BETTER DAYS
From Prime Insane Universe
Written by Olusegun Ayomide Shedrach (Devilpen)

Introduction
I sighed as I ruminated over my life, is this how my life will continue, even to make matter worse, I have somehow made a terrible mistake, one option that comes to my mind is death, thinking of how hurt mother will feel, the high hopes all placed on me, the demand is just too much, while growing up, no one ever told me adulthood wasn't a joke, no one prepared me.
As an artist, I imagine putting up a sad face on my mother, I imagine how hurt she must feel when I break this news to her, I try to console myself with the word "Nothing happens by mistake " but when I look at my life for the past 22 years, it's all filled with sorrow.
There is a special pain I feel when I hear "Write about the best day you'll never forget " or "What's your best moment " I have none, I have no friend, I have no one.
I noticed the higher you go, the tougher it becomes, I have no one to talk to, so I talk to my jotter, I pass my feeling though my pen

My name is Shedrach and this is my story
Chapter One

Chapter One
Festac Town, Unipetrol, Lagos

Mom used to run a food canteen, which was inbetween CBN Estate One and Unipetrol, unlike other children, my schedule was not as normal regular kid, at a very tender age, I had known much about the labour market, customer relation and all, even as tight as life was before now, mom made sure I and my kid sister always had the best, buy somehow, no matter how hard she tried something was still missing in our life which was father love, the joy of having a father.
I came back from school after closing hour and immediately pulled of my uniform and wine and white stripe colour, and a wine coloured short. My mom gently used her hand to rub my back which was already having cane marks on it, not one not two.
"Yeye wa" A customer called from inside the canteen, hearing that I immediately resumed my daily duty.
One of the qualities in me that made my mom proud of me was the good comment pole always passed about her children, I and my sis5er whom I am five years older than. One many occasion, strangers had parked their cars just to watch how hardworking we were.
"Madam, I like the way you train your children o, you be woman" A man had once commented.
During the afternoon was our rest hour, mom looked at my head which was already having different contour on it, due to the tough beating I received at school, which was inevitable.
"Let me see your book" Mom said bringing another wave of thinking into my mind.
I brought all out and watched as mom went through it, praying customers would come before she would have the time to go through my maths note.
My attitude towards maths was worse, in a term, I could be lucky enough to get just one over total mark,just once in a term. But no one ever dared me in English language, and verbal and quatitative reasoning.
"You failed maths again, can't you just try and comprehend "
I was totally different, unlike my sister who would solve the toughest maths with a calculator, all I ever care about was my drawing, and the back of my note was a testament to that.

Life in Lagos was not regular, the oddest life you could ever live and the funniest thing is that you have a way to adjust to it. Mom would wake us up every morning at 4am and everyday we retired home by 11pm, and same routine continued everyday.
The struggles I had to put up with, the pain I always have to endure whenever I see children lurking happily around their fathers, it even felt worse when I see their father giving them the beating of their life for their wrong doings.
The stigma I had to face when there are PTA meetings and I was always beaten because of the absence of my parents, I never blamed my mom, She was the only one we depended on.
As every normal day, I returned from school and immediately began to wash plate, I heard Mom began to rant, and also attending to the customer, no one needed to tell me that She was already stressed out and exhausted.
She sighed and began to complain about the trust issue She always had with those She employed, and worse even when She gave them accommodation, they still found one way or the other to cheat and disappear into thine air.
"Shedrach" Mom called out.
"Ma" I grumbled and looked at my Sister who was busy playing with the children in the uncompleted building which was opposite our shop, the first building one would come across on entering SandField Estate.
"Your dad wants to speak with you"
That word alone gave me a cold chill and a certain surge of energy, I smirked and felt pity as mom used the edge of her wrapper to wipe the sweat on her face.
"Hello Sir" I said and waited patiently for a reply.
Mom bent down and placed her ear beside mine, carefully listening to the conversation.
"Shedrach, huhn, I have good news, my land at Ijanikin, the one plot, I will be giving you for your birthday"
After the conversation, I saw mom already in stream of tears, trying hard to console herself, She sniffed and looked up
"God, so you havent forgotten me" Mom said and sniffed, only if she knew the worse was yet to happen.
Yes, my Dad was well to do, He worked at Guardian News paper as an Editor, a senior Editor.
The sudden flow of energy through Mom, saw her through the day, the joy she felt, she couldnt comprehend, she couldnt help but to show to everyone she was happy.
Mom smiled and looked around seeing
"Shedrach, let me go to Police Station and pack the plates over there" Mom said and quickly took off.
Immediately she got back, She handed me some cash and listed out some things to buy.

