1 Chapter one

Dad always said "because of you, this evil child, I've had to marry different women, cause none of them wants to stay with me when they meet you" that's what he says but then again its not me it's him.

He's a woman beater with a sharp tongue that can slide into any thick skin with insults. That's the reason mom left him.

My mom was the first wife of my dad which makes me the first born of him.

He says that he returned from work one day and saw me in the dark crying.

That mother had taken off with her boyfriend.

According to him my mum left me when I was a toddler barely a year old. He said he found me in a dark room crying due to mosquito bites. That he searched for her everywhere but couldn't find her, later he found out that she had been sleeping around with other men.

I didn't really believe him but I couldn't doubt him either.

Leaving in Ghana is a struggle for some people, people like us and by us I mean dad and I. He used to love me, pampered me because he said he was told by some seer that he couldn't have kids even if his life depended on it.

Growing up,  it was him and I against the world. He was the only one I knew, I didn't really know my mother so I didn't dwell on it too much.

Dad and I had nothing, sometimes to feed came with great difficulty but we always managed. He worked on farms while I sat and watched. He went no where without me, I followed him every where that he got to calling me his personal hand bag.

Mum came back and begged dad to let me stay with her for awhile but he refused. Mum told me to convince dad that I wanted to stay with her, which I did.

I was only 5 by then. I didn't want to leave my dad alone but somehow I wanted to spend time with my mum too. I wanted to feel what others felt. So I plead with him to allow me live with her.

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Living with mum was great, she bought stuff. She had more money compared to dad at the time and she took care of me. Sent me to school, bought me nice stuff. But the bond that I had with my father was missing in she and I's relationship but that didn't really matter.

Just as I started to get comfortable with mum, an opportunity for her to travel abroad surfaced. So she told me she had to travel soon and that I'd have to live with dad again.

I didn't complain cause I loved my dad and having the feeling of going back into his arms made me all happy and anxious.

When it was two days for mum to travel out she had my dad come pick me up. When he arrived he was the same person but slightly stable. He looked well taken care of. I was always daddy's girl so I obeyed every single command of his without voicing out a thing.

When we arrived at daddy's new house he had a heavily pregnant woman who had a son. She seem to be okay with me when daddy was around, but when he wasn't she'll change into a complete different person. But the truth of the matter was that I wasn't the only one she was mean to, she did it to her own son too. When I complain to daddy he told me it was pregnancy hormones and I understood completely.

After she had the baby she was still the same person But this time her resentment was directed only towards me.

When the baby arrived things became very hard financial wise. Dad was a barber but that wasn't bringing in enough money to fend for 5 people.

So he had me transferred to another town to live with one of his mistresses in the west.

That lady had grown up kids and she was clearly older than dad but I guess that's not my business right. Her kids bullied me and so did she. I hardly ever went to school, she sold okra at the market so I took some hawking  to  earn some money.

But at least she fed me, sent me to a government school and as at that time government schools were the worst. But then again when I was with dad I attended the same government school so I didn't really complain.

One day at school I was running to get to class quickly when the staircase grazed my shin. It hurt a lot but I was used to injuries so I didn't complain. The sore dried up and turn black and itchy. I scratched once and it felt good so I continued scratching until it came back to life. This time not small but huge and it hurt like hell.

My stepmom tried everything she could but couldn't handle the sore. It was growing bigger and bigger and so she panicked. She made arrangment for me to be sent back to my dad but sadly he wasn't around. I was told he traveled to Our neighboring country for work.

I was disappointed but what could I do?But she still sent me back anyway, I guess she was too scared. My dads wife had taken off with the baby and we had no traces of her so I was sent to another mistress of dad's house that apparently dad had his first son with. She had a store. A grocery store.

Whenever mum sent money for my fees she spent it. She would have me  lie to mum that I went to school, I had no choice but to do as told because i was scared for my life. She was a scary woman with huge eyes that once she widens them your whole being trembles.

I never went to school, I had to sell in the store the whole day, everyday, in the evenings around 3 pm I go hawking.

I only ate once in the evening when they were eating.

I was still managing my life until dad came back. He came back with absolutely nothing but I was overjoyed to see him. He had nothing to his name, he only came back with a sack that held two of his cloths, not even a suitcase.

He didn't have a place to stay so he joined us at his mistress's house.

My dad and I saved up and rented the cheapest apartment we could find and moved out immediately.