I was 23, young, beautiful and super attractive. I was proud of my beauty and proud of my brains too. I had an enviable job, a job I got just 4 months after my NYSC. I was the pride of my parents. But most of all I took pride (great pride) in the fact that I was still a virgin. I never stopped dreaming of how it would be when I eventually got married and had to finally let the hymen break on my wedding night.
But fate wouldn’t have it so. About 3 months into my new job, I met a guy. A guy I thought was single but who eventually turned out to be married with two boys to show for it. Allen was just a huge diversion to my smoothly running life. He took me out to parties even though I wasn’t the party type. The funniest part is that we weren’t exactly dating. We were just hanging out more often than usual. He came around to take me out for lunch every once in a while and like once or twice I visited his house but only sat outside his apartment. He usually dropped me off at my place but he hadn’t exactly entered my apartment even for once.
One fateful Thursday evening, I was feeling a little too friendly and decided to pay Allen a visit after work. I got there sometime before twilight and his barrack-like apartment was especially busy and I stepped into his cosy room with an air of confidence. He was taken aback at first because not only had I taken him by surprise, it was also unusual for me to take a seat inside his room. Maybe I sent the wrong signals or I was just plain stupid but everything happened very quickly and in less than 15 minutes of my arrival. I was staring at a movie playing on Allen’s laptop, when I suddenly felt the semi-violent movements behind me. And in less than 5 minutes, I had been raped. My pride, my treasure, my dignity that had been preserved for 23 years of my life was washed down the drain just like that.
I cried bitterly. I could not hold back the pain I felt. I became very violent and in split seconds I had torn the sheets and the clothes on Allen’s body. My virgin blood was all over the place and only a supernatural force prevented me from committing murder in that room. I swore, I cursed, I screamed, I yelled; and the entire compound had suddenly gone silent. No one, not even during the assault, dared to come rescue me. Allen went on his knees and begged me to get a hold of myself. He apologized for his not knowing my virginity status before attempting such evil act. But his apologies were useless; as far as I was concerned, I had lost my life and there was no getting it back.
I still don’t know how I got home that night and the next couple of days was spent in nursing severe pains in my genital area. I hated my life, I hated men and was beginning to even hate God. To make matters more unbearable, my long distance relationship of 3 years suddenly came to an end as a result of my refusal to press charges on the criminal. Work became frustrating and life became simply unbearable. I just didn’t know how to move on.
But after four years of emotional struggle, I finally realize that I’m still that special, sleek and gorgeous lady I used to know and that loosing my virginity in a brutal and malicious way, does not change who I really am inside. Its been a tough road but my wheels are getting stronger.
This is a true life story narrated to me by a friend of mine who went through this horrible experience. It’s not a fiction, but a true life story. Rapists continue to go unpunished because majority of rape victims don’t report these cases. It’s time we educate people on what to do when they are raped in order to reduce the growing rate of rapes in societies.