Chapter Two
The next day at school, well I could remember it was during the English period, the Proprietress of the school saw the genius in me, the genius in a Primary 5 student.
Cathy Royale Nursery and Primary School, the fourth building on the right in Flour Mill Estate, directly facing Chelsea Nursery and Primary School.
Almost 80% of the student brought out their Reading book and turned to the page for that day, a story that talked about Labake and... (Dont really get the concept again), everyone felt happy trying to show how fluent they were in reading.
During my Primary School days, I shared seat with a girl, Bidemi, brilliant, neat, clever. The setting of our class was odd and for the strongest only.
We were split into three groups, the brilliant groups on the left, the middle class in the middle and the dullards on the left, so one had to struggle their way through and show their worth, luckily for me, I was placed among the brilliant once.
The next story was about Jaja Of Opobo, I summoned the courage and raised my hands up, to read the passage, even before I was approved, my hands already was in pool of sweat and my legs already slippery in my school sandals.
The Proprietress herself was wowed at how fluent I read the passage, but that didnt stop her from giving me another stroke of cane on the head for failing my maths class work.
After school hours, right from time, what happened in the family, got to me so much, I suddenly became an introvert, always keeping to myself and finding every possible means to make things go well for me, but there was little I could do, the everyday work denied me the opportunity to play with my age mates, so at the slightest opportunity, I dash off, straight to CBN Estate, to play football, that if I would be lucky enough to get selected and if I wasnt, I certainly made sure I never returned back to the canteen until evening hours.
"Shedrach!" Mom called out from inside the shop and handed over a plate of food to me, and pointed to the customer and handed another to my sister.
"Shedrach, abeg come epp my buy Cigar for there" A customer called out and handed over a five naira note to me.
"See, no send my pikin go buy you cigar, even beer, if you wan smoke go Cele shop, or make you go Calabar shop, for your live, no try am for here o" Mom barked annoyingly.
"No vex o, next time we no dey come your shop again"
"No come, i go still sell"
Mom's Panasonic phone rang, distracting her from the argument she was having with the man.
"Shedrach, Daddy e fe ba e soro" She said and handed over the phone to me, then pulled me behind her to the other part of the shop.
The canteen was two big container joined together.
"Shedrach, listen carefully to what I want to say o, now, tell your mother to show you who your father is, I am not your father, and you are not my son, as from today I disown you, i cant be taking care of a bastard".

Chapter Three
Things went so rough and tough, life was never giving us what we wanted and the good things we deserved, every single day we created our happiness which never lasted till noon. Mom was someone who had a very strong belief, all advises from her so called she walked with to get married to someone else, she didnt consider, instead she kept people like that at arms length, till today still hoping things will get back to normal and get to live her happy married life and have a finally fulfilled dream.
Through thick and thin, through rough and tough, we were her first priority.
I am from a family one could confidently describe as a COMPLICATED POLYGAMOUS FAMILY.
My Secondary school days were even tougher, after normal preparation for resumption, I was still yet to get my school uniform and sport wear. St. Margaret or popularly known as Victory High School, Ijegun. The new excitement got me, different teachers coming into the class to teach and all and all, on Friday exactly a week, Mom came unannounced to complete necessary payment, which I was still unaware of and about the fact that she was around.
All Student converged to their various clubs, as it as normally done in Secondary School, where we have the Jet Club, Drama Club and the likes, without thinking much I knew where I should be, The Drama Club.
"So no one among you, as much as you are, can boldly come out to talk on this topic"
I looked up and saw Mr. Kosmos, our English Teacher, looking disappointed, at first I was less concerned, then I suddenly felt the urge to, it was something I had done times without number in my Primary School, and it wont make any difference now.
I summoned the courage and went out only to meet the shock of my life, the topic was something I should have considered before going out.
MOTHER IS BETTTER THAN FATHER
This topic gave me the headache of my life, but anyhow I was already into it, and no turning back, after minutes of the opposing side talks and views, it finally got to our turn. Somehow Sandra lost confidence, maybe because of the crowd, or she was somehow lost.
I stood up and began, after minutes of speaking, I suddenly lost the will to continue, trying as much as possible to hold back the tears, what now made matter worse, was seeing my mother standing at the entrance of the hall with three teachers standing next to her.
It was too much for me to hold, it was too much for me to bear, the pride in my mother, as she said the words "thats my son o", I couldnt control it, looking away I saw another teacher, wiping off her tears with her handkerchief, and I followed suit.
I could see in my mom's eye, no doubt I had made her proud, the round of applause filled the entire school, as large as it was.
"Why did you cry, you're a man" someone said beside me, as I retired back to my seat
I turned around and meet the face of my class mate IBRAHIM, I only ignored and listened as the judges showered praise on me, like I was the only speaker. Well, Ibrahim was a true source of friendship, a true brother, even a rare one.
"Sheddy Sheddy" Mom hailed me as I and my Sister alighted the motorcycle.
For months mom wouldnt stop telling people, how I had made her proud in front of such crowd, and also in school, that made me so popular and even my artistic talent also pushed me forward, I became somewhat a lead actor in every drama presentation every Friday.

