Maltreatment is harassment

Why? I asked myself. How can my aunt send me an errand by this time of the night. I couldn't help but wonder. All these were my thoughts as I ran back home. When I got back home, I handed her the match box and then went to the room where she told me to stay. The room looked tattered and rough. Another question again popped up in my head. Why would she tell me to stay in this kind of room?

Hi, I am Tracy. I am 14 years young. I felt so happy when aunty Brenda asked my parents if she could take me to the city. I felt overwhelmed with joy when my parents said yes. She told me that she would take me to a well organized school with well educated and trained teachers. After a tiring advice from my parents and many other people around us, they finally let me go after a number of countless hugs. After a 3 three hour drive in her car, we got to her large mansion. I felt so blessed when I entered her well furnished interior.

Her kids welcomed me and she made me a nice meal. I ate it and it was so delicious. At night she woke me up and then told me to go get her a match box. I was just new to the area and I did not know where to find retail stores. To make matters worse, she did not ask any of her children to accompany. Burying my fears of the dark, I took the money and tried finding a retail store to get the match box. Finally I found one, bought a match box and immediately started running home as fast as I could. On the way back home, I asked myself, why? How can my aunt send me an errand this time of the night? When I got home I gave the match box and she did not even appreciate my kind gesture. She showed me a room to stay in but the room was so tattered and rough. It only had a mat. I went in after saying thank you ma in an reluctant manner. I was scared of the room because I was sure they had not cleaned the room for weeks and there would be scorpions. I just imagined that my aunt wanted to get my real room ready and that was why she had told me to stay in the room. I comforted myself and tried to ensure staying in the room till the next morning.

The next morning, I got ready so I could go to school. I went to the leaving room to wait for the others. The kids came down to the leaving room and they all gave me a bad treatment but I saw it as nothing. I waited for Aunt Brenda to come downstairs and after another 30 minutes of waiting, she finally came downstairs. She also gave me a bad treatment. I greeted her but she did not reply and I took it like she did not hear me even though I was starting to get uncomfortable about staying in this house. She finally spoke to me and she asked, "why are you dressed up?". I told her that I was dressed up for school. Her next reply shocked me. She asked again, "which school?". Surprised and confused, I answered by saying that, "the school that you said you will take me to ma". I couldn't complete my sentence before a hot slap landed on my face. I shouted and started crying. She told me to go pull my clothes and start cleaning the house. I could do nothing but just say yes ma and she replied to me saying better.

I went back to my tattered room and started thinking. I kept asking myself if that was the aunt Brenda I knew or it was another person? How could she change all of a sudden? How could aunt Brenda have done this? Moreover she deceived my parents and now they think I am schooling in the city. How can I get to them?, I thought.

I left the room and I started cleaning the house. After cleaning for some time, I went to the kitchen to get my food and I found nothing. I started crying because my stomach was already upset and I was an ulcer patient. I looked for cornflakes and I poured some into water. I munched it without milk and sugar but I was able to calm my upset stomach a little bit. I resumed my cleaning and by 3pm I finished cleaning the house including my room.

By 5pm, aunt Brenda came back home. I greeted her and she replied to me faintly. She started checking the house if it was clean, she went to the dining table, rubbed her hand on it and noticed that it was dirty. She shouted my name and I ran to her. Without saying anything, she beat me to stupor and she told me to reclean the house.

I went to my room at 11pm in the night and I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking of how to escape from this place they call a house before I die in it. I planned on leaving the house the next day when the kids have gone to school and aunt Brenda has gone to work. The next day came and I waited for Aunt Brenda and her children to leave the house. I left the house without taking any of my clothes so as not to make the gatekeeper suspicious. I immediately started running and I was sure that the pocket money my mom and dad gave me would be enough to take me back to the village.

On my way to the garage some thugs stopped me on the road. They tried to take advantage of me. They grabbed me and started carrying me to the bush. When they got to a particular spot they stopped and they started taking off my cloths. I started shouting, a saviour heard my scream and he came to my rescue. He beat up the thugs and then saved him. He told me that he was taking me back to my aunt's place but I sure that if I went back to Aunt Brenda's house, j wouldn't survive. Immediately when we got out of the bush, I ran away. He chased after me but after some time he stopped and ran backwards. I ran to the garage, boarded a bus and went back home.

When I got back home, I narrated all that happened to my parents and they were so disappointed in Aunt Brenda. I got over it and within a week, I resumed school and started fitting in but I still regretted going with aunt Brenda in the city. Since then aunt Brenda has not come back to the village but I had forgiven her.

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Am really sorry guys for not posting yesterday, I was very busy.