The next morning got off to a rough start. The sound of the bugle woke me up, but like a handful of others, I chose to hit the snooze button and skip the morning parade.
I was rudely jolted out of my sleep by someone shaking me forcefully. As I struggled to open my eyes, a harsh flashlight beam assaulted my face, forcing me to wince. I lifted my hands to block the light, and that's when I heard the commanding voice.
“Ode, you better get up, move to the door and join your mates”
I grumbled as I leapt out of bed. As the soldier moved on to rouse others, I quickly got dressed and joined the group. At the door, I found another soldier accompanied by ten fellow corps members, and with my arrival, our number swelled to eleven.
We could hear the soldier's voice inside, shouting orders and rousing the remaining corps members. Once they had gathered everyone, we were formed into a single file and marched off to the parade ground under their strict supervision.
I assumed the raid was isolated to my hostel, but upon arriving at the parade ground, I was surprised to discover that every hostel had been targeted, and corps members from all the hostels were gathered there.
They assembled us in front of the stage at the parade ground, where the state coordinator proceeded to unleash a torrent of verbal abuse, condemning us and our ancestors for generations past.
She hurled a barrage of insults at us, scouring her vocabulary to label us everything from despicable creatures to contemptible fools, and from mentally unstable individuals to indolent primates, leaving no stone unturned in her verbal assault.
Having unleashed her wrath upon us, she instructed the camp commandant to segregate us into groups and confiscate our identification tags. As a deterrent to others who might consider following in our footsteps, she decreed that we would undergo a three-day camp sanitation exercise, after which our tags would be returned to us.
It was my first attempt at dodging the morning parade, and it ended in disaster, I was stuck with compound cleaning duties. I couldn't help but wonder why I always seemed to get caught whenever I tried to follow the crowd and get away with something. We were split into six groups, our tags confiscated, and assigned to various camp officials who would oversee our punishment.
Each official escorted their respective group to a designated area of the camp, and so our compound cleaning ordeal began. To add salt to injury, my group leader took it a step further, insisting that we sign in before starting the cleaning and sign out afterwards, which only fueled my exasperation.
It turned out that the morning's events had a surprising upside. Following the compound cleaning, I returned to the hostel, showered, and then headed to the dining hall for breakfast, feeling somewhat revitalized.
As I made my way to Mami, I gave Sandra a call and surprisingly, she was already at the market. When I asked her to share her location, she hesitated, so I suggested she meet me at my usual eating spot once she was free from whatever or whoever was occupying her attention.
I didn't dwell on Sandra's reluctance to share her location, as the morning's events had already provided ample frustration.
As I walked towards the café, my gaze drifted to a nearby, popular spot, and that's when I spotted Sandra in the company of Kennedy, a charismatic figure who had been making a name for himself in the camp, surrounded by a group of other guys.
I observed Sandra enjoying her meal while the guys sipped their drinks. I decided to prioritize my growling stomach and grabbed a bite to eat before dealing with the potential drama that was unfolding.
As I sat down to eat, my mind persistently wandered back to Sandra and her companions. A suffocating weight settled in my chest, making it difficult for me to catch my breath, and for a few moments, I felt like I was drowning in my own emotions.
If Sandra had been honest with me about her whereabouts, I wouldn't have been consumed by such distress. But the fact that she was withholding information because of some guy made the sting even sharper, intensifying my feelings of hurt and betrayal.
My appetite vanished, and I shoved the food away, instead asking for a bottle of Heineken. One bottle quickly turned into two as I downed the first and promptly ordered another.
I wasn’t drinking to forget what I saw, but I just wanted to relax my nerves. When I was through with the second bottle, I paid and just as I was about to leave, she started calling me.
I was tempted to ignore her call, but something made me hesitate, and I picked up instead. She inquired about my whereabouts, and I shared my location with her. I leaned back, waiting for her to arrive.
“What’s up?”.........she asked, sitting opposite me across the table.
“I’m good, and you?”........I inquired.
“I’m cool, I was with some friends when you called me”........she muttered.
“Is that why you couldn’t tell me your exact location?”.........I retorted.
“Must I tell you?”.......she fired back.
“And by the way who are those friends that you were with?”........I asked, and she scoffed.
“Do I now owe you explanations for all my activities in camp?”.........she said sarcastically.
“What’s all this about Sandra, are you pissed with me over something?”.........I asked, staring at her intently.
She locked eyes with me for an uncomfortable moment, then broke the gaze, diverting her attention to her phone.
“Are you going to just pick up your phone while I’m talking to you?”........I asked rudely.
“What is your problem? Do you want to talk or argue? Fine.
What is it with you and Pascaline?”.........She asked.
“What do you mean by that?”........I asked surprised.
“Exactly what I meant by asking, the question is simple”........she retorted.
“You should already know by now that there is nothing between Pascaline and I”.........I replied.
“I don't know anything between you two.What happened yesterday? You guys spent the whole evening together. You couldn’t even call me, and yet you tell me that nothing is happening between you guys?”..........She blasted.
“Is that why you are putting up this behavior?”........I asked.
“Is it not worth it?”........she rudely replied.
“So because you saw me with Pascaline last night or maybe she probably told you that I was with her, that’s the reason for your attitude and in order to spite me, you decided to go hanging out with your own people......After all, what business of mine is it right?”.........I muttered, slightly raising my voice.
“I did nothing to spite you, I was just hanging out with friends”........she said nonchalantly.
“You didn’t see me yesterday, did you bother to call me?”........I asked sternly.
“I didn’t need to call, I knew you were having a swell time with your female friends”........she said sarcastically.
“So of all the people in this camp, you decided to join the Kennedy group?”.......I asked angrily.
“Do I now have people I’m restricted from going out with?”.........she blurted out.
“No not at all, you can move around with anybody you want”........I replied.
“Fine then”.........She said, with a note of finality and stood up from her seat.
I also rose to my feet, and we exited the café in silence, like two people who barely knew each other. I was already irritated that she had withheld her location from me, but catching her with Kennedy's group had ignited a whole new level of anger within me.
Kennedy, according to the story making rounds in camp, is a guy that moves around with many girls. The person you see him with today is not the same person you will see him with tomorrow.
It was also whispered that Kennedy had a history of intimate encounters with many of the girls he dated. What bothered me wasn't Sandra's association with him per se, but rather the repercussions it would have on my reputation among our friends when they found out.
I've never met Kennedy in person, but from what I've gathered, his arrogant attitude and personality traits are pretty off-putting, and I'm not sure I'd be able to tolerate them.
Sandra and I went our separate ways in silence after leaving Mami, the tension between us palpable. As I stormed back to my hostel, my anger simmered just below the surface.
“If she wants to play games, I'm more than happy to play along, and I'll make sure I come out on top”........I thought to myself.
To be continued.........
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