Chapter Four
Mom eyes were filled with tears, seeing her son laying on the bed, unrecognizable and getting worse by the moment, from one prayer mountain to another, once she heard there was remedy somewhere, in an instance I was there with her, my sickness got worse by the day, she had to close down business.
After persuading Dad and pressurizing him, he finally directed us on how to get to the family hospital, which the Guardian registered his name in. It was there it was discovered I had Ulcer and it was getting worse.
Sometimes, I just get drown in my own world and forget to eat, sometimes I just wish all of this would pass, sometimes I just wish I was never born.
After the discharge, another heat of argument began, from he is not my son, to is he the only one to ever get sick, to you want to put the company in debt, then down to she is a witch, then you are not part of the Oluseguns.
Luckily, Mom is not someone to hold grudges, She had the purest of all heart and my mistake today, is making me feel I had soaked her in trench.
The first born boy in the family, on the long run had a case of which lead to him being rusticated from the university, and it became a court matter, its funny how our NPF would twist matter around to make you look like a criminal.
The only person, the family could come to help was Mom, upon all the trash sent at her, She still found space to forgive and leave us for more than two weeks, with a neighbour, and still after the case, after going about, and the so called legitimate wife still had to call my mom names, even the family still threw stones at her. Humans forget so quickly. SMH
YEARS LATER

YEARS LATER
Finally got to Akure, with accommodation already made, and for the first three to four months everything was going fine, I had a pinch of the family love I had always craved for, like dust, everything faded, the old days came back, but this time, things were different, standard of living was on an average level.
I totally lost my way when I got to SS2 First term, in a bid to prove to people that you can be anything you want outside your field and you can succeed in it, has totally made me lost and finding the way back is all I seek and here, stuck in another greater trouble.
Going into science wasnt my calling, but I had to prove one or two things to people, those who had personally called me to condemn me, my teachers, telling me to the face I wouldnt succeed in that area even if Christ should intervene.
Well I took that bold step, throughout my secondary school days, all went well, I proved it to them, I literally shocked them. Immediately after Secondary School, I got admitted into The Federal Polytechnic, Ile Oluji, Department of Computer Science.
I faired well, created my own games, developed personal apps, but before then, I had gone on a one year training school, which boosted my advantage among my peers, could go 120 WPM on my typing skill.
The following year, during my Four Month Siwes, I began to process the Federal University of Technology, Akure and got admitted into the School of Computing, Department of Information Technology.
All I had in mind was to run both programs together, get my ND and have another fair advantage, both it didnt work out, Dad never bought the idea, funny, after months of running the University program, he asked why I dropped out of Poly, very rhetorical.
"Nobody ever told me anything, you didnt tell me you got admission, you didnt tell me you wanted to cross, you didnt carry me along" Had been the same statement he always said.
My 100 Level First Semester, was tough, didnt attend class, spent more than half the semester on a sick bed, the 100 Level Second Semester was tougher, suddenly lost the will to continue schooling.
200 Level First Semester was another case of family heat, and now 200 Level Second Semester, I personally bleeped up.
For myself I created a wilderness while thinking I was building a paradise. The will to continue is what I dont have, the strength to fight on is what I cant summon, my talents arent helping me, the one thousand line of codes in me cant create an IF condition to make a decision, my hyper realistic drawings arent realistic enough to see me through, my writing ability only gives me temporary relief.

Signed out.........................................................................

From Prime Insane Universe
The Story continues another day, IF and ONLY IF Devilpen is still around.

Wow....well done OP

U too much baba