One Year Baby!

It  started off as my rebound. Blogging, I mean. Lol. I didn't think I would ever become a blogger, again. *enough of my mushy mushy over-practiced Oscar-award-winning-thank-you-speech*

Ok, so in 20 days, it will be one year since my first post. I wanna say thank you to everyone who has clicked the "ournairastory" link and smiled. Thank you, thank you!

But wait though, I have heard a thousand stories I could have replicated as some sort of fiction, but I did not because people's lives are "people's lives"! However public, they definitely need some privacy. Long and short, what I'm trying to say is that it's not easy to think of entirely fictional stories without adding some "real" flavors, *phew*, but I guess I tried.

If you by chance see your reflection in the mirror of my stories, I sincerely apologize and hope the inconvenience is not repeated in future.

So so, dear visitor, I am grateful for your following and I hope we enjoy many more years to come.

Thank you once again, and remember, "It's not the critic who counts..."

Long Walk To Freedom

Starry nights, dark skies

Black and white, mist

Soft music, stranger,

Strange land, strange you.

Steps towards the road,

To oblivion you take,

Wondering over if you would,

By choice or fate return.

Turn left, turn right,

Go straight, halt.

Halt if not clear on direction,

Take no step in the dark.

For the walk to freedom,

Is a marathon,

A race,

And a war.

School Runs

Dust. The dust in the school premises often made Kora wonder why the authorities made it compulsory for students to have shiny shoes. "Did they expect them to carry "kiwi" polish everywhere they went?", she mused.

On this Tuesday morning, she decided not to take her polish to class, she was tired of being a good student.

On her way out of the hostel, she said hi to a group of girls standing just outside the dormitory, waiting for someone. She said hello to them and noticed that their leader, Eniola was smiling awkwardly at her.

"What's wrong with that one?" she asked herself. True to it, the dust settled comfortably on her "cortina" shoes, turning it's color brown, dirty brown.

As she filed behind the one of the much taller girls on the assembly ground, she got a pull from her Form Prefect,

" I don't know why short people like staying at the back. Would you move forward!" said Senior Shade,

"I'm not short, is it my fault that someone in SS1 is as tall as an iroko tree? And after everything they would say we are mates, taa!" muttered Kora as she grudgingly marched to the front of the line.

" Hey junior girl, what did you just say?"
"Nothing o Senior, I was only ..."
"You are lucky!"

Kora managed to fight her way to be the 7th person on the line just in front of Eniola, she wasn't that short she argued while putting her shoulder side by side the other girls.

She had a long dark hair and light brown eyes. Her pointed nose and dark skin often got people calling her ebony or black gold.

The bell ringer rang the bell and soon the Reverend Father came to say the opening prayers. Eniola pinched an otherwise focused Kora.

"Leave me! Can't you be holy for some minutes?" said Kora as she shrugged Eniola off.
"Big head, better look up o. See as Senior Ifeanyi is staring at you" Eni whispered.

Kora felt her stomach knot.

"I don't know what you are talking about! Better leave me before I tell that our bitter form prefect that you are being a complete idiot!" Kora whispered back.

Throughout the assembly, she focused on the boring proceedings.

Senior Ifeanyi was the Labour Prefect, labor prefects were wicked and she couldn't imagine someone wicked liking her. Besides he was too tall for her liking. She also didn't want any one making her clean her shoes, in fact she wasn't interested, she assured herself.

On her way to the dining hall during break time, he stopped her in front of SS2 block.

"Kora kedu?" he said

"Good afternoon Senior, we have been asked not to speak vernacular. So I'm very well, thank you. Besides, not all of us are igbo for God's sake!"

"You know it's this your stubbornness eh.." he smiled as held her hands.

She blushed.

"See you know I can't be seen talking with a Senior na, you know the rules"

"Yea I know," he said as he handed her a letter.

----------------------

She went  to the back of the hostel bathroom to read the letter that evening.

While she was still taking in the big big grammar he had used to express his love, Eniola sprang on her.

"Ije love eeee" she screamed, attracting other members of the dormitory to what was happening.

Kora quickly chewed the paper and spat it out.

She knew no prefect could punish her without evidence. She also knew she and Eniola would never be friends.

---------------------------------
Kora was almost late to the assembly on Wednesday morning. This was so because she took extra care in ironing her uniform, oiling her hair and convincing her bunkmate to lend her an extra kiwi polish, though it made no sense.

She had to look perfect for her new heartthrob.

