"PTSD...why? What happened?" Tunde suddenly sits up with her still in his arms. Of course, he knew what PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder is. One or two of his men who were once in active combat duty while in the army got treated for it. He wondered what could have happened to her that would make her be in therapy for three whole years.
"I was getting treatment for depression. I constantly have panic attacks. I was aggressive and always on the defensive with people, even with my family sometimes."
"Why... What happened!?" He asked softly, caressing her back gently.
Abby sighed deeply like she was gathering courage before she continued with what she was about to say.
"When I was sixteen, I was set up to be raped by a girl I considered my best friend"
"What!? Your best friend?" Tunde was shocked by her statement.
"Yes! She was my best friend. For months after the incident, I felt fear and couldn't fall asleep at night without my mom sleeping beside me. I was ashamed and angry at myself. I blamed myself for being careless and stupid.
I felt disbelief and I constantly asked myself... What did I do to deserve what they did to me? How could someone I know and trusted betray me?...
It was traumatic! Many months after, I found myself still having nightmares about the event and I'm constantly having panic attacks. Sometimes when I heard someone was raped I had flashbacks, reliving the traumatic event as if it were happening all over again.
That could have been me, I would think to myself because I only escaped being raped by the skin of my teeth. He was busy hitting me he forgot what he wanted to do I think or he just enjoyed beating me so much he didn't want to think about the other thing." She said and her voice caught like she couldn't go further with the story.
"Hey, hey! You don't have to tell me, okay... I..."
"But I want to... I'm actually good now you know. I'm not pained or troubled by it anymore. Sometimes when I think about it now, I'm just thankful to God for life and my family... And for you too. I'm thankful to God for bringing you into my life Tunde because you are my last healing."
He didn't understand what she meant by him being her last healing, and since there will be plenty of time to ask her later, he let her continue with what she was saying without interrupting.
"But why!? Why would your best friend want to do that to you!? What did you do to her to deserve such betrayal."
"I don't know, I never got to find out. My family thought it was jealousy... Maybe because I've always been the best student while she was always at the bottom five?"
"Her name is Jumoke, Jumoke Jamal. She had been my best friend since when we were in kindergarten, all the way to high school. The person she set me up with was her cousin Jaye Jamal. He was twenty-nine years old then."
"I met him for the first time at our high school graduation ceremony when I was about to give my valedictory speech. He was an alumnus and also a valedictorian during his time so he walked up to me and started given unsolicited pieces of advice...
"Jumoke later introduced him to me as her eldest cousin. She also gave him my number without my consent. He called me the next day and kept on calling and texting saying all sorts of blah, blah, blah rubbish, asking me to visit him at home, go on a date with him, and be his girlfriend...
I refused of course and later blocked him. I was sixteen for crying out loud, my mom had always warned and instilled in me about how men can easily sweet talk and take advantage of innocent girls...
"So on the day the incident happened was Jumoke's eighteenth birthday. She was upset on that day because her parents refused to throw her the party she's always wanted. After all, her grades were bad...
We spoke on the phone and she begged me to come over to her house and cheer her up. It was on a Saturday and I was alone at home doing nothing. Matthew and Matt had moved abroad, Josh was doing his masters at Ife and mom and dad had gone to a wedding ceremony...
I arrived at her house and the security man told me she has not been home since morning. When I called her, she told me she just left with her parents to her uncle's house, she said they threw her a surprise party and asked me to come over. Since it was just two streets away from hers...
I wasn't dressed for a party, so I thought I would just give her the gift I bought and get back home early because I didn't inform anyone I would be going out...
When I got there I called her and she came to pick me by the gate, it doesn't seem to me like there was a party going on, I asked her and she said it was just a small gathering inside her uncle's living room.
"I told myself I should have been suspicious of her. I should have noticed the lies, I mean what the security man told me contradicted hers. But she was my best friend and I didn't have any reason not to trust her. I didn't have any inclination to believe she might want to hurt me. She has always been loving you know...
For years I blamed myself for being stupid...but now I know better.