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Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. - Literature - Nairaland

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Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 5:37pm On Dec 19, 2014
PENNED BY A FOGGED MIND[A SHORT STORY].
BY HILLSKNIGHT.

Foreword.
This is actually my first attempt at writing, so your suggestions,criticism and inputs will be greatly appreciated. The works you are about to read is a real-fictional works(that is I added some real places,real events and chipped some personal experience) anyother similarity is purely coincidental.
I hope you enjoy reading
Thanks
Hillsknight.
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 5:41pm On Dec 19, 2014
before I start, I throway salute to all the bosses of this great session. the likenof larrysun, Temitope Daniel, Audrey timms, sammyhoe ,princesca,rapmike to mention but a few.. more grease to all your elbow
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 5:46pm On Dec 19, 2014
Preface.
HERNY DAVID THOREAU ONCE SAID……
‘’ Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.”
Well well talk about life, difference between living and existing. From embryonic development to pains of labours, to first cry, parents joy , family and relatives will be filled with happiness with could only be explained by those who as experienced it. A newborn smile to crawling and first step… the carefreeness that is synonymous with childhood, no worries but what to eat and drink. The blossom of puberty, development of breast and deepen of the vocal chords, the excitement of courting and being courted, anyway it fun while it all last. The ebullience of youngfulness, the rebel phase, and even the redemption of the prodigal, even the strength of youth ,when heart limps as you behold your lover, to taste the forbidden fruit, leaving home to become who you have always mentally pictured yourself to become. The acme of it all INDEPENDENCE(that sweet beauty that soon turns sour). Just like a colonized nation who as just be deemed fit by her captor to govern her affairs. The air of the nation carries the message of joy, the flower gives the scent of hope, what we have all waited for, even the suckling to ahead with EXPECTATION(the mother that bore disappointment).
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 5:47pm On Dec 19, 2014
Am sure we don’t wanna go that line now, we all could spend the whole day talking about the word and what it as done to our lifes. That will be the talk for another day. A while down the path of freedom, she realizes she’s made a mess of the whole situation, finding herself in a precarious corner,just like a ship in the storm faced with the great ocean tides, maneuvering her way through with any means possible away from the tide, well just like the ship, some survive, others meet ther waterloo. The fraction who survives the ocean tide of youthfulness surges ahead,not without scar though. The had I known, well science is yet to conquer the great gaint TIME(not yet anyway,cant say about the foreseeable future). Tick Tock Tick the dusty clock on the wall sounds. The irony of life sets in.. Time and tide it waits for no man, we that were once someone's responsibility, becomes responsible for others. Marriage,child birth with it pain and gain(this part is germane to the continuity of mankind on earth). On and on the cycle flows,we guard our seeds based on our past triumphs and defeats(for me though this is a charade, each man has a seeded potential inside of him, this life is a big gambling field. Still my point is this,every man writes is own fate.) Days turns to Week,which becomes months, steadily moving into years. A man draws close to the end of his own theatre play,when his curtain shall fall. Onlookers,relatives,family will cry as he is intered, oh what a great fella he was. Tears of deceit many are happy that you are finally gone(it human nature,don’t blame them). From life first cry to final breathe, from childhood to adulthood to childhood yet again, into the cold embrace of death, the preacher says “from dust we come, hence to dust we must return”. Well finally he lived, but he lived an ordinary life. He was living but was not existing. Don’t mind my melodrama(Ain’t totally my fault), my friend my life was different, was way different, shocked? What!!! You might say... I know by the time you arrive at the destination which I am taking you to, you will agree with me that I was extra_ordinary.
Tighten your buckle, as we go on this rollercoaster called my life. WELCOME TO MY WORLD.
Watch out for the next episode.. … where it all begins.
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by rapmike(m): 5:55pm On Dec 19, 2014
hillsnite:
before I start, I throway salute to all the bosses of this great session. the likenof larrysun, Temitope Daniel, Audrey timms, sammyhoe ,princesca,rapmike to mention but a few.. more grease to all your elbow

Am here.
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 9:36pm On Dec 19, 2014
CHAPTER ONE(IN THE BEGINNING)
Mahatma Gandhi onces wrote
“my life is my message.”

The circumstance surrounding my birth is what many people will call abnormal, some will say it a miracle, but anyway you look at it. It was unusual. Very unusual, though I loved to think it supernatural.