Blind Trust

My eyes ache from insomnia,
Though sleep sits just beside me,
And when the week hits its first cycle,
I remember you with my eyes shut, close.

When I open my eyes, reality hits.
My rent needs to be paid,
My family needs my love,
My existence needs my living.

So you are hereby forgiven,
Acquitted and set free.
The blind see no colors,
For all is fair in love and war.

Aint Nobody Got Time For That.

The aso-ebi fabric was splufik! Everything was set for the wedding, except that the gown was too tight and she didn't know how to tie her gele.

She sucked in her tummy and did the best she could in tying her scarf.

"11:30 am?!" Zaaappp! She hurried downstairs to catch the first taxi she saw. As she walked into the church, one of the groomsmen caught her attention. 

" Chai, see fine boy!" She thought to herself, "Market must sell today sha, bad as e bad at least one customer."

She saw her girlfriends from work and said "hi" from a distance.

"Nonso, wassup now? Come lets take selfies"

"Na trouble? Me no do single ladies with una oo!! Abeg, life na per head, leave me" she hissed

With that, she grudgingly walked to them and smiled for the camera.

She joined the only chic with a car to the reception venue, alongside three others. 

They watched with amazement how Nonso abandoned them and went to sit close to the groomsmen/bridal train table.

"Ahan! Nawa o, why are you acting so weird? Any issue?" pinged Adaora

"Abeg make una no vex. I just saw some old friends on this table that's why" replied Nonso

I saw her today at the office as she was narrating how one bobo who she met at the wedding, asked her for a date, I could see the excitement in her eyes...

"See eh, I've told dem Joy sorry o, haa, I didn't want them to spoil my market na. We are friends, yea, but when it comes to marriage mata, mehn, aint nobadi gat tym for that!"

Laugh almost choked me.

That Instant

Have you ever met someone and in one instant, you knew that they would like you? That in the split second it took to generate that thought, you knew that there was a connection that, was like electricity and both parties felt it and even though it’s invisible and no words have been exchanged, mutual thoughts were being exchanged and you were both on the same frequency?

So there I was this Monday evening, I was trying to get home after a day of work onsite with my Dad on Ikorodu road in the usual traffic snarl that is Lagos. 

I looked over to my left and there she was. She was astonishing. She’s the kind of beauty my best friend and I would spend no time arguing where’d she fit in the scale. She broke the scale. 

Possibilities. If not for the close to seven and a half tons of steel between us and hundreds of other road users. The three and a half seconds we spent in that state seemed like an eternity.  She waved her left hand to ask if she could join my lane (left hand: quick, inspect: No ring, she fair skinned and has no light band on her left hand-never wore a ring; meaning not married, never been engaged). Hey, I’m normally courteous, but I actually went outta my way to grant her wish.She couldn't have asked any nicely. She could have asked with an AK47 and it would still be nice. I yielded. She could take the road. While she was at it, she could take my heart, money and my destiny.

There is this warm feeling I get whenever I’ve done something nice. That’s usually motivation to do stuff. In this case, however, I was a bit selfish. I know that we’ll meet again and when we do she’ll be constrained to at least like me. In her subliminal subconsciousness that is actually her superconscience she’ll remember our little event. If you’re confused, don’t worry I’m confused too. I’m sure I don't know what I'm saying, but the thought feels good. 

"The road has freed up; Lets go" It was for only a moment. I work too hard, and daydream even harder. 

Now, I had to get home. 

Smokes and Shadows

The duvet couldn't keep him from the cold, so he stretched to put off the air conditioner, only to realize it was already switched off. 

He wondered when he put it off as he surrendered to the pull of his bed. The pillow felt wet. 

Then he remembered that he had been crying. At that realization, for some reason, the bed seemed to let him go, so he moved to the floor.

He stared blankly into the dark. All that occupied his mind was 'Molade.

Her smile, her giggle, her heart, her purity.

His scream broke the room's silence. He wailed and wept bitterly. Truly she was gone. Gone from his life. Forever.

"But that loss was ten years ago," a voice in his head said. "You are getting married in two days and you can't let anyone know about this pain. Deal with it Temi!"

His crying stopped a while after the thought. He got up, washed his face and looked into the mirror. 

All he could see was smoke. Smoke and shadows.

He would march down to his car and drive to his fiancee's house. He would tell her he loved her and that she was the only woman in the world he cared about.

He would tell her a version of the truth. Like we often do. When we say "we are fine" (smoke) which hardly shows the fire burning on the inside or when we smile for the camera all the while knowing that the true image of our desires versus reality hardly matches what our pictures (shadows) display.