“I don’t believe in rape”, I said to one of my friends Kwame when he approached me to tell me that one of our former mates has been gang raped. The news was all around,on radio, television and in the newspapers.I heard a lot about rape when I was growing up. I read about it in the newspapers, and listened to various radio shows about girls having been raped.
For me I think people exaggerate when they talk about rape. Especially when the girl in question is a well known flirt…It makes me wonder, who would rape a girl who is willing to give herself without any hassle?
As a young brainy lady with strong views about rape, I didn’t know I would fall victim to this degrading act. Now I sit here lonely because all my friends despise me. For the pass weeks, I have been praying that, death will just vent its spleen on me. “I want to just die”, I keep saying to myself. How I wish I can just fall and die at once. But no, death won’t come. How I wish I could buy death but no, it can’t be bought.
I muse over how I got myself into this mess which is making me want to end it all. My name is Obaa Yaa Boateng. I’m not either dark or fair; I’m what people will call chocolate in complexion.
I’m in my late teens and in one of the best Senior High Schools in Ashanti Region. I was an innocent virgin girl with a round face, pointed nose, good sets of teeth, great boobs and protruding backside. Does this give you a vivid picture of my physical outlook?
Sometimes you don’t need people to tell you certain things about yourselves, one is that I’m a very beautiful girl. If I was fair and a star, I would be more beautiful than Nadia Buari. However, I would wish to be as good as Jackie Appiah or as tall as Yvonne Nelson or as eloquent as Yvonne Okoro.
I know I have a very beautiful body that guys always salivate to grab. Aside that, I dress to kill. I love to dress hot. This never fails to make my male friends uncomfortable. Most of them had undressed me in their minds several times, I know.
Some of them have also come forward to woo me but they have always been turned down with the line “Sorry, I am not interested”. I love the celebrity lifestyle and the celebrities I have mentioned above are all my friends on Facebook. I randomly use their pictures on my profile.
During a show for a Hiplife artiste who was on a Senior High School Tour, I was asked by one of my friends, Serwaa Akoto to accompany her to meet the artiste who happens to be a friend of hers.
He is a hip life artiste who attained stardom overnight and have some really lovely tunes. My friends and I loved his music. Indeed, meeting him was a marvelous privilege. Serwaa introduced me as the one who was helping her with the arrangements for the show.
His striking looks and his warm hands when he shook and hugged me made my mind go blank. I fostered enough courage to let him know how much I liked his songs and “bla bla bla” about how I was helping with the arrangement for his show in our school the next day.
I don’t regret calling him a ‘beautiful guy’. The guy is handsome and his songs are all over the place. He is considered as one of the best rappers in Ghana now. But appearance, they say is deceptive. Nothing on his face showed he could do wrong; he carries such an innocent look. But I thought wrong, he was the devil himself.
As we walked to the shows’ venue he held my hands but anytime he looked at me, I could read exactly what he was thinking. The look in his eyes showed he wouldn’t mind ‘screwing’ me if I gave him the opportunity. After the show the next day, we exchanged telephone numbers, so I could call on him whenever I happened to be in Accra.
Few weeks later, school vacation was here. Akosua joined her parents abroad for the holidays. Even though going outside Kumasi during vacations had not been my thing, the thought of meeting again my Hip Life Artiste friend made me change my mind. I had a few old friends in Accra so I placed few calls and minutes later found myself heading to Accra.
After making the calls to Accra to let them know of my coming, I packed bags.I made sure I packed all my skimpy clothes. A lot had been said about Accra and for someone who was coming to Accra for the first time; I was indeed excited and ready to enjoy the 4-hour journey from Kumasi to Accra. I was Accra-bound and nothing was going to stop me.
In the bus, I realized I wasn’t the only person going to Accra for the first time; there were other first timers like myself. Midway through the journey I noticed some passengers had started dozing off. I tried to stay awake but I couldn’t cheat nature as I succumbed and dozed off.
Few hours later, the STC bus I was at Kwame Nkrumah Circle. When we got down, the time was quarter to 10pm and there was no sign of my friend. I begun to panic.
Then I heard someone shout my name from afar. I turned only to find my friend Naa Adjeley walking towards me and beaming with smiles as she welcomed me to Accra with a big hug.
We exchanged pleasantries. Since it was Friday night, Naa and I made the best of the night. We went from place to place after we had gone to leave my bags at her Dansoman residence.
I told Naa my reason for coming to Accra this vacation, you could see from her face that she was surprise at my reason. But I kept to myself the name of the hip life artiste. I didn’t trust Naa enough to confide in her such details. Men will always be men and women can be funny when you least expect.
After three days of staying with Naa, I phoned my hip life artiste friend. We talked at length but he had to cut it midway because he had studio sessions with his colleagues. However, he promised to call me later to meet him at a hotel in town.
I was worried why he wanted to meet me at a hotel instead of perhaps his own house. But I was too excited to be wavered away by this worry.
When I got to the hotel, I began to feel a bit funny as I entered the hotel room. I didn’t think he would do anything bad to me but I knew meeting him at his hotel room was just not right. I shrugged off the feeling anyway.
I said to myself that everything would be alright. I wore a nice face as he hugged me. He went out for drinks for us and came back with two bottles of Guinness. He handed one bottle to me and he took the other.
We talked as we enjoyed our drinks. We were locked in a long conversation. Soon, I felt dizzy. My vision became blurry. It felt like I had not slept for days based on what I was feeling. I yearned for sleep. I fell on the bed shortly and was gone, sleeping like a new born baby.
I woke up after a few hours but when I tried to get up from the bed, I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen. I got confused and wondered what was happening to me. I became even more worried when I saw blood on the bed sheet.
I was horrified. Instinct told me to check myself to see where the blood came from. That was when I realized my virginity has been broken. “Oh God, have I been raped? Did he use a condom?” I wondered.
For minutes, I remained in shock. Like flashback in a movie, I begun to remember years back when my friends talked to me about rape. Everything had happened all too soon. I reached for my phone to call him but the feedback was heartbreaking. “The mobile you are calling is either switched off or out of coverage area”. I thought my world had come to an end. My dreams and promise of giving myself to my husband with my hymen intact can no longer be fulfilled.
Telling Naa was absolutely out of the question. After trying countless times to reach my friend, the rapist without going through, I had no option than to go back to Kumasi. Naa was worried but I stood on my feet and left. When the time for my monthly blood flow was due, I missed it. Then I began to feel these: serious headache, mood swings, nausea, my breast grew larger than they were. I was urinating frequently and I yearned for strange foods.
I checked at the clinic and my worst fear was confirmed, I was pregnant. I couldn’t tell my mother about it because she’d kill me if she found out. I decided to quietly get rid of it and the shame it came with.
I have not been able to tell anyone my shameful encounter because doing so would mean mentioning names and I couldn’t mention his name. After all, who’d believe me?
I will not disclose the identity of the hip life artiste because doing so won’t restore my virginity, it won’t take away the fact that I was forced to kill an innocent child or break my self promise of staying a virgin till my day of wedding. I know my friend is out there raping more girls which he can easily entice with his looks bu there I am raped and guilty of an abortion. But for once, I am lucky I did not contract HIV AIDS. How I wish…
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