ROASTED

Thelma was the happiest person on earth within those 1-2 milliseconds when the words came out from Dr. Iye's and landed into Thelma's waiting ears.
She had not been that happy in a very long while. Just the day before, she had taken garri and salt. The garri was very little. But she had poured water and let it swell and poured more water and let it swell again. To worsen issues, she used water from the tap, the tap from which came the most unclean water ever.

"Baba Ibeji go kill us with dirty water for this compound but him go die first.", her neighbour, Mama Ben had said angrily once.

Drinking garri was definitely not the cause of the depression she had experienced. Of course, she had seen ups and downs as a student. It had never been all rosy. But this time, there was more.

Last week, she had received a call from home. "Oh my God! Not now!". Her father's shop was gutted in fire and her father as a result had a heart attack. There was no money to even treat him properly. She hadn't paid her fees too. She was extremely sad, no, frustrated is the word.

She lived each day without hope. To her, living had become a deadly game and she was on the losing side.

Now, this news from Dr. Iye? Wow! She first stood in shock. Happiness weakened her limbs and she almost fell.
"Miss Thelma, congratulations again. When you get back from the US please don't forget to empower others too."

She had just gotten the US Liberty House Undergraduate Talent Hunt winner's price of 35million naira, a car, and scholarship abroad. Wawuu!

She jumped and hugged Dr. Iye, the man she had so detested; the head of her department . But then, it didn't matter to her.

Seven hours later, as she laid on her bed, her phone plugged to the socket near her bed, she chatted up her best friend, Tina.

'I've not stopped smiling since I was told!' , she typed.

Tina had not replied. 'Tina's network is always bad.', Thelma said and gradually got lost in the thought of a brand new life. Amerriiicccaaa! She slept off soon.

The next thing Thelma consciously heard was a loud "Gbuuuuummm! "
But her consciousness went off again. Her head was very hot. She felt her head catch fire and her eyes soon closed in pain as neighbours banged the door open. But alas, she was dead. Roasted.

Never keep your phone(s) plugged to a socket and sleep off near it.
#fiction