THE ADVENTURE OF A RICH GIRL....2 sides of a coin

I woke up to a cup of hot coffee and cookies as usual, the clothes I left scattered have been arranged and a dress have been selected and pressed for me to wear for the day's outing. Mum and dad already left for the airport, she made a list of places am to go to for the three days they would be out of the country to avoid me being bored. Last night she came to my room several times to be sure I would be fine and promised to top the money she already gave me with 100k. I scanned through the list again and flinged it to the far corner of my bed,am 21 for crying out loud,am sick and tired of this torture they call life,my only offence is being the only child of my bloody rich parents. Am not aloud to work, I rarely make decisions myself,my friends are scanned, am over pampered,was forced to attend a private university,can't source for money myself, all it takes for me to have anything is to name it,my life is a sugared hell. To my parents they want the best for me,my happiness is their sole aim but am not sure if I have ever been truly happy, they don't seem to hear me when I try to pass the message.

I went to the toilet, flushed and sat on the toilet seat,I need to do something different within this three days,I want to see the other side of life,I want to feel what it's like to be self dependent,something other than the comfort of this mansion.I couldn't think of anything, I went online and opened my Facebook......yes!!!!!

An idea popped in,I was super excited, I turned on the heater and soaked myself in the bathtub,after bathing, I ran down to meet the nanny. It took me an hour to convince her to bend to my plan,I had to bribe her. She finally reasoned with me,helped me get dressed like a daughter of an average Nigerian man and gave me simple clothings I could use to achieve my aim.

I took some other things I needed and left the house happily, hoping things doesn't turn out bad.

I took a cab to University of Nigeria Nsukka, strolled around the school until I was exhausted and looked pitiful,then I went and sat in front of a Catholic church within the school. Few people greeted me and asked if I was fine but didn't really give me enough time to respond. It was getting dark, I became really tensed and regretted my act, it's true what dad always say,no one really cares about anybody outside their family, so what if truly I was to write postume tomorrow and am stranded,this could have been my fate. I pulled out my phone to call my driver,a lady coming out from the church stopped and approached me, I quickly hid the phone.
"hi,are you OK,I saw you here when I was going in and still met you here,you don't look familiar" she said.
Both my acting skill and the tension in me made me cry out. She came closer and held my hand
"feel free to talk to me,I could be of help" she pleaded.
I wiped my crocodile tears and looked up, "my postume is 7am tomorrow and I don't have where to pass the night, I came to check my centre only to find out that the time was moved from 1pm to 7am,my house is very far from here and I can't make it from home,my parents asked me to find somewhere to pass the night but I don't know what to do."
She looked at me with pity then stared at her watch "you where wrong to just seat here, the church admitted some set of people until 6pm, what do we do now?"
I made a tiny sob sound without a reply.
"have you had anything to eat?" she asked.
"I ate before I left home" I replied truthfully, I couldn't find anything to eat there cause I wasn't used to eating out.
"This is serious, come with me" she said.
My heart started to beat, didn't know if it would be rude to ask where since I was playing the needy role,there was a lot of what if's ringing in my head.
"I live outside school, my hostel is not far from here. My roommate stays out most nights to read with her friends,you can pass the night with me but let's get you something to eat first, I want to prepare soup and it might take time" she said,she must have read my mind through my facial expression.
"Am not really hungry" I lied,I can manage and I have tea and biscuit with me.

When we got to the house, I took the tea and biscuit,then she gave me water she fetched from the well to have my bath. The water was too cold and the bathroom irritated me,there was no light, the room was hot,I wasn't sure I will make it alive the next day if they didn't restore the light. From the look at the almost empty room and setting of the house,it was obvious they couldn't afford a generator. She put on a rechargeable lamp for me to read busted!!! I wasn't with any material to read,I told her I forgot it at home,she asked for my field of study,scanned through her phone and gave me postume past questions and solutions to go through while she cooked. The phone screen was small and broken,I had to strain my eyes. Is this how she read her soft copy materials? As if reading itself is not hectic enough. She doesn't have a laptop while I had extra one I use to watch movie at home.

A lady came into the room, she didn't exchange greetings with me or Doris,her face was like someone ready to commit murder, she changed her clothes and kept hissing in the process. As she was leaving,she murmured loud enough for me to hear "you don't have money to complete for the rent but you can cook, it's me that don't know how to eat na,let this rent expire let me leave,will see how you will find father Christmas that will be paying for you,be forming holier than thou, as if others are not surviving with what they got." she banged the door and left. I tried to pretend I didn't hear everything but the sob from the kitchen didn't let me. I pressured her to confide in me and she opened up on how she couldn't pay her part of the house rent and some other needs because of financial crisis at home. I was able to cheer her up and made her give me her account number, after telling her a false story of how I got help from someone I didn't know after praying to God in the blessed sacrament with my account number. We finished up the cooking together and I got to learn some of the procedures involved in preparing egusi soup.There was no meat to spice up the soup and the eba seemed like something we begged for.

I was still hoping that they would restore the light and when I couldn't bear it any further, I asked her when they would bring the light. She said the light was usually shared,they gave them light last night so today is the turn of those that live in the next street. There were fearful mosquitoes, those type that derive pleasure in singing in ones ear,the bed was too flat,no pillow, I was sweating all over,this was the real hell. Before I embarked on my journey, I planned to tell more lies to extend my stay and adventure but this was the peak of it,if I can make it alive tomorrow, it's the end of it. I couldn't even use the toilet, the moment I peeped at it,the faeces went back to wherever it was coming from.

Phewwwww... I made it in one piece by morning,I couldn't wait to get home, to have a decent dish, a refreshing and warm bath,use the toilet,take a well deserving nap and much more,I owe my parents kisses when they return. She was still sleeping after I got dressed,she already described my way to my exam centre from her house last night. I wrote a thank you note before taking my leave. Once I got out of site, I called my nanny and driver and in 30minuites time,my driver came with my 6 months old LG laptop packaged with my documents removed. I gave him the address of her house to deliver it to her with instruction not to wait behind or answer any question. When he returned to the car, I transfered 150k out of the money mum gave me to take care of myself and have fun while they where away. Doris doesn't have my contact and might never see me again,although the adventure was tedious I felt fulfilled by making someone's life better and I felt the urge to do more.

Getting home was a big relief ,home sweet home.

Photo credit:Nnebuo Jane Chinelo
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