THE EDGE

 

Hey guys! Oluwatobilola here as TB-STAR… I've posted a new story I’ve been working on named Lost At The Corner... Pls Comment on what you think about the story...

THE EDGE

Lost At The  Corner

Season 1

 

Episode 1

“Life has been so cruel” said John, as he walked up and down the empty class room,

“What do you mean by that?” I said,

“I’m always being rejected, bullied and … and that makes me want to leave this life” he said with the expression, sadness written all over his face,

I then replied standing up to meet him, “I don’t understand you, what do you mean by that?”

He sits on the locker by the door and buries his head down to the floor and says, “You are a girl, you won’t really understand what I’m saying”,

As I was about to leave the class on hearing what he says I then say abruptly, “meaning?!”

“Meaning it’s a guy’s thing” he then says,

“But why not tell me, what is then the meaning of her relationship, why am I calling myself your girlfriend when you do not tell me anything”, I said trying to get him take a look at me but he continues to bury his face on the ground,

He finally looks up and takes on his former position and then says, “what do you mean?”, he said, his facial expression then told me that he was not interested in our conversation as it seems he’s thinking about something.

“What do I mean? So…wait…what’s the use of our relationship? Is it not trust?” I asked him,

“Well it is” he said,

“So why do you still refuse to tell me, or… what is it that I cannot hear or what?” I said as many thoughts clouded my mind,

“No it’s not. See the truth is that I can’t tell you what is going on”, he said looking at the floor

“John, I see that you have decided to not tell me, when you think it’s time them come and tell me” I said,

“Then that would be never, because I won’t tell you what’s on my mind, forget it.” He said,

“Then when you are ready come and continue with our relationship!” I shouted as I stormed out, “Anu! Come”

 

Episode 2

“John keeps hiding things from me” I told Joy, my friend, she is a tall, fair and slim kind, I knew her since primary school and we are in ss3,

“Why and what?” she replies,

“How would I know what? Just told you that he keeps things from me”, I said,

“Well leave him for now, you know our NECO exams are fast approaching you know we don’t have much time left?” she said changing the topic,

“I know but I really want to know what John’s hiding from me, plus I do not know about you but I feel prepared for my NECO, you?” I replied,

“I'm not sure, I feel I still need to study more you know I really want to pass this, especially my chemistry, I did not have that in our previous ss2 WAEC, but I am scared” she said as I nodded through her sob story,

“Then you don’t need to disturb me, o and read chemistry” I replied to her has she then leaves me,

“Hope I dint hurt her?” I thought as I went to bed.

The next morning, I got awoken by Bella that it was my time to do the cleaning, the weekend was fast approaching and I had no plans and I didn’t really like not having anything to do during the weekend, I then pick up my phone and I open to WhatsApp  and I see that John as asked to meet him by the banana tree near the school hall, now that was a weird place to meet him but as I decided to leave for the banana tree, I then remembered that I said I wouldn’t speak to him until he told me what was on his mind the previous night,

I then replied him, “I am not going to meet or talk with you until you tell me what you were thinking” I typed bluffly. I went to have my bath and as I got back I had realized that John had replied me.

 

Episode 3

“Don’t be like this” he replied,

“Don’t be like what? You refused to tell me what’s on your mind then I won’t come” I replied,

“Ok I will tell you when you get here” he said,

“Are you sure?” I asked,

“Yeah, I am, just come, am waiting for you” he said,

Though his words seemed strange to me but I just decided to come, on my way I had seen one of John’s friends, Ikejimba, “Ikejimba, where is John?” I asked him,

“I don’t really know, don’t think I’ve seen him this morning self” he replied,

“Really?” I asked totally distrusting him,

“Yes I'm sure” he says as he leaves our conversation rather very quickly, finally I reached my destination, the banana tree but neither is John there is any sign of a person felt or is seen.

“John!” I shouted his name as I could her my echo seconds later, “John! Where are you?” I shouted again but this time with more concern, it seemed like no one was there, as I was about to leave, I heard a very weird sound and after a few seconds the sound continued,

 I started to move toward the back of the hall as that was where the sound started from, slowly and carefully

I moved to the back but it was empty but the sound continued and was louder, at that moment it felt like two things which could have been the sound of moaning or someone carrying a really heavy load and makes the sounds ah and uh due to the weight of the load.

