Your Simple Life Is One Of Your Greatest Gifts

Yes, you cannot buy Maryland biscuit but at least, you're not pushing cocaine.

You’re home. 

Lagos is going through the worst heat wave it has ever seen.

It’s a public holiday - One of the few things you’re grateful for in this hellish country is that even though our Naira may be falling everyday like Ivory Coast players, we do not hesitate to celebrate everything with a day off work.

There’s light but your fan is not whirring as fast as you’d like it to. You should get that fixed but you know it’s too expensive, so you continue fanning yourself with a paper, as you curse at the fan.

You pick up your phone and scroll through twitter. Someone is complaining about how ridiculously expensive food is. One person says they cannot afford Maryland cookies again and you chuckle. You stopped being able to afford that months ago. You thought you’d never survive it but look at you today, surviving.

You come across a tweet talking about VeeKee James’ wedding. You click on the video and see the couple sharing a beautiful smile. You hiss and close it. It reminds you that it’s been 4 years since you had someone in your life. Your ex left and never looked back. On some days, you’re almost sure you imagined that relationship. As you continue scrolling, you see where they are dragging Hauwa for an opinion she tweeted. You add to the ratio because that girl annoys you anyway.

You’ve had enough of Twitter. You climb off your bed and saunter to the other end of your room to get some water. As you squeeze that sachet water, you’re so grateful that your mum branched to drop a bag of pure-water in your house. She’s the only one who checks in after you randomly decided to leave home, two years ago, to live alone in a one-bedroom apartment in Mushin.

You turn on your phone again and tap on the Instagram icon. You see videos of your friends waving vodka shots in the air. Blue lights, loud music, wide smiles, sexy grind. They’re all out enjoying the public holiday. They asked you to come but the money in your account is either for flexing or for your next meal. You chose your next meal.

Somewhere in your heart, you wish you had a more fancy life.

You plop down on your bed. The noisy fan stops. The light is gone. You’re melting in the sweltering heat.

By some miracle, you fall asleep and gain consciousness in another world.

You’re still in your room but there’s no heat here. It’s chilling. And you’re not alone.

There’s a huge man sitting at the edge of your bed. He’s licking a knife. There’s a scar beneath his left eye. You instantly recognise him. It’s almost like you’ve lived this life before because you know exactly why the man is here. You’ve been chosen to move the next batch of cocaine out of the country.

You know if you do that, your life will be over in an instant. You’ve seen videos of people who got caught with cocaine at airports, people beheaded in certain countries for daring to smuggle and even cases of people, in whose stomachs, cocaine bags have exploded.

You don’t want that.

You go on your knees and beg but he grabs you by your neck and pulls you into another room.

Here you find your cousin with her hands tied behind her back, hanging horizontally from the ceiling, all the flesh around her head has been ripped off. Her head is faced downwards and bloody. Her eyes, popped out of their socket. Thick blood drips from her head to the ground.

You scream but he drags you back into your room.

Transport the cocaine or you’ll end up like your cousin.

He licks the knife again, this time it is bloody.

You have no choice. Your life is not your own anymore. You went from scrolling through Instagram to being in the hands of some sort of cabal. You know in a few weeks, your video will circulate social media, with random people judging you for being money hungry.

But what they do not know is you didn’t even choose this life. 

Your eyes open.

You’re in your room. The man is gone but the heat is back.

It was a nightmare. You realise your autonomy is back.

And in that moment, you’re grateful for a simple life. A life that is 100% your own. A peaceful life. Even the heat seems bearable, at this point.

So whenever I think about the things I have not achieved, I take a step back and remind myself that I may not be able to buy myself a car or eat at a fancy restaurant everyday but at least, drug dealers are not looking for me.

Happy Friday Folks!