Broken Mirror – Part 7

My internal nervous wreck was not over. I listened with half an ear as Mr Anderson bombarded us with stories about the mines and how much better he was doing than all the neighbours’ mines. I didn’t think Rama was interested either, but the kids were fascinated and asked him many questions. I was happy when dinner was over and I could finally leave.

When Rama went to prepare the kids for bed, I excused myself and rushed up to my room to spritz on some of the body splash my mother had given me. I had already showered with the shower gel before going down for dinner. Then I went to the first-floor landing to wait for Mr Anderson. At that point, my heart was beating so fast that I was tempted to abort the plan, but I knew I had to do it for my family. Besides, I was a big girl.

When I heard him coming up the stairs, I steeled myself and approached him.

“Mr Anderson?”

He looked at me with slightly unfocused eyes. “Yes, my dear?”

“Would—” I gulped, finding it difficult to voice out the words. “Would you please come to my bed? It has been such a long time. Don’t you miss me?”

Parroting the words I had been taught to say felt weird, but it seemed to be working.

He looked both confused and interested, and he was slightly drunk too. “Yes, yes. I want you.”

Licking his lips, he dragged me into my room and shut the door behind us.

It was not like the last time. It was worse. So much worse. He was in a frenzy, grabbing me, handling my body roughly and bruising me all over. When I started to beg and scream for him to stop, he covered my mouth with his large hand and continued. I must have blacked out at a point, because when I regained consciousness, he had left, and I was bleeding down there. My whole body hurt, and I felt so dirty. I couldn’t tell how long I had blacked out, but it must have been hours. I desperately needed to wash myself. I was covered with bruises, blood, and sweat. And I was itching badly. After a lot of effort, I painstakingly managed to get to my bathroom door and opened it. I was in too much pain to be able to get to the shower, so I lowered myself onto the floor to rest until I got enough strength to get up and shower. I don’t remember how long I lay there either, but after some time, I heard some noise outside Rama’s bathroom door. I felt so embarrassed at the thought of her coming in, and I tried to get up and return to my room before she could see me like this, but my body refused to move.

I heard the noise of a door opening, and then Rama’s shocked voice when she came in and saw me lying on the floor.

“Oh my god, oh my god. Nafisa! Nafisa!”

“What is it?” Nafisa asked, coming into the bathroom.

“Oh, goodness. What happened to her?”

“I think he raped her again.”

Nafisa gasped, kneeling down to look closer at my body. “No, no, no, no! This should not have happened.”

“How did it happen? I thought you—”

“I did! And it was working so well, as you could see. I don’t know what went wrong, but that’s not relevant right now. We need to help her.”

“What are we going to do? We can’t take her to the hospital. None of the nearest clinics would admit her even if we could find a way to get her out of the house. Oh God, Nafisa. We failed; we failed her.” Rama began to cry.

“Calm down, Rama. Let me think of what to do.”

“Nafisa, you could—”

“I can’t, Rama. You know I can’t.”

I was delirious and half-blind with pain, but I felt someone lift me.

“Nafisa, you have to! We can’t take her to the hospital, but she needs help.”

“Do you think I don’t want to? Do you think this is easy for me?” Nafisa yelled in frustration. I had never heard her raise her voice, especially to Rama, and I wished I had enough energy to lift my head and open my eyes to look at her. A shocked silence followed her outburst, and then I heard Nafisa say, “Oh, Rama. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you,” she said, her voice contrite. 

“It’s okay, I know you’re frustrated, Fisa,” Rama assured her softly. “We have to clean her up and then we can figure it out, okay? I know you’re worried, too. And I understand why you can’t. I apologise for pushing.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Nafisa echoed, and then I felt gentle hands washing my body. When it was over, I was bundled into a towel and dried. When they tried to put me on the bed, I started to panic.

“Shhh, you’re safe. This is Rama’s bed. You’re safe here,” Nafisa assured in a soft voice, which instantly calmed me. I allowed them to put me into the bed and cover me with a blanket.

“I’ll go get my medicine kit,” I heard Nafisa say moments before the door closed.

By the time Nafisa returned, I was calmer.

“Are you sure? Maybe we can just—” Rama started.

“No, it’s alright,” Nafisa interrupted. “I was afraid to try, because I’m scared I might do more damage instead of healing her, but she only has the two of us.”

