Red

Red
Since she was coming of age, she was informed a lot the dripping blood. Her aunt once told her that as soon as she began her menstruation, she must not play with boys. And when one of her friends rushed excitedly to tell her that she had started menstruation, Winifred felt quite indifferent. She wasn’t sure how she would feel or how she was supposed to feel. She had a lot of questions flooding through her heads, “where would it be?” “When would it start?” Patiently, she waited for the day red would visit.
It was an august visit for Winifred when red came knocking. She was out with her cousin on a visit to a friend. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her lower abdomen. Just then, she could tell that something wasn’t normal- she felt its presence. Through a means, she was able to deep her hands in her pants. Boom! There was the red blackish blood – looked more like brown. She turned to her cousin and said, “Red’s here.” Her sister smiled at her and said, “Welcome to our world.”
“Welcome to our world”…..that sentence made her feel comfortable in a way. What’s their world like? Winifred wondered. Winifred wanted the blood to flow well enough, she thought that would make her feel among more. Well, it did flow well and that made her happy. That was until she had to deal with a rushing tap of blood. And the pain that came with it was unbearable. I dread to think what she felt when she saw the first clot blood that popped out of her. She reported it to her mum as “a fresh liver.”
Winifred saw her first blood on a Friday evening, so she had time to deal with herself before she would go back to school. The Monday that followed was the first day she would be going to school with red still being abhorred by her. Thoughts of getting stained and being mocked flooded her head. “How am I supposed to cope mum?” she lamented to her mum. “Just do you baby girl, you don’t have to feel insecure,” her mum advised.
It was two hours in class and Winifred could already feel the melting effect of red with her chair. She didn’t know what she would do, she couldn’t cry and she couldn’t speak out. She called one of her friends and explained to her the predicament that came face to face with her. When her friend checked for her, she exclaimed and said it was way too much to hide. Another of her girls came and confessed that it was because she didn’t sit properly, that her pad wouldn’t have been soaked yet. Winifred laughed at the ignorance of the girl and thought to herself, “if only you know how it floods down there?”
She decided to stay glued to her chair. Mortification was all over her face even when no one knew about it. She was maintaining that position, until the mathematics teacher decided to beckon on her to answer a question. She tried to explain to him in the most subtle way she could, but he was hell bent on she answering the question. What could she have done? She stood and went towards the board to solve the question. Just when she stood, one of the guys shouted, ‘everyone look who’s red… it’s winif- red.” With a speed of light, she went back to her seat and sobbed. She knew at that moment that she couldn’t control their world.
Mr. Solana, the mathematics teacher, was a reasonable man. He knew what was up and he handled it like the reasonable man that he was. He called one of the other girls in class to get the senior prefect female. When Desola, the senior prefect female, got into the class, Mr. Solana instructed her to go meet Winnie. Desola asked Winnie what was wrong with her. At that moment, she had no choice but to spread her dirty linen in the open. Desola got her a cardigan that she could use to cover the blood stain on her skirt which looked like the map of some place. With all eyes on Winifred, Desola ushered her out of the class.
Unlike Winifred, Desola was a boarding student. The school offered both boarding and day activity so Desola had access to the hostel. She informed the hostel mistress of Winifred’s predicament, so she allowed them in. when she got into Desola’s room, she met another girl sleeping on her bed. “Why is she not in school?” Winifred asked out of curiosity.
“Oh…she has mini-paralysis whenever she is on her period. That makes it very difficult for her to hold things or walk,” Desola explained. Just when Winifred thought hers was the height of it, she saw a greater fit. Desola helped her to wash her skirts and also offered her a new pant to wear. That was when a problem crawled in. Winnie was a plus-size with really big butt while Desola was a petite girl with a really small stature, though she was four years older than Winnie. Therefore, the pant and the skirt she offered could not fit in. the dripping blood was already flowing down between her thighs, she needed to put a new pad on. At that moment, Winnie wished she could get an instant liposuction done on her butt. “I wish I could just scrape this stupid butt off,” Winifred complained.
