Wild West of the Heart

She pushed a lump down her throat, and inched closer to the wooden desk. "I'm here for Oluwafiyinfoluwa Bamidele" He said, looking back at Obi, whether or not he got her full name. He gave a slight nod as a reply. "Thank God, finally an adult" The receptionist exclaimed. On a badge across her collar, was a name― Tosin.

"Who are you to Fiyin?" She asked, bringing out a bunch of paperwork and Obi walked forward swiftly. "We're her friends" Ola beat him to it, but Mira pushed him a bit backwards. "I've got this" He assured. "I've got this under control" Ola walked back to where he sat, but he didn't sit.

"I'm her guardian?" Mira said in a tone that wasn't as convincing. Tosin hummed and wrote something down. "Sorry. But there's a strict only family visiting policy around here—"

"So a guardian isn't family?" Mira didn't let her finish. "Even when your father is a drunk and has no idea you're even in danger?" Mira raised her voice. "So you're telling me it's only that man that can see her?" It wasn't meant to be as offensive as it sounded but Mira didn't care.

"Look Tosin-" Her first name rang in her own ears as her eyes shut up. "This isn't even a hospital. That girl in there needs someone. And she has her friends out here that need to know she's alright"

"We're the closest thing she has to family" She added, and Tosin cupped he chin to write something again. She then closed up the file, and walked out from behind the counter. There was nothing a mystery now, the rest of her was in a black pant suit that was a little but flare at her ankles. And she had on a pair of sandals that dashed against the cold tiles with each step. She walked Mira further down the corridor to a door and then she halted. "Can i have your name?" She asked..

There was a brief silence between them, before Mira bent forward. "Michael, Michael Adebayo" She said her birthname, and only a few people knew including Obi, who had used it on that app.

Michael turned to Mira by night, during drag. But somehow that personality lingered into the next day until it was hard to picture her as anyone other than the confident, glamorous Mira. It was why Ola called on her in a time like this, because he knew that Mira will surely find a way out of this-

whatever it was, and he needed cash to pay for the service. "You can see the doctor now" Tosin held open the door and glared at Mira who turned around for a second. "And, one at a time."

The air conditioning hit Mira in the face once she'd closed the door behind her. The room was bit colder than outside. And there was a plump white man behind the desk. He had on khakis beneath his lab coat and the signatory stethoscope around his neck.

"Good afternoon"

"Good evening sir" The doctor corrected, standing to his feet. There it was, that sting that came with the pronoun but Mira shrugged it off. "Fiyin?" He went straight to the point as she took a seat.

He did as well, brushing back his hair a bit across his forehead. Mira didn't know what to reply so she just nodded firmly. He looked into his aged desktop, adjusting his glasses. He looked like what you'd have in mind when you pictured a doctor abroad.

Glasses, scrunches of paper with illegible writings on them, otherwise known as prescriptions. His office wasn't that large, but it wasn't small either. Equipments like the printer and the desktop and the heaps of files ate up space in the corner of the room.

"Can i know your relationship to Fiyin?" The doctor, whose name was Tom, asked. "I" Mira stuttered, figuring that this was some sort of interrogation. At least it felt like it.

"I'm her guardian. She doesn't really have much people that are much closer" She finally replied. "Do you have an idea what happened, prior to finding Fiyin?" She pushed a lump down her throat.

"I didn't find Fiyin. It was her friend that did, and i have no idea what had happened" She responded, only realizing later how badly a guardian she sounded like. The kind that will be absent all day, abuse and throw tantrums all night. Much like Fiyin's father in question. And it caused to her to clear her throat. "Fiyin has signs and bruises that are very much consistent with those that have" The doctor concealed the last part under his breath. "That?" Mira echoed, a little restive in her chair. Tom's eyes darted away as if he was about to reveal a shameful secret.

"Those that have been, well, assaulted"

Mira almost choked on her saliva. "What?" She asked. "Raped?" The questions just flew right of her lips. Ola was the only one that knew at this time. Tom gave a sheepish nod, and Mira exhaled.

"I need to see her" She requested.

"The girl in question refuses to have this reported, but i need you to know that by law, i have to" Tom replied as Mira stood. "She's with the pharmacist in the other room. I'll have you taken there, sir"

He stood as well, and headed towards to the door.

