"Hmm," I moan as I savor the taste of water. My walk in the desert has drained my entire energy and the water dripping on me is a blessing from above. I open my mouth to take more but it ceases. "No, come bac-" Splash!
I sit up in shock. My pyjama top is clinging to my body, cold and wet.
"Happy birthday!" Nes, Alex and Jason shout in unison. Nes is holding a pink bucket and laughing hysterically.
"Did you get that?" Jason asks Alex who's head is thrown back in laughter.
"All of it," he replies. That's when I realise that Alex has been holding a camera all this while.
"Show it to her," Nes chirps and he turns it to face me. If the person on the screen was not me, I would laugh my head off at what they are doing. The video shows me mumbling rubbish as Nes sprinkles water on me. Blessing from above indeed. When I seem too reluctant to wake up, she dumps the entire bucket on me. Thank God they don't know what I was dreaming about.
"You guys are crazy!" I shout but that only adds to the amusement as Jason goes to sit on my study chair to avoid falling. My face contorts in shame. I don't even know what to do; laugh, cry, bury my head in the ground? What!
"Look at my bed," my voice comes out like that of a toddler whining about her candy. Alex finally succumbs and drops to the ground. Nes, who was in tears and clutching her stomach to calm herself, bursts into another fit of laughter and bends down. I don't realise I have been smiling until a chuckle leaves my lips.
"Happy birthday to y-what happened here?" aunt Oya asks, looking around. She is carrying a small round cake with a candle in the middle. Nes throws the bucket on me saying, "your birthday present." Really? Mum and dad trail behind aunt Oya.
"Kids. Did you have to wet the entire place?" Dad questions, smacking Jason, who is closest to him, in the head.
"Good question, dad," I add, stepping off the bed to blow out the candle.
"What did you wish for?" Nes asks and I give her a stolid look. "A life with quieter versions of you three," I offer the usual answer I give whenever anyone of the triplets asks me what I wished for.
Alex shakes his head in mock pity. "The heavens must hate you then." Oh Lord.
"Alex!" mum warns as the others laugh.
"What? She's wished this same thing for ever and it has never come true," he defends.
"Why do you guys look like one person?" I ask as I observe the triplets' matching outfit. Grey joggers with white tank tops.
"Maybe because we are triplets?" Jason answers matter-of-factly.
"So, let the birthday begin!" aunt Oya declares. "Right after you return from school, that is." Ugh, school.
***
"Happy birthday Bella!" Mary shouts as she runs into our house wearing a hot pink ball gown with her hair held up in a large bun.
"Happy birthday Mary!" I shout as well, spreading my arm to embrace her. "You look great," I compliment and she turns around in delight.
"Why aren't you dressed up?" she asks, looking at my grey joggers and black tank top. Yeah, they shoved mine in my face when we got home from school. We took multiple pictures with our matching outfits.
"I was going to before you walked in," I tell her. "Come on, the girl army is waiting for us in my room," I say gesturing for her to follow me.
She laughs and asks, "girl army?"
YOU ARE READING
Hello Nigeria!
Teen Fiction"You're just a big baby. You are too cute to disobey mummy and daddy," he mocks, much to my annoyance. "Is that a challenge?" the words slip out before I know it. "Can you handle it?" he asks. *** One single challenge from her cocky neighbour and cl...
