Dennessa Writes

~ 5 ~ Bella I left my phone number with the receptionist hoping that Jay would call but a whole day had passed, and still no call. I thought about how kind and gentle he’d been, and I prayed that he’d been blind to my wild side, but it was naught. I found myself longing to be with him again, especially since I had a soft spot for him. He made me remember how good I used to be – how good I could be, and I felt special again, after what seemed like a lifetime ago. Now I sat hearing my heart throb unaided. Jay, all of a sudden had become my ailment. But why didn’t he call me? I sent a text, “Shy much? It’s Bella.” ~ Jay ~ As I lay in bed mentally juxtaposing the nights with Bella and Stacy, I received a text from a strange number. “Shy much? It’s Bella.” How did she get my number? I acted like I didn’t know, even though I’d purposely left my number at the reception in hopes that she’d use it. Indeed she did. As my sexual frustration grew amidst many other unsavoury attitudes Sta...

~ 1 ~ Jay With deep green eyes, a body slender and only curving where it was supposed to, she stood by the corner of the street – I could already picture her in my sheets. I pulled over just beside her and let her beauty dazzle me for a while before I was drawn back to reality by her very seductive tone. “Hi stranger, talk much?” Her words serenaded my very essence they soothed the guilt that came with my being here, and again I just looked at her and coughed out the name Jay. “Jay,” she echoed, her pronunciation of my name seeming so divine. “Do you need company for the night?”  I thought to myself that I’d like her company for the rest of my life. All I heard myself say though was, “Yes, if you’d oblige me.” “I’m loving our progress from monosyllabic answers in this process of getting to know each other,” her answer depicting her somewhat jovial nature. A beautiful smile cut across her perfectly molded lips. Oh, I could already imagine kissing them. Yes, tonight and pr...

***** In the early '90s, an expecting couple went into the labor room. The doctor asked that a Caesarean section be performed on the woman as the unborn child was too big. The father adamantly refuted this - he was scared to lose his wife. Labor was long and tedious, and alas, she was delivered of a baby girl, but she wouldn't move or cry. The doctor's prognosis was - she'd be deaf, dumb, blind and cripple. A miracle happened; the nurse in charge of the baby kept tapping her bum until she began to cry. Two years passed, she could see and talk. And even though she was a big child, she could walk. She was enrolled in school with children her age, but she did very poorly. The couple had another child by then - a boy, without all the complications of the first. He was a healthy boy. They were well to do and soon enough threatened to remove their daughter from the school. It was a young school that just begun, and they were one of the parents that paid promptly, so her rep...

For the past few days, Nigerian social media users have flooded their pages with images and posts condemning rape because of some particularly tragic incidents. A 12-year-old Nigerian child was raped by 11 men, one of whom is 57 years old. A 22-year-old student was raped and murdered in a church. Even more recently, another teenager was raped and murdered in her house at Ibadan. A 17-year-old girl was ambushed and gang-raped by three armed men in Ado-Ekiti. These are definitely not all the rape cases, just the ones that made the news. The burden of preventing rape has been placed on women for far too long, and it hasn't yielded any positive results. "Don't wear this", "don't go here", "don't say that", "don't do that". It feels like we're expected to anticipate sexual assault and adjust our behaviours accordingly. And despite these precautions, sexual violence still occurs. Women get raped even if they're a...

In her bid to advice me mother said - I no gree, I no gree na em dey cause trouble be polite; If dem holla at you, smile tell dem say I dey greet; If dem many, follow another road, bet make sure say u no follow nkoro way; If dem quack you, shift body tell dem sorry. But... I tried to protest, In her bid to advice me grandma said - Na man world be dis; If dem reason you dem fit disfigure you; If you no gree their own dem fit still collect am; If you think say you fit fight, dem go wunjure you or sef kill you. So if you wan dey okay, no waka like peacock; No wear cloth wey too tight you; No follow apiam way. Again I tried to protest but... In his bid to advise me, father said - Men dey like tigers, dem see you as prey; A fine girl, na new conquest, dem go try win; If u dey their radar, u go like comport yourself; If your head too hot, dem no mind to burst am, move along; This world na man own, we no fit protect you but if you use your head u go dey alright And when I c...