First and foremost, a normal pregnancy should take 9months, medically speaking anyway. But mine took 13month.. long overdue, my mother being the typical African woman, she has visited several prayer sanctuary getting different messages, which convey the same, the child you carrying is not Ordinary(underworld child), no offense many so called churches. yet scary as the news were my mother was not ready to give up on me(mother’s love), having spent ample time in the womb, the day finally came,to be expelled to the outside. My mother's water broke in the mile12 main market, were she had gone to buy the plaintain she was to sell in the evening… my mother Folashade was a plantain seller,she sells by the road side and my father Rogba, was a shoe-repairer. Back to were I was she was rushed to the nearest hospital , were she was pronounced dead by the doctor in charge, after several hours of labour. According what I heard chaos broken out in the wards, a fatal accident had occurred to bus-stops away,so all hands were needed on deck, Before the nurses could cover what is now thought to be a corpse of both my mother and i. On returning to do the necessary, what she met could only be explained to be a…………..
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 9:49pm On Dec 19, 2014
rapmike:


Am here.
thanks bro. hope to learn a thing or two from you.
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 10:09pm On Dec 19, 2014
Miracle yes a miracle, she saw both I and my mother alive, though if she hadn’t walked in the moment she did, we would have been history. I remember growing up in remote side in yaba, the street where we lived was decent, but our house wasn’t . we lived in a bungalow with houses 16 tenants and a boys quarter with 4families, our room was the last in the boys quarter closest to the toilet, infact I bathed and ate with the odor, which i am sure would make a dead man turn in his grave, you think that's bad? well wait till you enter our room. Paint the picture of a green walled room, with cracks in the wall(lizards loves it),our ceiling made of rice sack, yes you heard right rice sacks!. Did not only cover us against it's element(not that it really did anything, what other choice have we?),but also housed wandering cats. My parents and I weren't the only inhabitants of the room, so were other animals from the African gaint rat, to millipedes, roaches and bed bug which had not only dominated but as made our cloth striped bed their mansion. When rain fell,our room becomes swimming pond,not only do we struggle to survive,the roaches and other inhabitants struggles too(it's not called survival of the fittest for nothing.)Too much story right? By the way i am Are Fagbeyi also known as Miracle.
For most kid,growing up,was fun, but my case, definitely wasn’t . I saw most like the cartoon character brain.. yes paint the big skull, with the tiny body, that was me empty stomach, with a big cranial box. Little as I was, I was underfed(don’t blame my parents it wasn’t really there fault, maybe that not entirely true.) my primary education remains in a mist, all I recall, was always ending in the bottom of the class each term(a fed person,has a fed brain), also I could remember getting into a fight or two with my seniors, I wasn’t gonna stand being ridiculed. Well well my junior secondary days saw me moved from the bottom of the class to middle of the class. Well things were about to change when I resumed in ss1 in comsen grammar sch.
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 12:44pm On Dec 20, 2014
I was in an all boys junior secondary school, so on resumption for the new session after junior waec which I scaled through by default. I was transferred to a mixed government school, comsen grammar school. It was during my stay in comsen that my life became a little bearable. I was an introvert, so by nature, i didn’t know how to make friends, but it seem that was what attracted most girls in the class to me. i made many friends between the space of one year(mostly my classmate,which were mostly females,i wasn't the most handsome in the class,neither was i the hideous.), I became comfortable with everyone in class, anyway all but one.. Sandra(she was the vice-principal daughter). All attempt to be come close failed(i was a shy guy, damn guys keeps flocking her). Until a group project brought us together,I actually took charge of things(i was good with my hands..#gifted hands..grinning), I guess she saw me as the group's saviour, that was not enough to break her defense. The occasion which really brought us close, happened in the cafeteria, I found myself at her back on this faithful day we were on the snack queue ,(I have always admired her,you know the right curves in the right places,brother she was seriously endowed. Any teenage guy's fantasy. Am sure most guys can relate.) I was watching her keenly, she been searching her pocket over and over,she looked tensed,as if she's lost something. The attendant was waiting for her to pay up, and the next customer make his/her order(fortunately that would be me). BAM! The perfect oppportunity have been waiting for presents itself, I paid the attendant with the last #50 on me,she had only purchase an eggroll(I was forming badoo, though I had taken nothing all day and was suppose to manage the #50 till my parents get back late at night.) I was weeping internally, putting up a smiling facade.
