CHAPTER 2

A year ago, I used to live in Lagos state. Abuja is the capital of Nigerian, but Lagos state is the capital of enjoyment here in Nigeria. Almost all the top celebrities, politicians, big boys and girls are based there. When we talk about lagos we are talking about the best clubs, schools, buildings, beaches, recreational resorts, hotels, fun houses e.t.c..

I lived there with my parents who let me do anything and go anywhere at anytime I wanted. My parents lack of funds wasn't a problem on my side because aunt Esther was always there to provide the money I needed. I went to the best school, I had lots of friends, I wore expensive cloths, ate good foods, used one of the best phones and hanged out with whoever, whenever and where ever I wanted.

All my spending and luxurious living were sponsored by aunt Esther. Aunt Esther was my mother's elder sister, she is married to a top business man in Abuja and she is also a business woman herself. Her husband lives in Abuja but she lived at Lagos with us, tho she goes to visit him as often as She could.

Money was never a problem to her, she wasn't the stingy type of aunt, all I had to do was ask for what I wanted and she would provide.

Unfortunately bad luck stroke my family.

I came back from school one afternoon to meet our house burnt to the ground. I was told my mami and papa burnt down with the house. The fire was caused leakage from the gas in the kitchen.

It was a dark moment for I and my remaining family members which where Aunt Esther and sister Susan. Sister Susan residented in Bayelsa with her husband Mike.On hearing of the unfortunate faith of our parents, herself and her husband had to come to Lagos.

If it was up to Sister Susan she would have taken the bodies of our parents back to our state of origin which was Bayelsa state but aunt Esther refused. As usual, they both got into a serious argument that didn't ended well, it only helped in increasing the space of hatred in their heart's for each other.

Sister Susan got really upset and refused to stay for the burials since aunt Esther had refused to take the bodies back to Bayelsa. Like who on this planet called earth gets angry to the extend of not staying to bury his/her parents?

She forcefully took me along with her, she didn't want me to stay with aunt Esther, she claimed I was now her responsibility. Like she could take care of my needs. I was brought to this frustrating state and home.

Yeah I knew I was from here but it was nothing compared to Lagos. Life was the direct opposite of my life in Lagos. On Several occasions I had made it known to the both of them that I didn't want to stay here in Bayelsa but they had always refused to take me back.

I then decided I would make life unbearable for them till they would have no choice but to return me.

I made sure I was enrolled in one of the best schools here. My fees were almost all of uncle Mike's monthly salary and sister wasn't working so uncle had to start borrowing money from people to keep the house running. I made two new friend at my new school.

One of them introduced me to her family and luckily for me her dad Mr.Ayo picked interest in me. I started going out with him in return he provided anything I wanted. I had to keep up the big girl life one way or the other.

On one of my outing with Mr.Ayo, uncle Mike caught us together. Big mouthed uncle Mike couldn't keep shut, he reported me to sister and tried beating me up when I had returned home that day but sister didn't allow him. She didn't believe him either, she didn't believe her little sister had started seeing a man, a married man at that.

She had thought he was just making up stories because he was tired of taking care of me. This was the beginning of their problems, they fought almost every day at the slightest opportunity.

To spice up my plan, I made Mr.Ayo who was a friend to the owner of the bakery uncle Mike worked to help make his life at work miserable. All these contributed to uncle Mike's frustration. They were just too much for him to have handle.

"All he ever did was love and care for you, he didn't deserve to die", Another of the tiny voices said fadedly.

"All I wanted was for them to return me. I never wanted him to die" I replied weakly. I felt sick and bitter, I hated myself. Who would had thought I was capable of killing my own sister's husband.

All I wanted was crying out all the grief and pain I was feeling and asking God to heal me but something in me kept telling me "Big girls don't cry".

I hated my weak self for acting strong!!!!!!!!

I found myself walking down the hallway of the prestigious Rainbow High Academy.

It was a week after uncle Mike had kicked the bucket. I had stayed at home all through the previous week to be of assistance to Sister Susan during her time of grief but....I eventually got tired of her daily display of emotional drama. I had no choice but to resume school at all cost, so as to get away from it.

As I walked down the hallway of Diamond hall towards that of Rubby hall where my locker was located, I noticed the hallway was extremely quiet and less crowded than usual.

It was a Monday morning. A MONDAY MORNING!!!. Royals(Well every student of Rainbow High Academy are reffered to as Royals) are expected to be crowded at every corner of the hallway. Taking pictures, discussing on how they spent their weekends, where they went to, who visited , what they bought during the weekend and so on. It was like a tradition to not be broken here at Rainbow High. Surely something must had happened to have kept Royals off the hallway on a Monday morning.