Mira was short of words as she stepped out, briefly making eye contact with Ola who looked away. And then they were unto the opposite direction.

The door was not too far from the office. Afterall, this was just a clinic. A grey thatched bungalow by the side of the road with the trinity sign. It looked like somewhere Tom owned, perhaps he was a retired doctor that built a place he could settle in. Although i would never understand how anyone could leave their country to settle down here.

Mira was met a woman this time, seated beside Fiyin. She walked in, to reach for her hands like she was indeed her daughter. It was the way Mira saw these kids, as her own. And as she held Fiyin's frail hands, she didn't know what to say. Her eyes just melted in tears. Fiyin was shaky, although she was better. Better enough to mutter what she has been saying since.

"I want to go home"

It shouldn't be a big deal, to let her go home. But Tom and the nurse knew what had happened. And they were right, they were by law meant to report the slightest case of abuse

-not that the police would do anything than make it worse, have your statement never filed till dust makes the most of it. That wasn't all that worried Fiyin, it was the fear. The fear of having to confess what had happened. The fear of what Collins would do. The moment she held unto Mira, it came back.

"If you do as much as tell a single soul about this, i'll have you dead" He said, after he was done. These moments only came as halting fragments, no matter how hard she'd tried to let it out of her head.

To forget what had happened, because maybe then it'd be better to heal from it. She tried to forget, but she couldn't. Forget how he pushed her unto the chair as the key fell to the grounds.

How she screamed for help behind the clasp of his fingers around her mouth. He had a firm grip, which was no surprise. And he very much seemed to have done this before, because of how much empathy he lacked in his eyes. How narcissistic of him that he was the same one Fiyin saw each day on the assembly, talking about good values.

It was hypocrisy in the most brutal form, and it was only after a few minutes, she surrendered to her fate. Each thrust was a piece of herself that she lost.

And when he was done, he spat out those words.

"If you do as much as tell a single soul about this, i'll have you dead" Finally there was something in his eyes, it was disgust. Not at what he'd done but at her. She remembered how she couldn't even cry.

She just laid there, whimpering and in denial of what had happened. She had the dignity to pull down her skirt. Or what was left of it. And after then, it was just a blur. Just a blur of how she got home, and how she got into that chair. She felt non existent, and her brain could only carry on for so long after such trauma. And then, the next thing she remembered was seeing Ola. She didn't even know she sent a text, she was just relieved to see him. To see someone. "It's okay" Her face fell unto Mira's shoulders as she held her in an embrace. "I'll take you home" Came a promise as she stared at Tom.

"Sir_"

"I've been abused. One time i was dancing" Mira interrupted, pulling away from Fiyin. "I was a stripper, trying to make ends meet and i saw all kinds of men that walked through those doors"

"Men that felt entitled to the bodies of others" Tom arched his brows, at how Mira was a stripper. Or Michael to him. "And one day, i was dancing privately for this man. Prude, large and disgusting. He was high, truth was we both were. But that's no excuse for him to take advantage of him"

"He asked that i give him a blowjob. And i said no, because i never crossed the line past stripping. But the thing is, when you're used to getting what you want, you find it hard to take no for an answer. And he did, just like that. It happened" Mira pushed a lump down her throat. "The thing is i know what she's going through, especially how she's just an innocent child. I know how scared she is right now, and how lonely she feels in this world—" "There are stages to this thing, dealing with it. So if she isn't there yet. If she doesn't want to speak to anyone again, if she wants to just go home and rest, she should. She should be allowed to❞ Mira added. "I know you understand" She turned to the nurse.

"The truth is one in four girls and one in ten boys have experienced some sort of sexual violence. Chances are you have been, or you know someone that's been. In a year in Nigeria, i know for a fact that close to a million people are raped or at sexually violated. We get to see what? Four thousand people on data charts, and even out of those we barely see any convictions" She continued.

"I went to report after what happened to me, and you wouldn't believe what i was told. That i was a stripper, that what did i expect to happen" There was a tear about to fall from her eyes. "They won't do shit. And honestly, the process is more traumatizing. The questions and having to tell your story over and over again" She burst into tears.

