I Smell Humor |ONGOING

FIVE

I jumped in excitement as Imagine Dragons performed 'Believer'. Dan Reynolds' voice projected all through the stadium and I was sure those within a mile radius of the stadium could hear it. The sun was long gone and it was there last performance for the night. A couple of supporting acts also performed making every moment of the concert worthwhile.

"Imagine if I hadn't gotten us those tickets!" Dera yelled at me through the noise.

"I honestly do not want to imagine that!" I yelled back.

"I need to pee but-"

"Eh? Chill, I can't hear you. My best part is coming on," I cut him off as I slung my arm over his shoulders and belted out the chorus to 'Believer' along with the rest of the crowd.

"Ono! I really have to use the toilet," he yelled directly into my ear this time not waiting for me to respond before moving out of my grasp.

"Abeg  go nah, who is holding you? But sha come back quickly!" I yelled at his retreating figure. I watched as he maneuvered through the crowd before finally disappearing from my line of sight.

I turned my attention back to the stage just as Daniel platzman played out the last part of the song on the drumset. I watched entranced as his hands flew all over the set, hitting it with such vigour I thought it'd cave in, but of course it didn't. I wasn't alert as to when he stopped drumming because the beat kept resonating in my head. Instead I only noticed when one of the drumsticks came sailing in my general direction.

In that moment, it felt like everything slowed down and I think it's safe to say I stopped breathing as I reached out with the many strangers around me to catch it. What were the odds of me actually getting it? More like one out of a hundred. I definitely wasn't the only one who wanted that stick, but I prayed I was the one who caught it. There must have been somebody out there who made my 'ID-related' wishes come true because I caught the stick.

I caught the damn stick!

But unfortunately, the stick wasn't the only thing that came sailing towards me. I quite literally felt my soul departing from me as the many hand that targeted the stick now came at me and Dera was MIA.

"I caught it first o!"

"Abeg commot your hand!"

And a lot more sentences I couldn't make out but was sure they were directed towards me filled the air as chaos erupted around me. But I wasn't going to lose the stick. Not now, not ever.

I felt stings on my arm from where their finger nails dug into my skin trying to snatch the stick away. Feeling around my pocket for my phone, I noticed it was still there. Good. At least they were not going for it.

I curled into myself as I held the stick tightly pressed to my chest, wondering if the person who caught the second stick was facing the same situation. Wrong move.

GBAM!

My eyes watered as I felt the sting of the abara  I had just received from someone in the crowd. After six years in secondary school, I was still not abara -resistant. How could I? In my own opinion, it was worse than being flogged with pankere and the sheer force behind the slaps were… They were something else. This, in particular. Whoever it was had hit me so hard like we had some personal beef going on and I didn't even know who they were!

Still clutching the stick like my very existence depended on it, I moved my other hand to rub my aching back. Another wrong move because someone actually bit my arm. I screeched in horror and tried to crawl away from the mini mob.