Binding Scars

by Maya Rossi

  “So why are you doing this? You’re hurting your mother.”

  He smoothed his white shirt down over his abs. “Who? That one? Did she tell you how I begged and beat her to leave that her idiot of a husband?”

  I shot I.J a quick glance. Tom laughed, a caustic deriding sound. “She didn’t tell you. That motherfucker began abusing us the moment I was born. I went to school with bruises, injuries and lunches. I begged her to leave him, and she refused. Every. Single. Time.”

  “Tom,” I.J cried. “Please, don’t--”

  “I used my fists.” He grinned. “It seemed father was right, for some women that’s the only thing that works. Beat the shit out of them. She finally left him and now she’s with me.” He twisted the soft drink open. “Why are you here again?”

  I swallowed hard, something about the exchange prickling my senses. “I can’t let you hurt her, it has to stop--”

  “You’re just as stupid as she is,” he spat in irritation, “she won’t leave me. Do you understand?”

  At that moment, footfalls thumped down the hallway. Then his friend appeared. As I watched in confusion, Tom dropped his phone at my feet. His friend added his and I.J’s phone. Then he stepped outside.

  Cupping his hand over his mouth, he belted out at the top of his lungs, “OLE, OLE, OLE.”

  Thief, thief, thief.

  “Who is the thief?” I asked aloud.

  “What do you think?” Tom snapped.

  I.J was whimpering and openly bawling, Tom swung on her. “Stop that rubbish, you know what to do.”

  He went to get rid of the bottle, returning with a bag slung over his shoulder. His friend outside continued to call on the neighbors. Then I noticed they were all dressed, dressed to go out.

  Before I would put it all together, the neighbors and security men poured into the living room. I.J continued to wail. Even Tom was crying.

  “Who will rob a single woman, a single woman?”

  “Everyone knows we’re managing, why will she do something so wicked?”

  Between Tom, I.J and their friend, I couldn’t get a word in. The security men dragged me outside with the phones. Then I got a taste of vigilante justice.

  They made me kneel before the ‘stolen’ phones. I struggled to make out faces through the thousand torch lights trained on me. My body ached from the rough handling, but I had a feeling this nightmare was only just beginning.

  It was the second time I would see the security men. And the first time I would see them up close. They held a conference, discussing what to do with me. The neighbors fought to get close, throwing insults and stones.

  One landed on my chin, and blood spilled into my mouth. One of the vigilante went to the neighbors, halfheartedly holding them back.

  Finally, the two approached. “How did you get in the house?”

  “How long have you been planning this?”

  “Is it true you stole from your Madam and ran here to hide?”

  “What did you do to Merrick?”

  “Are you a witch?”

  “Did you use magic on Merrick?”

  “Is that why he chose you over his mother?”

  The questions came hard and fast, giving me no chance to answer. But that question stuck with me. Was that what people thought, that I bewitched Merrick?

  When I didn’t answer fast enough, he slapped me hard across the face. My vision blurred. I saw my mother, glimpsed heaven, and welcomed the darkness.

  “Christ. What have they done to you?”

  Those words, spoken in that familiar voice, snatched me from the darkness into the light. I blinked, and Merrick’s handsome face came into focus. He cradled my head, crying.

  “She broke into her house, stole her phones,” the vigilante was saying.

  “She didn’t do it,” Merrick gritted out.

  “The phones were with her, they saw her. Three people can’t be lying.”

  “Did you ask her?” Merrick shouted. “Did you hear from her, ask her what she was doing in there?”

  “Why should we ask her? Is she not a maid? She stole from her last Madam,” the man waved a negligent hand, “that’s what they do. All these maids.”

  Every word echoed like a painful drumbeat in my skull. I fought to stay conscious. Merrick’s voice continued to rise, sounding increasingly frustrated. “Look, bros. Let’s talk about this.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about. She stole, she will suffer like the thief she is.”

  Merrick lowered his voice. “We can settle, just me and you.”

  “Bring one point five.”

  “Come on,” Merrick pleaded, “she’s a small girl. You said it, just a maid. Bros help me, please.”

