“I know you and I know where you live. If you don't desist from your acts, I know where to find you”.
That was the text message I received on my phone.
I looked at the unknown number, wondering who must have sent such a message to me. I immediately dialled the number just to be safe.
“Hello, Hello, who is this?”, I asked but all I heard was silence. I tried again and the number was unreachable.
“I don't have time for all these spam messages”, I hissed. I really wasn't in the mood. I was thinking of my upcoming exams and the fact that I am yet to pay my school fees bothers me so much to care about stupid messages from someone I didn't know.
I deleted the message from my phone and the number as well as I didn't want to dwell on it. I went about my day praying and hoping I am able to get feedback from my family concerning my school fees.
I could remember I was in 100 level in the university. I attended school from home unlike some students who were allowed to rent hostels around school. In order to minimize cost, I often went to school with my childhood friend Seyi, who lived not too far away from me. This was to enable us to share the cost of transportation to and fro.
After a month or so, I received another text message but this time, it was from a different number.
“You are playing with fire, if you don't desist, I will find you”.
“Who is this one again?”, I said as I read the message aloud. I was in a friend's hostel, resting a bit before another lecture.
I showed the message to a friend lying down next to me and she was shocked. I also told her that this was the second time I was receiving something like that, only that this was a new number.
I dialled the number but there was no response. One of my friends also used her phone to dial the number. The call was picked but said nothing was said..
“Hellooooo”.....no response. I waited, hoping to hear any kind of sound but nothing was heard and so I ended the call.
Who could that be? She asked. “It could be scammers or someone is just trying to play a prank you”
“Abi you don go collect person boyfriend?” another girl named Wunmi asked in Pidgin English.
I eyed her. “Have you seen me with any guy? Me I don't have a boyfriend o".
The girls in the room burst out in laughter but I knew that I wasn't lying. I didn't have time for guys, even though I do get advances from them. I was deeply in love with my studies.
I got back home that day and checked the message once again. “Who could this be?”, I wondered. Initially I dismissed the idea of anyone trying to cause me harm but the tone of the message scared me.
I never knew that Seyi, who didn't own a phone, would sometimes use her Uncle’s phone to call me to wait for her at a particular junction on our way to school. That way, she won't have to wait for long.
She do call me and I also didn't bother to ask whose number she had used to call me as I knew that it was her style to call me with random numbers.
I never knew that Seyi's aunt was a monitoring wife who always checked her husband's phone call history when he comes back home.
She would then copy out some unknown numbers and begin calling. When she hears a female voice on the line, she would cut the call and then start sending threat messages.
I got to know all this one day when I went to visit Seyi to hangout with her. We were in the sitting room while her aunt and husband were in the bedroom. Later, we began to hear some noise like people quarrelling and Seyi whispered to me that her aunt and uncle were at it. I immediately smiled knowing that couples often had misunderstandings.
She took me to their balcony so that we would not listen to the couple's quarrel.
It was while we were outside that my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and found that it was the same unknown number that was calling. I picked and I heard "hello" to which I responded "hello" but something felt off.
I could hear a familiar voice accusing me of being her husband's side chick. I put the phone on speaker so that Seyi could listen too. It was then that she recognized the voice as her aunt's voice. I cut the call quickly while she went inside to let her aunt know that she was calling me.
Upon finding out that I was the one she had been sending threat texts to and listening to Seyi's explanation, she was unmoved and neither did she apologize for all the threat messages she sent me.
Seyi apologized to me on her aunt's behalf but things were never the same again as I stayed away from their house. It even caused a strain on our friendship but we managed to stay friends till our duration in school. Our friendship grew cold after school because I didn't feel comfortable visiting her at her aunt's house.
I didn't disclose the person behind the threat texts to the rest of our friends in school. I felt like keeping that secret for her even though I was not pleased with her aunt's behaviour.
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