A pretty short season, but yeah, let’s see what happens with Miss Acolatse…

A week had passed in Kumasi, and Akushika was as clueless as when she first stepped off the bus.

She had no idea what she was doing with herself. She had barely made time to think about the next steps. She had just spent the first three days crying, dealing with her morning sickness, and fruitlessly trying to contact her parents.

They had blocked her number and ended the call whenever she called with a different number. They were not kidding with their words.

Eventually, the time came for her to check out, as she could no longer pay for the room. And that was where her homelessness returned.

In even more unsettling circumstances.

Roaming the streets of Accra was bad enough, but as a first-timer in Kumasi, this was the stuff of nightmares. Nowhere to go, nobody to help… she truly was on her own.

She had been fortunate to find some Catholic church buildings to rest her head in, eventually. Two, in fact. Saint Cyril Catholic Church and Saint Felicity Catholic Church had served as resting places for her, and she couldn’t have been more thankful.

But that evening, at about 9:08 pm, as she was walking past a rather secluded part of town with no street lights, she had decided enough was enough.

This stay in an unfamiliar land was a total farce. A ridiculous farce. There was no point staying there any further.

Which was why she had decided to leave that very evening. It didn’t matter how late it was, there was no sense in spending another night there.

And yeah, once she got back to Accra, she would do what her parents demanded.

Get an abortion.

Maybe once she returned to the house without that foetus in her, they might rescind their decision and take her back. After all, they wanted that child out of her belly. Besides, the symptoms that came with this pregnancy was tiring, to say the least.

So as she walked through that side of town, the plan was to get to the end of the dark road, where hopefully she’d get access to a taxi that would take her to the VIP yard. Then she would be out of this place.

Enough with the useless frolicking and self-pity walks around Kumasi. It had to end.

She walked with a sense of purpose, adjusting the brown travel bag she had slung over her left shoulder. She had purchased it from one lady and transferred most of her items into it. She had grown tired of pulling that suitcase behind her, and was pretty satisfied with this new bag.

She smirked as she remembered her attempt to speak Twi with the trader. “Wasn’t too bad,” she remarked to herself. “I’m sure she thought I’m a foreigner, but hey, it was good…”

Suddenly, she stopped as a foreign sound hit her ears.

Her heart began to beat quickly. She didn’t want to look back, but she could sense it.

Someone was behind her.

And the presence of that someone made her feel uneasy. She had no idea who it was, but she did not have a good vibe about the person. Whoever it was, seemed to be moving stealthily behind her, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

Not a good thing at all, especially at that time of the night. Whoever that someone was did not have any good intentions for her.

With that, she began to quicken her steps, breathing heavily as she tried to move away as quickly as possible.

The person noticed her desperation to move away from him, and in response, quickened his footsteps too.

She grew frightened as the stranger’s pace picked up as well. After all the misery she had been through, the last thing she needed was to be robbed or abused.

Her attempts to steer clear of the one following her, however, went to naught, as his steps easily had him catch up with her.

Grabbing her by the shoulders, he turned her around and pushed her harshly to the ground.

On the floor, she began shrieking, “Stop! Leave me alone! Please!”

Her words hardly made an impact on him as he fell upon her, a lustful hunger in his eyes as he knelt down and used his knees to bind her flailing legs together while he focused on ripping her dress off.

Tearing off the shoulder of her dress, her upper body was exposed, exciting him as he focused on raising up her skirt to take off her panties. As she lifted herself up to try and fight him off, he gave her a slap with the back of his hand, throwing her back and leaving her flat on the floor. Taking a bit of the torn cloth, he quickly reached over and tied her mouth firmly.

She cried as he went back to lifting up her skirt. Just when things couldn’t get any worse, here she was in the grips of some random stranger, about to be violated.

God, why? Oh, God, why me? Why do I have to go through all this? God, why? God, why? This isn’t fair, God, this isn’t fair!

“HEYY!!”

Before she could find out where that shout came from, she heard another loud sound.

The sound of a hefty slap.

Suddenly, the man that had her panties at her knees had let go.

And a thumping sound followed. As she looked up, she saw him, looking dazed as he lay on the floor.

Quickly pulling on her underwear and untying the mouth gag, she sat up, still in tears as she looked further up to see who caused it.

In front of her stood an elderly man, with a stern look and a muscular physique his shirt failed to hide.

She trembled as he looked down upon her.

“Are you okay, young lady?” he asked, the stern look melting into a soft one.

She nodded quickly, then screamed as she pointed.

Her aggressor was struggling to raise himself up. Whatever this elderly man had in his palms, it was tough; this attempted rapist seemed pretty disoriented.

He looked, then knelt down, grabbed the guy by the scruff of the neck and growled at him.

“Next time you’ll *SLAP* think twice before *SLAP* you try and take advantage of *SLAP* any girl. Foolish boy!”

By the time he let go of him, the guy was knocked out cold. Three more of those slaps were too much for him.

Akushika placed a hand on her chest and breathed as she sniffed and wiped her eyes with the other hand. Whoever this man was, he was an angel.

An angel with granite palms.

He turned to her. “Where are you going to at this time?”

She shook her head and shrugged. “I-I-I-I don’t know. I… I have nowhere to stay.”

“You have nowhere to stay?” he asked in disbelief.

She nodded, her tear glands working on a fresh batch. “I-I-I came here from Accra and I… I don’t know what to do. No friends, no family… nothing.”

“But where are your parents?”

She shook her head. “They’ve disowned me.”

He looked stunned. “Really? Why?”

“It’s… it’s a long story…”

He stood there for a moment, deep in thought. He looked at her, and saw the tears begin to run down her face. Then he reached out his hand to pull her back to her feet.

“Well, whatever it is, we can hear you out while you put yourself together. My wife and I have a room you can sleep in. You can stay with us till you get yourself together. Is that alright with you?”

Rising to her feet, Akushika looked at him in awe.

Just when she thought she was at the lowest point of her life and yelling at God for not being fair to her. Look at His response! Saving her through this man.

A flood of joy she hadn’t experienced in weeks suddenly came rushing through her veins. Maybe… just maybe something good was going to come out of this impromptu trip. Maybe she’d get herself together in this man’s house. Maybe… she could hold on with the return home and get into the right frame of mind to know what to do.

“Yes please, sir. I’m so grateful, sir,” she responded, the tears running down her face.

“It’s alright, miss…”

“Acolatse. Akushika Acolatse.”

Well, looks like the story is really about to take shape! This season was just an introduction of sorts. It’s in season 2 that we really will get sucked in. Can’t wait for it!