Kingsley Okeke @kingsleychi

We had been enjoying a constant and very reliable electric current for the past few months, and I did not know why calamity decided to visit my region. Just yesterday evening, as I was about to set my bed for sleep, the lights began to shake. They blinked multiple times and then went off completely.

Wondering what was happening, I rushed outside to see if someone was tampering with the wires or if something else had gone wrong. To my surprise, I discovered that not only was our house without power, but also several nearby compounds were in the same situation. Only a few houses still had their lights on.

We all wondered what was wrong. Within the next couple of minutes, the entire vicinity was thrown in darkness. The power had shut off completely, and not a song house had light.
I slept in darkness that night hoping for light but when morning finally arrived, we learned that the electrical system had been damaged and so we contacted the regional manager, hoping for a swift resolution to our plight. He was sounded surprised and replied that they were already working on it, but till now; we haven't seen electricity.

We were having a good conversation over time, and we didn't know how time had already passed. My friend was up on his bed while I stood behind his table trying to write off some things. And then I looked back and realized that the mosquito was already killing him where he lay. I squatted down with my torchlight, and I was able to find about millions of mosquitos encircling his stomach area.

I came to a halt while some made it away. I didn't just go back to the table where I was focusing on a particular task. When I looked back again, he was actually suffocated by a multitude of mosquitos again. They were landing on his nose, his neck. It was like they came to party on him, and if they had their way, some would have even landed on his private parts.

I still got to kill most of them all, slapping my friends body hard to catch a lot in my palm. The heavy sleeper didn't fidget or show sign of life. He was enjoying his sleep.

Kelvin burst out laughing when he saw the laptop I had hoped to buy for a low price opened up on my table. I couldn’t help but join in his laughter. The sight was both amusing and a little sad by the way. This laptop belonged to a friend who was eager to sell it after years of neglect. I thought it might serve me well for some simple tasks in the future, even though it was an old model of an older generation with a mere 2 GB of RAM which is far from being up to do with today’s demanding online tasks.

As I booted it up, the old fan in the laptop wheezed, making strange noises as if fighting its existence. In that moment, I understood what I was I was in for, recognizing the irony of my hopeful purchase.

Yet, after our laughter subsided, I began to reevaluate my decision. I resolved to return the laptop to my friend. There was no way I would buy such a device; it would only serve to make me a laughingstock coupled with embarrassment.

A friend of mine visited me, and while he was on his way, he got some food for himself without getting any for me. We are good friends; we see each other almost every day, we share things together, and we are very cool friends. It’s just that he didn’t get my own plate of food while he was getting his.

He claimed he was hungry and had been in school for several hours from morning until the evening when he came and hadn’t had anything to eat. So, I allowed him to eat, but he finished about half of the plate of food. Then, he received a call from his dad and went outside to answer it. That was when I picked up a new spoon and fed myself with the remaining half.

When he came back in, he was puzzled and then just burst out laughing. He knew he couldn't just eat food while I was there and wouldn’t have any, I no go allow am.

I just maintained my seriousness and continued eating. He cannot intimidate me in my own house. By the way, he was the one who came to visit me; he cannot come here, put me in a tight corner, or make me uncomfortable with the good smell of the food oozing all over the place. I couldn't let that happen. I fed myself and when I was done, got some soft drink for the both of us to complement the mood.

We wanted to buy some fireworks for the New Year. Usually, during the New Year, we always launch fireworks in our compound to make it a memorable time. So, we went for a short market trip to get these fireworks about a day before the New Year celebration. I went there with my friend, he was more like a brother. He's my friend, not in any way related, but we were like brothers though.

We arrived at the market with a budgeted amount, hoping that even if prices had gone up, it wouldn't exceed what we had. We were prepared for the costs, but then we were surprised and shocked when we got to the market and realized it wasn't the case at all.

