NOT LIKE ME

It happened on the 30th of October 2022 when I jumped over a story building around 5:30 am in the morning and had my right leg dislocated in the process. Before you blame me, here's what happened…..

On my way home from work the previous day, happiness and excitement were written all over my face. I couldn't wait to arrive home quickly and break the news to my mom. I already imagined her smiling face and hearing her in my head saying “Thank you my daughter, you did so well”.
Finally home, the documents in my left hand were held backwards. On my other hand was my hand bag which was hanging over my right shoulder. I met my mom cooking, when she saw me she knew I had something hidden behind me and from my mood, it was clear that it was good news. She didn't even know what it was before she started smiling😄
The suspense was cut short when my younger brother who was standing right behind me flinged the documents off my hand and handed them over to my mom. I scolded him a bit but since we were all playing it was discarded in no time.

My mom opened the documents and checked through the files one by one and then she knew the reason for my excitement. Due to the drastic U-turn of life for us, I couldn't further my education immediately after secondary school like most of my peers did. Rather, I was made to work to support my family which my mom wasn't too comfortable with and always disturbing me then, to go back to school. Not that I didn't want to go back, but where was the money?
My mom came across a program online called IJMB which means (Interim Joint Matriculation Board) and brought to my notice, I made checks on it and decided to give it a trial. Luckily, one of the colleges that offer this exam was within my location. I went down to the school to make inquiries and was told that it would be closing in two weeks time. Since i was working, i asked if they took on per-time, which by the end of the discussion, i was satisfied with the responses. All I had to do now was work harder. I worked in one of the local government secretariats, where I was given the job of a computer operator by one of the government workers in that firm. I had only two weeks to raise the money for my admission and other necessary requirements before entry, to meet up I had to get the 100ml of the popular oil perfumes to sell. Oli perfs was already a side hustle for me but I deal more on the smaller bottles back then. But since I was working on a task, I had to double up by collecting 100ml bottles of oil perfs on credit with the promise of paying back when I sell. After I acquired those bottles, I began showing it to the people at my workplace. Where I work was more of a market place so it was easier to sell my products faster and I did something that I normally don't do which was doubling the amount of the exact price. I wasn't proud of it but it happened anyway. Aside from my work place, while going home I will trek a bit just to see if I could find one or two people who would be willing to buy.
Almost 2 weeks, i already had #17,000 out of #28,000. I became desperate at the same time, already losing hope in school. That fateful day, after work I went to sum up the sales record to my boss as usual. About leaving her office, she called me back and asked how far I've gone on gathering the money I needed, i told her everything and a cash of 10,000 was her response to the information I gave her.

After appericiting her, I called the supervisor of the college to know if he was still around. From his response I hurried to the school to make payments immediately and was given a form to fill. In that form, I filled in all personal information as well as my interest in going for per- time classes. This was the information my mom saw that changed the atmosphere on that very day.

My mom was so upset that I filled in per-time and wanted me to be a full-time student. Her reasons were, i was too young to be doing per- time, i tried making her understand my reasons for choosing the per-time classes but what i got in return swept me off my feet. My own mom called me rebellious and ungrateful with so many other hurtful names. i got the opposite of my imagination that day. Out of annoyance I thought of leaving the house that minute which was unsuccessful because of my aunt who helped in blocking the way. If that wasn't enough, my dad came home that night, he didn't ask me any questions, to talk more on commending my efforts. It was from one hurtful word to another. I was tagged an ingrate and my dad made mention of one word which I would never forget. He said, there would be no issues if i were a boy”
So many things ran through my head that night and all that was in my mind was to just leave the house. I couldn't sleep all night until 3 am in the morning. I was already up with my plans to run away from my house. it was as if my aunt foreseen my plans and took the key out of sight. But since i was so helpless, I waited till 5 in the morning before opening the door in the back corridor of my house. It was just a story building. In my vision, the distance wasn't too far because of my determination to just leave the house, and that was how I jumped over. When I landed, I could feel a slight pain on the smallest toe of my right leg, it was still so early, so I had to try and walk down with the pain gradually spreading upwards. Soon enough, i got a ride but by then, I couldn't even continue wearing the slipper on my right leg. The driver who carried me, couldn't ask my anything because
of the tears he saw on eyes. I wasn't crying because of the hurt foot but because of the hurtful words fron my family. God brought a good driver my way who pitied me and took me to my exact destination which was my boss’s house. She was the only one I could think of at that time. The most painful part was, that day happens to be her birthday.
When she saw me, of course she was surprised and took me in after hearing all that happened she was surprised. But first she called my mom and told her I was safe. At the time, it was already past 9 am. The pain I felt on my right leg was very terrible but my boss wanted to wait for my mom to arrive before taking me over for a message in one of these herbal homes. When my mom arrived, I couldn't look at her, not out of shame but also disappointment. However, the pain in my right leg overtook all the pains. At the end,I was carried by my mom who was assisted by my boss and was taken to the herbal home. When the woman who was to do the job saw me, her first statement was, “Thank God, you brought her soon enough”. She then went out to look for men who would help in holding me down so she could fix my right leg.
Dear readers, I saw hell for real here on earth. Those who were even asked to hold me down couldn't handle my small body, it took the effort of some more hands before the final crack that came from my leg was clearly heard. Even with that, I still felt unbearable pain. She prepared some herbs and poured over my right foot to tie.After everything, with pains in my heart,I thanked my boss who spoke a little to me and apologized for the stress I caused her on her birthday. I reluctantly went back home with my mom. While on the way, she didn't speak to me, not that I minded. When we got home, my whole family was shocked by the turn of events. I couldn't work for 3 weeks which was enough to affect my newly paid studies.

I can't explain how things went down from there. Now would you still blame me for taking that drastic decision? If I was told that a day would come, where I would be push to the extent of flying over a building, I would just laugh and call it a silly joke. But it was my reality, that joke became part of.my story and ever since then, I've decided never to act on input and rather guide my emotions no matter the circumstances I find myself in.

Thanks for stopping by my post ❤