by Leticia Nyitse
“Staring at my ceiling fan was actually therapeutic at this point, as the whirling movement seemed to hypnotize me, just what my nerves needed to relax.”
I was dead tired from the day’s hard work. As I lay on my bed trying to catch a nap despite the 34 degree weather forecast of Abuja, echoes of my boss’s angry voice still rang in my head and it had become a nagging headache. Staring at my ceiling fan was actually therapeutic at this point, as the whirling movement seemed to hypnotize me, just what my nerves needed to relax.
We were the girls Burna boy sang about, we loved to party all 4 of us. We did the whole shebang, drinks, cigarettes, shisha and whatever form of ”inspiration” we could find. Getting this high was the norm; We were like fishes in the water, very comfortable in our own skin and we would do whatever it took to stay that way.
Tasha was our queen bee, as is customary for every female group to have a leader. That wasn’t her birth name of course; She was named ”Adanwaada”and was an only daughter of a very rich traditional ruler in the eastern part of Nigeria. Tasha was all shades of pretty- lips, hips and fingertips, so naturally she had to pick a name that would befit her looks and status. The rest of us- Ivie, Deola and I all known by our newly ‘acquired’ names-Andrea, Isabella and Nessa were like jelly fish when Tasha spoke; But why wouldn’t we be? Considering she had the money and connections we needed for maximum flexing.Boy! were we living the life…or so we thought. We had guys swarming around us like bees, most of them coming for Tasha not that we were not beautiful too but we just enjoyed living in her limelight, a bed of roses planted by her hard work.
Nevertheless, all good things eventually come to an end. Our 4 years in the university were over and so were our days of stupidity but we still remained friends. Not as close as one would have thought because the realities of life had started to set in. Ivie, Deola and I went back to our hustling lives as our parents didn’t stack piles of money for us and our brains had not done so either as our results were nothing to write home about; Despite all the sorting-paying and sleeping with the examination officer and anyone who mattered. By this time we were of marriageable age and we figured the best way to escape this life was to marry a bag of money in male clothing.
Having a conversation with Deola one day I said to her “Babe make we try hook up with Tasha again oo, she fit get better connect” It’s unbelievable how we were not ready to let go of our leaching lifestyle. Naturally we just knew that Tasha’s ‘lucky stars’ would still be shining so getting herself hooked to a rich Mr Right wouldn’t be a big deal. Even though Ivie had married a rich wife beater, We felt it was still better to nurse one’s wounds in a 2014 G-Wagon on the way to a private hospital than to walk under the rain to a general facility.
It seemed like even the gods were in on my plan because days later I ran into Tasha at the mall, looking prettier than ever. Like a typical woman would, I did a quick scan of her from head to toe in just a matter of seconds and I then I noticed IT. Ahaa! She was wearing a ring on her finger…Wow! My guess was right; the stars were still shining in her favour. “Babe when were you planning on sharing the good news now?” I quickly chipped in before we got carried away with exchanging pleasantries for they were not as important as this pending gist.
“What news Nessa?” she answered; flashing her still very white teeth despite the amount of tobacco they had inhaled, “ah ah now babe na me you wan de hide your engagement news from? No be us go wear asoebi again?” By saying that, I was already warming my way back into Tasha’s inner circle and setting my plans in action. “My dear it’s not an engagement ring, it’s a costume ring. I’m not rushing into marriage like Ivie just to end up divorced or with an abusive man oo, I will patiently wait for who the rib fits”The shock I felt with those words seemed as though I just hugged a transformer; When did Tasha become this reasonable? What had changed her philosophy about life and even marriage? Not to speak of waiting to marry who the rib fits, a guy who would love her for who she was. Immediately I felt hot all over, sweat dripping all over my body and I realised PHCN had struck, awakening me to a better reality than Tasha was about to serve me in my dream.
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Leticia Nyitse is a writer extraordinaire with a passion for entertaining and that she does this through her vast imaginative ability touching fiction,poetry, inspirational, humour and lots more. She tweets from @ticiatowns and owns the blog, http://ticiatowns.wordpress.com
30 Days, 30 Voices series is an opportunity for young Nigerians from across the world to share their stories and experiences – creating a meeting point where our common humanity is explored.
Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija