CHAPTER TWO
Convocation
Ann refused to fall asleep again after that horrible dream. She tried to make sense of the whole thing. It felt really like she was there. "How powerful does a dream get?" She asked herself. She could feel the breeze, the fishy stench in the air, that seaweed aroma, she was there, but she was dreaming. It was all confusing.
"I need to find other ways to make myself sleep. This dream is a warning from death." She said to herself. The power wasn't back, but her room was a lot cooler. No matter how heavy her eyes got. She refused to fall back to sleep. She was scared. Annuoluwa was someone that will do anything to stay alive.
"Annu! Annu! Annuoluwa!" her mother called out heading towards her room. Ann reached for her flashlight on the side stool of her bed. She directed the light to where her wall clock hung. It was 5:30 am. She knew why her mother was calling. Ever since Ann graduated from secondary school, she has been in charge of the kitchen duties, which included cleaning, doing the dishes and cooking.
Cooking was her main hustle in the house while being the cleaning maid was her side hustle. This, of course, included cleaning the house and fetching water from the well. Fetching water from the well occurred mostly when there was no
electricity to pump water into the reservoir tank for the house use. Today was one of those days. Her parents had to shower to get ready for work.
"I'm coming," She sluggishly answered her mother trying to get out of bed.
Ann hated fetching water from the well. She wished her dad was rich and not too stingy at least they should be able to afford a house help or buy a 6KVA generator to enable them to pump water into the reservoir tank. The process was too tedious for her, as it involved carrying the heavy bucket of water on her head, up the stairs, to her parent's bathroom. As she poured the water into the kitchen drum she thought to herself, if she continued like this, carrying the heavy bucket of water on her head every day, she would go bald early in life.
Ann finished her chores that morning hoping to catch her dad on his way out but she missed him. Luckily, her mother was yet to go out.
Her parents had been acting strangely for some months now. It was as though they were different people altogether. She hardly ever saw her father and her mother was always brief with her. They seemed to be watching her every move and even tried their best to keep her home at all times. It was weird but she dared not question them.
"Mom," She said to her mother trying to get her attention.
"Annu what is it?" Her mother responded a little bit harshly, "I hope you haven't spoiled something this morning. You are always in a hurry and never really take your time to do things properly..." she continued but Ann cut in before she could finish her sentence.
"There is no problem ma. I just need transport to go to Victoria Island and meet up with Morenike. She promised to come and pick me at the bus stop. We have something important to do there. When we are done, we will go to her house in Ikoyi to hang out."
YOU ARE READING
EXOUSIA Book One
FantasiAnnuoluwa had a simple life where expectations on her were as complicated as any teenage girl living in the suburbs of Lagos, Nigeria. Unexpectedly, all that changes after she meets a stranger, now her life is not just complicated, its unexplainable...