Scars of the past

THE BEGINNING

Dennis is a third year student of Engineering at the University of Lagos from a humble family. Tosin was a vivacious student in the same university but of different class; a rich kid with a passion for outdoor life; clubbing, partying and the likes. She was a nuisance to most of the men, whom she considered inferior to her. Even the children of the rich scorned her for her arrogant nature. She toyed with them as if they were play items and that made her a prey to most of the guys at school. She capitalized on the fact that her father was a Senator. And like most rich folks offspring, she had a car to herself, which she normally brought to school. She was an only daughter with one other male sibling.
Dennis like any other student at school had heard about her but their ways never crossed. He did not know her physically, and would barely recognize her if they ever met. He never gave a damn about her existence. All he knew was that she was referred to as “the Senator’s daughter”. He lived his life at school like most students, minding his business.
Tosin dated Fred for a while and jilted him. He was one of the elite children and his breakup with Tosin did not go down well with him. He felt his ego bruised, and all efforts to reconcile with her came to naught. He stalked and waited for the right time to get even and humiliate her.
On an ill-fated Saturday night, some students at school organized a show; they were celebrating their departmental day. It was an all night affair and Tosin attended.
Dennis heard about the party but did not feel up to it and decided not to attend. He had some term papers to write and he wanted it finished. Earlier on in the day, he went to the library to dig up some materials and afterwards decided to study in one of the empty classroom blocks that still had a functional fluorescent tube, before heading back to his room.
At about the same time he was reading, the party was grooving on. Tosin and Fred her ex- boyfriend stood outside the venue talking.
“What seems to be the matter with you Tosin? How can you just decide to end the relationship for no justifiable reason than you are tired of it?” Fred said.
“How many times must we go over this same issue Fred? I am no longer interested in the relationship. I am moving on and I suggest you do likewise. You have so many of us, why bother about me?”
“Moving on you say. Moving on to what? Another man? No way. You cannot walk away Tosin. You have stepped on the wrong toes this time and you will pay dearly for it,” Fred said angrily.
“You cannot do more than a dead rat Fred, and as far as am concerned it is over between us. Get that into your head” she said and walked away back into the hall leaving him standing alone. This was about 10p.m, the party was still in full swing, but Tosin felt Fred had spoilt her fun for the night. His over bearing presence irritated her, so she decided to call it quits and head back home.
The music filtered down to where Dennis sat reading. He felt he had had enough reading for the day and decided to pack up and head back to his room. He would listen to some good music from his portable CD player, since he was unable to attend the party he thought.
At about that same time Tosin walked down to where she parked her car, alone. Suddenly she heard her name, which gave her a jolt; she turned round to find Fred and two of his friends walking behind her. Fear gripped her, but she tried to remain calm. She knew Fred could be mean at times for he had demonstrated his anger to her on few occasions. She also suspected him to be a member of one of the numerous cult groups on campus.
She walked faster. She was almost close to her car. It was dark all around her. There was no one within sight except for her and the boys, unless by chance someone came along, which was unlikely. Since it was a Saturday, most of the students around on campus were either partying at that time or had left for the weekend.
The nastiest thing he could do was probably molest her and she would make him pay for it dearly, later, she thought. While she was still contemplating what to do, they came upon her, grabbed her and whisked her away, while one of them immediately tied a handkerchief to her mouth to muffle any attempt to scream.
Even if she wanted to scream, the fact that Fred was the one abducting her, made her so stunned she could barely open her mouth to scream, much more struggle with them.
They carried her to one of the deserted, dark, empty classroom blocks and laid her on the ground. All she could do was make sounds that could be heard only if someone was within that vicinity.
The voices brought Dennis to a stand still by one of the blocks; he stood still for a while, straining his ears and then he heard the muffled sound again. He knew something sinister was happening and someone needed help. He moved closer, so he could pinpoint the location of the muffled sound and probably see what was going on. However, the particular classroom block where the sound emanated from, was dark, and that was when he heard a voice.
“Now, who is the king, you or I? You think you can do away with me, as you like. You think I am one of your toys, eh! Play with and discard when you are through. You will get what you deserve now. When I am through with you, my boys are going to have a fill day enjoying the almighty queen. Guys hold her properly, let me give her a good time,” he said.
Dennis knew he had to act immediately or she would be gang raped. He dropped his books and ran into the block, shouting, “Stop it. Stop it”.
His sudden intrusion distracted the rapist.
“It’s just him boys, lets deal with him” Fred said and they left her on the floor where she lay to face Dennis. A fight ensued. Dennis fought them with all his strength, but he was no match for the three of them. Meanwhile Tosin had stood up and ran away screaming for help.