 

Episode 4

 I finally get the lead of the source of the sound, I entered the office by the side of the hall and walking by the corridor, I could see many doors and then the sound is getting louder as the fear and thoughts in my head starts going wild,

“John!” I called out, “where are you?”, “you called me here? Where are you now?” I said fearing the thoughts in my head, the sound finally stops as I hear talking at a distance,

Though I was not sure whose voice was being heard but it was a male’s and female’s voice

“John!” I called out again, but this time when I had called upon John’s name the voice of people talking had totally gone down as the corridor was as silent as a graveyard,

“John?”, “John are you here?” I asked with a little tear running down my cheeks, my greatest fear had come to past as I thought that John was cheating on me, I had stopped moving and had almost started crying but as the voice starts to be audible and I get a track of where it was coming from, I started moving, this time I refused to call out for John as I was too emotional for that,

I finally found the door for which the murmurs of the voices where coming from, I was about to open it when I thought, “what if it was John inside with a lady and who?” more thoughts like this filled my hearts and made me have a very big river by my eyes,

One…, two…, three… as I counted in my head to open the door, I then flipped the handle of the door and swing it open and lo and behold…

 

Episode 5

“Surprise!” that word blew me off my feet as I fell onto the ground and then finally I see John as he rushes toward me to carry me up,

“Happy Birthday Anuoluwapo”, that was John’s first words as he picked me up, me, still in the state of shock, I tried to say something but the tears in my eyes totally told it all,

“What?” I finally said, “Mum, dad, John? what’s all this?”, I said with mixed-feelings,  

“Darling, it was John who planned all this, this has been on his head since three weeks ago” my mum instantly replied, “He’s such a nice friend” she added,

“John?” I muttered, his smile could have made me kill him at the moment,

I hugged my dad immediately as the murmurings I heard now became clear that it was my parents,
I then hugged mum, “thank you mum” I said after getting myself already,

I went on to hug other friends except John, we shared the cake and eat the tasty Jollof and Fried rice prepared by my mum earlier on that day,

The party ended with the birthday song as i followed my parents to the car as they were about going.

As they took on and was leaving the school compound, i turned back and the person at my back is none other than John, I then take a big jump and run towards him giving the biggest hug I ever gave him,

“Thanks for all this” I said, “It’s alright dear, what’s the aim of our relationship?” He replied with all pride.

 

Episode 6

“Two month!” Mum said,

“What?” I replied,

“I meant, two months has passed by just like that” she then said

“I know right?” I said totally focusing on the food I’m cooking, “June felt like yesterday, but it’s already August 9, already preparing for our valedictory service” I said

“Your valedictory service? When’s that?” she asked living the parlor to the kitchen

“Mum! That has been the only thing I have been talking about since my NECO started” I said

“Just tell me when it is” she said opening the fridge to get a bottle of water

“Its three days after my exams, that’s hmm… on the 24^th” I replied as I started to fry the onions

I started frying the onions as the kitchen filled with smoke as mum walked out of the kitchen to have some fresh air

I managed myself as I started cooking the fried rice, few minutes later, I receive a phone call,

“Anu! Your phone’s ringing!” she called out

“Yes ma, I'm coming!” I said leaving the kitchen to the parlor

I moved towards the TV set where I dropped my phone to charge,

“Oh! It’s John” I said

“Hmm… John” mum said smiling naughtily

“Mum, don’t be like that now, we are just friends” I said reluctantly

“Really!” she said standing proposing to hit me,

“Well okay, maybe we are more than friends” I said as I started to blush,

“Or maybe, or is he my future son-in-law?” she asked with her face filled with a huge smile,

“Mum!” I shouted,

“I'm not joking about what I said” she then replied

I left to the kitchen to check my food as John’s call came in,

“Hello” I said

“Yes I am home” I replied

As my conversation with John continued I went upstairs to my room, after telling Mum to help me with the food

Approximately thirty minutes into our conversation I left my room and there I saw black smoke around the house, I smelt fire, I ran like I ever ran before,

“Mum!” I shouted a few times but there was no reply,

After getting to the kitchen, All I could see was fire, I immediately called my Dad, who appeared to be in Lekki at the moment and it would normally take him forty-five minutes to get to Mowe, I immediately remembered that my mum was yet to be found, I ran back to the kitchen from the parlor,

“Mum!” I exclaimed again but no answer,

I thought that Mum had one out to call the fire service as I could hear its siren from a distance, I then decided to leave the house as then the spot of blood then caught my attention

 

Episode 7

“Mum!” I exclaimed one more time as my eyes started to fill with tears,

I walked in not minding the blazing fire ahead me, I stepped on something weird as I looked down though I can’t see really clearly, I started coughing due to the smoke,

“Anu!” my name rang, “Where are you, Bethany?” at first I wondered who it was as I was about to reach at what I stepped on but on hearing Bethany I immediately knew that it was my dad,

“Dad! Where are you?” I said standing up straight as I could hardly see and I started coughing badly,

