Rejoice was only eight years old when her life changed forever.Her mother died giving birth to her baby brother, and her father—an overworked bricklayer—couldn’t care for both a baby boy and a baby girl at the same time. So he made a heartbreaking decision: he took the baby with him to the city and left Rejoice in the care of his late wife’s older sister.
“It will only be for a while,” he said, taking her small hand. “You’ll stay with your mother’s sister. She will treat you like a daughter.”
But from the moment Rejoice set foot in that house in Aba, her life turned into a nightmare.
Aunt Monica was a bitter woman. Her husband had left her for a younger woman, and she carried that anger with her every day. Her two sons, Justin and Terry, lived well: private school, fresh bread, clean clothes. But Rejoice slept on a mat by the stove, wore used and torn clothes, and only ate after everyone else had finished.
“Do you think you’re a princess?” Monica yelled at her, throwing soapy water on her. “Are you coming to my house to act like a lady?”
Rejoice washed dishes, carried water, cooked, scrubbed the bathrooms… and yet she still received slaps almost every day. But she never complained. At night, she lay awake, whispering to her dead mother.
“Mommy, I miss you. Why did you leave me?”