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 12:45pm On Dec 20, 2014
Immediately she left,I told the attendant that I was cool, and wouldn't be purchasing what i intended.. people on the queue just laughed at my foolishness. Foolish as i was, I preferred thinking myself
a prince charming coming to the aid of a damsel in distress. Anyway I endured the hunger, my I tell you the way sandra and I became close thereafter was worth the hunger-price paid. We became the talk of the class. Anyway how time flies, before I could enjoy it. We were in ss3 preparing for how finally exams. One thing that was actually surprising, was that all through my stay in comsen, not even one of my classmate knew where I stayed. Not my fault I was trying so much to cover our abjection. Well I was not the best in class academically, but I have seen enough to know that I was not the worst as well. Even guys I was close to, the likes of felix,bode,fela and tobi didn’t know my abode. Point being all through my stay in primary and secondary schools, I was a mediocrist and was comfortable with penury, because i thought that was all i could get out of life. I wrote my ssce exams with the mindset that my life was in the hands of the creator,wait for some magic pen to rewrite my fate, believing that life was not fair. I was poor and what more could I get out of life.I wrote my ssce, and left secondary school with the mentality that. I was the son of a shoemaker and I was made for nothing more then to be a shoemaker or at best a mechanic.
My life after secondary …. What next, the blow life dealt me and the realisation I came to
Watch out for chapter two………….
Hope you enjoyed reading so far. Would love to hear your views.. even ideas.
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by Nobody: 5:42pm On Dec 20, 2014
wow i love your story waiting for more update
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 9:41pm On Dec 20, 2014
Chapter Two(My Life As A Conductor)
Napoleon Hill once said…
“Before success comes in any man’s life, he’s sure to meet with much temporary defeat and, perhaps some failures. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. That’s exactly what majority of men do.”

All man are born with the seed of greatness,but few are those who actually find the path. Misery! The exact word that describes my being after school. 2months after writing my ssce exams,results were released, mine was nothing to write home about, I only managed to make 2 credits and 6 passes(D’s or E’s, does it really matter, my head was not made for books). Life had been so unfair to me and my parent,I was in a state of privation and I had no power over it.
Even feeding in those days was very difficult. I remember the old adage,where you compare the church rat to being poor, funny enough to tell you the truth the church rat had hope where we were. The commotion that ensued between the landlord and my father, was common scenerio that the next-door neighbour looks forward to the next dramatic display.we were a subject of ridicule. For me, I tried as much to hide my pain and anguish, i often laughed about the same issue with my friends,knowing fully well that we were a subject of mockery in their private chambers.
My parents took my insults not only from friends and neighbors, but from families as well( if i remember correctly, it took something serious before any ever visit, say the death of family memeber or so. My parent were very much important for occassions like that. Yes they were, who would arrange the chairs and serve the comestible if not them). Many even took my parents to churches(no offense but many so called pastors dont teach the word, they attribute everything to witches and wizards. They just keep giving the devil credit he doesn't deserve). Different opinions and suggestions. My parents may the gods bestow them with peace wherever they might be, they never for once lost there integrity even in the face of adversities. Remember my mother's favorite quote( proverbs 19:1,22:1--you could look them up). Integrity i tell you as nothing to do with wealth.
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 9:43pm On Dec 20, 2014
Onyezaza:
wow i love your story waiting for more update
thanks ma'am. your comment is really coming at a time, I needed it.
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by rapmike(m): 7:27am On Dec 21, 2014
Am here too. Observing.
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 7:41am On Dec 21, 2014
rapmike:
Am here too. Observing.
thanks boss. enroute church will update after service.
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 7:50pm On Dec 21, 2014
Well, I had done a good job cutting out every school friends I had, thanks to the fact that non knew were I lived. Even my high school crush sandra, was no exception. After staying at home for a duration of two months, begging to feed from the falls of my neighbour's table. My survival instinct kicked in. so I had to take to the streets. A guy had to fend for himself(even in the animal kingdom,at a certain time the offspring is left to either survive or die.).. I searched searched and searched for menial jobs,or what other job could a dull school cert holder like me get. Tough as those jobs were, i could bearly feed not to talk of taking home to momma. Finally I met a saviour in the person of Aiye. Our meeting was purely coincidental, i had gone to a restaurant to look for a job, even if it was washing of dishes, at least it paid better than carrying of bricks at construction site. I was about entering, while he was leaving. Some of his money fell, if i recalled properly, it was about seven hundred and fifty naira. I picked the money up, and quickly traced his steps. When i saw him, greeted him politely and handed him his money back. Sure aiye wasn’t really the most upright guy, he was more like what olamide called the baddest guy ever liveth. But that simple gesture had touched his heart(i got to know about this later).
