Chapter 7: Welcome to Lagos

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. How they had gotten aware of my whereabouts was what I didn't understand.

I couldn't let them catch up with me, I'd be thrown in jail.

"There she is. Don't let her get away. Catch her, catch her! She must be made to pay for the damages. How can she burn up our entire property and our children almost died. Don't let her get away!!" They yelled.

There were about 4-7 people chasing me.

I saw a narrow road and took that route leaving them to follow the other direction.

When their footsteps had quieted down, I relaxed and sat on the floor gasping for air. I felt my lungs will be ripped apart, I'd never run so hurriedly in my entire life. My heart was beating fast and I had this throbbing headache, I stank of sweat. I needed to drink water and have a cold bath. I was also very hungry but the thought of food made me shiver.

It was food that had gotten me into this big mess!

I shook my head. I don't want food, water will be just fine.

"There she is!!" A voice yelled.

I hadn't imagined that they'll find me.

I mean, didn't they just follow the other direction??

I struggled to get on my feet but fell back. I was really tired and I couldn't move.

They got to me and grabbed my arms. "Let me go, please," I begged.

"You're coming with us." One of the men said.

"Please, please, let me go."

"Let me go!"

I felt someone tapping my arm.

"Let me go," I muttered.

"Hello?" I heard.

"Please, please, I'm pleading. I have no......."

The tapping on my arm became more rapid and I was forced to open my eyes with so much urgency.

I looked around me.

It was.......it was a dream?

"Oh my goodness!" I exclaimed.

I was so relieved.

I still felt hungry, tired, anxious and had a terrible headache. I was weak all over, I felt the exact same way I had felt in my dream.

"What are you doing here?" The voice of the person who woke me up asked.

It was a sweet female voice.

I turned to face her.

Well, she wasn't as beautiful as her voice sounded but she looked pretty much amazing.

She was tall, dark in complexion and had a beautiful set of white teeth. She even had a gap in between her two front teeth and a warm smile.

She wore a skimpy dress and packed up her braided hair in this doughnut style. She had a complete stature of a model with her flat tummy and her moderate curves.

She was okay, very okay.

"Are you done staring?" She asked, smiling.

Why does everyone with diastema enjoy smiling?

I frowned.

"I know you're wondering why people with gap tooth enjoy smiling." She laughed.

Eeeech... She's a witch.

"I'm not a witch," She said, looking annoyed.

"I didn't say that out loud. If you're not a witch, how were you able to know my thoughts?" I retorted.

"Let's just say I'm good at reading facial expressions so you should try to conceal your emotions when you're around me," She said, still with her nice smile.

"I still believe you're a witch though," I said, sizing her up in my eyes from head to toe.

She looked amused. "Believe whatever you want to. It's a free world. My name is Rita by the way, I'm 19. I was born and raised in Jos but I'm presently on my way to Lagos. I'm going there to stay with my dad's sister and attend tutorial classes over there. I want to study Theatre and performing arts and I'm an aspirant of  the University of Lagos," She said.

That was when I noticed the luggage in her hand.

She already had her life planned out and here I was, with no direction in life.

She lifted her chin, motioning me to speak up and introduce myself.

What was there to introduce?

Should I tell her I had just lost my mother and had no family and was probably wanted for setting my apartment on fire? Of course not! She'll just give me a sorry face and I most definitely didn't want to be pitied.

"I'm Cassandra, I'm 18 and I was born and raised in Jos too. I.... I just lost my mum......"

"Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry," She sympathized. "So you're going to stay with a relative in Lagos?" She asked, looking really concerned.

I hadn't thought of going to Lagos but hey, Lagos was a big city were anything could happen. I may even get to finally lead my dream life. Not like I had a dream life, I had never given much thought concerning my future but my life could become better, I thought.

I was still lost in my thoughts when she spoke up again.

"Cassie, I'm asking you a question."

Cassie, well, that's the first time someone's calling me Cassie. It's always been Sandra.

She probed further. "Are you going to Lagos? I'd really be happy if you say yes. At least, the journey would be interesting with someone to chat with," She said.

"Yes.... I'm actually.... I'm going to Lagos. I... I have an... Uncle? Yes, an uncle there," I stuttered.

"Good. Let's go to the park. That's where you're headed, right?" She asked.

"Yeah."

I checked my phone and saw the time was 6:15am.

"Let's go," I said.

I took my polythene bag and purse from under the chair and at my beckon, we started walking towards the motor park.

After I had left my apartment which was on fire, I had ran as far as my legs could take me. I had settled a little bit close to the motor park in my area. There was a shade there and a long stool and it was safe so that's where I had slept till Rita woke me up.

"I was meaning to ask you something," She said calmly.

"What?" I asked.

"Why were you sleeping over there?" She asked.

This was a tough one.

"Ummm.... My...my mum... My..."

"Yes, your mum," She said, cutting me off with a glint of doubt in her eyes.

"Yeah... The house is still filled with my mum's memories. I can hardly sleep over there and......"

She interrupted again.