“Don’t. Accept your femininity and love it. You’re a beautiful girl no matter what you think isn’t perfect about you. What you hate about you is what some other person prays for every morning. Love you baby girl. You’re mazing just the way you are,” Desola advised. Just at that moment, a JSS 1 student strolled into the hostel with so much confidence in her stride. She had lied to the hostel mistress that she needed to get her drugs. The hostel mistress was new in the system, so she couldn’t tell that she was a perpetual liar. Well, her mischief was a blessing in disguise for Winifred. She was fat butted too, even Winifred was forced to voice out that the girl’s butt was bigger than hers. Desola begged her to lend Winnie one of her skirts. Her skirt was not a perfect fit for Winnie but it was comfortable.
On entering the class, all eyes were on her. For someone that loved to be the center of attraction, she was surprised that she hated to see all eyes on her. Give or take, Winifred knew at least half of class knew what was up. She put aside the mortification that she cladded herself with and strolled quite confidently to her chair. Sooner or later, it was time for break. She stayed glued to her chair because she was not sure if it was safe to stand.
While she was waiting for the break to end, one of the teachers came in to have a chat with her class teacher. She didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but the woman wasn’t exactly quiet. Let’s simply put, she was loud. The woman reported to her class teacher how her neighbor gave up the ghost during child labor. The woman had lost a lot of blood before she could get to the hospital. “The floor was red before we were able to take her to the hospital,” the very-loquacious woman reported.
The story baffled Winifred a lot. It reminded her of her aunt who passed away a year ago. When she was much younger, she thought her aunt was just pregnant. She would keep disturbing her mum, asking why her aunt who was then pregnant for three years had not given birth. She eventually died a year ago, her mum said she died of fibroid. She did some researches on it, and they gave answers to her aunt’s bloated stomach. She questioned if anything concerning women was easy. She was frustrated by menstruation, she loathed the process of child birth she was scared of what miscarriages does to women and she was bothered about what the society had to say about her look and the way she chose to dress. But her mum’s word never ceased from her mouth- self-love is all that matters. Love and appreciate yourself. You’re a woman and you’re born for greatness.
Winifred stayed conscious and tried as much as she could not to get another stain. She knew it was a fat chance because of how much her flow was. When school was over, she hurriedly packed her books so that she could leave. She was surprised when the guy that sat behind her told her to seat. She immediately knew what was up. She called unto her friend to please help her to get a cardigan to tie around her waist.
Normally, few minutes after the last bell everyone would be out of the class. Coincidentally or intentionally, a group of guys decided to stay back. They sang, danced, played and he even threw shades at Winifred. She stayed glued to her chair without uttering a word at them. One of them threw a pen under her chair. It was probably one of their exploits to get her out of the chair. She remained adamant and said she wouldn’t stand to help him get it. “You could always bend to pick it up, you know?” Winifred said. After many effort to get her out of the chair, they left. When they were gone, that was when she noticed that her friend still wasn’t back with the cardigan. She was going to make a move to check her up when a senior student came into the class.
“I want to lock the door. I would have been here earlier but I was having a physics practical,” the senior student explained. “She’s extraneous. Who asked her why she came late,” she thought
“Oh…okay, I was about leaving. Did you see my friend on your way here?” Winifred asked. Winnie knew the senior would know her friend since they were popular junior students in the school. All thanks to Red Cross.
“She’s gone. There’s no one else in the school premises,” she said.
A sting of betrayal…that was what she felt. Why would she abandon me here? Winnie thought. She took her bag and dragged it down in such a way that it covered her stained skirt a bit. It would have been easier if she would just hop into a car. What made it more difficult was the fact that she had to trek home. Her house was not far to the school, so she trekked to and fro school.
On her way back home, some laughed, pointed at her, mocked her and slandered her. She wished she had some sort of super power that could take her home immediately. She resorted to running, knowing fully that walking wouldn’t take her out of the humiliation quicker.
She was going to report to her mum her ordeal, but what she encountered didn’t give her a chance to tell her story. On getting home, she called out to her mum from the living room. Once her mum didn’t respond, she decided to search for her. As she got closer to her mum’s room, she heard sobs. It was her mum, she wasn’t sobbing, she was wailing. Before Winnie could ask her what was wrong, she said, “I saw red again today.” That news immediately hinted Winnie that she had to deal with herself all by herself. Because for her mum, red was miscarriage. The world would keep complaining that she didn’t have another child apart from Winnie, but they wouldn’t bother to care about what she was going through behind closed doors. Winnie looked up, that was what she did anytime her mum was crying, she wouldn’t want her tears to drop too. That moment, she wished she wasn’t born female.
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