He looked at me in a way that showed he was grateful, he handed me four rough fifty naira bills(that could have bought me a sumptuous meal, but hand down was not what i wanted.) I refused the money and told him what i really needed was a way to earn, even if it meant washing his clothes and cars(yes i was ready to be a house help) for a token. He gazed at me for a while and told me 'o boy, i no get job way you go fit do'(i have to use to colloquial english. I will also steadily make use of it, that the best way of conveying the messages.) Immediately i went on my knees, it was either he helped me or i starved( i had already refused the two hundred naira he gave me). I told he i was able and capable of doing anything. I pleaded with him, all i needed was a chance to prove my worth. He intensified his gaze( as though he was looking for something, something i wasn't seeing). Finally he spoke 'you sure say you can fit do my kind job, you to small. How old you be self?' Nodding with zeal, i told him 'oga i be sixteen years old, i go fit do any work sir'. On hearing my reply(i think he was satisfied with my age), he asked me to follow him. I willingly did, just like a dog will his master. We walked out of the tejuosho main market in yaba, where he had gone to satisfy his bouk with iya tunde's amala( in those days, who doesn't know he in the whole of ojuelegba-yaba even enroute jibowu). We suddenly stopped in a front of commercial bus, he jumped into the driver's sit and beaconed me to occupy the passengers sit at the front. And Off we went.
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 10:08pm On Dec 21, 2014
We got to under-bridge park in ojuelegba where agege motor road and iwo road ibadan buses do load. He quenched the engine and we got out of the bus. Immediately he shout Eja(literally this means fish, but slang- wise it meant weed). As though out of the blues, a young guy( should be in his early twenties) in a black short and a tattered singlet whose color was more black-brown then white, appeared. Eja was shouting while approaching with his two hands raised (a show of respect, wondered what the world was turned into), 'Aiye baba, twale oga mi, ori e wanbe'. Aiye was just all smile, as if he had won a lottery or something. He handed me a rag, instructed me to clean the bus and see Eja afterwards. He turned to Eja and they were conversing in one of yorubas' many dialect ( ijebu i presumed). They both started walking, but Eja stopped abruptly and looked and me intensively. Then spoke pointing to an aboki( hausas that sells consumables) kiosk in the opposite direction. He said he was going to be sitted there. They walked away. I cleaned as if i was merlin shining authur's armor. After finishing i went to Eja, he was smoking a white london cigarette ( shocked! Wondering how i knew?,my landlord back then was a chronic smoker). I told him i was done, he asked if Aiye has told me the specification of the job i was to do. I replied no, he than spake saying ' my guy wetin be that your name' i replied 'Are'. Ok 'Na conductor work you go they do ooo'. I said i was ready to do whatever so far i can earn some changes. 'Oya now, na me with you and oga aiye go work today'. Then he asked if i would love to eat, i nodded vigorously like an agama who had just seen it's long life mate. Eja smiled exposing his set of alcohol infested brown teeths. Holding we around the shoulder we walked to the food sellers place. He spoke to an obesed woman, ' abeg iya elijah, serve me and my padi here plates of garri, give me vegetable, him go take white soup'.
Honestly that was the best food i had eaten in ages, a plate of garri and white soup(i fell in love with white soup that day, you should try it),that was not all, i was given to big meat all to myself. Two meat! It was like Christmas in june. After eating we went to corner( a place in ojuelegba were stuffs like weed, cigarette, whiskey and trado-herbal gin drinks 'agbo' were commonly sold. It a very popular place in ojuelegba, it in between the house were masquerades are worshipped in oja and the land were the twin tower now stands). To cut my long talks short i started work with Aiye(the driver) and Eja(my tutor). It wasn't really easily as i had thought. Waking up by 4:30 am, and resuming by 5:15 am, Aiye was an early worker. Shouting otun-oba ijesha lawanson(that was our route), on several occasion, i suffered in the hands of ruthless tax collectors(commonly called agbero). Two occasions stands out in my memory till date, of my early days as a conductor. First when i fell from the moving bus, that was around Ekololu-Falolu. Not only did i fall with great impact, but i was almost crushed by a van(thank God the driver was alert). Though i sustained injuries but God's grace saw me through. Secondly was the day i fought with Kamoru( one of the popular agberos then in ojuelegba), Aiye hadn't worked that day so i worked with one of his friends. Kamoru was asking for unnecessary dues, i got angry and told him i wasn't paying. Before i could say anything else he had landed a heavy slap on my face(we call it dazing),i sparked and hit him. The next time i heard was pooooooo........... And i slumped.
