It was a stormy morning and I had a very important examination to write that fateful day.
Exam dates, time and venue had already been distributed weeks before and mine was to be held on a Monday by seven sharp which meant that I had to leave early in order to show up at the examination venue before the allotted time.
I had no problem with that and I thought everything will go according to the way I planned it but nothing really goes according to plan, right?
Monday arrived and I was ready to leave by six am. My brother was to accompany me to the venue which I didn't mind and all was well until we had stepped out of the house and had already walked halfway down the street when it suddenly began to rain heavily.
The raindrops were fat and very cold and they hurt whenever they came in contact with my skin.
It first started as drops of rain and we thought we could walk in it until we got to the bus station but with each step we took the intensity increased and soon it was pouring in massive torrents.
The wind was strong enough to lift off the roof of a house and we had no choice but to run back home.
It was still the hour of six and the rain didn't show any sign of stopping but I had no choice, I had to wait out the rain or most of it because umbrellas were useless in the heavy rain and it wasn't safe driving in such a weather either.
As the minutes ticked by I was slowly panicking wondering if the exam had started with only the students that were able to make it in before the heavy rain in attendance.
What if I miss this exam?
I thought and I worried.
Luckily for me, a few minutes to the hour of seven the intensity of the pouring rain reduced greatly.
It wasn't a drizzle but it was safe to go out using an umbrella and so my brother and I grabbed umbrellas and went out into the rain.
Frankly, the only thing on my mind that Monday morning was making it on time to the examination venue and writing the exam.
We got to the bus station and there weren't any buses picking up commuters.
It felt like the universe was really against me.
We didn't know what to do and we couldn't just stand and wait with other people in the rain. My brother suggested we walk down to a major road where it might be easier to get a bus.
As we walked, I noticed how deserted the major roads were with an occasional vehicle zooming past us every ten minutes. It was as if bus drivers didn't want to come out and get to work even on a rainy Monday morning.
There were no buses or tricycles on the roads. The wide roads were empty and eerie in the gloomy weather.
I was already resigning myself to getting to the exam venue very late when a car pulled up in front of us.
In the car there was a young girl like me and two grown men. The young girl sat at the back while the men sat in front.
I don't know what prompted them to pull over to ask us for directions but I am grateful that they did. The universe wasn't against me after all.
The man driving called out an address to us and asked us if we were familiar with it and it happened to be the very place I was going to too.
I told him that I knew the place and that it was also my destination and to our surprise he asked us to get in so we could better direct him to the place.
My brother and I had gone to look for the examination venue days before the exam so I wouldn't be stranded on the examination day and so it was easy to direct the very kind stranger to the place.
It turned out that the young girl in the back of the car was his sister who was also writing the exam and I was really touched that they were kind enough to allow total strangers in their car on a rainy day.
We directed them to the venue and as soon as we arrived we (the girl and I) were rushed in by invigilators to the waiting hall.
The examination didn't begin until two hours later and I was already confident that truly the universe was on my side the whole time.
I had enough time to settle and get dry before the examination commenced and after I was done my brother and I were able to find our way back home because buses were already on the roads by the time I was finished.
I didn't get to see the girl again after the exam and I really wish I did.