As tiny as a candle flame is, my hope rested on it throughout the night. I regretted sitting all day, tapping away at the keyboard on my phone and laughing heartily at my friend's jokes while power was supplied, without plugging in my charger.
Source
It was Saturday evening, the atmosphere was serene with the wind gently caressing the leaves in the backyard, causing them to rustle faintly. I was still on my phone then, enjoying my stipulated day of rest after a hectic academic session and trying the best I could to catch up with my group of guys who I had since stopped speaking with because I barely had the time, it wasn't up to 9 pm yet so I was quite confident that the power would stay for at least 2 more hours but to my surprise, it was seized at 8:30 pm.
I knew how the power company could seize power before the usual time and supply it again after a couple of minutes, so I kept my cool, my battery was at 13%. I had also been expecting my roommate to return home from the date she was taken on but when the time struck 9 pm and she hadn't rapped on the door in her usual style, I placed a call across.
I could barely hear her with all the honking and loud music in the background so she promised to call me back when she was in a quiet environment. I went on with clicking on my screen, letting out occasional laughter at the hilarious memories the guys were bringing up. Sometime in between, the power came again and was taken out almost immediately, like the quick flash of a torchlight. I wasn't even paying attention; I was having so much fun.
At about 9:30 pm, I turned my data off to call my roommate again.
“Treasure, I'm not sure I can come home tonight.”
I took the phone off my ear to look at the time then placed it back.
“What do you mean you're not sure? This is just 9:32 pm, the estate gate is still open.”
“I know” I could hear her hesitancy over the phone. ”but Micah says it's too late.”
I scoffed, biting the insides of my cheek to prevent myself from saying exactly what was on my mind.
“So where are you sleeping? His house…?”
“No o!” She interjected sharply. ”he's booking a room for me”
“You better be careful” I didn't intend to sound like her mother but I didn't know Micah in person, if anything happened to her, I couldn't place a hold on who the guy was. She made it clear that she understood, promised to take care of herself, and went off the call.
My battery was already at 7%. I knew it wasn't possible to turn my flashlight on with that battery percentage, so I took out an old candle that we had broken into halves, lit it, and placed it on my locker to provide illumination throughout the room.
I had spent a great portion of my afternoon sleeping so I wasn't sleepy at all, since my roommate was not returning for the night either, I became restless. I paced the room, checking the time intermittently, straining my ears to pick up non-existent beeping sounds from my light meter.
At some point, I strolled out to see if there was power in nearby compounds because the suspicion that my light unit had finished suddenly came strongly to me. There was light, but there was also the sound of generators from various angles.
I headed back into my room to lie on the bed, hoping for Mother Nature to envelope me in her arms and rock me gently to slumber land but that didn't happen. I had laid down for just 10 minutes which already seemed like half an hour.
At that point, I decided to read a novel because that was the only activity that wouldn't consume so much battery percentage on my phone especially since my candle was already at its barest minimum, struggling to keep its flame alive. I hadn't been so frustrated in a long time. To console myself, I took out the bar of chocolate I had gotten for my roommate and sucked on it as I read.
I didn't take cognizance of when I drifted off in slumber but when I woke up by 8 am the next morning, my eyes hurt from the blinding sunlight that found its way in through the kitchen window. As if that was not enough, the minute I stepped out of bed to get a glass of water, I heard shouts erupt from different angles in the compound. I didn't wait to be told, I plugged my phone in immediately.
Finally, there was light.
