You will not understand the pains that come with leaving something valuable behind until you experience it firsthand; at that point, you experience the confusion, the chaos and how destabilising that can be.
"Please, tomorrow's exams are by 11:30 am, but let's all be in the hall by 11 am so we can sit close to each other if we are lucky enough and be calm before the exams start." Murphy suggests
"That is a very good idea," Dera concurred.
"I have known you all for ages; this is not the first time we agree on a time and you guys still turn up late." I said to them, making a face, because being late is a habit, especially for Dera.
"Noooo, this one is different; trust me this once." Dera responded, knowing fully well what I said concerns him mostly.
"Well, it is tomorrow that will decide that." I responded as well, departed and headed for our houses.
The course we were going to write is one that nobody fully understood because the lecturer kept saying we are supposed to know everything about the course and refused to explain it since he expected that we knew it already, whereas we do not even know a thing. We used YouTube and any other source we could find to help us understand the course, but none helped us to fully grasp the course. It was an examination; everyone was definitely going to the hall anxious and not knowing what to expect, which makes being there early very important so you don't rush in and forget the little you were able to understand.
If only I could hold time and stop it from moving so I could prepare better; I would have done that, but since I could not before I could add to my preparation, the day for the exams had already come, and all I had left before I stepped into the unknown was an hour. I was just staring at a past question, wishing the lecturer would not give us a set of questions like that because they were indeed difficult when my phone rang. I stretched to look at the screen and saw it was Dera.
"Hello, Kachi, something came up. You guys will go without me; I will come later. Something came up," Dera said to me over the phone.
"I said it," I responded as we both burst into laughter. "I hope whatever came up is not something serious?" I asked him.
"No, you know this is my business now; I have a delivery to make before I come to the hall, as the customer is travelling this morning too and cannot wait until after my exams," Dera explained.
"Ohh, just be fast about it, please." I advised
"Please, if possible, secure a seat for me close to you." Dera pleaded
"I will try my best," I responded.
Dera hung up, and the rest of us dressed up and made our way to the hall. We arrived at the hall, and they started the regular checks before the exams started, and we queued up for biometrics, which took long, and before it ended it was already almost time for the exams, but surprisingly Dera was still nowhere to be found. We took an excuse, stepped outside and started calling him to at least tell him to hurry up, but he was not picking up his calls.
About 20 minutes into the exams and still no sight of him, we got scared and at the same time angry. He won't pick up to tell us if he is fine, and then he won't show up to the exams hall like it is expected of him. 30 minutes were gone, and we saw Dera walk into the hall like a ghost and with a very long face. The invigilators did not allow him to sit on the seat we kept for him, so we had to wait until after exams to tell him how angry we are and then get to hear his side of the story and why he did what he did.
After about an hour and a half, our answer scripts were collected, and immediately we rushed in the direction where Dera was seated.
"What happened, bro? The time you showed up was not in any way part of the agreement." Murphy asked, tapping his head.
"Bro, it's a long story, oo. I went to deliver the goods purchased by a customer; it went smoothly, and I was rushing to the exams hall. I had already alighted from the tricycle at the junction and was walking down here when I noticed my phone was no longer in my pocket, which I am sure it was in while I was in the tricycle... Dera was still talking when we all shouted. "Ahhhhh Jesus Christ. "We all chorused, knowing fully well how much getting a new phone would cost him.
"I boarded another tricycle and tried to track and find the one I alighted from, but that seemed impossible, and I did not check the number on it. I tried all I could and could not find it, so I had to just let it go and make my way to the hall." Dera continued talking as he buried his head in his palm.
"I don't think we should give up on the phone like that; some left behind will always find their way back to us." Murphy said, now tapping Dera on the back to cheer him up.
"Don't give up and still don't raise your hopes too high." I advised
We all headed home, but no one was happy or said a word until we got to the spot where we all parted ways; a loss for one is a loss for all, and Dera's sadness spread like a disease, and we all felt it.
The next morning I saw a call from Dera's number; I immediately rushed to pick up.
"Hello, you must be the owner of the phone?" The caller asked, "I found the phone at the back of my tricycle this morning and had to remove the SIM and insert it in my own phone since the phone was locked." The caller added
"Yes, sir, please, where can I meet you to collect the phone?" I asked
"Just come to the junction before the school gate by 8am; I will be there," the caller responded.
Immediately I jumped down from my bed and put on clothes as I rushed down to Dera's room to break the news. As we made our way to the junction to wait for him, we got there, and the man was already there even before us; that left early, thinking we should not keep him waiting. We collected the phone, and I have never seen Dera that happy before.
