This is just an experience many freshmen have at the university. Except it has been tinged with a bit of fiction and creativity. It's my way of saying that I AM BACK!
*
It is a sound you cannot describe that stirs you awake. Your heart pounds ferociously against your chest, and you wonder if today is the day you give up the ghost through heart attack or heart failure. The first glimpse of sunshine steals through your balcony window as you rise up from your bed with a groan. The metallic bunked bed hiccups, and your roommate greets that with a spasm of insults. You hiss and veer of into the balcony, where you go occasionally to sightsee.
Through the window which is wet with dirt, you can make out three girls in very fancy attires. For a moment, you dare to dream that you're the only person who has seen them. But your enthusiasm is suddenly defeated by the all-too-familiar chants of "ASHAWO," zipping through the fulcrums of the hall.
A smile escapes your lips as you come to terms with the fact that you aren't the only wanker who dares to dream.
You wonder what is happening when three boys in black underpants with white stripes on the sides trudge down one of the many staircases, toward the girls. The chants grow louder, breathes with more rapture as more gung-hos join in the now ceaseless chants of "ASHAWO!"
The girls are caught in their tracks, they stand frozen as more guys trudge down many a staircase toward them.
A feeling of dread lights up your body as you watch on. You wish you can pull off a Spider-Man stunt and save the girls for what with the gung-hos chanting "ASHAWO" and the topless cretins filing towards the girls, there can only be bad news. You shirk the idea just as quickly as you shirk your shorts after masturbating.
'Spider-Man is but a celebrated coward with with webs,' you think.
The girls are now surrounded all on sides by topless boys in underpants chanting "ASHAWO!" and occasionally daring to close the gap between them. From your, so far, indisturbed view through the balcony window, you can almost swear that one of the girls, a svelte in a very chic pink dress, was shaking in a frenzy. The other two, who looked older and wore oddly bubbly yet refined attires, boasted the look of calm and reserve.
You want to know what will happen to the girls who are trapped in the crosshairs of those gung-hos. You are itching to do something but all you can think of is to veer back into the room and rouse your snoring roommate.
You try to make conversation. But he dismisses you with an insult about your father being an unpaid carpenter.
You shake your head as you walk back into the balcony to witness the ensuing spectacle. You don't know if it is what those guys are possibly going to do to the girls that has you so taut or the fact that your roommate makes conversation at best when he is sleeping.
Your eyes dart across the lawn embanking the open space which is now hosting a spectacle, in hope that someone might come to the rescue of the girls. The only sight you see are bemused faces, rich with anticipation of what will be done to or with the girls. Your gaze is particularly fixated on the relatively younger girl--the svelte with bouncy and lively hair--maybe if you save her from this she will reward you with--
Before you can finish the thought, a guy, who by all indications, appears to be the leader of the sea of boys surrounding the girls, yanks off his underpants revealing nothing but his nakedness in all its glory. The girls shrink into themselves like snails that had been brought unreasonbaly close to fire. The other boys follow suit, and in a fleeting minute in which you can only grit your teeth, all the boys surrounding the girls are naked. The girls can only cup their faces in the hands to keep from seeing the nakedness of one too many boys.
Out of anger more than reason, you try to run off to where the spectacle is unfolding but before your feet catch outside, your roommate grabs you by the hand and with a stern look asks, "where the hell do you think you are going?"
It takes a minute of realization for you to steady yourself. Your breath is calm but your heart tells a different story as it hammers angrily in the clefts of your chest.
"To save, to he-l---p those girls!" you blurt out.
Your roommate wears a look of incredulity. You can swear he wants to ask if you have gone bonkers. He shakes his head, manages a smile and stares at you one last time before letting go of your hand. You set off again but before you can make for the staircase, you hear you roommate's voice: "What you are seeing is a tradition. Don't try to be a hero you fool. You'll be ousted."
Time freezes. For an evanescent second it's just you and your roommate as he tells you all you need to know as a student at the university. When you are knocked back into reality, you walk back into your room, the regret etched on your face is as green as a rainforest. The door mumbles as you turn the lock. You throw yourself onto your bed, and a loud thud explodes. Your roommate mutters something about your face being like a mango as you close your eyes and try to forget that three girls are being initiated into the university.
THANKS FOR READING.