I finally tried my best to get to the parlor, Though I was filled with tears, I ran to hug my dad, immediately he saw that I was crying he told me that all was fine, he said, “Anu, the firemen are already here, they will put out the fire soon, don’t worry”

I felt lost as my dad put me on one of the chairs in the parlor as I could not explain myself to my dad that my mum is missing

“Anu! Where is your mum?” he finally asked, before I could answer one of the firemen called out for him,

“Sir, we need an ambulance right now” the fireman said

“For what?!” my dad asked reluctantly

“Sir there’s no time, the woman here needs treatment immediately” he then replied

As the fireman’s words were stated I burst out in tears, I then looked up as I saw my that dad instantly broke down in tears, he then wipes his tears as he sees that my eyes are on him, he leaves the house to call the ambulance, five minutes later, the ambulance arrived as by that time the fire was already put out, The firemen assisted in carrying my mum into the ambulance as I could hardly recognize my mum,

“Dad, will mum be okay?” I said with fear, also with tears running down my cheeks

“Yes! Your mum will be the most perfectly okay” he then replied me with one percent of confidence in his voice because my mum is fair and she looked totally dark and unrecognizable

My dad broke down in tears….

“Dad! Where are you? ‘I looked at the time’ Dad?” I said as I woke up in a total different place than I did ten hours ago

“Oh! You’re already awake?” he said

“Where’s mum?” I asked immediately

“Well, your mum is…, well…”

“Well what?” as I cut in

“Your mum’s dead!” he said as he broke down in tears

“Mum!” I shouted and cried passionately about the sad news passed onto me…

 

Episode 8

Few days later I got used to the new apartment I started leaving with as everyone in school had heard what happened to me, though before that, I was sitting in school, the third day after the incident, John came to me smiling and joyous as he normally is,

“Anu, How you doing?” he asked, though I did not reply him but I kept looking down since school began

“Anu? What happened?” he said as the smile on his face went dim, he was the only one who realized that something was wrong with me,

“Anu what’s the matter? What happened, you don’t look so good” he said, as I changed my position, he then sees that I am crying and then goes than in his knees and clears off my tears

“I see that you are hurt, what is going on?” he then says, I look at him, not able to even mutter a word as I'm filled with bitterness of my mum’s death.

“My mum is no more” I could finally say, though I did not even think that he heard,

“What!” he says as he stands in reaction to my words, I was wrong, he heard what I said as I thought

“How, when, where…” he said as his reaction and the way he stammered proved to that he was out of words

I burst out in tears as the whole class is aware that something went wrong with me, soon the news started to spread, few hours later, I started receiving hampers of gifts to show concern for the loss of my mother,

It took me three months before I could finally let go of the loss of my mother

It was the 17^th of November as I was given admission to OAU in Ibadan, I was to resume on the 23^rd while John had resume to CU in Ota the previous week

I was to study Law but then decided to be a politician as it was my mum’s dream for me as she was once before her demise

“I want to be a politician” I said

“Really? I thought it was law, you bragged about being a Lawyer since you were five, so why the sudden change?” my dad asked

“Well it’s because it was what mum wanted for me” I replied him

“Hmm… ‘Dad sights’ well that’s true, but still do you want to do it? Do you like it?” he then says

“Yes dad, I do and I have looked into the profession and I believe to like it” I said as I left the parlor to my room to bed….

“Goodnight” dad shouted as I went up the stairs.

 

Episode 9

Few days later, I had already resume into the University, life without my mum was like the worst, Though I haven’t spoken with John for a while though he tried calling me but I would block his calls, The school John had resumed to had a no phone policy meaning that I won’t be able to speak with John for a while, I immediately regretted my actions towards him.

“John I miss you” I said to myself whilst looking at the moon,

“Who’s that?” a voice sounds from the back,

Immediately I heard that I looked back to see who it was, I could hardly see anything as the person a supposed female pointed her flash on me,

“It’s you Anu” She said

“Sorry, please who is this? How do you know my name?” I asked fearlessly and with a little fear, even though I could not see a thing as her flashlight was pointed still at me, “Please can you stop, the light’s directly at my eye” I then said,

“Oh!” she said as a she pointed her flash on the floor, “It’s me, Mercy” she then said, she then points the flash at her face then to the floor again,

“Oh, Mercy it’s you, you startled me” I then replied

“Well I did not mean to, I was startled myself when I saw a figure by the window” she then says, “I did not even know that it was you” she adds,

“Oh well, that alright at least you now know that it’s me” I replied her

“Yh, but Anu, who is John, he is your brother?” She asks,

“No!” I said immediately

“So then who is he?” she then says

“John, John is my boyfriend” I said with a very big smile,

“Hmm, lovebirds, you even have a boyfriend you that you look like someone that has not…, not even had a crush” she says chuckling

Has her words were stated, I immediately turned my face against her, “do you even have a boyfriend?” I asked her with a hiss, when she could hardly answer I then asked, “You don’t have a boyfriend so don’t disturb me or even talk to me about John”

Has I replied her, she then hisses back at me and then leaves the corridor, I then enter my room and I went to bed smiling.