  “One point five. Take it or leave it. Everybody has seen her, they expect us to beat her like that boy.”

  “OK, OK, give me thirty minutes.”

  I moaned, every jostle sending pain through my body. I tried to pry my swollen lids open. The roar of the bike, the darkness of the night and the shadows, they conspired to tear me apart. When a hand closed around my ankle, I reared up. “What?” I gurgled.

  “Fuck off,” Merrick roared.

  Then the bike halted, throwing me forward.

  “What are you doing, man? She’s a thief.”

  “Fuck off.”

  The gate opened and closed. The animals perked up, murmuring at the disturbance. Merrick wheeled the bike in and locked the gate. I remained on the bike, struggling against the invisible bonds.

  “Stop struggling, dammit.”

  “Whaah, what--”

  “Shut the hell up.” He pulled at the ropes and I realized he had me tied to the back of his bike the way he would a sack of yams. “When you should have talked to me, you didn’t.”

  After untying the ropes, he carried me inside. It was as if the ropes helped to keep the pain demons at bay. As soon as he untied me, they came rushing back. I cried out, groaning. He laid me out on the bathroom floor.

  He washed my body and cleaned my wounds. Then he carried me out of the bathroom to the bedroom. He gave me something, and I sank into the arms of sleep.

  “Oh, child, what have you done to yourself.”

  The smell of crayfish announced the nurse as surely as if I called her name. She poked and prodded me to my annoyance. She gave me something, and I fell asleep.

  When I woke again, it was to soft cries and sniffs. “Merrick?”

  “Tell me everything,” he ordered hoarsely.

  I told him everything, leaving nothing out. Merrick took my hand, squeezing at intervals. At the end of my tale, he said nothing for sometime, just absorbing the impact.

  “I.J.”

  “Yes.”

  “I didn’t know, wouldn’t have guessed.”

  “How did you get me out?”

  He inhaled and exhaled, his breath harsh and loud. “One point five.”

  My eyes opened wide. “Million?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Your father?”

  “Yeah.”

  His pain thrummed through the silence, invisible but tangible. “I’m so sorry--”

  “This is not the time, sleep and rest.”

  Chapter nineteen

  “What did Oga ask for in return?” I pulled my legs to my chest, watching Merrick work.

  He placed one knee on the ground, digging the cutlass around the yam, trying to pull it out. I stretched my legs out and rose. To dig out a tuber deep from the ground, untouched and unharmed, was an art in precision and dedication. I leaned close, trying to see.

  “Dig on the right side, no left. Now, pull it out.”

  Merrick rolled his eyes. “Can you go back under the shade?”

  “Not ready to admit I’m better at this?” I shot back.

  Merrick grinned, and I marveled as always at his humility and kindness. He was like no Oga’s son I had ever met. And he saved me.

  “So what did Oga ask for in return?” I asked.

  Merrick shrugged ligh
tly, and I braced myself for the worst. “He wants me to come home. I’m his son after all.” He laughed bitterly. “The only son he’ll ever have.”

  Jesus. So I had tied Merrick back to Oga. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s over, let’s just dig up as many yams as we can.”

  The next day was market day, and I was dreading it. Merrick acted like it was any other day. We had thrice as many yams as usual. To my surprise, when I was ready to head for the market, he roared in with his bike. Jerry and some of his friends were behind him.

  As he tied the sack of yams to his bike, I whispered, “Why are they all here?”

  He grinned, white teeth flashing in his dark face. “This is the main market day, happens once a month, three other villages will be joining us.” He winked. “I’m also hoping some bad boys won’t be able to resist such an august gathering.”

  My heart stopped beating. He did this for me? Me? Shocked, I pivoted on the heels of my new boots. “You brought all these people down here to- to-to de-- for me?”

  “Yes--”

  I jumped into his arms and kissed him. Merrick froze, stunned. Then he returned my kisses, taking control and setting my body on fire.

  “Wow, wow, wow, take it easy,” Jerry called out.

  When he finally lifted his head, ending the kiss, I remained frozen in place, heart thudding erratically against my ribs. Merrick placed one last kiss on my forehead. “You don’t have to-- ah do, that, you know. I just--”

  “I know,” I smiled, “I know I didn’t have to. I wanted to.”

