JUNIOR

You had been vaping on the balcony to forget what the doctor told you this morning.

"Desmond, what did you eat?" Flashback points to your memory projecting on a cloud, "You almost died, we had to pump your stomach." The doctor told you as you were laughing and crying at the same time.

"Did your dad travel again?" the doctor asked, and you laid down and turned away from him. "I can't reach him. I can't keep accepting you if you keep coming back for the same reason. Today we had to pump your stomach!" He came towards the side of the bed you were facing. "Desmond! Since last year you've had food poisoning over 18 times, that's not normal. You could die."

"Really!" you replied laughing and crying. "Don't worry I'll make sure to come here if I feel any symptoms of death", you turn away again and say to yourself, "You're the only one that cares enough to save me."

Flashback begins to fade, as it shows you getting an uber from the hospital straight to Magodo. You didn't want the Ego awards planning team to wreck your house.

Leaning forward on the lounge chair, you take the deepest breath as if you are sucking in all your problems. You had your mom's beats headphones blocking your ears with some rap music you could barely enjoy because your reality is worse than the songs.

You almost died!

This time it was an overdose of malaria medicine in your bitter leaf soup. Your mind begins to wonder between when it was poisoned and who committed the act this time. Was it the cook or the house girl or did she do it herself? Your thoughts float about while you walk around the balcony, staring at the people downstairs awaiting their Ubers.

You start considering buying a personal microwave with some of the money you'll get from the Ego Awards team. If you had one in your room, yesterday might not repeat itself. You become certain that "Getting a microwave was the solution!"

Nevertheless, you are glad you agreed to host this party. It was a much-needed excuse to leave the main house and thanks to Chinonye the cash from ticket sales gave you extra pocket money. Plus, you know if you had seen your family today you will be tempted to move out and next time it would be assassins instead of poison.

You prefer poison. You take another exhale of the joint you had been smoking as you pace around the balcony. "Mad thing!" you exclaim, unsure of what you are seeing while staring into the room window.

Normally the weed kept you sane. But this time, you are hallucinating that creatures, wolf-like monsters are on the bed attacking something in the bedroom. Still, at this moment seeing whatever you are seeing is better than remembering how you bought and warmed the bitter leaf soup, only to pass out on your way to the barber's shop. Raking your fingers into your uncombed mini afro, your teary eyes gazed into the window again.

"Shit…" you say looking at the room through the window. You had not hallucinated like this before. You see a ghost-like creature with his head wrongly positioned standing beside the door, some type of dwarfed monster hiding in the bathroom, while the wolves are still on the bed, doing God knows what. The whole thing seemed so real. You make a mental note to call a pastor to do an exorcism on this house and switch to a new weed dealer.

You couldn't run mad yet, you warn yourself wiping your tears. You couldn't lose this house. It was the only one that your mom owned on the mainland and since So-Pretty hated the mainland, by default it is your favourite place. Plus, this was the last place were happy. So you turn away, refusing to see that crazy thing. You return to your seat and begin drawing.

You sit there till sunrise drawing on your tablet. The drawing is another portrait of your mom, but you couldn't finish it because you couldn't remember what her smile looks like. You had long run out of weed and probably sobered up before the first golden rays points at you.

Looking at yourself in your tablet's black mirror, you notice your overgrown low cut, your early morning chin fuzz. The camera shows your red eyes from crying or lack of sleep or both. The sad sand-dusted face, that stares at your 16-year-old pale brown skin. You look worn from nightmares that happen while you are awake and asleep.

Sleep and food are what you need so you leave the balcony. Your throat still feels a bit sore so you decide to sleep first.

Just as you are about to dive into the bed, you notice a girl is sleeping there. She was a junior, you recognised her from school, fair and pretty. Unlike your father's wife, the girl isn't yellow fever fair, the kind they sold in stores. She is a natural and that fact brought a smile to your lips.

You let her have your favourite room. Before leaving, you lift her head, put a pillow under it and cover her fully with a blanket. Then you pull out two bottles of water from the fridge one for you and one for the sleeping girl. You leave it on the table and leave the room to hunt down another room to sleep in.

While you are sleeping one of your house staff, a cleaner finds the unconscious girl. The first cleaner tries to wake her while another cleaner answers the girl's mother's phone call, "Good morning Ma", the second cleaner replies, "Sorry Ma your daughter isn't waking up". She doesn't wake up no matter how much they shake her. The house staff rush her to the hospital while you sleep soundly.

"The girl's body was a mess", the Cook says pitifully to the maids. Retelling everything she had seen as she took up your breakfast. "I went up to give small Oga his food and instead I saw them shaking the poor girl, I think they -" The cook's voice goes from high to low as she is about to tell the maids her personal opinion. She goes silent the moment she hears footsteps.

Your sleep-deprived, still sobering eyes hadn't noticed all those facts. You hadn't seen the small oddities like the miss-buttoned top, the bra dangling off the bed or the stains on the bed sheets and her clothes.

The cleaners that took the girl to the hospital are back. "That small girl was drugged, and - they finished her", the first cleaner interrupts the group of house staff gossiping about what happened earlier this morning, he had been overhearing their conversations on his way to the kitchen.

"Do you think small Oga did it?" the cook asks.

"The Junior I know wouldn't, but you know how boys are when they catch Konji", says the first cleaner. "Anything is possible."

…