Gutted.

I didn’t want to talk about this or maybe I wouldn’t have if not for a conversation I had with someone that made me realize that I should. Sometimes things just happen and it feels unreal, so you question what exactly happened for a long while. Or maybe you start something new, get into a new environment and you don’t expect to have hitches or incidents happen to you almost immediately. But then it happens, and you begin to think. Fast.

I’m yet to move into my apartment that’s near school so for now, I’m still coming from my parents'. School is in quite a different town from where I live so I’ve got to commute about forty-five minutes or thereabout to get to school every day. I was done with lectures and looking at my watch, it was almost 5pm so I rushed to get home.

I got into the tricycle which is my first vehicle to enter when commuting back home and I didn’t notice anything shady at first as two guys got in as well. I’d seen them hanging around school so I didn’t think much of it when they got in. Not a long while into the journey, the driver stopped and when I asked why, the guys were all, “Oh he wants to quickly ease himself.” I became alert immediately and waited for what was going to happen next.

The next thing was the driver coming barely thirty seconds later and said something along the lines of, he’d seen someone he knew so he’s arranged to put us in another vehicle. Guys, I was already out of the vehicle and behold it was a 16-seater bus. Literally, the type to convey yourself to another state type of bus. How were you able to “arrange” for another vehicle to pick us up in thirty seconds? The guys that had been in the vehicle with me were already out and inside this new vehicle, motioning that I get in.

I chucked to myself. These individuals had to be kidding me. Well, I immediately told the tricycle driver that I was entering no such bus. He went all, “What are you afraid of? There’s a lady in there.” But everyone knows that currently in the kidnapping scheme, they don’t leave just guys in the vehicle since ladies would be wary so they’re now planting females so that their unsuspecting victims would be eased to think that all is well.

Well, yours truly wouldn’t fall for such nonsense even if she were hypnotized. I stated again that I wasn’t going. The driver hissed at me and told the other bus to leave. Then he motioned at me to get back into the tricycle and he was going to drop me where I wanted to go. This time I shook my head even more furiously. I wasn’t going in his vehicle altogether, especially since the two guys that had entered the bus, climbed back out when I said I wasn’t going and now wanted to get into the tricycle.

Long story short, I made a whole lot of noise. Nope, I wasn’t even trying to be quiet about it. Fortunately, one of my lecturers had driven past but then stopped since she recognized me. _{Thank goodness I’d answered a question in class that day.} So, I paid the driver half of the fare and the lecturer offered to drive me through half of the journey since she was using another route. I was beyond grateful and heaved a sigh of relief when I stepped in through my front door.

I didn’t know what to make of the situation except the fact that it’s good to trust and follow your gut. I say this because when I looked from the rearview mirror of the lecturer’s car, I saw that the tricycle containing the driver and the two guys had reversed and were heading back towards the school, meaning that they weren’t actual passengers and were obviously there for ulterior motives.

I know Christmas is on its way and I don’t know why, but from August, there’s need for lots of caution since the bad guys become very much on the prowl for prey. Sadly, people feel that the easiest way to fortune, instead of working hard like the rest of us, is to look for how to cause harm and pain to other people. Honestly don’t want to fathom what would have become of me if I didn’t follow my instincts but it’s a push for me to get settled in my apartment ASAP to avoid things like these and a pointer to the fact that I’ve got to be extra wise in the coming days. And months.

That’s about it guys. Y’all stay safe out there. Love and light to everyone.

Jhymi🖤