Anne: Lost in Transit

Chapter 10

Ebere woke me by 11:30am to tell me he was leaving for the exam hall. I merely acknowledged and pulled my wrapper over my head even though I wasn’t asleep. Sleep? Sleep was such a foreign word now. Even when it came, I avoided it like a cancer because of what it brought with it. In all the dreams, I was falling into a deep black bottomless pit. My uncle was shouting into the pit as I fell, telling me of the gory details he’d performed on my family for refusing to give up my father’s properties.

What I did not understand was why God was so silent. All these years, have I been praying in vain? The encounters, the times I prayed for something and got it, wasn’t it God that granted my requests, or had it been just a coincidence? I did not understand anymore. Was this the fate of my family? No. I brushed the thought away.

That evening, my sister called late into the night. ‘Baby, I'm sorry about everything. Don’t mind me earlier saying I wanted to question God. If this is His will, then it’s fine by me. This period is a good time for the devil to throw fiery darts of fear and doubt in God but don’t be swayed, anyways, I trust you. You’re the strongest believer among us, I've always admired your firm belief in God. The next time I call, I'm sure you’ll have one or two words of encouragement.’ How do I tell her I was losing my faith and courage, even faster than any other person? I swallowed and read from 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 7. The words I said were words that I’d learnt a long time ago. I hoped she could not tell my lack of belief in the words I said. ‘Thank you so much Anne. I’ll call you another time. I love you.’

   ‘I love you too. Bye. Don’t forget to put me in your—’ she hung up.

Yere was back in the room and doing everything to make up for not being here last night. She tailed me all day, to the extent that I thought she could read what I was thinking with the way she was attending to my exact needs.

   How was Ebere doing? I hadn’t heard from him since he left in the morning. I glanced through my texts, WhatsApp messages and call logs to see if I may have missed a call or reply from him. God, was it possible he was not replying because he got caught? At the ring of my phone, Yere and I jumped simultaneously to unplug it.

   ‘Don’t worry, I’ll get it!’ She dove to the socket, unplugged it and brought it back to me.

   ‘Thanks.’ I said picking without looking at the caller. ‘Hey Ebere, how are you? I was so worried that something happened.’

‘Hello Anne, how are you?’ His voice was very low.

   ‘I'm fine. How are you? Did anything happen in the exam hall?’

   ‘No. I'm sorry for bouncing you calls. I wrote my own exam from 3pm to 6pm. My day has been hectic. Even if I wanted to, I lacked the strength to do so.’ What?! Did I hear right? Did he just say he wrote his exam today?

   ‘Did you say you had an exam today?’

   ‘Yeah.’ Wow! And he’d stayed up for most of the night summarising my note for me. ‘How are you? Do you feel better? Have you heard from home?’

   ‘Ebere, why didn’t you tell me you also had an exam today? You even said you didn’t. I wouldn’t have let you write mine and go through all that stress. How did it go?’

   ‘It was pretty easy. I’d been preparing for it so chill.’

   ‘Still, I'm grateful. I don’t know if I will ever be able to thank you for your help. No amount of money can repay what you did for me. This kindness you have shown me is too much. May God bless you. When you need a helper, may God send you millions to help.’ I did not try to stop the tears from flowing down my cheeks. ‘Thank you very much. May only good things come your way in Jesus name.’

   ‘Hey, don’t worry about it. I know how it is. I lost my dad when I could hardly walk. I was one year and three months plus, too young to understand anything but it affected my mother and siblings. From the story I'm told, my father’s brother wanted it all, so, you see why it’s easy for me to help? You have to be in the same shoes as the person to relate.

   ‘Oh, I'm sorry to hear you’ve also lost your dad. I didn’t know.’

   ‘It’s alright. When is your next exam?’

   ‘Next week Wednesday.’

   ‘Great! It’s also the same day I have my last paper. Don’t forget to ask for my help if you’re not feeling up to the task, okay?’

   ‘I won’t. Thank you again Ebere, God bless you.’

   ‘Yeah. Did you like the food?’

   ‘Yes! Oh! I almost forgot. The porridge was delicious. You are a great cook. Yere and I ate it for dinner. I’m grateful.’

   ‘I'm happy you liked it. I have to go now, still need to sleep. Don’t forget, if you need anything or want anyone to talk to, I’ll help any way I can. Bye.’

   ‘Bye and thanks a bunch.’

      ♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣

   My aunt’s driver was running late. I was downstairs, sitting close to the gate with my luggage after I got his call more than two hours ago that he was close to Benin. I dialed two of his numbers and got disconnected because his phone was switched off. The hostel was now nearly empty. My mother and sister’s numbers had also stopped going through.

   After another thirty minutes of fruitless waiting, I took the most personal of my luggage and walked up the stairs to my room. The room had been stripped of every belonging except tables, chairs and immovables. When Yere opted to stay behind and wait till the driver came, I convinced her not to bother, Osas then came to pick her to spend a few days with him before travelling home to Lagos.
There were loud voices of my hostel mates saying their goodbyes and cars coming and leaving the compound downstairs. Oh! How I wished I was one of them going home to mourn with my family. At the knock on my door, I opened it to say goodbye to one of my downstairs neighbours.

   ‘I’ll miss you Anne, thanks for an amazing semester. We’ll talk online. Bye baby girl.’

   ‘Bye Omoye, I’ll miss you more.’
It was now a few minutes to seven, where was the driver? For the whole day, I was stuck with the disconnected numbers of my family members. The hostel was practically empty with only a handful of people, making it more unsafe. I sure was the only person in my block on the first floor still around. God! Even if I could sleep in the hostel and not be afraid of robbers or any danger coming tonight, my safety could not be guaranteed as from tomorrow when most of the remainder people would be gone.

   I was undressing to change into night clothes when my phone rang. ‘Anne!’

‘Mummy!’

‘Don’t shout. Where are you?’

‘School.’

‘Good. Please don’t go anywhere that is not important. What’s the limit your account can take?’

‘Maybe 10 million, I'm not sure.’

‘Okay. How many do you have?’ She asked fidgeting.

‘Two.’

‘Send them now to this phone. Something happened that stopped your aunt’s driver from continuing his journey. I think it’s better you stay in school for a while till everything is in place. If your brother is around then, he’ll pick you. Get a new sim tomorrow and send it to this number. Baby, I don’t want to say it but I regret marrying an Igbo man. My mother warned me not to but I didn’t listen. Hm. May God see us thro—’ She realised herself and stopped. ‘Listen, I’ll send some money to your account. Take whatever you need from it and take care of yourself. I love you! Bye.’

Within minutes, I received two bank alerts of two and four million naira to each account. I texted the number that I had received the money, switched my phone off and started crying.