stepped away from Chinyere, "we'll be there soon. I received a text and the customers are excited to meet you."
After the man sat down, a young boy let out a loud cry.
The boy was just a few centimetres away from Chinyere.
Unlike Chinyere, his hands and feet were not tied.
The boy was looking around with tears streaming down his eyes.
Chinyere looked at the boy with pity. He looked to be around nine years old.
"Shut up!" one of the men seated beside Tobi yelled and the young boy immediately kept quiet but he was shaking.
Chinyere grew the courage to speak to him, "What is your name?"
"E-Emeka," the boy stammered.
"I'm Chinyere," Chinyere said, even though she knew that the boy didn't care.
They had other things to worry about than finding out what her name was.
Silence filled the truck for about two minutes before Chinyere spoke up again, "How old are you, Emeka?"
"Eleven," Emeka answered.
Chinyere was shocked. He most definitely looked too small for an eleven year old.
Chinyere wanted to ask him how he'd found himself in the same position as herself but she was terrified of the muscular men who were listening to their conversation.
Emeka was bald but his bald head suited him. He was wearing shorts and a short sleeved shirt and his feet were bare.
Chinyere's thoughts drifted to her family.
Had they found out she was missing? Were they worried about her?
And her friends?
She should have listened to Tunde. He was right. Why hadn't she just listened to Tunde and Teacher Johnson?
While Chinyere was still questioning her stupid decisions, the car came to a sudden stop. The force made her fall onto her back.
"Tobi," the man who had knocked her to the ground stood up, "open the door."
Tobi stood up without a word and opened the door to the truck.
Chinyere assumed that the man who had knocked her to the ground was the boss because of how everyone obeyed him.
"You four," the boss said to the muscular men who occupied the seats, "get them ready. I'm going to bring in the customers one by one."
Tobi and the man jumped out of the truck.
One of the muscular men walked up to Chinyere and pulled her into a sitting position.
The rest were taking care of the others; waking them up and threatening them that if they didn't stop crying, they would kill them.
When the men were done with their task, they went back to their seats and Tobi returned with his boss but they weren't alone.
There was a long line of men in expensive clothing following them.
"Are they ready?" Tobi asked once he entered the truck.
"Yes," the muscular men answered.
Ready for what? Chinyere asked herself.
"Papa, bring in the first customer," Tobi called out to the boss.
Papa? Is that his father?
Chinyere felt her heart beat faster, as though it wanted to jump out of her chest.
A wealthy looking man climbed into the truck with help from Tobi.
He analysed each one of them carefully.
When his eyes landed on Chinyere, she felt a lump grow in her throat.
Fortunately, he moved his eyes away from her but they landed on Emeka.
Emeka seemed to be frozen as he looked up at the man.
"I want that child," the man pointed at Emeka.
"How much do you have?" Tobi asked.
"How about... Fifty thousand Naira?"
Tobi folded his arms, "Do you think kidnapping children is easy? Biko, that amount is too little."
Were they seriously discussing the price of a human being?
"You and your father really mean business," the man chuckled and glanced at Tobi's father.
"Prices have increased, oh," Tobi's father said, "we have people to pay and we also need food to eat."
At the sound of food, Chinyere's stomach grumbled. She was hungry but hunger was the least of her problems.
The man walked up to Emeka. Emeka looked at him with fear, fresh tears brimming in his eyes.
He studied Emeka and put his hand around Emeka's arm. "He's quite small and so thin but I can train him. How much do you want for him?"
"Eh... What about six hundred thousand Naira?" Tobi asked.
The man tapped his chin as though he was deep in thought before saying, "Deal."
"Prince," Tobi motioned to one of the muscular men, "take the boy out."
Prince stood up from his seat and walked to Emeka, stepping on a few of the hostages.
He lifted Emeka by his arms effortlessly and threw him over his shoulder, "Lead the way, Boss."
Emeka's buyer nodded and walked out of the truck with Prince following behind him.
Emeka kicked and screamed but Prince did not seem fazed by the boy's actions and instead gripped him tighter as he jumped out of the truck.
Chinyere saw the fear in Emeka's eyes as tears freely dropped from them.
If they could do this to a young child, what more her?
She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.
"Papa," Tobi said, "bring in the next customer."
"Okay."
Tobi's father helped the next customer to climb onto the truck.
Chinyere studied the second customer.
He was also very well dressed and looked sharp in his blue suit but he was older than the first customer. Way older!
Probably fifty years of age and he wore thick glasses.
He looked at the faces of each hostage in the truck carefully but there was only one person who caught his eye.
Chinyere prayed that he wouldn't notice her but immediately the old man saw her, he did not avert his eyes.
