MAN FROM THE BUSH

Posted by Social Matters , Friday, March 1, 2013 5:14 AM

CHAPTER ONE

THE GIRL NEXT DOOR

Lydia stared at the night sky as the matatu made its way from the city into the outskirts; she held her phone close to her chest, as if she was scared of something. It was almost eleven at night. Never in her life had she arrived home so late in the night with eight o’clock being her curfew. She would go into the Guinness World Record Books as the first Kimani to arrive home past eleven, and if she made it home safely, the welcome would not be rousing.

The young man seated next to her did not make the situation any better, anytime she opened her handbag his eyes seemed to follow her hand keenly. The young twenty year old, chocolate skinned woman did her best to hide her activities from nosy neighbor. Something about him scared her, from his shaggy somewhat scruffy looks to how anxious he looked, at some point he would put earphones on, out of nowhere he would start shaking his head like he was listening to some hard core rock music or some dance hall, only when her hands touched her zipper of her hand bag would he stop and follow her hand, as if waiting to see where all the goodies were hidden. Even the makanga seemed to be intimidated by the scruffy looking young man; he had to come back three times to where they were seated so that the young man could pay. It was during this moment when she caught a glimpse of his bloodshot wide open eyes, her heart sank. Sandwiched between the window and him, there was no escaping. She was so scared that someone would pull out a gun and the rest would be history. Lydia breathed in heavily, how she wished she could reach home and forget about this night that had intimidated her heart so much, that she couldn’t close her eyes as she imagined that danger lurked all around her. Her phone rang, jolting back into the harsh reality of a big scary world, she felt like a little girl, left alone in a huge mansion on a cold, rainy dark night. It startled her.
‘Hello.’ Her voice quivered. ‘Ciku umenishutua bana.’
The girlish voice on the other side laughed. ‘Unashutka nini?’
‘Si, I told you I am not a night person, aki your bf has one hell of a nerve.’ Lydia loosened up a bit.
Ciku just laughed all the more. ‘Love, it makes us to the silliest of stuff.’
Lydia rolled her eyes. ‘It makes you do the silliest of stuff, Kama and I don’t do night dates.’ Her eyes moved to the young man next to her, he seemed to be googling something on his phone.
‘That’s a good sign.’ She thought drifting from her conversation with Ciku her best friend from the time she was a child. ‘Thieves don’t Google.’
‘Hebu when you fika you call me pap.’ Ciku said. ‘Me saa hii ndiyo naingia mat.’ She added casually.
‘What!’ Lydia exclaimed. ‘Shi!’ she used her nick name. ‘Hebu stop joking, it’s like 11 something na unanishow saa hii ndiyo unaingia mat, hata afaa ungelala kwa kina Edu.’
‘You call me when you get home.’ Ciku ignored her protest.
‘Sawa.’ Lydia noticed the young man was staring at her, it made her nervous again.

Lydia still felt uneasy, in a way she was angry and Ciku and her boyfriend Edu, they had stretched the evening into uncomfortable heights. Ciku knew that Lydia’s neighborhood was not the safest for anyone let alone a young woman to be walking alone in the middle of the night. Though Ciku had asked that they spend the night in her estate which was rather posh and safe, she had thought about it but Ciku and Edu still had something to do in town so she decided to go home. She had a plan, the Maasai watchman who guarded the supermarket in their estate or the others watching over other premises, she would pay to escort to her gate. Her mother had even called the guard to make sure he would be waiting for her at the stage. But when she got there she saw some people headed towards the dark stretch that lead to her home, she ran to catch up with them.

‘At least I don’t have to walk alone.’ She thought, she followed them silently, not wanting them to notice her, there were two young women in a crowd of four men, and maybe they were from a nearby neighborhood club or something. Never in her life did she ever imagine that a day would come in her life when she would be thankful that the noisy club that gave them endless sleepless nights-opened at such odd hours.  Her joy was short-lived when they entered the first gate, while she had a couple more minutes to go. Her heart was pounding; even the scarf that covered her chest was not enough to prevent her from shivering. She thought of going back and getting the Maasai guard but she decided to shoulder on. She walked as quickly as she could, looking behind her to make sure there was no one following her, just a couple of days earlier, a man had been mugged in the early hours of the morning, he was lucky to have escaped with his life, over the years many had not been as lucky. But they could not move since her father had bought that piece of land over thirty years back to settle his family in.

She stopped suddenly, there was a man standing near the Kay Apple fence near their gate, she swallowed hard, not knowing whether to proceed, go back or scream at the top of her voice. She was breathing so loudly and quickly that she thought the man might hear her. The man’s face was hidden by the bushes, she looked behind but there was no one else coming. She bit into her lip hard. Lydia moved uneasily and made a quick dash towards her gate running towards the very end and frantically banging on the gate not sure if the man was following her, their watchman Timo quickly opened main door and let her in.

‘Ai Wangare!’ he exclaimed. ‘Nani anakimbisha wewe.’
She caught her breath as Timo quickly closed the gate and locked the door with a huge padlock.
‘Hakuna.’ She said. ‘asante.’
She walked towards the main house, she knew she was safe. Her younger sister Esther opened the door for her, she entered into the safest place she knew in this world, her father’s house, not before looking at the residential flats that her father had developed over the years. They were the safest to rent in the neighborhood. She thought as she entered the house.

‘Don’t worry mum is asleep.’ Esther said, noticing her anxiety.
Lydia breathed a sigh of relief. ‘There’s some food in the fridge if you want.’ Her teenage sister added.
‘No I am okay.’ She held on to her hand bag. ‘I am just glad to be in this house.’
She walked towards the stairs that led to her bedroom and took out her phone dialing Ciku’s number as she went up the stairs.
‘Kwani what happened?’ Esther asked.
It wasn’t like her sister to stay out late into the night.

