I always tell people around me that I'm just too young for the kind of experiences I've had in this life, and most of them have made me who I am today and the things I do.
While I was growing up, one of my sisters, her name was Ogechi; Ogechi was my second mum then. I was just very young then, still in primary school. She was the only one who could feed, clothe, and bathe me then; she's my favourite. All of a sudden, I stopped seeing her. If I asked my mum, she would tell me Ogechi had travelled, that she would come soon. Little me didn't know that Ogechi was dead, until I started seeing her in my dreams. Each time I dreamt about her, I always woke up crying. It didn't stop until after my primary school, then my parents opened up to me about how Ogechi died, so that I would be very conscious while entering secondary school.
It happened that Ogechi was a very brilliant student back then in her secondary school. She had this only best friend in her class with whom she did everything together, except that Ogechi was more intelligent. They wrote WAEC, and after the WAEC, my sister's WAEC results came out; she was the best in their school. She got a scholarship award to any university of her choice from 100 level to her final year, and that's how her problems started. Her supposed best friend, Mary, became so jealous and bitter towards my sister. Nobody knew Mary was possessed; she was just so innocent. Mary gave out some of her clothes that she claimed didn't fit her anymore to my sister. My sister, out of the friendship, happily collected the clothes and brought them to the house, but my dad told her not to wear any of those clothes, that he wasn't just comfortable about the gift from Mary. Out of stubbornness, my sister didn't listen; she went ahead and wore those clothes. Not quite long afterwards, she became very sick. They took her to several hospitals; all to no avail. Several tests were carried out, yet doctors kept saying nothing was wrong with her. The tests and series of scans showed everything was okay with her. She was discharged and taken to the church; they prayed and prayed. Luckily, it was as if she was recovering; yeah, she did initially. She was normal again and was brought back home. A few weeks later, the sickness started again, and this time it came with serious torture and threatening from her best friend spiritually. My sister would be talking to this her best friend; nobody around could see this girl in question then, except my sister. My parents watched her beg this her best friend for her life; she begged her to let her be. My parents didn't really understand what was going on until the very day she died. A few minutes before she passed on, I guess she already knew that she was going to die at that point. She called my parents and told them how Mary, her best friend, had been tormenting her spiritually, how Mary told her she had initiated her through those clothes. She told her she would die if she refused to join them; my sister still refused to join them. She begged my dad to forgive her for not listening to him when he warned her not to wear any of those clothes, but according to her, it was already too late for her now. She requested pastors, including my dad, to pray for her soul before her last breath. That's how we lost Ogechi, my sister.
Ever since this happened, I've been so scared of having a female friend as a best friend; in fact, I don't even have a best friend. To the extent that during Mother's Day in our church this year, we did an event in church where we had to exchange gifts among ourselves. I gave a lady a cash transfer, and she gave me a gift in return. When I got home and opened it, it was some jewellery. I had to show my mum, and she quickly took the gift and trashed it and warned me never to collect such gifts from anyone again. She still had to remind me of how Ogechi died again.
My sister's death made me even while in the university is still very hard for me to call someone my best friend, I'm good to everyone around me but I don't do bestie stuff I've learnt a very big lesson. I've not even talked about the experience I've had with the roommates I've had in uni ooh God I've gone through alot in the hands of my roommates, is it how one will always eat my foodstuffs and provisions with me and then when it's time to buy another you won't see her,she don't contribute to anything in the room,or how the second roommate I had used to bring different men in the room when I'm not around, once I talk to her about it, it'll become a very big problem this girl won't talk to me for some days, moving forward I've decided I'll be staying alone from next semester for my sanity.
Let me just stop here for now, there're lots of experience to share but let's leave it for another day/ prompt 馃槃 I've seen a lot at this my young age or should I say maybe we're not just lucky with friends in my family馃馃馃 ( my thoughts though) .
Thank you for stopping by and reading to the end.
Photos are all mine.