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 7:20am On Dec 23, 2014
sorry I wasn't able to update. will do that before the end of the day. #working on some constructive ideas
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by Plaitex(f): 8:43pm On Dec 23, 2014
Lovely piece u've got here. Following
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 10:08pm On Dec 27, 2014
Friedrich Nietzsche once said……..
“That which does not kills us, makes us stronger.”
I slumped…….
Just like Friedrich Nietzsche said, a year after that particular event, I was doing fine, I recall that day that kamoru broke beer bottle on my head, well the scar on my head still tells the story. I was rushed to the hospital, thanks to Aiye and Eja, who paid the hospital bills. I carried the bandage on my head around for about two weeks. That particular event made me popular and loved not only among the motorist, but also among the agberos. I was given a nickname “omo aiye(child of the world)”.
While a year after the event, life became a little bearable, I was making more than I needed at that particular time. So I took on some of the family responsibilities, I was giving my parents little tokens to help with their income. As most male children will do, I was supporting my mother more than my father. I remember saving up my lunch money for almost a year to buy a fairly used 14’’ inches coloured television( I hadly watched television in my growing days, in the whole building then only two families had television and it was black and white set.) that day I felt like a man taking his bride home to his parents. My mother was elated to say the least. I had resigned to my life as a conductor, atleast I was during fine with life than I was in my secondary school days.
aidean into school friends every now and then, even my teachers back in those days(some intentionally waited, you now that Nigeria mentality “no worry no pay”). I was saving up to buy a bus with a local savings collectors(ajo), but as fate will have it, the man ran away with the saving of a whole lot of people, including my life savings. I had to start from the scratch. I started shuffling between helping some of my agbero friends on their shift and my conductor work. I was deviating at a steady rate away from all the moral codes my parents especially my mother had tried so much to imbibe in me. I went home once in a while, Aiye's apartment in Ayilara street somewhere in ojuelegba became my second home ( only went home in the afternoon, when i know non of my parents will be around to caution me on my new found life, though i still do leave some amount of money for them).
I became a regular caller at the corner. I became used to the dark side of life, I became a drunk, a smoker and to top it all, I became lewd. Iya shakirat and her daughters make my lifes changed. I tasted the forbidden fruit first from iya shikirat herself (story for another day), then her daughters(Kudirat, Aminat and Kafaya, surprisingly their age difference was not more than two years. That woman was really a sex machine) Shikirat in particular almost killed me. I became addicted to Iya shakirat shop, not only for the agbo we drink but like many regular callers at her place, her back side was another killer point (what's with guys and womans back side?).
After spending close to four years as a conductor and a part-time agbero , I could think of nothing else( or what could a twenty year old guy do) but sex,smoking and drinking. Life was too short not to have fun. I remember participating in the fight between agberos and the police force. It was bloody but one way or the other I survived. Just like Nietzsche had predicted, I became a stronger person.
The event that changed it all took place when a particular politician said he needed some guys for protection in case conflict broke out. It was at this event that change started. Just like John Wooden had once said ..”Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.”
Watchout for the next chapter.
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 10:09pm On Dec 27, 2014
Plaitex:
Lovely piece u've got here. Following
thanks ma'am . sorry about late update. been busy
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 10:10pm On Dec 27, 2014
sorry people about late update. Merry Christmas to you all.
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 6:11pm On Dec 29, 2014
CHAPTER THREE (MY REDEMPTION).
William Ernest Henley wrote in one of his famous poem.
Invictus
“Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishment the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.”

Well on the said day, I had gone with the entourage of what most people refer to as political spruikers, we had come armed and ready for battle, in case the opposition pull any stunt. Ready and positioned, everything was going fine, until I had someone call my real name. Are Are Are, the calling was consistent, it was feminine, perhaps none of the guys will call me by my real name(many of them don’t even not it), I was still eye-scanning the crowd when I felt a hand on my shoulder from the back, on turning I couldn’t believe who my eyes beheld…
Well to keep you out of suspense, your guess is as good as mine… my eyes beheld an angel, the person standing before me was beautiful, and I think was a familiar face… Then it clicked, the person was Sandra. She was looking all smart and official, for the first time in a while, I felt embarrassed with the way I was dressed(in a dirty jean and a barcelona armless jersey), and I became self-conscious. She asked me what I was doing there, I lied that I was one of the security convoy, had to dress casual so I could blend in. Asked her what she was doing there and how life had been treating her( thank God I still knew my basics of the Queens English). She said she was working with the politician’s company and was doing her IT, she was a student of the university of Benin, studying Economics. She also accused me of cutting them all off, that she tried reaching me, but it was to no avail. Even my friends seemed not to know how to reach me. I only smiled knowing fully well what I had done. She went as far as updating me about other people what we were in the same clique back in school. And I saw they were all doing fine with their lives, even femi whose parents were just a bit better off mine. He was in the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). He was studying political science or so( for a split second, the thought that i was wasting my life crossed my mind, which i pushed back to wherever it came from). The day’s event began so she had to leave. The guys that had seen me and her, were just hailing me. ‘Omo Aiye’. I just kept a straight face, while she was there so she wont know I was the one. Went she left I was like ‘baba una don dey madt oo’. The event and all it boring political jamboree(you know politicians and their tall talks, lies and false hope, I was not there to judge, I was there for business.) was proceeding fine. While till...