The fight raged on. Dennis fought them with the chairs and tables around and any other object he could lay his hands on. He fought them vigorously. Then one of them picked a piece of the broken glass louver and stabbed him twice at the back with it. When they saw that he was seriously injured and bleeding, they left him and ran away.
By the time Tosin came back with help, Dennis had bled profusely. He was quickly carried down to her car and rushed to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, Dennis fainted. From the hospital, Tosin called her father and explained what happened to him.
Her father was very annoyed at what happened. He made her to understand how such an incident could dent his political career. He also instructed her not to talk to anyone and that he would send someone to take charge of the problem immediately, to avoid the press getting wind of what happened. He immediately swung into action.
Fred’s father was also a known personality. Between the both of them, they decided to bury the matter and settle the problem discreetly. They saw to it that the police were not brought into the matter. They paid the doctor in charge of Dennis handsomely to have him kept in a separate ward with heavy restrictions to visitors, except probably his parents, who were told that he had a brawl with cult members at school and that he was been properly taking care of.
Fred’s father took care of Dennis’s hospital bills and other expenses. Meanwhile Tosin was barred from attending school, while her father frantically arranged to have her flown abroad to join her elder brother and complete her schooling there.
Despite been asked to stay away from the injured man whom she barely knew, she spent everyday by his bedside praying for his recovery. The doctor in charge of Dennis assured her that he was in stable condition before she finally agreed to leave the country assured her.
She never saw Fred again before leaving. What upset her most was that she never had the chance to thank the man that rescued her before departing. On the day before her departure, she brought a camera to the hospital and took a picture of him, kissed him goodbye on the cheeks and left with tears in her eyes.
Dennis woke up four days later to find himself in hospital; the nurses told him what happened to him. They said he was involved in a fight. There was no mention of any woman. It was more like a hush affair. After about three weeks in hospital, he was discharged. On the said day, a man came to deliver a parcel to him. The parcel contained money.
The man refused to disclose his identity, he only asked him to collect the money, forget about what happened to him for his own good and that he was not to discuss about the incident to anyone. He collected the money from the man, left the hospital and went back to school.
Immediately he arrived back at school he went straight to his room, his block mates warmly welcomed him; they asked how his health was. They were all curious to hear from him what really happened on that fateful night. They followed him to his room. He thanked them all for their concern about his health and sat down. By the time he had relaxed, they were all ready to burst in anticipation of news from him, but he disappointed them.
“Hey, people” he said. “Between you and me, I don’t know what happened on that night. All I know was that I was attacked and I found myself in hospital, and I thank God I did not die. It was very dark so I could not pick anyone’s face.”
Kunle, his roommate asked, “What about the girl that came to call for help on your behalf, was she just passing through, and why would anyone want to attack you? Or, are you in cult activities we do not know about?”
He recollected what the man at the hospital said, but curiosity took the better part of him and he asked. “Who is the girl anyway? I did not get a chance to thank her.”
“You mean you do not even know who she is.”
“I don’t, Kunle.”
“Well, she is Senator Williams’s daughter. Her name is Tosin. In addition, yes, the same flamboyant Senator Williams you have always read about in the dailies.”
“However, Kunle, I don’t know his daughter. I have never met her. If I set eyes on her right now, I would not even recognize her.”
“Well, you will never get that chance, because she stopped coming to school after the incident and rumors, just mere rumors, oh, has it that she has traveled out of the country to further her studies. So, you may never get to thank her, at least not now. Something funny though, about the whole set up is that they said you were under intensive care and needed no disturbance, and for that reason no one was allowed to see you.”
If the bad guys had their snoop around, they will be happy to hear such news from him that he did not know much about what happened that night, and so he let the whole episode end there. He had a life to live and he wanted to live it peacefully at school. He had just two years left, and with that thought, he lie down on his bed and fell into a deep sleep. He dreamt about the mystery woman he tried to save at the expense of his life.
Dennis soon got on with his life and forgot about the episode. He finished his course at the university and graduated in flying colours. He went for the mandatory one-year youth service scheme. Upon completion, one of the big construction firms in the country employed him.
At that time, the fight, the girl, were more like a mirage to him. Apart from the two scars at his back, that he hardly remembered existed. However, somewhere across the globe, thousands of miles away, was a woman who never forgot him and had photo evidence of him on his sick bed in the hospital, four years earlier.

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