  “Come on, man,” Jerry called.

  The first person I saw in the market was I.J. She was in Ma Ebube’s stall, chatting and helping her put out goods. She had a large bowl for rice in her arms when she saw me. She froze, eyes widening in alarm.

  “Ole, anuofia, what are you doing here?” Ma Ebube barked.

  I walked past them to our new stall. As I stuck the key in the lock, I.J came running. She looked from left to right like the whole market wasn’t watching us. She took the risk and pushed her way inside.

  I headed for the corner where the sacks of yam waited. I made sure to to drag the bag right over her leg so she jumped.

  “What are you doing? You’re supposed to--”

  “Leave town? Is that what you wanted to say, I.J?”

  She bit her lip, tugged at her hair. “I wanted to say, run back to your Madam, but yes. You’re not supposed to be here,” she hissed. “If Tom finds you--”

  “Oh, yes,” I propped my hand on my hip, “he will find me.”

  Her lips trembled, and she covered her mouth with her hand, looking pitiful. “You don’t-- please just get out of here. Go back to your Madam. At least, she’s ... nice?”

  I rounded on her. “Now she’s nice?”

  “How did Merrick get you out of there?”

  It was a reminder I didn’t need. “I’m sure you would like to know.”

  “Please--”

  “Get out and stay away from me!”

  Someone banged on the door. “Ashawo, girl. If you touch I.J, these women will beat the thief out of you.”

  “So, I’m a prostitute and a thief now.” I.J flinched, and I shrugged. “Nice.”

  The market women kept away from me. But the buyers did not. Aside from the snide comments and insults, I had a great time. I interacted with customers, joked with them, and my goods continued to decrease.

  Since it was the main market, the customers were many and the stalls colorful. Right around evening, when the women packed up their goods and rolled up their selling mats, the bikes roared.

  As usual, I.J froze, whimpering and crying. The women fled, slippers and scarfs flying in different directions while screaming and shouting at the top of their lungs. With the market empty, the boys jumped from their bikes and spread out. They swarmed stalls and produce, taking what they wanted.

  Suddenly another set of bikes roared louder and throatier. The boys froze, looking uncertain. Merrick and his friends rushed them, grabbing one person each. I couldn’t see Tom anywhere.

  They called for the security men. Then the women poured out. The vigilante guys didn’t even ask questions, they just beat the guys up until they talked.

  “Yeah, Tom is our leader.”

  “We meet in Tom’s garage.”

  “Yes, there’s a woman here in the market who help us move the goods.”

  On and on, the confession continued. The leader of the security team asked for I.J but she was nowhere to be found. My heart sank.

  “She’ll protect him,” I whispered.

  “Even now?” Merrick looked skeptical.

  “She’ll try.”

  After extracting a promise from Merrick to come to their side of the woods some time, the guys said their goodbyes.

  We took our bath and were eating when someone knocked.

  Ma Ebube.

  After an awkward string of apologies, she got to the bad news. “I don’t know how they disappeared. How did they get out so fast?”

  “On the bike maybe?” I asked.

  “The vigilante, all of us, we ran to the house, and they were gone.”

  She shifted awkwardly. After she left, more neighbors came, and more apologies followed.

  When the fifth person left, Merrick followed.

  “Where are you going?” I asked.

  “Will be right back.”

  I laughed when I heard him locking up the gate. While he prepared for bed, I got out my books. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him.

  I chewed on my pen, capped and uncapped it, and did nothing. When he moved to grab his mat, I spoke, “Merrick?”

  “Yeah, you done?”

  “No, uhm, what do you think will happen now? Will they let Tom go?”

  Merrick spread out the mat and sat on the bed beside me. “No, they won’t. There’s money involved.”

  “Money?”

  “If the vigilante grab Tom, they can get money out of the dad and I.J. Don’t look like that. He will pay.”

  “You mean they’ll beat him up.”

  He shrugged. “Well, yes. But I don’t really care. I wanted your name cleared.”

  “And you did.” My voice broke. Merrick reached for me, and I was in his arms.