CHAPTER 3
Heart racing, sweat dripping, thoughts running wild and then all of a sudden was a loud bang, it was the door of the car which my brother had banged as we had highlighted from the vehicle which had conveyed me to school. I didn’t know where to begin; this was me in a whole new world of men. I had always imagined myself going to join my uncle in the United States after my secondary school, but unfortunately here I am standing in front of what seems to look like the Sheraton hotel. My brother who had escorted me to be dropped off was so happy seeing the structure of the building. The hostel had two sections, block A and B, I was posted to block B . After a long period of admiration, we decided to offload my bags. As soon as we had stepped into the building, it was as though we had been teleported into a totally different universe, the hostel oozed of garbage, it had wet floors, broken light bulbs, and a broken mirror to your left as soon as you step in. I totally lost it, packed my bags to return home when my brother held me by the hand trying to console me to stay, after much talk ,he began to laugh at m. I thought that was all, on entering the room I was assigned to, it was totally empty, like empty empty, all you could see were spider webs and sand all over not even a bunk or a mattress, like can you imagine. Finally my brother left, I almost cried, lol but men don’t cry. Moments later a second roommate came in, his name is Hassan, I always thought the guy was like the rest of the other guys I had met. It was the first time I was seeing a Hausa guy that was born in Lagos. He held out his hands to shake me, I was so surprised, I told him my name and then right from that day we became school brothers. Hassan discovered that the room was empty and then he brought up an idea. It was going to be my first student crime, I was so happy; thoughts of us being caught ran through my mind. First of all we started with the bunks, it was all metallic, and so we had to find a screw driver to loosen the screws for easy movement. We finished setting up the room with our beds and lockers. We had to go for some shopping the next day to get supplies, it was already late after we had finished the clean up. I was wishing to wake up and find out this was all a dream, unfortunately it wasn’t. The first thing that greeted me was that awful smell we had perceived when I had arrived. What shocked me most were their bathrooms and toilets, the toilet was clogged to the brim, with maggot and worms, I even threw up. I ran out to take my bath in the bush, so embarrassing. I couldn’t wait to get out so I could see the town and what it holds. We set out so early so we could get back to secure our bags as the room didn’t have a lock on it. The town wasn’t all I had expected to see, everywhere was so dry even when it was a Monday morning, you would have also thought they had all gone to a party or something. We got we wanted; broom, a mop, a bucket, and even a chain, a chain I say, that was how bad the extent we needed to go just so we could secure our foodstuffs, clothes and other items. If only they had provided better lockers and secure rooms, we wouldn’t have to stress. That day was one of the worst for me; it was the first time I soaked garri, plain garri, with just sugar and nothing else to take it with. That night I had to make sure I didn’t go through that again so I left to fill my gas and then for the first time I actually cooked food though I had been practicing in my mums kitchen. The first few weeks staying in the hostel wasn’t funny at all, the mosquitoes they had in that area were as big as a house fly, thank God for the mosquito net I had brought along, if not you would have been reading a totally different story. I had always wondered how the other roommates were, they finally resumed during the weekend, and we were now six. Fortunately for me I got the best the school had to offer, clean, cool, calm guys. Me I don’t like stress. If you were to step into the other rooms in the hostel, sometimes you’ll have to hold your nose, some had water all over the floor, dirty plates littered all over or dirty bed sheets. I am so sure if they were to give an award for the cleanest room in the whole of the school, it would have been ours. Lectures didn’t start until after two weeks of my resumption, was so happy I got to leave the hostel and get clean air. Day 1 of lectures wasn’t all like I had dreamt of.
Stay tuned for chapter 4, I hope you enjoyed this, drop your comments, plese vote. Invite your friends to read.
