Abused

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The leather belt slashed him violently, sliding across his bare wet back like a rattle snake, causing his skin to sting with pain. Ayo winced and whined in terrible pain, shivering, as Uncle Ade raised the belt up and landed another stroke on his back. Weakened by agonizing pain, he fell flat to the ground, lying on his belly, writhing and crying. Uncle Ade lost his patience and began striking Ayo non-stop with the belt right where he lay on the floor. Somewhere in the middle of that, Uncle Ade hissed and flung the belt away then crouched over the boy then began using his fists on him. The screams of the poor boy rent the air, piercing through the atmosphere like a needle through an inflated balloon.

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Ayo jumped off his bed panting and sweating profusely. He had just had another nightmare about Uncle Ade. It seemed that no matter how hard he tried to escape his ugly past, it always seemed to come back to haunt him like some ghost of sorts. His parents had died in a ghastly accident a year back and he had had to live with his elder sister and her husband, Ade. Ayo lived Uncle Ade and Aunty Sola for five years, five years of suffering before he finally decided to run away.

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Uncle Ade was a drunk and a crazed lunatic who used to beat the then tiny Ayo day and night. Funny enough, he never needed to commit an offense to get beaten by the man. Uncle Ade simply beat him for fun. His sister, Sola, couldn't do much. It seemed she was equally as scared of Uncle Ade like Ayo was, if not more than he was. If she tried to stop him, he would pile them up on top of each other and beat them up.

Ayo could still remember that each time after Uncle Ade beat him, Aunty Sola would come to nurse his wounds and beg him. She would explain that Uncle Ade wasn't a bad man but he just lost it sometimes and she was right. Uncle Ade wasn't always like that. There were times when he was nice to Ayo. Most times after beating Ayo during his bouts of madness, He would come back to beg him. There were times he would cry with Ayo. Most times, the next day, he would buy Ayo things when he came back home from his work as a security man. He would then promise Ayo that the beatings would stop. But it never did. At least not until Ayo helped himself out of the house.

Uncle Ade could only have been described as bipolar. Had Ayo known what he knew now, perhaps he would have suggested that the man should be taken to the hospital. Ayo felt that Uncle Ade had been suffering from PTSD back then. However, nobody had known or even noticed. Uncle Ade had been in the army for twenty years before his early retirement. Ayo never knew the reason why his Brother-in-law had been retired. He had never asked and could never ask now. Uncle Ade had died of a brain aneurysm four years back.

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After brushing his teeth, Ayo headed out of the small farmhouse, where he lived, clad in short khaki trousers and an old ugly looking yellow t-shirt. He heard the rustling of foliage under feet. Someone was on the farm! Ayo walked stealthily towards his little farm.

"Stop there!", Ayo shouted angrily at a lightskinned boy who was trying to steal corn from the farm behind his house.

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Scared and shaken, the little boy turned around sharply and took to his heels with Ayo running after him. With all his strength, Ayo chased after him violently till he caught him just a few feet from the farm. Holding him by his cloth, he pulled him back swiftly and without even thinking twice, he landed a hot deafening slap across the boy's face. The stunned boy hit the ground with a thud and before he could get up, Ayo jumped right on him. With pictures flashing in his head Ayo began to beat the boy. Pictures of Uncle Ade beating him. He paused for a second and looked up. Panting already, he raised his left hand and dropped it with force.

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_{Where there is darkness, I'll shine the light.}