LAGGING TROUBLE

I have grown to always feel trouble is lagging at every corner, this is because I grew up with parents always leaving in fear of the unknown. But what can I say, it helped me a lot, especially the time I met my real life nemesis. If there was a word to describe this person, it was the word TROUBLE. If there was a phrase to describe this person, it was Trouble in disguise. If there was a substitute for trouble, it was this guy. It started out as him trying to be nice, but even his niceness was like the taste of food seasoning in a drink. There was no Hiding from Richard, we shared the same dorm, where in the same department, and were even in the same fellowship. It was as though he was everywhere I looked and to be honest, it became somewhat irritating even though I didn’t admit it then. I learned from a very young age to keep my friends close, and my enemies closer. I wouldn’t call him an enemy, but he was very close to earning that title.

Richard started out as a rich kid, I was not drawn to his lascivious lifestyle and thus did not follow him the many times he asked me to come hang out with him. His lascivious lifestyle made him popular, gave him lots of friends, but also made him and his friends thorns in my flesh. He would make the top three list of worst people I have ever lived with because living with him was hard. After a month of living with him, I began to understand why his parents were always very quick to give him money after every little complain, When I listen to his conversation with his parents, I discovered that they hardly allowed him complain about anything, once they sense a complaint coming, his dad dismisses it by asking him how much he needs, he says it and he gets it. Whenever he says he wants to go home, his parents give excuses of travelling or bringing his grandma home (which he hates).

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It was funny how as intelligent as he thought he was, he never noticed that even his parents would do anything to get rid of him. They didn’t mind how much it cost, they just wanted their peace. For Richard, nothing is ever enough. No matter how much he gets in a week, he is always broke, always hungry, not meeting up with textbooks and practicals, behind on his tuition, but always making ladies happy. He would often steal my foodstuffs and provisions whenever he runs out of cash. But what I hated wasn’t even the fact that he steals, it was the fact that I was letting him go. Like his parents I knew confronting him about it wasn’t the solution, it was not as though he was even hiding the fact that he was stealing from me, But I would always tell myself that fighting him was beneath me, he was beneath me and thus confronting him was never the answer.

It was so painful watching your foodstuffs and provisions finish while you barely eat them because you spend most of your time fasting. The only thing he didn’t steal from me were my clothes and cash and that was because he didn’t need my clothes and I hardly moved around with cash. He knew very well everything he was doing and for some reason I think he was trying to see my breaking point because he would always say he wonders why he has never gotten me angry yet while I just look at him with a smile knowing how many times I have beaten him up in my mind. I endured everything until I had a bestie who was a very good cook. My bestie opened my eyes to an opportunity that helped me tackle the situation once and for all, and that was to give all my provisions and foodstuffs in her dorm.
Since we were allowed to go into the female dorm and I was friends with her friends it was an easy transition that saw me enjoy every bit of my foodstuffs while enjoying my bestie's cooking. The day he noticed I only slept in our dorm while spending most of my days outside was the day he asked if I hated him. I told him I do not hate him, he’s just annoying and I can not continue to allow him to annoy me.

THIS IS MY ENTRY INTO THE INKWELL CREATIVE NONFICTION PROMPT #139