CHINYERE'S HEART BEAT faster as the old man walked up to her. He grabbed hold of her arm and looked at Tobi. "I want her.""Ah, that one," Tobi's father climbed into the truck with help from Tobi. "She's our newest. She's a golden egg, so we're picking the price.""But I'm your most loyal customer," the old man said, "at least let me choose the price.""Sorry," Tobi's father said, "but that is impossible. Eight million Naira.""Eight million?!" the old man yelled. "All that money? The last one I bought wasn't this expensive!"The last one? Chinyere pulled her arm out of the old man's grip. Chinyere could feel the ropes around her wrist dig into her skin.The old man didn't seem to mind. He rather focused all his attention on Tobi and his father."This one is even thirty five percent off, oh," Tobi said without looking the man in the eye. "Take it or leave it."The old man was not pleased. Chinyere could tell from the frown
CHINYERE COULD NOT believe what she had just heard.Her wedding ceremony?She wasn't ready for marriage. She was only sixteen for God's sake.Chinyere saw her world come crashing down right before her eyes."What are you waiting for?" the woman holding the makeup kit asked, "Go and bathe."Chinyere dragged her body to the bathroom. No sooner had she entered the bathroom than she started crying.She wanted to go home.Loud sobs escaped from her mouth as she shut the door.She lowered the toilet seat, sat on it and continued to sob.A soft knock came from the other side of the door, followed by a woman's voice, "Are you alright in there?"Chinyere buried her head in her hands and continued to sob but she managed to choke out, "Y-yes."Her response was a lie but if there was anything she had learnt in her entire sixteen years of living, is that it was better to lie about her feelin
Chinyere sobbed as she wiped the blood off her lower lip with a face towel.The punch her husband had given her didn't hurt as much as what he did to her on their wedding night.The monster had raped her. She'd tried as much as she could to get away from him but the doors had been locked.It was Friday and she'd been a married woman for two days now.She'd avoided entering the room whenever her husband was around because she didn't want to be alone with him.She tried to plead with Esther to let her sleep in the servants' quarters but Esther rejected her pleas.She wished she could just call out to God or her mother and have them help her but she couldn't, there was no way either of them would come to her aid.It was her fault that she was in such a position and she had to deal with it herself.A soft knock on the door dragged Chinyere out of her thoughts.She rinsed the towel and h
I WANT TO GO HOME, Chinyere thought as she looked outside the bedroom window.Her husband wasn't around, he hadn't come home the previous night. Not like Chinyere cared. He could die for all she cared.Tears pooled her eyes and she dried them with the back of her hand.She missed home. She missed her siblings and her parents, even her father's first wife who always seemed to be against everything she did.She missed bickering with her siblings and fighting for the remote control with them.She sniffed as fresh tears filled her eyes.Why didn't she listen to Tunde?Chinyere was so occupied in her thoughts that she did not realise someone enter the bedroom."Are you alright?"Chinyere nearly jumped off her chair in surprise.She balanced herself on the chair before she looked at the person who had entered her room.It was her sister-in-law, the wife to her brot
AFTER CHINYERE TOOK a long bath, she made her way back to her room.Chibinobim was no longer in the room but the room still smelled of alcohol and cigarettes.Chinyere used her towel to dry her wet hair and threw the towel on the bed.She didn't bother to comb her hair and exited the room.The only places she had been to in the house were the kitchen, the bedroom, the bathroom that was connected to her bedroom and the dining room. She had never stepped her foot in the living room and other parts of the house.She planned to go to the kitchen to help Esther and the other maids prepare breakfast.On her way to the kitchen she met Mr. Oko.She bowed her head, "Good morning, Sir.""Why so formal?" Mr. Oko smiled, "call me father."Chinyere nodded but did not say anything. She tried to walk past him but he blocked the passage by jumping in front of her."I need to tell you something," Mr
"WHAT?" CHINYERE ASKED."You heard me," Amanda said. "Your father was the cause of my mother's death and I'm just collecting the debts which my father never did.""What debts?" Chinyere asked.Amanda was about to say something but a knock on the door interrupted their conversation."Who is it?!" Amanda yelled."Mary," the person from behind the door answered.Mary was Amanda's personal maid. She responded to Amanda's every call."What is it?" Amanda asked.Mary opened the door slightly and said, "The driver is here for you."Amanda nodded her head and Mary silently shut the door before leaving."As you heard Mary say," Amanda smirked, "the driver is here for me. I have to get back to school before my absence becomes suspicious."It was then that Chinyere noticed the suitcases standing by the dresser in the room."Why are you going back?" Chinyere held Amanda's hand as sh
CHINYERE LOOKED AT the phone on the table and ran to it without a second thought.She turned on the phone and fortunately for her, there was no password.She unlocked the phone by swiping upwards and clicked on the phone call app.The phone was only nine percent and she knew she had to hurry.Mom's number or Amanda's number? Chinyere asked herself."Chinyere, open the door," Mr. Oko said from behind the door. His voice snapped her back to reality and she knew she didn't have all the time in the world.Eight percent.She punched in her mother's phone number and brought the phone to her ear.Her mother immediately answered the phone. It was as though she had already been waiting for a phone call."Hello?" her mom said. "Chọtala ya? Please tell me you have found my daughter. Sh–""Mommy," Chinyere interrupted her mother. She wanted to cry at the sound of her mother's voice and po
Chinyere looked at Tina, dumbfounded.Just a few days ago the girl said that she couldn't run away because of her two month old son and now she suddenly wanted to run away."Excuse me?" Chinyere asked."I want to run away with you," Tina replied.Chinyere stood up and paced about the room, "What about your son?""I'll take him with me.""But you said that he's not safe to be on the road," Chinyere stood still."I'll do anything to get him away from that devil," Tina answered with a bitter look on her face."I thought you loved him," Chinyere said."Love who?" Tina asked. "I've hated that man from the time I met him."Chinyere was confused. Why would anyone have a child with someone who they despised?"Then why did you birth his child?" she asked.Tina sighed and massaged her temples, "It wasn't my choice. It was either I gave him a child or my life.""Do you mean t