The next day

It was my first day of lecture, preparing for my first day seemed impossible as though I wanted to make the best impression as all my attempt in making one did not work as well as I hoped, I put all I had into it,

I finally entered the lecture room and I immediately got caught in the size of the lecture room, it felt like twice my church and as cold as winter as it the room was filled with standing AC units, I immediately remembered mom as she would always tell me how long she wished to go oversees to places like London, America, Los Angeles and so on, A tear ran down my cheek,

“Anu!” Mercy called out to me from the chair by the middle column, third row,

I immediately came out of my ‘trance’ as I called it, I went to meet Mercy at her table, and it was a three people desk, though all the remaining seats got filled as a loud noise was made which attracted everyone to the door,

It was…

 

Episode 10

It was none other than a few guys who hailed the most handsome guy I had ever seen

He started walking looking for a seat, as he started looking for a seat, he came towards my direction, I did not understand what went over me but as I continued staring at him I kept blushing even though I could not overpower it by hiding looking at how hard I tried but he was too cute to hide it

He stops at my side looks around and realizes that the chair by my side was the only available one around in the massive room looking at the whopping 300 student’s sitter.

He looks at me and then smiles then sits on the chair, unpacks a few things like pen, notes and a calculator as our first class was math,

“Hi” he finally said,

“Err…Hi” I said with a cute and awkward smile, ‘what am I doing’ I thought

“Yh, sure” he said looking at me as he has seen something stupid,

‘That was stupid’ I thought to myself, the way I smiled totally gave me away that I was shy

“So what’s your name beautiful?” he said after unpacking

‘Beautiful?’ I said in my head, I blushed even harder

“Well my name is Anu…So what’s yours?” I said as I started getting myself,

“My name is Jeffrey” he said,

“Jeffrey? Spelt with an f-r-e-y or f-r-y?” I asked because my cousin’s ‘Jeffry’ ends with f-r-y not f-r-e-y, and the common one is f-r-e-y

‘Jeffrey Chuckles’

“If my name had to end with f-r-y, won’t I be called Jeffries or Jeff fries?” he said smiling hard

“Well I did not think of it that way” I said as I felt disgraced before the girl by my other side,

“Well its best you think before…” as he was talking the Math teacher cuts in to start the class

“Good morning class” He said,

“Morning sir” we all echoed

“Alright” he then said as he went to the huge table by the electronic board which at first seemed as a white board until he pressed on a switch and LG is shown

He sets his system and connects it to the board which took him about five minutes

“Okay” he said turning to us, “My name is Rogers, I am known as professor Rogers, I will be your math teacher for this year” he added

As he was talking, a girl at the back raised her hand to ask a question but the professor told her, all of us to connect our systems/iPad to the board, this took a whopping 30 minutes, of course it would we were about 300 in the arena, I later felt it should have taken more than that.

While connected to all our systems/iPad Mr. Rogers then told us thru a text that any questions should be shared to the board as everyone was given a number in accordance to when they connected to the board.

“Ok, so today we would be looking at differentiation” as he said that, surprisingly almost everyone groaned which was later turned to a laugh as Mr. Rogers who had not given a smile since the last hour thirty minutes gave a huge one and said “Why? Didn’t you like the topic in secondary school?”

His question finally gave a reason why we could use the board,

A girl numbered 175 texted ‘Sir it’s tough’

Another boy numbered 50 texted ‘It’s like combination of math and physics’

A lot of texts started to come in, the professor then texts ‘it’s okay’, as one more text came in as he told the person to stand

“Why did you send that text after I texted that it’s okay?” Mr. Rogers asked?

“Sir I did not know you had texted it’s okay” He said

Mr. Rogers then looks at his text on the board and then looks at him for a period of three minutes then says…

 

Episode 11

“What’s your name?”

