FIND YOUR WAY BACK

On the seventh day when God was resting, Satan woke up, went to God’s construction site with the aim of using the leftovers to create Tolani. But, this piece is not about Tolani, it is about me. No, maybe a little of it is about Tolani.

You see, like two negative poles, Tolani and I are best enemies. She, a wicked, sassy, quiet, extremely blunt girl with a heart colder than the artic. I, well, as you already know, I am just your regular handsome guy, who is not only smart but cute and always in the midst of ladies, making them laugh sheepishly while they caress my arm, hit my back, and other petty touches.

Tolani hated this and God knows I did not do anything to warrant her hatred, I did not even ask her out or break the heart of any of her friends. I mean, I am someone who spent weeks memorizing the bro code and the sis codes.  Not that I am jobless; I just do it for fun. Yet, Tolani did not hide her contempt from me.

To crown all enmity, my house agent, when he’d found a better apartment for me, decided to move me to Tolani’s hostel. Oh God! I so much hated it at first. I mean the day logistics moved my belongings to that house, Tolani sat at the balcony watching me take awkward steps in and out of the compound, struggling with boxes and not even a word did she say to me. This is someone in my department, I see her daily inside the laboratory, and sometimes sit behind her in classes while receiving lectures.

Tolani hated me with passion and she just couldn’t hide it. Well, I did not hide mine too. God knows you cannot shame the shameless, and here I am programmed with shamelessness  ioS 5.7. Everyday in the compound, we jammed downstairs, sometimes while using the clotheslines. On days when students all come back from classes and everyone just sits outside receiving fresh air and gisting about what happened on campus, Tolani most times sits outside with her phone and earpiece, aloof. Trust me to be in the crowd making bants and racking jokes.

But something happened that changed it all. Some armed robbers came to my area last year and even though I live in a gated compound, I did not know how they gained access to my compound. They spent minutes going from room to room, carting away properties, and even raping some students. Because I am a nocturnal person, I was up on my laptop half-working and half-dozing when I heard Tolani’s voice gently knocking on my door.

When she saw that I wasn’t answering, she called my phone and at the fourth attempt, I grudgingly picked the call, shouted on her never to call me again, then cut the call before she could even say a word.

I was still holding my cell when she called again, and while I was still forming the words to say, her voice faintly informed me that up to six armed robbers were in our compound. She said I should find a way to get to the backyard, that there is a rope I can use to climb our fence and jump into the surrounding bush. I was too stunned to even say a thing. My brain froze for an instant and when I did regain my composure, I flung my laptop inside my bag with my phone, and without making noise, I dashed out of the house.

Truly, there was a rope at the far end of our compound behind the water tank, I heard some footsteps approaching as I hurriedly climbed over. I jumped the fence, got injured by a broken bottle, but I cared less. With blood still dripping, I tore my singlet, wrapped it around my foot while I ran blindly. 

I don't remember much of what happened later, other than I woke up the next day at the school clinic feeling dazed. My laptop bag was beside me, and I was on shorts and the clinic gown. 

You may guess who sat on the plastic chair with her head on my bed dozing…. Tolani. Yes, the same Tolani.

Later on when I was healthy enough to speak and move about, I asked her what happened and how we met. She said she already left but somehow, something pushed her to go back, and there I was, unconscious on the path that led from our area to the bus stop.

She said she had to call a passerby who assisted her in getting me to the main road before they saw a Good Samaritan who volunteered to drive me to the clinic at that late hour. She said I lost quite a lot of blood, that they had to stitch my foot and I had to be placed on compulsory blood transfusion.

Why Tolani choose to help me is still a reason I do not know. 

© Ololade Edun.

Photo Credit: IG: iamtaiwoidowu