Mid-way into the event trouble broke out from one of the wings, before I knew what was happening everywhere was scattered and all heads were fighting for safety. I swung into action. Fighting the opposition, who had come to cause what we call gobe(violent fight were weapons are used). I had forgotten all about Sandra. It was during the course of fighting I sighted her, she was being approached by one of the guy from the opposition. Immediately I ran towards them, after witnessing enough street fight, I knew I was no commando, so I looked for the closest thing I could use as a weapon, luck was on my side, because I found an iron rod, close by Picked it up, ran towards them, and bashed it on the guys head. Agbero or not I felt like a typical hero(knight and shining armor, I was to her). I led her to safety, went back to the guys and we ended up pursuing the opposition away.
That was the last of Sandra. Well up on till...
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by Plaitex(f): 7:24pm On Dec 29, 2014
please, please dont stop here. Wat happened next
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 9:22pm On Dec 29, 2014
One sultry Friday evening, Two weeks after my encounter with sandra. I had been in a very good mood all day ( you know that great feeling you get without being able to explain). Aiye and I were returning from our sixteenth trip(to and fro) for the day, with Fela Anikulapo kuti music “yellow fever” blasting from the stereo in the bus(Aiye was a great lover of fela’s music and he also loved fuji music with passion, but I prefer the former to the latter). On returning to ojuelegba park, I was humming fela’s song with him( different different fever na him dey eee, different different fever na him dey eee…) I was really feeling the groove of the music, that even the passengers were cracking up with my hilarious voice, plus the zeal which I put into it. On alighting, I was just singing and hailing person, “Chinedu kedu kodi”. I collected the calypso he was drinking and was singing to the music coming from the stereo, guys where just hailing me “omo aiye” “ori e wanbe” “skunk don dey work for your head”. I was really feeling my groove before I lifted up my head and stopped it my track. Looking right at me was pretty Sandra, I was shocked to say the least. I comported myself and walked up to her. I must have asked her a thousand and one questions all in the space of one minute. She smiled at me and said “nice moves” and “you mind we get somewhere a little bit decent, where we could sit and talk.” I obliged and led her away.
Off to choppies(one of the popular eateries in ojuelegba), while we were entering, one of the door attendant greeted me, he was a familiar face. All eyes were on us, Sandra and I were a complete mismatch. She was dressed elegant while I was dressed in rags(I was used to the look, trust Nigerians, if looks kills I would have been long dead). We sat at one of the tables around the corner, she said she asked one of the people at the event that day, that was how she located me, she came to thank me for saving her the other day. Alas! She was surprised at the scenario she met, nobody seems to know any ‘Are’, if not for one slim guy looking shabby, from her description I knew she was talking about Eja. After a little familiarity, she went on to tell me about her disappointment in me, that she never saw me as someone who would settle for less than deserved, though I was not one of the best student in class then, that she considered me a very smart guy. What happened to me? there and then I opened up to her about the hardship I had been through, I told her that I was even living a little better than I thought, my parents were not in a position to send me to a higher institution. While we were talking I realised that, I hadn’t given the life I was living much thought, I had just resigned to what life threw on my laps. Talking to her was really an eye-opener, I came to the understanding that even some of the people that I saw as successful, had even worse background than me. we were so engrossed in our discussion, that we lost track of time. Thanks to a phone call that came through to her. After receiving her call(I think her man or someone she was definitely in an intimate relationship with), she said she will be talking her leave, but I should expect to see her soon…
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by rapmike(m): 11:50am On Dec 30, 2014
I dey behind you.