“Sir it’s Michael” he then says

“Go back to your seat” Mr. Rogers told him

As he was going he passed the side of my row, as I was looking at him my eyes fell on Jeffrey another time I had forgotten that he was still by my side

“This Mr. Rogers has a different personality” I said trying to get Jeffery’s attention

‘Jeffrey scoffs’

“Why?” I asked, “Why did you scoff?” I added

“Hmm, his pretending” he said though he still did not look at me,

“Pretending?” I said shocked

“Yh he is” he said finally looking at me,

“How is he pretending? How did you know that he is pretending? What is he pretending to be?” I asked with damn curiosity

“You’ve known more than what you’re to know about this, it’s better you had drop this conversation” Jeffrey said taking his attention back to Mr. Rogers

As Jeffrey’s words were stated, I had started to fear him in a sort of a way, I started to wonder what he meant by that,

As class went on I had started to enjoy the way Mr. Rogers taught, but I was still not deviated from the way Jeffrey was behaving, at some point he would scoff, murmur some words to himself, and then end it with Mr. Rogers you liar!

The way Jeffrey looked at Mr. Rogers started to scare me, he looked like he would want to pose a threat to Mr. Rogers.

After class had ended I saw that Jeffrey’s wallet had fallen and it opened, as he picked it up, though I wasn’t sure of what I saw but I also thought that I saw June 7 1986 as his date of birth.

I was shocked but still I also imagined I was wrong about it because I wondered how a… a 35 year old man look this young and vibrant, this was a puzzle, I had no idea how to solve it.

Few hours later after a few classes, I saw Jeffrey by the tree side talking to a walkie-talkie and it seemed like it was a police’s own, I began to wonder what he was doing with that such of equipment, I decided to keep an eye on him,

I did not see Jeffrey again till evening because our courses were not related as I was studying Politics and he was supposedly studying Civil Engineering.

“Jeffrey!” I called out to him as he was about leaving for a bus,

He turned back to look at who called him, on realizing that it was me he first hesitated to come but later approached me,

“What? Why did you call me?” he then asked,

“Err… well I called to ask if we could talk” I said totally looking down at the floor,

“What?!” he said looking at me like he wanted to hit me hard, “So that’s why you called me over? Well I’m sorry because we cannot talk” he added,

“Oh, well at least can I follow the bus you’re taking to the hostel since I would still pass the male’s hostels to the female’s hostel?” I said,

“You this woman!” he burst out, “You cannot follow me since I do not stay in the hostels” he said with calm and soft voice,

His words made me sad,

“Okay, I'm sorry for disturbing you,” I said,

He looks at me horribly and then leaves walking harshly, after that evening I started to think on why Jeffrey could speak such words at me, He seemed like a nice guy, but sure his attitude to me told me a different story.

Later in the hostel,

“Precious, do you know what happened with me today?” I asked Precious, Precious was my roommate in the hostel, Precious and I would talk about our day and surely talk about anything,

 

Episode 12

“Hmm… what happened?” she replied,

“I spoke with Jeffrey” I said,

“You spoke with Jeffrey?” she asked leaving her bed to mine,

“Yeah I did,” I replied her

“So how did it go?” she said smiling also not letting go of my hand

“It went bad, I mean he shouted at me and made me feel bad all because I asked to follow him to the hostel to drop him off there” I said,

“What?! Why would you do that?” she said

“Meaning?” I replied

“I mean Jeffrey isn’t a new student in this school, in fact this is his 3^rd year in this school, He has never moved to a new class in the history of his existence in this school!” she said,

“What?” I replied,

“Yeah, and in history he has never stayed in the hostel, though we all wondered why till now but still he has also never had a date neither had he been seen with any girl” she said

“Hmm, really?” I asked in shock,

“Yes!” she said,

“Well how did I not know this and how did you know it?” I asked

“What?!” she reply, “This is like the talk of the University, I wonder how you do not know about it?” she added,

“Well, maybe it’s because I entered the University with a purpose of being the best Politician in the country” I said with my best of courage,

“Hmm, Politician” Precious said looking at me as she starts to chuckle, “You want to be a Politician, for what purpose?” she asked,

“Well…well I only wanted to…to be a…a Politician…” I started to cry, “…because my mum wanted me to be one and also… she was one” I said as the river in my eyes turned to an ocean,

“Anu, you are crying? Why are you crying?” she asked coming up to me, holding my hands,

Without doubt, I did not answer as I was crying and at the moment I felt like the way I was few months back

“Why did you use ‘was’ for your mum? Is…is she dead?” she asked as I felt her hands tremble on mine as her hands are still on mine

“She’s dead!” I shouted as I cried heavily then I left for my bed,

“What?” she exclaimed not knowing what else to say,

Precious then left my bed to hers after she tucked me in bed even though I was still sobbing,

"John where are you, I am missing you, Please John come to me" I said while sobbing to myself,

I slept off with a pain… a pain of the loss of a friend…

To Be Continued…

Watch Out For Season Two!!!