After her lectures, she picked up her phone to call her friend, she left before coming to the campus. ''Hello bae, how far na?'', she asked in Nigerian pidgin English. She started her usual lamentations, about how stressful the school has been so far, how strange her classmates looked, how big and matured they seemed. She kept on complaining and complaining. Her friend tried to console her, telling her to calm down, and try to cope with all the problems; that she just came and that it was too early to start complaining.
Sighing, she calmed down. ''Eh henn!, how boo na?''. ''Hes fine'', her friend replied. And they continued gisting of irrelevant things. Then, she ended the phone call because she had to call her mum. Her mum said that she should come with the friend she was supposed to squat with, she was already at the hotel room. She was so hungry as she had not eaten anything yet. She went to meet her mum, with those friends; the one she was supposed to stay with and the one that led her into the lecture hall.
They helped her carry her bags to the hostel, where that friend was staying. ''OMG!'', she exclaimed when she got to the hostel. She felt it was a disaster, she was not used to this kind of places. ''How on earth am I going to stay here?, she pondered in her heart. This is my room, the friend said, when they got to the room. It was on the first floor, the balcony facing the gate, and the room was over-crowded. One small room, very small meant for only four occupants.
''Na wa oh!''. This was all so strange and foreign to her. The bed was close to the window. Show me where you have your bath and stuffs like that, she asked that friend. Come on, the friend said. She had no words to describe how filthy she felt the toilet and bathroom was. The friend advised, Don't worry, I will show you how everything is done. Lets go back to the room and find a place to keep your bags.
Finally, she was done . Actually, she just put her box and her small bags at the back of the door, as there was no space in the room. Let me rest a little before going back to see my mum, she said, picking up her phone, and calling his number. ''The MTN number you are trying to call is currently switched off. Please try again later, the service provider spoke and ended the call''. So his number is still switched off, where did he keep his phone?, she wondered.
She humped, and started using her phone to play games. She was supposed to do an assignment that was given to her course-mates before she arrived, but she was just so tired. So, she decided to relax her nerves by playing games. It always helped, every single time. It was getting late, so she got up, and started walking down to the hotel room where her mum lodged for the night. Her mum was to travel back the following day.
''Noon'', her mum said, when she came. Yes, mum, she replied. What do you want to eat this night?, her mum asked. I don't know, I don't even feel like eating anything. Why don't you spend the night with me, then tomorrow, you can now sleep in the hostel. No, mum. Let me stay in the hostel, I want you to get your rest, and I also want to start learning how to live there. OK, then, come let me buy you something to eat, so you won't sleep on an empty stomach.
THAT, MY DEAR FRIENDS, WAS WHEN THE TROUBLE BEGAN.
I hope you liked this chapter. Forgive me for not naming my characters yet. I haven't come up with any names for them. Keep on checking for updates, though I will not be updating frequently because I am super busy. Thanks and God bless.
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Because I Cried
Novela JuvenilThis book tells the story of a girl, who lost something very close to her heart and decided to take out her anger on the world. It is a teenage novel, which setting is based in Nigeria.