Black ( Lemon )

Chapter 1

A life partner is not about battling each other
But overcoming life's challenges together
Thegoodquote

Lemon

I stared out the window, the dry fields of barren land stretched out for kilometers. The six-hour journey from Sokoto to Kaduna came with the butt wrenching pain as a free souvenir for the travelers themselves.

Traveling through the Northern part of Nigeria was really boring. Over time, I had mastered the art of not sleeping through my journeys. Being the overly paranoid person that I was, every little thing spiked my attention, I couldn't afford to sleep off in a car full of strangers. Thankfully, I traveled with very little stuff, a mini traveling bag, and my purse that I hugged to myself all through the trip.

While boarding the bus, the conductor and I, had had a fit. I made it very clear to him that I often had cramps and muscle spasms due to uncomfortable sitting positions, so he should load the bags under the seat in such a manner that I would have enough room to stretch my legs, but being a woman in a man's world especially in the thick north where the female gender have
little say in anything, he did as he saw fit.

So there I was, sitting with a bag of rice under the seat in front of me, my legs were already going numb. The pain kept creeping up my thighs. I prayed to Allah not to allow me to have any muscle spasm because they hurt so so so bad.

I longed for the stop in Gusau, to finally exercise my legs and buy suya (spicy barbecued meat with onions and pepper) and some water for the rest three hours.

A few hours later, the outskirts of Gusau's terrain was a welcoming sight, my legs had longed for a feel on the Earth. I needed a stretch. The driver parked the Car next to a Suya and Waina Joint. We dropped down from the bus and everyone scattered to various directions, some stretched, some went to the provisions store while others went straight to the grill spot.

After getting some meat and bottle of water, I settled back in the car and quickly ate the meat. I was done in a few minutes. The driver and I waited for the other passengers to arrive, he was already fussing about the passengers not being back yet, muttering about how he would leave whenever wasn't back in five minutes behind. I chuckled slightly and rolled my eyes, like that was possible.

Finally, we were back on the road and the other passengers were eating or drinking, exactly why I always ate before we moved, it just felt wrong somehow, chewing and munching stuff in a bus with a lot of people around.

I resumed watching the trees fly past me, reflecting upon the semester, it had been a very tough three months. From collecting my admission letter to the countless times I got lost looking for lecture halls.

The seniors or students of higher levels didn't make things any easier, as they kept misdirecting new students to wrong locations just for the fun of it.

Oh, I missed home! The beauty of home lies in the fact that food is always ready, you wouldn't need to worry about how it's cooked. Unlike at school where you'd have to go back to the hostel to scramble for whatever fast meal you could prepare between lectures. The mere thought of it was stressful. The transition from being a stay at home kid to being a full-time student wasn't as fun as most people made it sound.

Not to mention my horrible unwanted night guests, " the mosquitoes" (man-eating carnivorous beast as we called them), the combination of the Sahara heat and these flea sized beasts often made me restless at night. If your discomfort didn't come from being bitten by one then it'll surely come from their numbers. I tend to wonder the amount of blood they consumed from me that semester.