“It worked the last time, didn’t it? She healed quite well. I know that you’re much weaker now than you were then, but I think it will still work. I trust in your healing abilities the most.”

There was a short silence, then Nafisa said in a softer tone. “Thank you, Rama. I needed to hear that.”

There was a strong smell of some kind of flowery perfume. The intensity increased until I smelt it closer to my nose and then drifted off to sleep.

When I regained consciousness, I was wearing a nightdress, and I didn’t feel pain down there anymore. It was almost as if I hadn’t been violated, and the body pains were gone too. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought the experience was a dream or a figment of my imagination like the last time. But this time, I knew it wasn’t, and I clearly recognised the gentle hands that helped me. However, I couldn’t stay conscious for long periods and kept drifting in and out of sleep without opening my eyes. At one point, I woke up to them talking in low tones to avoid waking me up.

“I’m still confused. This should not have happened,” Nafisa was saying. “He should not have had any interest in bedding her. The only way it would backfire was if she—”

When she didn’t continue, Rama prodded. “If she what? Why are you looking at her like that?”

“I’m just trying to understand something. I made that hold ironclad. He shouldn’t have desired her or gone to her bed…unless she invited him.”

“Unless she invited him? You can’t possibly think that she would—”

“I don’t know what else to think. It’s not even about what I think; that is the only reason this could have happened. But even if she invited him into her room for sex, it wouldn’t have been her idea. She’s afraid of Anderson.” 

Rama gasped. “But who would tell her to—” she stopped when it dawned on her. “Oh Nafisa, that would be so horrible. You can’t possibly think that they would—”

“Rama, my dear, it’s a wonder that you’re still so naive even after everything. Of course, they put her up to it. Please keep in mind that they married this child off to that paedophile Anderson. Encouraging her to make advances at her husband would be precisely the kind of thing they would do. He has left her alone all this while. It’s not a coincidence that this happened mere days after they visited and on the night of his return. I swear that if I ever get my hands on those people, they will regret their existence,” Nafisa hissed.

“Oh, Lord. This poor child,” Rama murmured.

I wanted to tell her that I was not a child, but I was too sleepy and exhausted to speak. The last thing I heard before I drifted off to sleep again was, “I will ask her about it when she wakes up.”

When I opened my eyes again in the middle of the night, Rama and Nafisa were sleeping on either side of me. My lips curved as I fell asleep again. I felt safe and protected in a way I never had before.

When I finally woke up the next morning, Nafisa was still with me, but Rama was not. Most of the pain was gone, and I told Nafisa that when she asked how I was faring. 

“Rama is feeding the kids and sending them off to school. She will bring your breakfast when she’s done. But if you’re hungry now, I can get it for you.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “You would get my food for me?”

“Child, isn’t that what I just said?”

The idea of Nafisa bringing me food made me smile and forget about protesting the “Child” comment. I could see her hiding a smile too as she asked with mock-sternness, “What is so funny about that? I am a nice person.”

I smiled wider. “You are.” Then I remembered something. “But everyone is afraid of you. Why is everyone afraid of you?”

She tilted her head to look at me. “You haven’t figured it out yet?”

I frowned as I thought about it. I hadn’t tried to figure it out. “No. I just thought it was strange.”

Before she could answer, the door opened, and Rama came in with a bowl of oatmeal, an open tin of ideal milk, and a platter of fruits. “If you want bread, I can get you some, but I thought the fruits would be better today.”

I loved fruits, so I didn’t mind. I was grateful that they were taking care of me like this.

“Thank you so much. The fruits are better,” I agreed, getting off the bed to sit on one of Rama’s breakfast chairs. They chatted quietly to each other while I ate. It was after I had swallowed the last spoon of oats that I remembered that Nafisa did not answer my question.

“Why is everyone afraid of you?” I asked again, drawing their attention. 

“You weren’t,” she hedged. “You kept bothering me until I gave in.”

I laughed. “That is why I don’t understand. You have good energy.”

Nafisa exchanged a glance with Rama, then walked to sit on the other chair, facing me.

“Nhyira, the reason everyone is so afraid of me is because I’m what most people would call a witch. I have the power of sight—to an extent, the power of healing, the power of persuasion, and the power to multiply wealth.”

My eyes widened in surprise. Of all the things I had expected to hear, that was the last thing that would have ever occurred to me. 

Part 8