"Oh my goodness. So you didn't want to be so tired that you can't stand up and make it to the park so you wanted to sleep close to it?" She asked.

I came to the realisation that she was definitely not a witch because she kept making wrong assumptions, and it was a good thing that she kept jumping into conclusions and making up excuses for me.

"Yeah, you're right," I said and smiled.

We later got to the park. I paid for my fare of #10,000 and excused myself and went to their restroom where I freshened up.

When I was done, I found Rita waiting for me with a bunch of snacks in her hands.

"You look better off now," She smirked.

"Yeah, thanks."

She offered me snacks. I didn't refuse, I was really grateful.

Around 7:00am, we were ushered into the bus and after a passenger said the prayers, the bus sped off.

Rita and I chatted along the way. She was a really nice person and fun to be with and she was also a snide person. She was a pro at making jest of people and even though my mum never condoned such act when she was alive, I laughed. Gosh! She was so funny and jovial. She was the kind of person that could make you laugh even at a funeral.

Soon, we had slept off. We later woke up and alighted from the bus to stretch out our body as we still had a long journey ahead of us.

Rita convinced me to buy snacks rather than food, she had said if we ate food that we were not sure of the ingredients used in preparing it, we may end up purging or have a runny stomach.

I had never travelled nor left our home before and I really wanted to eat food not snacks but I saw reasons with what she had said and that was why I settled for snacks.

We later got back on the bus, chatted, laughed and slept again. People even mistook us for sisters.

"Eko ò. Eko ò ni bàje." kept ringing in my ears.

I woke up with a start.

I yawned and stretched my arms.

"Ekonibaje?" I said aloud, wondering why they made the statement and were happy.

An old woman tapped my arm from the back seat.

What does she want? I wondered.

She smiled. "It's eko ò ni bàje." She corrected.

I smiled back. "Thanks. But what does it mean?"

"Lagos will not be ruined," She replied.

Wow! That was nice. They really liked Lagos. "But why are people saying that all of a sudden?"

She pointed to the left direction.

I looked towards where she pointed and lo, there was a big sign board which read: "WELCOME TO LAGOS"

No wonder the passengers were excited. We'd finally gotten to our destination.

I told the old woman "thanks."

I happily tapped Rita and she woke up. She rubbed her eyes and looked around. "Oh, we're in Lagos," She said.

"You don't look surprised. I mean, we're finally in the big city where anything can happen," I said with glee.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I've been here for about four times. Believe me, Lagos is not what you think it is. Bury that stereotype you have that Lagos is a big city of possibilities," She said.

I looked at her with a whole mixture of the feelings of surprise, doubt, disappointment.

"Are you surprised?" She laughed.

"Okay. Let me not scare you. You can be rich and powerful in Lagos but you have to either come from a wealthy family or hustle. My dear, if you don't hustle in Lagos, you're on your own. No one can help you here. You must help yourself. And Lagos has the ghetto parts too. They'll only show you the beautiful places on TV and in pictures," She said, looking really sure of what she has said.

"Whatever. I'm sure everything will be just fine," I said, brushing aside negative thoughts.

"Where exactly are you going in Lagos?" She asked.

She just dropped a bombshell.

How do I wriggle my way out of this now? I pondered.

"I'm going to..... you know... umm...you may not know there. Where are you going to?" I asked.

"You're sounding funny. Well, I'm going to Iyana Ipaja," She said

.

"Okay then," I mumbled.

"Are you sure you know where you're headed to? Why don't you check the address you have?" She asked.

"Uggggh... This girl should leave me alone," I muttered.

"What did you say?" She asked.

"Nothing. Let me check."

I took out my phone and acted like I was going through the address in my inbox. What was I to tell her now? A thought crossed my mind.

"Oh my goodness. Iyana Ipaja. I'm to go to Iyana Ipaja then he'll pick me up," I exclaimed faking happiness.

"Really? That's great. We're really made for each other," She said.

"Yeah, sure." I agreed.

I was happy I could get away again.

We were stuck in traffic for over 2 hours before we landed in Iyana Ipaja.

We alighted from the bus and Rita said something that shocked me.

"I know you're lying about some things but I get you can't just tell a stranger everything about you."

She's a witch.

"And no, I'm not a witch." She said and smiled exposing her beautiful diastema again.

She collected my phone and inputed her number. "Call me if you need anything. Bye dear."

She said, flagged down a cab, told him the location and winked at me.

"Bye." I said to her.

She walked back, gave me a tight hug, got into the cab and it zoomed off.

She had known I was lying but she played along. She was a really nice person.

Tears slid down my eyes.

Gosh! Why was I crying? I didn't even know her. I wiped my tears but they came rushing down again. I was already missing Rita. I'd never felt this lonely in my entire life.

A huge built guy bumped into me.

"Hey, watch where you're going," He said in a dry tone and walked off.

I sighed, raised my phone and was about saving Rita's number when I discovered that the money I was holding was no longer with me.

I understood immediately.

I turned around and saw the guy making away with it.

Rita never told me they stole in Lagos.

"Hey, stop! Thief!!" I yelled and ran as quickly as I could to stop him.