"It's why we don't report. That and the fear. You don't understand thar fear, that he's still out there. And he could come for you when you report. Or find someone that will. And maybe then, he'd finally end you. Maybe rape you again, then end you" Mira sniffled into her arms.

"Fiyin is a minor but she's seventeen. She has her in her own best interest. She knows what happens from here. And if she feels it's not the right time to come forward, then maybe it isn't. We aren't in much glorified times either. When the time is right, and she feels safe, she'll know. And then she'll come forward. Justice is justice, even after years"

"But now, home is the best place she feels safe" Behind her mother's desk to be precise. Fiyin climbed to her feet and Mira held her hands tight.

"Let her go home "

-

"Two tablets for the pain, one in the morning and one at night. This is to ensure she sleeps, and this to prevent nay risks of infections. She's strong-"

Tom said, handing them a packet of Panadol and other pills. Someone her age, should not have to be strong. Should not have the bear something like that. Someone her age needed to be loved, to have the best relationship with your mother. It should be the time of your life, being a final year student.

But it was her fate. Such a sad, sad fate.

Tom's words echoed in her ears as she faced out of the windows, Fiyin. The night was a smear of colors from the car. The silent car in which they all sat in. Dasilva, behind the wheels. And Mira in the passenger's seat. Ola and Obi at the back, with her.

"Tell me❞ Ola finally broke the silence.

"Was it McPhersons?"

"Fiyin. Was it Collins?" There was spite, alongside rage in his tone as Fiyin turned slowly to him. There was a bit of hesitation from her before she shook her head. "No" She lied, though Ola already knew the truth. It was him, so he didn't push. Obi just remained silent there, head buried in his phone as he finally had an excuse not to meet Abdul that night-

Neighborguy118: Can't make it. Family emergency.

Family.

He finally looked up from his phone and gazed at Fiyin. It was the closest they'd been in years. Since they were maybe six or seven. He stretched out his hands to tap timidly on her shoulders. His phone chimed in his laps. Abdul: Damn, take care. Hope nothing too serious?

"Are you okay?" He was such a fool for asking that question. How could she be, after the past two days? But the truth was that he just needed an excuse to talk to her after all this while. As Mira stared from the rear view mirror, he remembered her words. About making up for last time-

-and he was finally doing that. She'd noticed he was also talking to Obi, from the hug in the hospital and honestly, she felt proud of him. Of how far he'd come. When i said she was content with her life, it was this. With Obi, she was content with him.

Neighborguy118: nope.

Meanwhile Ola's phone rang too. He looked down at it, and it was already a missed call from his mom.

Several, that he had missed. He struggled to type in the tight car, that he was on his way. He couldn't wrap his head around all that happened that day. And he wasn't even pissed he missed the tryouts, it was the least of his worries now. All the chances of him being that popular football player that scored goals and got all the girls, went down the drain. He'd have to settle for a more quiet life at Hillway High, he needed it.

Especially now, that he had actually worries. And much more to come his way. He saw another missed call from his uncle James. And though it was a lot he'd missed, he convinced himself that he wasn't intentionally ignoring him— -not after what had happened. He was the real reason why he was back here in the first place. He shut off, managing to steal a glance at Fiyin. He wanted her to see herself through his eyes, no matter how broken she thought she was, he didn't see her as any less. She was still just as beautiful.

She lies.

Fiyin lies maybe to make herself feel better. Or to make others feel better. She did, when she told the nurse that she was okay. And like those days also, when she scraped her knees, she'd tell Ola she was fine to stop him from crying. As she looked at Obi, his question rang in her ears.

"Are you okay, kiddo?"

She couldn't tell him the truth. About how she really felt. How much she wanted to kill herself and how really, she was doing bad. So she lied, as always. She lied, maybe so much that she hoped she'd eventually believe herself. "I'm okay-" "Thank you. I'm okay, Obi" His name felt strange from her lips, with some yoruba accent on an igbo name. And he flashed a smile, to new beginnings.

To making up for lost time, while she tried so hard to hide her emotions in hers. In her smile. That moment, it was a lie, she was not okay. But soon- -soon she would be.

It was more than hope, it was a prayer.

To be continued...