HALF PAST ONE

All my life,  I have always known that I had a calling upon my life but if I had known that Chioma will be the first person to call me on that morning, I wouldn't have picked the call.

Looking at life and how far it has brought me,  I wonder if Chioma was the right vehicle but something in me tells me she's not. All my life,  I have always grown to love people but when Chioma came into my life,   everything changed. In fact,  all I could do was to tolerate them.

I met her at a market place. She was fighting another woman and I thought to myself,  This is the kind of woman that I want since I am always quiet. No,  it was not a marriage,  it was a situationship.

Chioma delt with me. I tried to create awareness for a brand but she spoilt everything. It was a black soap making industry. So,  I fit in based on my past record and my easily seen gapped set of teeth. Even when I am angry,  you wouldn't notice it. So,  Chioma took advantage of this severally.

I always leave the house without telling her because I was a Motivational Speaker. In fact,  whenever I am speaking and I remember Chioma's name,  everything in my brain would disappear. She was a total mind eraser. Whether good or bad,  if you come in contact with Chioma,  everything you have in mind would disappear. That is how bad it was.

My Mom knew about her but that wasn't enough reason for her to have treated me like that. So, because I told her that she was the first girl to have ever visited my Mom through me,  she felt she had won a trophy! Meanwhile,  I was still trying to land on life.

Chioma met me as a clean guy but right now,  I cannot say much about it. To her,  dressing well meant spending the money meant for future planning but she always made her hair with expensive materials.

My greatest undoing was my not being able to tell Chioma to her face I was not who she thought me to be! I was calm,  yes. I was quiet,  yes but if you meet me at midnight,  you would scream and run back to your bed screaming and gasping for fresh air and that is if I didn't catch you. I was not a Comedian,  I lived a double-faced life.

If Chioma had known this,  she would have known what is on ground. I met Ezeguy at the junction where I went to buy Suya and he prophesied into my life. Since then,  Chioma's situation has gone bad. That night,  the aboki guy was just cutting everything down into the old news paper sheet he had spread out on the table and was about to wrap it up with some slices of onions, cabbages and some mixture of dried groundnut flakes with other seasonings when I sensed danger. Chioma had given me a three missed calls and I froze. Whenever something of this nature happens,  it's neither she had slapped my mother or she was fighting another person in the yard. So,  the stick of suya I had in my hand got stuck half way into my mouth as I pulled out my phone from my pocket with the other hand.

Truth be told,  I am a strong person but sometimes,  I just chicken out. That is why some people have always wondered the kind of person I was. When you expect me to act,  I won't. When you do not expect me to act,  I would and give an explanation thereafter. That night,  I was only able to pay the Aboki guy hurriedly and left as Ezeguy bade me good bye. 

When I got home,  she dragged me into the room and said that we must leave the neighbourhood at once that some hoodlums had attacked her and even promised to come back. So,  I told her to calm down and explain what was going on to me and she said she was owing them.

"Chioma,  just climb up!" I said. 

"Ok,  thank you." Was her reply as she hurriedly scampered for safety. I could remember telling her what to do whenever there was trouble.

"Always climb up." I had said 3 months ago!

"I hope that is not one of your frequently used motivational quotes?" She asked.

"No." I replied and that was all. That night,  it helped her as she went for the hole that leads into our ceiling and I called two of my boys to mount surveilence for me!

That was how I got myself equipped by pulling up my bed and after making a hole on the ground,  I found some guns and waited. After several hours,  the hoodlums didn't arrive. So,  I called my guys to know what was happening and they said there was no show. When the finally arrived,  I saw three school children in the company of their mother who came to ask Chioma for there money and I was weak! I called Chioma out and told her to come and pay this people their monies. 

After that incident,  I never took Chioma serious again! The last time I heard about her was when I went there to pick somethings that I left while I was in a hurry to leave the whole house for her after a heated argument and I was told that she had packed out with the remaining properties and the landlord was even saying that I should pay him some money! Thanks to our nuisances,  my Mom had left for her elder sister's place earlier. So,  I was left to mourn my life alone.