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Who listens to you when you're crying at night?
Who amongst the people you've spent time with and people you've called your friends, ever noticed a little change in behaviour, a little drift from normalcy in you?
It's pointless if you thing that even with all these people around, you still feel alone.
I've been there. I've gone clubbing with almost ten girls in a van that took hours to arrive, half of the girls already drunk, at midnight. At 2am in the morning I have noticed that in the midst of the bodies moving in the dance floor , I am lonely.
At 4:45 am, I'm back home, and the pangs of loneliness still hits me.
At 5am, the pillow case is stained with a mixture of the tears, and probably the makeup I haven't wiped off just yet.
Because in the midst of all that fullness, you're still empty , hollow.

(Isabelle's Diary entry, second year of university)

**********

Five Months Later.

The road leading to the apartment was a bit rough and potentially dangerous, and driving was a skill that needed a lot of patience. But with time Isabelle had gotten used to it, just as she got used to Port Harcourt.

It had been hard in the first month. Port Harcourt was not so vastly different from Abuja, but it still felt different. Maybe it was because of the environment. Port Harcourt was a beautiful city. When she first moved in, she had to take herself on a short drive round the area she lived, to get familiar with the settings, but that same night she broke down and cried, because it was hard being away from the reach of family and it took everything in her not to quit and resume her own life in Abuja.

Just a year, she said to herself. Just a school year before she made a decision whether to stay here permanently or not. The weekend before Josiah finally left for Southampton, they tried to make the most of the time they both had together at her two bedroom flat, about a ten minute drive from the school she was working at. She didn't realise how much she was going to miss him, until he left and her house had never felt so empty. They tried as much as possible to keep in contact but it didn't feel the same as him being there. Thankfully, she was adjusting now.

The thundering skies brought her back to reality and she felt her car tyre sink into a pothole. She sighed. It was always annoying and more of unsafe driving on a rainy day. The roads flooded and got muddy and made her wish she was back at home. Thankfully, she made it home before it got worse. She got down from the car when the rain had calmed down a bit and on getting down, she realised the gateman, a man who appeared to be in his fifties, was standing there waiting for her to get out.

"Good evening ma, welcome" He greeted.

"How are you, Patrick?" She said, smiling. He was a lovely man and she appreciated his loyalty and dedication.

"I'm fine thank you. I just wanted to tell you that there was a young man that came looking for you this afternoon"

"Young man?" She questioned, frowning. She wasn't expecting anyone today, and besides Patrick knew Josiah so it couldn't be him.

"Yes ma. He left about two hours ago, he said I should tell you he's coming back tomorrow morning"

She was about to tell Patrick that she leaves home at 7:20am every morning just in time to make it for the assembly. But then she had realised it was a public holiday the next day.

She shook her head. "Please do let me know when he arrives tomorrow"

As she got back into her apartment, she wondered who the person could be. It couldn't be Josiah because she had spoken to him, and he didn't give any surprise vibes. She probably dismissed it later that night at probably a random person she hardly knew. If it was anything to be worried about, she had Patrick to help her out. But she tried not to let it get to her, and she instead focused on getting her work done. She planned on marking the work she had given the Sss1 students, on defining literary terms and identifying such on a body of work. She had marked until she got tired, then she had called her mum on Skype before retiring for the night.