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I Saved Someone's Life By Being Quiet - Culture - Nairaland

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Obi Of Onitsha: I Was Saved From Attacked Train Through Phone Call / When Ijaws Speak, Igbos Should Know When To Respectfully Keep Quiet / "MY LIFE", By Ahmadu Bello (2) (3) (4)

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I Saved Someone's Life By Being Quiet by Derajoyce(f): 8:32pm On Feb 08, 2021
Uber drivers that nag gets under my skin.
That’s how I felt seated at the back of the grey corolla at the foot of an old-looking rock.
“This must be the place,” I mumbled as I glanced at the rear mirror; the driver wore his rough frown well.
“Madam, there’s no road here… and my tires are…” he lamented.
“Drop me here,” I requested. I was prepared to find my way through the scrawny pathways than spare any second listening to the man wining.
As I watched him drive off, I regretted my decision. Here I was, headstrong in the middle of a forgotten village looking for a crate filled with greenish water. I spotted a middle-aged man, walking down the cliff. For some reason, his potbelly reassured me. I approached him and asked if he knew how I could get to the crate. He tried to give me directions then, decided to take me himself. I walked closely behind him, clenching my bag to the side of my waist. I was afraid. If I screamed along this dead path, would someone hear me? I wondered.
“Thank you so much for taking out the time to take me yourself,” I said, trying hard to strip the sentence of any accents.
“No problem ma, I dey on break,” he said.
At that moment, I was determined to keep him talking. I’ve got a theory that as long as a human is talking about themselves, it’s easier to manoeuvre them. Also, I’ve never met a person that doesn’t want to feel heard, even for five minutes. This man was decent, he took me to the spot and told me to be watchful of the people at the crate. He even offered to come back to escort me when I was done. I dipped my hand into my purse and squeezed something into his palms.
I walked down the wide path leading to the crate, grinning, the crate was old, abandoned and yet beautiful. It had three layers of rocks; most people roam around the first two. I went up the second layer, soaking in all its magnificence. A skinny dark boy asked if I needed a mat, he told me I’d have to pay 500 naira for an hour. He said it with a weed stick between his lips. Instead, I asked if he would take pictures of me. As I handed over my phone, I realised what a foul decision I had just made. He could run away with it and nothing would happen.
He smiled at me, thrilled to be my photographer. He showed me the best spots, instructing me on what poses I should take. “You’re good at this,” I told him. “Have you thought of doing this for other people?” I asked.
He laughed. “dey no go trust me na… who go giv you phone?”
That was true, I was trusting him and he recognised it. He became my tour guide, we spoke about him, his family, and about the crate. He told me his name was Saliu. The ultimate test of trust came when I crawled on hands and legs up the third layer of rocks, hanging onto nothing but the guidance of a boy I just met. That green water down wouldn’t be the last thing I see, I told myself.
When we got to the top, I saw the group of men we like to call hoodlums. They sat on the rocks in a semicircle, smoking weed. My heart didn’t skip a beat. I had seen too much already for these men to frighten me. I walked up to them and said hello. Some looked too dazed to respond, visibly surprised at my audacity.
That’s was when, I spotted a girl in red, seated at the edge of the rock. Saliu marched to the girl, I lingered behind, scared to death of the height of the rock. A stream of tears ran down her cheeks and although I couldn’t see her face clearly, she was cloaked in despair. Saliu spoke to her in Hausa and turned to tell me, she wanted to kill herself. My chest stiffened.
I closed my eyes and climbed up the rock, placed my hands on her back and began rubbing it gently, while Saliu and a couple of the “hoodlum” guys begged her in Hausa to step away from the edge. By a stroke of luck, Saliu pulled her aside and I jolted backwards. The men basically said since I was female, she might open up to me.
I took her hand and stepped as far as we could from the edge of the crate. What do you tell a person who wants to escape from life? I started like slowpoke, asking her to tell me the problem as if I could help, as if I had the magnitude to understand what she was experiencing. She peered at me through her tear-filled lashes and looked away. I swallowed the lump in my throat, biting the corner of my lower lip. I stood there in silence, with her, not saying anything, not asking for anything. We both stood in silence looking over the rustic roofs of Mpappe.
“Do you like this place?” she asked.
“Yes,” I whispered, surprised she spoke clean English. “It’s different.”
She nodded. I nodded too. We stood in silence again.
“It makes me happy,” I said breaking the silence. “Coming to places like this make me happy. What makes you happy?” I asked.
She gazed afar before turning to find my face, “it’s not here,” she said.
“I can take you to that rock up there,” she said, pointing to an elongated rock tip. The thing looked like it couldn’t even hold itself.
“No,” I smiled. “I can’t do it.”
She smiled.
“Oh my god, you smiled,” I said beaming, unable to hold my happiness. “I’m sorry… I’m hugging you,” I said, encircling my arms around her. She resisted at first before succumbing. When we released each other, the group of men began clapping. We all laughed at each other. I’ll never know her name.
Saliu walked me down the crush rock and waited till I found a bike. Whilst on the bike, I closed my eyes as air rushed into my face, remembering how as a teen, my father had banned me from touching a bike, ever. I wanted to spread my arms apart like in Titanic; I was ecstatic. I couldn’t help but wonder, was it my decision to visit crush rock or was I led to be there at that time, and all that was expected of me was to simply trust the process.

Story with pictures: https://derajoyce.medium.com/i-saved-someones-life-by-being-quiet-2a79dffbe151

2 Likes

Re: I Saved Someone's Life By Being Quiet by illicit(m): 8:38pm On Feb 08, 2021
shocked
Re: I Saved Someone's Life By Being Quiet by doggedfighter(f): 9:13pm On Feb 08, 2021
cheesy
Re: I Saved Someone's Life By Being Quiet by Odoogu(m): 9:23pm On Feb 08, 2021
gifted with words indeed.. ramble on and on, but ironic you had to save someone with silencecheesy.
I love Life.

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