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 9:57pm On Dec 30, 2014
Next Wednesday, I had actually continued my life totally forgetting about the discussion I had with Sandra . on getting back from my evening trip, Stone one of the guys that we stay together at the park, walked to me and handed me a well folded note, on opening it I saw it was from Sandra, she wrote that she will really like it if I could escort her to a function on friday, underneath she wrote an address, stating that it her sister’s apartment, I saw shocked and confused, because I don’t have anything to wear except casual wears and one or two ‘aso ebi’ that we use for park events annually. Well I thought it was a Wednesday and I had tomorrow to worry about what to wear. I went back to work, but I wasn’t focused, "wondering what really is this girl up to?" And what function could that be. Well on Thursday I went to yaba, for some tokunbo wears, a shirt and a chinos trousers(thank GOD I grew up around there, if not those guys were ready to cut my neck). Which I washed and pressed at Aiye’s place. And was anxiously awaiting Friday.
On the said day, I went to work as usual, at about quarter past four, I stopped work and headed to Aiye’s place to get ready for the function, I washed up, and went the extra mile to smell as fresh as possible for the occasion, cause I didn’t really know what to expect. I left for her sister’s place at about five pm, and arrived at my destination some thirty minutes later, I found myself at the doorstep of this beautiful house somewhere in surulere. I was just admiring all I saw around me. I knocked on the gate of the building, and an elderly man who apparently was the gateman, answered and asked who I was looking for, he seized me up, I could tell from his expression, that he thought of me as someone who doesn’t matter. perhaps maybe I had came to beg for alms in a shirt and pant. I told him I was looking for Sandra. He looked at me again and told me to wait, while he went inside. About two minute later, he appeared with a woman, she was probably in her late thirties. She smiled at me, that put me at ease. Then she said I must be Are, then I gently noded. She led me into the biggest sitting room I had seen in my life,I sat down with great care, she told me Sandra was getting dressed(she looked dressed herself), after some minutes she appeared looking elegant as ever. To cut the story short, we headed out in her sister’s car. We parked in front of one big hotel on the island. We processed into an open event hall. The settings I saw got me shivering, I walked gently into the hall with Sandra and her big sister. The function which turned out to be a motivational and inspirational event, kicked off. The guest speaker mounted the podium, on and on he went with his talks, what really got me was his life’s story. It turned out that he was a pastor and a medical doctor, who grew up with no parents in the remote large area Ajegunle. I actually was touched for the first time, and I actually cried about the kind of life I was living, because there I came to some powerful realization about the principle of life...
And I vowed to myself, that I was going to take charge of my life. I was The MASTER of my FATE, the CAPTAIN of my SOUL.
Watchout for the next episode.
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 10:22pm On Dec 30, 2014
rapmike:
I dey behind you.
thanks boss
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by Nobody: 12:54pm On Dec 31, 2014
A life changing story keep it coming we are strongly behind you and merry chrismas
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 12:07pm On Jan 02, 2015
Chapter Four( The Road Not Taken)

Robert Frost once wrote in one of his famous poems
The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Sitting in the auditorium that day, I actually wept about the kind of life I was living, and I came to some realization about the principles of life. One of which was that I had no power over the circumstances surrounding my birth (I couldn’t chose who my parent were to be, am sure if we had choice, only the rich and rosy will ever get children), but I actually had my life in my hands, I was born broke, but it was a choice to live broke, my life was in my hands. Secondly I realized that in this part of the world we attribute a lot of things to divine, if fortune smiles at us, we say it divine, if misery becomes our companion we say its divine (sorry if this contradicts your personal believe, i myself his a strong believer of divine. Just giving you my view of life), if only we would take a break and realize that we are what we make of ourselves. Our life is but a blank book, we write our stories with the decisions we make, good or bad, you are the author of your life’s story. Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying the divine doesn’t play an important role in our making, but in every man is the potential to be great, but it gives me much pains to see that many settle for less than they were created for. Just like 2pac said "i did rather die as a man, than live like a coward(to me this is someone, who gives excuses for failure, blames other for his misfortune and never take charge of his life.)"
I can go on and on about principles of living, but I have to stop here because am no preacher, but before then I will like to share the ultimate key I got there.
