AN ESCAPE

A Miraculous Escape: Lucy was a truly a God-sent to me. She saw my tears, my wailing and continuous pleading to get out of the den. I kept crying and saying, “this is not where I ought to be. I was abducted and brought here against my will. I have a mother looking for me at this moment.” Lucy was moved by my tears and saw in me a younger sister in need of help. She was willing to help me get out of there. It seems she had always had the desire to escape from the den and this was a good opportunity for her too. She knew the risks, death was the penalty if caught but she was ready to help me. 

On my second day at the brothel she told me to keep pretending to be very sick, so I lay on the bed feigning sick as instructed. She gave me some pills which really made me sick. They used to put such pills in drinks of some very rich clients so as to steal cash and jewellery from them. I became very weak, and could hardly stand all day. So when the boss came to check if I was ready to be of use to some men that evening, he found me too sick to be on my feet. He shook his head and wondered if Mrs Laraba had brought him a ‘use­ful product.’ He left it to Lucy’s care and judge­ment to ensure I was okay as soon as possible. He did not want to waste time and money on a girl that was of no use. I heard Lucy assuring him that she would make sure I would be ready for work soon.  Late that night, when the other girls were away, Lucy woke me up and asked me to quickly get dressed into one of her ‘work costumes.’ She gave me something to drink and I felt strength­ened. I kept praying for God’s assistance to get out of this place of hell all the while I lay sick.

 

She knew there was the truck for collecting rubbish in the compound. The truck driver, Tobi, often left at around 2.00am to the dumping site as he had to deliver hard drugs along the way to roadside clients and sometimes bury the bodies of dead sex workers in a mass grave out of town. Of all the girls in the den, Lucy was the closest to him. They both arrived at the den in the same week; scared, beaten and sexually abused. They had survived there for the past five years, and had now ‘settled in’ to the business.  Lucy told me we had to join the truck to get out of the den. That was my only chance of es­cape. The truck driver would not let her down on this occasion. We got onto the back of the truck, covered with so much litter. We did not mind the smell, all we thought of was getting out safely.

 

After dumping the rubbish, Tobi drove for hours to the Nigerian border and helped us to cross into Badagry in Lagos State. He wished us luck and told Lucy not to forget him. Lucy had some naira with her and so she paid for our trans­port fare to my mother’s house in Lagos Island. Thank God I still remembered the house address.