Mara's Classics

Thanks, Holy. "I'm unstoppable! "I'm a parachute with no brakes. "I'm invincible. "I win every single game. "I'm so powerful! "I don't need batteries to play. "I'm so confident... I'm unstoppable today!" My phone beeped. I had been expecting it. I quickly scooped the last of my cereal and dropped my plate. "Off I go," I muttered and tried to recall if I had forgotten anything. After a satisfactory check, I announced to my roomies, "Okay, darlings. I'm off. See you on the flip side." "Hadum." "Yeah?" I turned and looked at three pairs of inquisitive eyes that had, only a moment ago, been focused on their phones. I returned their stares and they looked at each other. "What?" I asked. Mma simply held up her mirror. I stared at my reflection. I looked great in my jeans and dark blue shirt with white stripes. My eyes danced with delight from my clothes to my hair which w

  Inspired by a lovely girl named Holy. I didn't see Fumnanya for the rest of the break. Although it was only a week, it felt like a dreadfully long time. In that long period, I had more than once headed to Akintola hostel, but the fear of meeting those eyes that had penetrated me with guilt always scared me back. "I'm sorry," were the words I wanted to tell her so desperately. Not much to say and I could easily send it to her DM but I wanted to do it the right way to show her my words were sincere. I got the chance on the first day of lectures. Majority of my classmates returned with gloomy faces. Once again, democracy had been thwarted and a ruler had been imposed. I'm not so surprised since this is Nigeria. "Okay, Chanok. Let's do this," I muttered to myself after class and walked to the quadrangle. I repeated the words to kill the urge to give up my plan. My pride was welling up and I was already seeing apologizing to someone who had hurt me duri

Inspired by a lovely girl named Holy. On the Saturday after matriculation, the school declared a holiday in line with the oncoming Nigerian elections. I wasn't feeling patriotic so I was really happy when my father told me and Wanida to stay back at school. Don't be surprised I'm passing a chance to meet Wanida. Besides, in my estimation, one week was too small, and if I set eyes on my big sister, I would never want to come back to school. "Are you done, Marahadum?" Chy asked. "I'm coming," I said and Chy closed the door after reminding me to lock up after I left. I quickly put on my sandals, put my phone in my purse and got ready to leave. Wait! My hoodie. I had washed it only the day before. I thought and moved to and fro tentatively before grabbing my face cap and leaving the room. Chy, Eniola and Mma were already ahead of me on the way to Pharmacy building. Chy's birthday was a few days away and she wanted to have a little photoshoot at Pharm

  Inspired by a lovely girl named Holy. "I hate anonymous nights," I muttered under my breath as I watched the K-girls gossip and giggle at the messages that came in. We were in Kamsi's apartment for a slumber party. Kosi was sleeping in the bedroom. The girls were all huddled up on a rug in their pyjamas and I was on a couch at the side watching them. "Ooh. This one says, "Who else noticed fake life in our class?" Why does it feel like we're being badmouthed?" Katherine asked and Kamsi yelled insults at the messenger. Kelly simply hissed and kept watching videos on Instagram. "Another one!" Katherine declared excitedly. "That Wordsmith Chris is damn fine. I wanna feel the rhythm of his lines on me," I read. I felt my cheeks burn with anger and disgust. How could someone be so foul minded? "Awwwn! Someone's crushing on our Boo bear," Katherine said and laughed. More like cackled. "She had better not if she wan

Inspired by a lovely girl named Holy. "Questions, questions, swirling in my head. "What's the answer, what's the truth instead? "Is there meaning in the world around me? "Is there purpose, will I ever see?" These lines greeted my eyes one dreadful Monday morning as I checked my class's group chat messages. "Does life have purpose, or is it just chance? "Or is it something more than circumstance? "Are we alone, or is there something more? "Is there someone, or an open door? "Does it matter, what we do each day? "Do our choices make a difference, or just fade away?" "Wow," I muttered and gave the poet a heart reaction. It was so lovely. It reminded me of the poems my aunt would read us back in Thailand. It suddenly dawned on me that I had actually hearted the message. That was like the first thing I had done on that group chat. I usually just read and left; I had never done anything to let anyone know I exi

Inspired by a lovely girl named Holy. "Stupid water queues," I grumbled one morning as I carried my bucket from Isakaita hostel to mine. "Marahadum, wait for me," I heard Chy shout behind me. I didn't reply. I just gripped the pinchy iron handle of the bucket tighter and got ready to climb the stairs. I dropped the bucket at the base of the steps and caught my breath, bending a little. As I did, I saw a pair of long legs in pretty pyjamas walk down the stairs and past me. They stopped a few steps from me and turned back. I looked up instinctively. "Oh my God! You're here too?" the owner of the legs said and gave me a hug before I could think. She smelled nice, something like perfume and stuffed animals. I looked at her. She was tall, fair, slender and had a pretty face. I knew she was a classmate but I couldn't clearly recall where I had seen her. "Hello," I said. "Hey. It's Marhadum, right?" "Marahadum," I cor