the kids are depressed

•ADE

"Ade wakes up listening to sad music..."

Khalid's Shot Down played for the 20th time in a row and Ade hadn't flinched from the initial position he was in when he'd started playing the sad love song. The funny thing about Ade's life was that if someone called him aside and asked why he was always so sad, he'd have nothing tangible to respond with, except: "everything."

Ade was what a lot of people liked to call, "a loner". He didn't have a lot of friends—he didn't have any friends and most importantly, he didn't see the need to.

Friends distract you and they pour a lord of their problems into you—it's so emotionally draining and I honestly see no reason to have human-leeches in the societal construct of "friends" in my life. Was the closing paragraph of one of his Anonymous blog posts where he had a promising number of readers who begged shamelessly for him to reveal his identity.

Being an only child to parents who were more hypocritical than religious drained him mentally. His words and not mine. He likes to consider himself a genius who was sent by the good lord to fill the empty heads of man with unsolicited wisdom and hated that his "biological parents"(like he loved to call them), were too mediocre.

"Prayer time!" He heard the familiar mumbling sound of his father's voice compete with Khalid's soothing voice coupled with the rattle of a tambourine. He sat up slowly and took the earphones off.

"ADEOLA! PRAYER TIME!" His mother called this time and he groaned, wondering why she felt the need to add the tambourine whenever she called his name. He threw his reflection on the wardrobe mirror a look of disdain before grabbing his Bible and jotter. He had a black mole on his face that did more good to his face than evil as people sometimes told him that they needed such a birthmark like it was a new phone.

"Stupid lots." He liked to call them in his head.

"...I know you come from heaven above..." he heard the occupants of the room sing as he appeared in the sitting room. The only available sit that morning was the space next to Shade: the 24 year old housemaid he frequently slept with when he was bored. She told him that she only let him because he didn't look and act his age but she also made him promise not to tell anyhow and all he said was, "I wish."

He watched his mother move left to right with a smile on her face as she hit the tambourine on her thighs like she wasn't going to gossip their neighbors as soon as she ended the devotion—and he watched his father who had his eyes closed and his hands raised to the heavens like he was having a personal conversation with God—someone that was going to spend the evening smoking and drinking alcohol at the beer parlor down their street. He only shook his head and mumbled the few lines he could remember before slowly disappearing into his imagination.

In his head, he was a national treasure. The kind that everyone sought out for advice and wisdom. He'd have his university—and all white university like something out of an X men movie where he thought dumb people how to be smart and where he invented and created...

"ADEOLA! Lead us in prayers." His father's sharp voice sent him out of his reverie and he couldn't hide the anger that ran through his veins. Why wouldn't they just let him fantasize? Wasn't that the least they could do?—at least they ripped him off the chances of sharing DNA's with notable personalities like, Bill Gates and Elon Musk—couldn't they just let him dream in peace?

"In Jesus mighty name I pray," he rubbed his hands together like he gave 2 rat heads about the words of prayers that had just escaped from his lips.

His father had begun preaching from the Open Heavens when she felt someone pinch him and before he could turn to question the girl next to him, he found a piece of paper right next to him.

I've done it. I've aborted the baby. I spent 4 thousand Naira. He was impressed by her surprisingly neat handwriting but that didn't stop him from laughing mentally at the note. He threw her a face that said, "and so? Why are you telling me?"

Shade sized him down for a second before making a gesture of her forefinger rubbing her thumb: money.

'She wants money?' He laughed at the thought and when everyone stopped to look at him, he pretended like the Holy Spirit had ministered something to him. When Shade had pulled him aside to inform him of her pregnancy, he hadn't flinched. He even told her, "congratulations" and he remembered the blood that drained from her beautiful face upon the realization that he truly didn't care. He never asked about her pregnancy, and she never spoke about it until now.

Shade watched that everyone wasn't looking before she made a circle with her forefinger at the side of her head to indicate that she thought he was losing his mind.

Ade was beginning to lose his mind, after the prayer, he made a mental note to inform her that he knew about her frequent middle of the night escapades with her father and his younger brother so, he needed her to tell him how much they were also contributing for the murder she'd just committed. He just ignored her and tried to place his focus back on the words of his hypocritical father when he saw his phone screen light up with a message from the only kid he considered reasonable enough to speak with at school: Temi.

HEY LONER!
HAVE YOU BEEN PICKED UP TOO?
BRING THAT SCIENCE BOOK YOU SPOKE ABOUT, SEE YA!

He rolled his eyes at the message and focused his attention back at the deceitful lips of his father.

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