Short Story Collection

Titi and Daphne

"Did you pack shampoo", her mother questioned frantically, "How about your second hairbrush? Oh! Did you remember to bring your charger, you know how easy it is to forget-"

Titilayo Elizabeth Adebayo, a 19-year-old college freshman, just wanted to unpack her bags and organize thoughts in peace, but immediately after she arrived at her dorm her mother blew up her phone with messages and calls.

She loved her mom, but she was in college and officially an adult. An adult who wanted to be the smart, strong, and independent woman she was raised without her mother overbearing tendencies.

She turned her gaze to her laptop, which was being used to video-chat her mother, and sighed.

"Mama," she began. "Mama!" she said louder, which caught the older woman's attention.

Titilayo gave a small smile hoping it didn't look strained, "Mama, I am fine, I did not forget anything, my flight was fine, I've met some of my dorm mates but my roommate is yet to arrive".

The woman carefully eyed her daughter through the screen, "Well", she sighed,"If that is the case I guess I better leave you to it.",

"Mommy you know that is not what I meant-",

"No, it's fine. Your brother is probably coming back soon so I have to make lunch. Take care, my dear, I will call you later."

"Bye mama.", and with that and a smile, the older woman disconnected.

Titilayo felt slightly guilty for the way she acted, but she pushed those feelings down, I will apologize later, she thought, for now, I need to finish unpacking.

Half an hour later, she had finished unpacking and was laying on her bed, taking in the room. When she first arrived she was solely focused on organizing her belongings and familiarizing herself with the other dorm residents.

Now that she looked at it, the room was a lot prettier than she first imagined. Big enough to fit two beds opposite each other with a lot of space to move about, the walls were grey with nails sticking out of them so she assumed they were allowed to hang pictures. The floors were tiled and in the centre of the room was a large, shaggy, and black carpet. There was only one wardrobe on her side of the room which meant she had to share the space with her roommate and finally by the side of each bed frame was a small wooden chest of drawers.

She hummed to herself, enjoying her relaxed state, knowing it wouldn't last long. That did not faze her, she had worked tirelessly to get to where she was and she was not going to give that up for anything.

She resolved to close her eyes, I'll just lay here for a bit, she decided, it would not hurt to nap a little. Nodding to herself, she drifted into an easy slumber, her breath evening out.

###

Titilayo woke up to the sound of harsh knocking on her door. She quickly sat up and rubbed her eyes, groping for her phone on the chest of drawers. Turning it on, she squinted, the screen displayed the time: 2 pm. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, I drifted off around 10 am, she pondered, there is no way I was asleep for that long...right?

She was snapped out of he musings by another sharp knock on the door. "I'm coming!" she yelled as she hurriedly got to her feet and moved to open the door.

When she opened the door, she immediately caught sight of another girl with her hands on her knees panting and her suitcases half-open on either side of her. "Um...Hello?" Titilayo greeted uncertainly, the girl simply raised an index finger above her head, signalling for her to 'hold on'. Titilayo raised an eyebrow but continued anyway, "My name is Titilayo Adebayo, I'm guessing you're my roommate?". The girl straightened up to her full height so Titilayo could finally get a good look at her.