THE ADVENTURES OF TOLU
EPISODE 7
"You this unfortunate child! You're leaving my house today!" It appeared like a joke, and there was no way I was going to believe that it was serious until my dad came to me, pulled me by my clothes and started dragging me out. I was just going to be 17. He dragged me outside the gate and stormed in to get my things. I could not even take my phone. It was quite embarrassing for my own father to treat me that way. Aunty Rebecca went in, took my clothes and brought them. I was so surprised as Aunty Rebecca threw the clothes at me. It occured to me right there and then that it was all Aunty Rebecca's doing.
I was filled with rage as I said with tears rolling down my cheeks, being beaten by the rain at the same time"Rebecca! You will surely pay for this, whatever it is that you've done that made my father this way, it's not going to work for long! Your children will pay for this! We will see again Rebecca! We shall see!" She was quite angry and surprised that I called her by her name. She looked at my dad and said "Honey, did you see that, did you hear what he just said. He just cursed me!" My dad looked at me with so much anger "Oh! You think you can curse my wife and get away with it? You know what, I bought those clothes with my money, and guess what, you are not going with any of those clothes!" He came towards me to snatch the box of clothes from me. I tried to drag it, but he overpowered me and took it from me. I was bewildered. It was a mixed feeling of anger, sadness and hatred. I turned to Rebecca and uttered my last words: "Rebecca! We shall see!" I started my journey with just a short, a round neck shirt and a pair of slippers.
It was around 8:30PM I walked in the rain, the raindrops mixed the tear drops coming down uncontrollably. I walked as I was thinking about what to do and where to go. I had nobody to go to. I thought about going to Oyinade's house to explain things to her and her parents and see if I could get some help, but the decision appeared quite foolish to me. "How will I explain to anyone on earth that my dad sent me out of the house? Who will understand what has been going on unless the person experiences the whole situation? I will have to leave for a place where nobody knows me. I just have to struggle and make myself somebody in life, then I will come back and make Rebecca pay for everything she has done." I thought to myself as I walked in the rain. The thought of traveling out of ibadan came to my mind and that place just happened to be Lagos. "I'm going to Lagos! That's a place where nobody knows me". I said to myself.
I checked my pocket and fortunately, I found 200 Naira. The two hundred Naira, as at then, could not take me to Lagos, but by any means possible, I was determined to get to Lagos no matter what. After walking for almost an hour, thinking about what step I was going to take. It occurred to me that Lagos was the 'most appropriate option'. I boarded a bus to a bus-stop called 'Challenge' for hundred Naira. This bus stop happen to be the 'embassy' in Ibadan. When I got to Challenge, I was totally stranded because all I had with me was hundred Naira. There was no place to rest my head, so I just sat on the pavement of a petrol station nearby. Though it was very late in the night, but buses were still moving and commercial activities were still going on I couldn't sleep all through the night as i kept thinking about how I was going to get to Lagos with my financial constraint and all the surprises that came up in my life...
What next? Find out in Episode 8.
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