It was as if we were watching movie when the seller called out an outrageous price for just one firework. I looked him in the eye, watching his lips as he mouthed the amount he intended to sell those fireworks for. I tried to negotiate with him, but he insisted it was a fixed price. At that moment, we couldn't help but think he was trying to scam us; fireworks shouldn't cost that much.

Determined to find a better deal, we trekked down to another shop that sold fireworks and other items. To our shock, the prices there were even higher than what the first seller had stated.
With our budget now stretched, we decided it was time to rethink our plans. Instead of buying four fireworks as we had initially intended, we concluded we would only get two, and even that would leave us with little money left. It was a tough decision, but we wanted to make sure we could still enjoy the celebration in some way.

The village people named the river the Echava River, E-C-H-A-V-A. That's where I went to swim with some of my friends. I think I had swum there once before, maybe twice, but this time I was swimming very freely. I had never heard of any rules governing the rivers or anything of the sort, and it was Christmas Day, so we went there to have fun.

We brought along some drinks, delicious cakes, tasty chops, and some chicken, which we enjoyed along the riverbank. Whenever we came to the riverbank, we took a few bites of our food before diving back into the water. It was truly a fun day, and I cherished the time with my friends.

While swimming, I decided to take a very long swim back to the other end of the river. I started off, and all of a sudden, I heard people shouting. At first, I had no idea they were shouting about me; I thought they were reacting to something else happening by the river. But when I looked up and waved, I realized they were actually telling me to come back. I quickly realized that I had made a mistake and had ventured too far. I never knew I could swim that fast these days; it amazed me all the way. However, I was also filled with fear and uncertainty as I made my way back.

As I swam and noticed that I was getting closer to them, I switched from swimming to walking when I reached the shallow end to meet my friends. When I finally got to them, they grabbed me and exclaimed how that part of the river had a history of drowning people and all sorts of bad news.
But such is never meant for me, God's favourite!

Going down memory lane, I can still remember this very night. I was lying in my sweet bed, but I had chosen not to take my evening bath. My mom always said that taking a bath before bedtime was important, but there was a movie on TV that I found so interesting that I just couldn’t leave the seat. Taking to take my bath will cause me to miss a scene which I wasn't planning to.

As I lay there on my bed dozing soundly, I felt something strange on my skin. I didn’t know what it was, and it scared me a lot. I tried to ignore it, but soon the little stings turned into a swe that made my skin feel itchy. I just couldn’t help it so I started to wail loudly.

I called for my mom, who hurried into my room. I told her about the stings and how I thought there might be a little ant or bug in my bed and pointed to the blanket, tears streaming down my face. As I waited for her to find the evil ant while I suffered the sting pains.

My mom gently lifted the blanket and looked around my bed, but we couldn’t find any ants or bugs anywhere. Maybe they were hiding really well, or maybe it was because I didn’t take my bath and the dirt got mixed up with my sweat. I don’t know, but it was such a long night, very scary and painful all together.

As the minutes turned into hours, I kept crying. My mom sat with me, rubbing my back to help me feel better and I could still remember sleep creeping back on me as my wail reduced and died out as I entered the wonderland. Till date, I do not miss taking my bath all evenings.

I have known Chinedu quite well since childhood. We even went to the same secondary school, and all the time that I knew him, he had no beard not even a strand of hair under his chin. We all knew this until he traveled three months ago. Then, upon returning last week, he looked so grown up and manly, with a full grown beard that even looked wild. It was as if he was born with it.

I asked him for the secret behind those hairs, those beards under his chin, but he wouldn’t say. He claimed he was already growing them before he left, but I knew within myself that he wasn’t growing those hairs before he left.

It was until yesterday, when I visited him after he took his bath, that I discovered the truth. I was alone in his room when I saw the kit. It was an oil kit that contained a hair booster, a beard booster, whatever. When he came out from the bedroom and saw me handling the oil containers, he let out a laugh, realizing I had already caught him. But before he could make any statement to justify his reasons or whatever, I had already scrubbed a good amount of the oil in my hand and dabbed it on my chin too. Who doesn't want that kind of beard