At that juncture in my life I knew I was destined for more, remaining poor was not an option, but I had two choices. It either I take the easy way out (venture into drugs or some other fast business. Some options had been on my mind) or I take a rather long and patient ride “Education” (this in itself was a gamble, with the situation of things in our dear country Nigeria.). I settled for the latter. Just like Nelson Mandela had said “education is the greatest key to change the world.” it could also be the greatest key to turning my life around (I was determined to make it). I made the resolution to re-write my story there and then. One of the factors that prompted my decision was the fact that I was surrounded by people of my age grade, or maybe a little older than I was, who seems to have the life i had always wanted, it true they say “Not all that glitters is Gold” but I said to myself let me glitter first, then I can worry about the gold or not. After the program, I actually waited to talk to the guest speaker, I walked up to him, first thing I did was compliment his outfit (I wasn’t much of a reader then, but to the best of my little knowledge understanding, and interaction I had with the species called human, the best way of getting something out of another person is by praising the person, it has always worked for me on the street, I saw no reason why it shouldn’t work in the cooperate world as well). Alas! It worked, he was hooked. We got talking, I introduced myself and he just laughed, telling me I should know his name since he actually introduced himself before his speech, but I told him that I really didn’t get it (honestly I am not good at remembering name, still have problem with that now), he made a joke out of it. That actually put me a little at ease, because he had this larger than life personality. Told me his name was pastor muyiwa. Anyway we got talking, I told him a little of my story, where I was and want I planned on doing about it. The beautiful thing about our whole discussion was that he listened with rapt attention without interfering, I mean not even once, after I had finished speaking. He told me that he could relate with a lot of things I said, he also encouraged me that he was a living evidence (if he could make it so could I, that I was the only one in the way of my success). I was really grateful. I had been keeping Sandra and her sister waiting and we had a distance to cover. So I politely asked to be excused, not before getting the words out of me, that I was going to come on Sunday with Sandra (apparently he was their pastor) to church. I had little discussion with Sandra on our way back and I told her about my plans, she and her sister encouraged me. I felt as if “yes baby, I was ready to live”. They dropped me at stadium bus-stop, it was around half past the hour of eleven, I never really knew the they was fast spent… Home I strolled to with a new found determination and excitement, like one who will be entering the chambers of his new bride.
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 12:08pm On Jan 02, 2015
Onyezaza:
A life changing story keep it coming we are strongly behind you and merry chrismas
happy new year to you sister
Re: Penned By A Fogged Mind[a Short Story]. by hillsnite(m): 1:22pm On Jan 02, 2015
Magical right ? It wasn’t as easy as it sounds. The next day I had forgotten all about last night, I lived my life on, cause I was not ready to ponder over the challenges ahead (I was one to shy away from difficulties, I don’t have the head to think for long, I just take life as it comes.). Anyway to cut my long story short, talk they say is cheap, not only was I faced with negativism from almost everyone close to me (from my so called friends to foes, even from my father, only my mother seemed to buy the idea.), but i also lacked moral support. So I did what I do best leave things in the hands of chance. Well thank God for Sandra who decided she wasn't giving up on me just yet, and I was so blessed that all this happened during her IT days, if not… After the day I didn’t make it to church as promised but she just kept coming back, she was full of unexpected stopbys, and she brought with her a present always (books). I knew I had no head for books, so my first step was to change that. She bought me loads of motivational books, from great authors such as John mason, Donald Trumph, Benjamin Carson, to Robert Greene, John Maxwell to mention but a few. From taking baby steps I discovered that I actually loved reading these books, my friends at the park would laugh at me, hurl insults but I always found a way to turn the table. I went as far as reading even while on the job, thank God for wit if not I knew I and Aiye would have fought on several occasion. It got to a stage that I had to stop working in the afternoon, and I found a safe haven in a nearby library around Ekololu ( I still go there once in a while). I was seriously blessed by Sandra’s return into my life at that period, I met a mentor in the person of Pastor Muyiwa (he was such an understanding person, not only did he touch my life positively, he brought me to the realization of purpose for my life, he literally spoon fed me with the word). Little by little I started doing away with my filthy habits, though it wasn’t easy, I was not really a cigarette lover, and my love for the bottles was already on a decline before then (why won’t it, after receiving the beating of a life time, after being drunk on night and grabbing a lady’s breast in the presence of her man. Don’t judge me too quickly, I honestly thought it was too big to be real.) Finally my sexual promiscuity, this hmmm! this was way difficult than I had imagined (they say “konji is a bastard” only those that have a firsthand experience will confirm it to you that it truly is.) I really struggled in the aspect, I would have said it took endless fasting and prayer to overcome, that will be deceit, it took self disciple (the struggle with this is never truly over, it’s continuous.). I was a regular Sunday church attendee, plus the fact that was heels in love with books. At this stage all between Sandra and "I" was still purely platonic.
It was time for me to take the next major move in my life, and that was when Sandra decided …

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