Burnt Dodo: By Miracle Ndubisi

Burnt Dodo: (A short story) by Miracle Ndubuisi

Six years ago, on a rainy Wednesday night, I stripped myself naked, stood in the middle of our dormitory courtyard and laid

curses upon curses on my boyfriend's ex.

She wasn't just Kelvin's ex-girlfriend but she was my school mother and a senior. I was in SS one and she was in her final year in secondary school. I had always hated Senior Stephanie- that was her name. She did not only bullied me physically.......by flogging me and forcefully taking my provisions, she also bullied me emotionally. She body-shamed me, called me ugly because I wasn't physically attractive. She insulted my body because I was slim and small breasted with small hips. She said no guy would love me or ask me out.

I swallowed all these in silence because I dare not utter a word against her. If I did, she would not only pounce on me,

other seniors would pounce on me as well.

I never knew Kelvin was her boyfriend or her ex rather until that Wednesday when I returned to the dormitory after classes and

saw she and her friends waiting for me by our corner. I greeted them, dropped my school bag on my bed and headed towards the bathroom to take my bath but they called me back with a scorn.

"Burnt dodo, where do you think you're going to? Come back here!" Her friend, Senior Ozioma called out to me.

Burnt dodo. That was what they always called me because I wasn't pretty and fair like other girls. A sad tear formed in my

eye but I stopped myself from crying before turning back to them. "So what I have been hearing about you is true?!" Senior Stephanie started. "You and Kelvin? You had the guts to snatch him from me!? A junior student like you, dragging a

man with her senior?!"

I was very confused because I did not know that Kelvin was her boyfriend neither did I know they've broken up. When I tried to look for words to defend myself, her friends decended on me. Slaps landed on my cheeks, they pushed me to the floor and I hit my head on a bunk. My head started bleeding profusely but they didn't care.

I was told to go down on my knees, they called me all manner of names and even summoned the junior students in our

dormitory to come and watch them humiliate and punish me for attempting to drag a guy with my school mother. 

My hands and feets were soaked in a bucket of cold water for more than thirty minutes and each of the seniors present,

about eight of them beat me on my palms and at the back of my feet with a hanger. I received fourteen strokes from each

of them.

My entire body was shaking, I was in pains, my head was bleeding and I was treated like an animal because I was a

junior student. After all the strokes I received, Senior Stephanie soaked my bed in water and told me to lay on the wet bed. I had no choice but to obey. In tears and pain, I laid on the bed shaking and shivering like an abandoned puppy.

At midnight while everyone was asleep, I crept out of bed shivering with cold, my head was banging and my hands and

legs were swollen. It was raining that night and I went under the rain. I threw myself on the courtyard and cried my eyes

out. I hated myself. I hated being in boarding school. I hated the school authorities for not doing anything about bullying and the maltreatment juniors received from seniors in the school. I hated life.

There and then, under the rain, I stripped myself naked and laid a curse on Senior Stephanie. I cursed her womb. I cursed

her that she would never give birth. I declared that I would make it and succeed in this life and she would end up suffering forever because of what she has done to me. I wiped my eyes after I had the assurance that the universe had taken

account of the words of my mouth. But I was wrong because

they didn't.

Because six years later, when I was in my second year in the university, I had a job as an usher and waitress in a party. It was Senior Stephanie's childrens' dedication. She was a mother of twins and was in a happy and blissful marriage with a senator. I couldn't believe that all my tears that night, all those curses that night were in vain.

About the Author: Miracle Ndubuisi is a student of University of Abuja, in the department of English. She is a linguist and literati. She is a specialized novelist, playwright, essayist and critics. She has written many books: such as novels, plays, short stories etc. which are yet to be published.