Short story: Shattered dreams
Sheila was at the top of her class. She was an all-rounded student who topped in all the subjects.
Everybody in the school loved her because she never disappointed them in any competition the school participated in. As far as she was the one representing the school, she was bound to be victorious.
Advertisement
She was her parents’ only daughter and their pride. They had invested so much in her and Sheila never disappointed them.
During the school’s Speech and Prize-giving Day and Graduation ceremony for the final-year junior high school students who had just written the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), she swept most of the prizes and was adjudged the overall Best Student in their class.
When her auntie in the United States of America (USA) got to know about her performance, she also decided to sponsor her high school and university education in the USA. Everything was set and Sheila was just awaiting her results, which everybody knew would be outstanding.
Three weeks after their graduation ceremony, a send-off party was organised for them. They rented a medium-sized auditorium with the money they had contributed and engaged the services of an events planner to organise the party for them.
Sheila was excited about the party because she was going to say goodbye to her friends, some of whom she might not see again.
She dressed decently and her father went to drop her off at the venue of the party, which was not too far from where they lived.
The party was supposed to start from 12 noon to 5 p.m., but since she was one of the organisers she got there earlier to see to it that everything was in order.
The party began at 12:30 p.m. and everybody was having loads of fun. There were lots of food to eat and drink but one thing was obvious — the children were not conscious of their security at all.
Three boys who were not part of the party joined them but no one noticed their presence. The strangers familiarised so well with them and were going round asking the students, one after the other, whether they needed a drink or not. So when a girl requested a drink, they laced it with an unknown substance.
Unfortunately, Sheila was the first girl whose drink was laced with the substance. The strangers observed her as she drank her juice, and after some time, they managed to lure her to the back of the building since she was not in the right frame of mind.
Some of the girls saw her leaving with the strange boys but they didn’t suspect any foul play. Aside that, most of the girls were not thinking clearly too.
Later, the boys realised that most of the girls were dizzy. The boys were in shock because there were no alcoholic beverages. They had bought only fruit juices and fizzy drinks.
After a thorough search, they found Sheila lying unconscious at the back of the building. Later, they realised that she had been raped.
They called her father and Sheila was rushed to the hospital. Everybody was very sad because what was meant to be an exciting occasion turned out to be a nightmare.
Sheila could not believe what had happened to her. She had always been careful with everything she did, so why had this terrible thing happened to her? She wondered.
A month after her ordeal, Sheila’s mother noticed that Sheila was exhibiting signs of early pregnancy, so they went to the clinic to check and it was confirmed that she was four weeks pregnant.
That day was the saddest day of her life. She regretted going to the party and letting someone get her a drink instead of going for it herself. She regretted everything. She has lost everything in just a day.
Because she got pregnant she could not go to the US to continue her studies.
Sheila’s mother consoled her and told her it was not the end of the world and that she would take care of the baby so she could continue her education later.
Because of her experience, anytime Sheila had the opportunity, she cautioned her friends to always be on the lookout for their safety when they went out to have fun.
She also told them never to leave their drinks unattended, and go for their own drinks and food when they went to parties, as well as be on guard always when they went out to parties or have fun, because she learnt her lesson the hard way.
Bridgette Tiwaah Asare,
Accra.