My Life

Chapter four

Ire’s POV

On the day of the accident, I had been so excited to see the famous Lagos state that I kept it a secret from Dotun that we were moving there, I wanted to see if it was as fabulous as people claim it was, I sat at the back seat directly behind the driver’s seat, dad was driving, mum was seating beside him at the front and my siblings were with me at the back seat, I fought for the window side seat and the unfortunate truck driver decided to hit my side of the car, they said he was drunk and driving, that’s should be illegal right but “wetin person no go see for Naija”( meaning what won't one see in Nigeria), Dad was slightly injured and I sustained internal injury which was bad because physical eye could not see where I was hurt but I was out of it for three days according to my mum, when I regained consciousness and I was told it’s been three days, I immediately asked for my phone but the doctor said I can't be given a phone just yet so I begged mum to call Dotun on my behalf, I was in pains though but I try to hide it, the medications were not helping, I detest medicine, mum could never get me to take them, I usually just throw it under the chair and pretend that I have taken it just so she can back off but when she sees am not getting better she takes me to the hospital where I’ll be given injection but now I have no choice but to take this medications and also take injections with it, let’s just say it’s an experience I would love to forget in a hurry but as much as I try, I couldn’t get myself to forget it , sometimes when I close my eyes I could see the truck smashing into our car over and over again, aside all these, there is also the issue of hospitals, you know the typical hospital smell, oh I hate it so much, but I was forced to endure it for weeks coupled with the fact that some patients were brought in and they died few hours after, different things happened that reinforced my belief that hospitals are a no no for me.

One thing I realised out of all these was that Dotun was now an important part of my life either I accept this or not, it was soon time to get back to school and I was excited at the thought of seeing him again. So on the third day after school resumed, dad dropped me off at the school and after settling in into my hostel, I went to the class in search of Dotun and there he was, sitting there quietly like he does, most times, seeing him alone from afar my heart sang with joy, it was like my heart was doing a cartwheel in my chest, I ran up to him and embraced him from the back, that was something, for a girl who rarely let her feelings show, I was pretty much an emotional fool right now, tears were streaming down my cheeks, it was like they had a will of their own cause they were not listening to mine at the moment, I cried in his arms and he just turned and held me until I calmed down, afterwards I opened up to him about how difficult it was for me, how those scenes keep playing in my head over and over again, he listened to me quietly and then reassured me that all will be well, somehow I believed him.

Things got better with time and I was able to get myself together once more, though sometimes I still see that image in my head but it was gradually fading away with time and the trauma was wearing off as well. Majority of the school believed Dotun and I were dating but only a few close pals believe us when we tell them that we were just friends, this kept me out of trouble in a way though because boys don’t look my way, they just believe I was taken, which was fine by me cause I don’t really fancy any of them and wouldn’t want to be disturbed by them anyway, so my high school day were fun, we studied when we ought to cause you know we are good kids, but we also played a lot, I joined the female volley ball team and Dotun joined the male team, the male team taught the girls how to play from time to time, on one of those days I overheard one of them taunting one of the girls saying she came for fashion show and not for the game, her short were tight cause of her stature, I was angry so I stepped in to defend her, she was a curvy girl so it was easy to assume she dressed for fashion, I taunt the boy right back by asking how he noticed this if he was not also busy thinking of dirty things, if his mind was in the game he would not be seeing the fashionista in her, he was mute at this point so he just walked off. School was fun for me, no bullying of any kind and I got to be myself, I was not worried of what anyone thinks of me, I later found out that Dotun was behind my no bullying lifestyle, he had made it clear that anyone who dares to bully me will have him to contend with and so this kept the bullies away from me, my love for him grew every day but I was not going to act on my feelings, I didn’t want to destroy our friendship and I knew we would soon go our separate ways since we woukd be done with high school in a matter of weeks but I decided to enjoy it while it lasts and so though I didn’t date him, I got closer to him and always laugh when I see girls day dreaming about him or fighting to get his attention, he was a cute boy and has a good dress sense which made him more attractive to the ladies, he will grow up to be a good catch for a lucky girl one day, I could tell.