On my way to the hostel, I met two senior girls who were
also walking to the hostel a stone throw away from me.
“Junior babe! Junior babe!” one of them called out.
I looked at them to see who they were calling and realized
it was me so I walked up to them and greeted them.
When I did, they laughed and insisted I say hi or hello. I
didn’t know why the seniors had a big deal with good
afternoon or good evening. I guess to them it was their
way of acting posh like Anabelle once said.
They asked if I was new in the hostel and I told them I
had just arrived that afternoon. They also said they had
seen me with senior Daniel and asked if I knew him and
all. I told them that he was my school father and their
face seemed to brighten up when I mentioned it.
“So he is your school father. What’s your name?” one of
them said.
“Meso,” I replied.
“Okay Meso, my name is Onome and this is Joy,” the
same senior girl said as she pointed at the other girl.
“Okay senior Onome and senior Joy,” I replied.
“No! No! No! You don’t need to call me senior. Just call
me by my name, Onome. From now on, I will take care of
you as my school daughter. If you need anything, food,
money, advice. Just meet me okay? My room is room
seventeen. So you know where to find me now. Okay?”
senior Onome said.
“Yes senior…I mean Onome.”
“Good, now you can go to the hostel, freshen up and
prepare for lights out. The senior prefect girl will be
ringing the bell for that soon”
“Hmmn Onome, the school mother. You know we also
observe lights out too, we better start going to. I don’t
want senior Ada to start her madness this night.” I heard
senior Joy, the other senior girl say while I was walking
away from them.
When I got to the hostel, I noticed that most of my mates
were in their towels, some already in their night gowns. I
guessed they were all preparing for lights out. I asked
Anabelle what time they observed lights out and she told
me the prefects were to ring the bell by 10:00pm every
night. I asked if there would be prep time (an hour of the
day where all students are supposed to stay together and
study without any form of noise) before then and she
said there wouldn’t be because it was the first week of
school so I also took a shower before changing into my
nighties.
An hour later, the bell was rung for lights out. Demilade,
one of my roommates stood up from her bed and went to
put out the lights while every other person cuddled up in
their beds. A few minutes later, a senior came into the
room and when she saw that everyone was on their beds,
she left the room, closing the door behind her.
The next day, very early in the morning, I heard the bell
ring for some time and immediately all my mates who
were sleeping stood up from their beds, rushing out and
yelling, “I’m after you! I’m after you!”. As confused as I
was, I decided to ask Anabelle why they were yelling.
“You know we take turns to have our bath and the lines
for each of the bathroom are usually long. That’s why we
keep spaces oo because sometimes some seniors even
come to bounce us so that they’ll have their bath first,”
Anabelle said.
That was when I understood the reason for the yelling. I
asked Anabelle if she had found space to take her bath
and she said she already kept spaces for both of us.
I thanked her and hugged her dearly.
Meanwhile, I decided to get my uniform and shoes ready.
While doing so, I remembered the very day my uncle took
advantage of me and tears began to roll down. I didn’t
want anyone in the room to see my tears so I tried hiding
my face.
Anabelle who left the room a few minutes ago came
inside again. She walked up straight to me and I tried to
wipe my tears as quickly as I could but Anabelle caught
up with me. She looked at my eyes and saw that I had
been crying. She said she was going to tell me to go and
have my bath as I was after the person that was in the
bathroom at the moment but she met me crying instead.
She asked why I had been crying and I remember saying I
was missing home. I didn’t want to tell anyone about
uncle cheatmaster and I. I was too embarrassed and I
didn’t want people to think uncle cheatmaster was a bad
person. How stupid I was. Anabelle consoled me and
tried to make me laugh. She told me it was normal to
miss home and I shouldn’t be crying because I just got to
the hostel the day before.
She said it would be okay and even though deep down I
wasn’t okay and didn’t think it would be, I nodded at her
statement. I wasn’t okay for a reason completely different
from what she thought but I told her I was fine and
thanked herAnabelle had always been like a young
mother even from primary school. We had been very
close, sometimes people mistook us as siblings because
we did almost everything together. I told her almost all
my secrets but this was one secret I didn’t think I had the
guts to spill.
Later that morning, the bell was rung for a morning
devotion which was conducted by the chapel prefect boy
and girl, and after we had our breakfast. Throughout that
day, I tried as much as possible to forget everything that
was in the past, but I guess as much as I tried to forget,
the sicker I got. I just wasn’t feeling fine.
To be continued…..
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