‘Nne, you are stained,’ a voice yelled from the 2nd floor.I was having a swell evening, playing with our neighbors’ children. Every other day, our parents allowed us to play with other kids in the compound. It was usually a fun two hours that we utilized profitably before the parents began to call their wards to come inside.
‘Oluchi, you are stained’. Go and change ‘.
It was Aunty Ogoo calling me from their balcony. I froze. I looked behind and there was a pool of blood on the side of the bench I had sat, and another on my favorite flowery skirt. Everyone had stopped playing and their eyes shuttled from my skirt to the chair, then my face. I was so ashamed, especially as Uche, my childhood crush and Landlord’s son, was there. Then there was IK who had just written me a love letter the previous week. I wished I could just disappear. I had never felt as embarrassed in my life.
I wanted to run but I couldn’t feel my legs.
I had heard period stories from older friends. We had been taught at school. I had even imagined my first period. Yet, I wasn’t prepared for this moment. I walked into our flat like a zombie, with eleven pairs of eyes watching. There was no elder at home, so I did what came to my mind at the moment. Had a bath, cut a part of my mom’s wrapper she had given me, and used it as pad. I couldn’t tell my mum when she returned, for reasons I don’t remember now, so I went on to cut out more pieces of clothes, washed and reused for the next period.
Those two months were terrible times. I was hiding to dress up, hiding from my friends in the compound. I didn’t join them to play anymore and anytime I ran into any of them, I would walk faster to avoid any interaction. I always wondered what they thought of me. I missed school for a day or two, feigning sickness. I didn’t want to get any more stares.
I don’t know how long I planned to hide it from my mum, but one day three months later, I woke up to my little sister, Chinoo, screaming that I had ‘pee-ed red urine’ on the bed.
By Blessing Agoziem