DAMOLA

Chapter 13

The alarm went off and Damola sat up. It was 6 am and the urge to sleep was strong but her will to wake up was stronger.

She brushed her teeth, wore her tracksuit and jogged downstairs. The website had said to,

'Exercise regularly'

She had always been exercising in the morning but that stopped too. She was soon out of the gate, jogging.

The street was not busy yet. Only one store was fully opened, two others were still cleaning. The morning breeze felt thin and cool. The sun was still behind clouds and was a bit high above the horizon. As she covered more ground, she felt better and better. The cold feeling left, she felt warm and light. It was like bathing hot water in a cool weather and everything seemed right.

Damola soon returned from the morning exercise and headed straight to her room to have her bath. By the time she went downstairs again, she found that everyone was up. Chika and Chichi were in the kitchen and she had heard movement in Aunty Ndidiamaka's room, she was probably going to work.

"Damola how far?" Chika said as Damola sat on the stool in the kitchen.

"I'm fine. How was your night?"

"It was good. It's like you don't like boys"

Damola stared at her, silent.

"Did they do anything to you? Did one boy break your heart?"

"It was a boy and a friend"

Chichi looked at Damola with a surprised look. She had not expected Damola to reply Chika.

It was then Aunty Ndidiamaka came into the kitchen. "Is my food ready? Please a customer is waiting for me. In fact, put it in my food flask" With that she left the kitchen.

"Damola you can tell me later. I'd like to hear how it happened. I have my own story too"

" Okay" She was taken aback but she wasn't going to show it, she was bigger than any pain. It was then she remembered her flower, "Chichi, do you know if there's any empty tin I can use as a flower pot?"

" Yes there's an empty one outside at the back"

"Thank you, I'll need your help to decorate it by the way" Damola stood up and returned to her room. She had lost her appetite again. She was going to have to tell the story again and they would know why she tried to do it. She paced her room taking deep breaths.

"Damola! Come and eat!"

It was Chika.

Chika was very courageous, didn't care about what anybody thought and it was getting to Damola, or maybe, this was what she needed. Maybe she needed to face this. To face the fact that her so called best friend betrayed her and her ex-boyfriend stopped liking her because she was arrogant.

It was a painful reality and Damola collapsed on her bed. Why was she arrogant inthe first place? She missed Taj sometimes. He was very romantic and knew how to make her happy in a way only he could.

Damola heard her door open slightly and she saw Chika standing there. This babe was very brave.

"Are you crying?"

"No" Damola further buried her face in her pillow.

"I hope I'm not the one at fault?"

"No"

There was silence for a minute.

"My ex-boyfriend dated two girls, me and my classmate as at that time", Chika started, "She was the type that liked to be around her guy while I was the type that preferred to be by myself in school so I wouldn't be distracted but would meet up with him later. We never knew. I thought the girl just liked playing but he was the player"

Damola sat up, " How did you find out?"

"It was on Valentine's day. He bought the same gift for both of us with cards that had the same wish" Chika laughed, "The fool couldn't even think something as basic as that through. When I found out, I threw it at him in front of his friends and slapped him. It was very uplifting" This time, they both laughed. " Damola what happened to you?"

" Well, he cheated on me with my former best friend"

" Nna boys are stupid oh even that girl too"

"He said I was arrogant"

" Your best friend is not arrogant?"

Damola laughed again, "After he broke up with me on my grad day, I didn't know if he had found another girl until I saw a picture of him and my former best friend on Facebook."

" Wow"

"At first I was angry but then I saw comments from people that they preferred her because I was stuck up, proud and all of that"

Chika looked at her with what seemed to be pity.

"That was what got to me. I felt like an outcast, rejected and alone. I went on to delete all my social media accounts so I wouldn't see stuff like that. I blocked the numbers of people from my school, which wasn't much and I began crying everyday. I continued to be in thus dark place mentally until I tried what I did" Damola was about to ask if she knew what she did

"I know what you did, don't worry. A lot has happened to you oh God will help you"

Damola rolled her eyes.

" You don't believe in God?"

"I do. It's just that everything must not be tied down to Him. Can't we do something about our situation instead of calling Him everytime?"

" Damola we need God oh. First of all, He gave life. Secondly, He is watching and will help whenever we ask Him"

" You're sure He's watching?"

" Don't let anybody deceive you. God has not and can not lose control of the world He created. Everything looks chaotic because God doesn't step into man's business unless man asks Him to. If men like you now, don't ask, why won't things continue to be chaotic? We don't trust Him enough and that's why things are like this"

Damola nodded. " How do I pray to God or talk to Him?"

"On Sunday, give your life to Christ then just be praying to Him and read your Bible. Everything will make sense soon enough"

Giving her life to Christ sounded vague, she couldn't imagine it but she would see how things would turn out.

"Damola come and eat please. I'm hungry" Chika said as she stood up and left

"Okay okay" Damola stood up feeling better. Talking about it with someone didn't seem that bad after all, it was even therapeutic. Damola's smile broadened and she headed downstairs to eat.