A friend of mine organized her birthday party and she invited me and other few friends to grace it. The celebration took us into the night. Eight of us - all undergraduate students of the same university - were at the party.
The celebrant and three others stayed off campus while the rest including me stayed in the hostels.
At about 10 pm, we that stayed in the hostel left the party venue to return to our various hostels. I stayed in Abuja hostel while Jude, whose car we were using and the other two guys stayed in Village hostel. I was feeling dizzy from the impact of the drinks that we took. We hopped in to Jude's car and the journey to the hostel began.
It wasn't a smooth journey. Jude was under the influence of some unseen forces. The forces created an imaginary road for him. At intervals, he would match the brake as if someone crossed the road unexpectedly. When I complained, he would apologize and told me that he thought that there was a pothole there.
"How many bottles of alcohol did you take that you can't drive?" I asked angrily when I hit my head on the back of the driver's seat.
I was sitting directly behind Jude. At a point, I thought of collecting the car from him and drive but on a second thought, I didn't trust myself either. Some creatures were appearing double to my sight.
We endured the risky driving and after about twenty minutes we arrived at my hostel. Jude and the other two guys wanted to take me to my hostel building. This would make him travel another distance round the perimeter fence to get to the main gate. In order not to delay them further, I told Jude to drop me at the standalone pedestrian gate while was along the way to his own hostel.
"Don't you think it's unsafe for you to trekk this quiet path alone?" He asked me.
"No one can dare me in this campus. You know me quite well,"
"Please, be vigilant," he advised me before zooming off at an abnormal speed.
I stood and watched the car for a few seconds before turning to get into the pedestrian gate. In my mind, I was praying for their safety.
From the gate, there was about 300 meters of footpath leading to a tarred road. I was in the rainy season and the path was filled with muddy water. As I negotiated my way around the muddy water, the eardrums nearly broke to the screaming of toads. I fell to the slippery nature of the road twice before finally arriving at the tarred road.
The distance to the hostel on the tarred road was about another 300 meters. There was quietness along the tarred road. I increased the rate of my steps so that I could arrive at the hostel quickly.
After covering some meters, I met two people wearing hoodies. We greeted and passed each other. A few seconds after passing each other, they turned to call me.
"Bro, please we need your assistance," they said as they walked back towards me.
My instinct told me to run to the hostel. With the remaining distance to the hostel, they wouldn't be able to catch up with me if I'd decided to run to the hostel. Such an instinct told me that they were calling me with bad motives. On the other hand, the other side of me was telling me to wait for them and render the assistance that they asked for if it was within my power to do so. I succumbed to the latter. I turned back and waited for them to trekk back to the point that I was standing.
As they approached me, one took to my left while the other took to my right. They came very close to the point that I could feel the air that they breathe out. I knew that there was a problem.
"These guys are up to something," I told myself.
"How may I help you?" I asked them.
The response that came from them was unexpected. Without uttering a word, the one by my right held me by my waist and asked me to handover my phone and other belongings to them. I pushed him away with all my strength. Immediately his hand lost the grip of my pants, I slapped the other one standing by my left.
I was ready to fight the duo.
I was struggling with the one that I slapped when the one that fell down earlier stood up and hit off my legs from the ground. I felt the impact of my buttocks on the ground.
"How dare you make an attempt to fight us? If you are not careful, we will end your life here," one of them threatened.
"Bring your phone and money now before I lose it all," the second one roared.
I was strategizing on how next I would launch an attack on them from my sitting position.
"Respect yourself or else I will finish you with this," he lifted his shirt up to show me a knife hung on his trouser.
"I need to tread carefully with these bad boys," I told myself.
I convinced myself that I was already at a disadvantage if I chose to engage them further physically. I succumbed to their demand. I gave them my phone and my wallet.
While one was ransacking my wallet for anything valuable, the other one held me by the collar of my shirt and warned me;
"I am forgiving you because today is a happy day for me. Don't ever in your life dare to cross my path again. I am the leader of the jungle."
He released his hand from my shirt and pushed me away.
I watched both of them as they walked away with my phone and money. They threw my wallet with only my ID card inside back at me.
I don't easily fall for people's intimidation but that day, it wasn't wise for me to engage two people with weapons in a fight. I stood up and continued my journey to my hall. I arrived at my room without my phone and money a few minutes later.</div
That must have been a really scary and unsettling experience. I'm so sorry you had to go through that - no one should have to deal with being robbed and threatened like that, especially on their own campus.
I can only imagine how shaken up you must feel. I understand you didn't want to risk escalating the situation further when those guys had weapons. Your safety had to come first. I'm just glad you made it back to your room okay, even if you lost your phone and money.
It was a sad experience. Children that their parents sent to school to study transformed into tormenting personalities.
Thank you for the kind comment @iskawrites
What an unpleasant and terrifying situation. I can imagine the anger and helplessness you went through at that moment, but there was not much you could do, and even less if your life was at risk. In the end you remained with your life intact. Material things are recovered, even for better things.
That's correct. Material things can be recovered or replaced but life can't be replaced.
You didn't run or fight! The best thing would have been for your friends to drop you off as close to your lodging as possible. Safety first. Thanks for this entry to Creative non Ficction's weekly call. @lightpen
Thank you, @theinkwell
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