They walked into Lydia’s neat bedroom. Ciku was not answering, Lydia put her phone on the bed side table and threw her handbag on her bed. ‘Ciku and Edu…I felt like killing those two idiots.’
She clenched her fist.
‘Kwani how far was it.’ Esther asked. She was standing by the door.
‘Essie, unauliza.’ Lydia made a face at her. ‘Those water falls were in the middle of nowhere. Hata haziko Nairobi as Shii suggested’ she added angrily. ‘NKT!’ she exclaimed as she lay on her bed. ‘I am so done following Ciku around.’
She took her phone again and called Ciku her phone was off.

‘Maybe the battery is dead.’ Essie suggested. ‘And this is like the fiftieth time you are making that declaration again.’ She smiled. ‘Was Kama there?’
‘No he wasn’t.’ Lydia got up and searched for her night gown in her wall wardrobe. ‘hata Ciku anaweza piga.’
‘The boyfriend mom is never supposed to find out about.’ Essie mocked playing with lock. ‘Anyway Kare hope you are ready for the lecture of a lifetime.’ Essie warned. ‘That’s why she went to bed early.’ Essie warned.
Lydia rolled her eyes. ‘I can hardly wait!’

In the morning Lydia and Essie had their breakfast as their mother lectured Lydia for what seemed like hours.
‘Lydia!’ her mother exclaimed. ‘You not only put your life in danger…what if the some thugs had followed you inside this place…if you want to be raped and murdered we don’t’
‘Mother your tea is getting cold.’ Lydia said her eyes fixed on the corn flakes and milk she was taking. She breathed in impatiently.
‘You just wait Lydia.’ Her mother warned her. ‘Your father will hear about how his daughter joined the company of prostitutes who roam the streets of Nairobi’
Essie grinned.
Their father was away on a business trip, he would be so annoyed to hear that is beloved daughter, named after his own dear mother had stayed out late. Their dad adored them, having struggled to get children for a couple of years   and even after Lydia was born, it took another four years for Essie to come along and after her the doors closed on them, they could not get anymore no matter how hard they tried. The two young women were not only closely watched but their father wanted to make sure nothing happened to his two precious girls. If her father had been home, Lydia knew he would have waited for her to show up. But her mother knew that Lydia was not like that, it was Ciku who had been a bad influence on her daughter, even after moving away she still had a lot influence on her young daughter.

‘Lydia!’ her mother called out her name. ‘Are you listening to me? You are not even looking at me.’
Lydia rolled her eyes. ‘I am, but haven’t you said enough. I get it was wrong, I am sorry.’ She raised her voice a bit. ‘Now can you pleaasseeee stop talking.’ She couldn’t help but be rude.
Her mother was shocked.
Lydia put her spoon down. ‘I am full.’ She pushed her chair backwards and left the table.
Essie’s eyes widened in shock, she seemed to be enjoying what was going on.
‘Next time you are late don’t bother coming back to this house Lydia.’ Her mother followed her.
Lydia just went up the stairs as quickly as she could.
‘If you feel you are an adult and you think you can stay up as late as you want.’ Her mother shouted, at the bottom, though she could hear Lydia banging the door. ‘Move out!’
‘But you will not bring shame to your father and I.’ her mother continued. ‘How sure am I you are not lying to me, who were you with last night, if you ever get pregnant…Wangare!’ she paused. ‘I will kill you with my bear hands.’

Essie watched in dismay, she rose from the dining table and approached her mother. ‘Mom haven’t you said enough.’ Now she felt sorry for Lydia, she had been the model child until that night. ‘I am sure she will not do it again.’
‘And you.’ Her mother turned on her. ‘How does this involve you? ‘Were you in the labour ward that night when she was born?’
Essie silently turned away; experience had taught her that the only way to prevent her mother from hurling insults was to walk away.  ‘And make sure to tell your sister, she has not heard the last about this issue’

Lydia listened to her mother talk, she wanted to cover her ears with a pillow, but she took her phone instead, the missed calls made her forget about her mother’s shouting, Ciku had called her, she called back. She moved towards the window, where spotted Essie, helping Irene with the week’s washing.

‘Hello…’ Ciku’s frail voice said in the background.
‘Aki wewe.’ Lydia started. ‘My mother is still screaming at me because I was late jana night.’
Ciku did not answer back.
‘This is the last time I am accompanying you and that Edu guy anywhere.’ Lydia went on. ‘Now my mother is this close to cursing the day I was born.’ She gesticulated with her free hand.
She stopped realizing that Ciku was rather silent.
‘Shii are you there?’ she asked.
She stopped to look at the phone, they were still connected.
‘Shii!’ Ciku called. ‘Shii!’ she was getting angry, why wasn’t Ciku talking back and yet it was her fault. ‘ Is it the network.’ She started pulling the phone from her ear when she heard a small sob.
‘Shii!’ she called one more time, her anger starting to fade away.
‘Kare…’ Ciku used her nickname, her voice sounded even fainter.
‘Shii!’ Lydia felt her heart miss a beat. ‘What’s up? Kwani what happened?’
‘Jana on my way home.’ She seemed to be struggling to speak. ‘the mat was carjacked…’
‘Are you ok?’ Lydia asked. ‘Uko wapi sasa?
‘I was raped!’ Ciku said as she burst into hysterical sobs, like she had not cried her all the entire night. ‘I was gang raped.’
Lydia felt the whole room go quiet, Irene and Essie’s voices, as they washed clothes outside disappeared, and her mother’s voice faded in the background.
‘You were raped!’

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