A Brush With Fear

For this week’s Hive Naija prompt, the community asks us to share a time when we felt threatened, either physically or emotionally. No one likes to be threatened, whether it is physically or emotionally. Looking back, emotional threats aren’t something I have experienced many times. On the other hand, physical threats are something I have experienced in many places, from seniors in my elementary and high school, to older street kids, from bus conductors. Their loud voices, cracked from years of shouting on the top of their voices, smoking and drinking alcohol in the morning has led their voices to become coarse. As rugged and unkempt as they are, they love picking on people, especially who look meek and gentle. Sometimes I wish I was really big and muscular. You know, like Dwayne Johnson.

I feel if I have a body like Dawane Jonhson for a day, no one would even dare to threaten me physically. Before I gained admission into the university, I used to hear stories about university lifestyle; how cultists gang up and beat people up. Surprisingly, when I entered, I never witnessed this thing. Maybe it happened behind doors, but I never experienced it. However, many times, my friends and I got physically threatened by street guys, popularly known as Egbon Adugbo in this part of my country. My school is a student area, however, there are some indigenes who grew up in that area. One weird thing I find about them is that they are jobless. I know people might say they are jobless because the economy of the country is not good, but these guys are muscular and healthy. Nothing is wrong with their bodies. The least they could do is take up jobs to sustain a living.

But instead, they go from place to place, begging students for money. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Whenever I see them, I ask myself these questions; don’t you have a sense of purpose? Don’t you have plans to make it big? Is this how you want to continue your life? Don’t you have the smallest bit of shame?” These guys have strategic points where they stay. Before you get to school, you have to pass them, well unless you have the powers to teleport. Instaed of working, their job is to stay there, calling students and ask them for money. Sometimes, when you are not willing to comply, they become violent. Why would you get violent on top my own money? Stupid people!

I remember that day like it happened yesterday. My friends and I were going home from school. We were four. We had hoped that the Egbon Adugbos wouldn’t be there, but our hopes were shattered when we got there and saw that they were right there, waiting for victims to pounce on. As expected, they called out to the four of us. We went to meet them. We had no other choice. As usual, they told us to give them money. That period was one of the toughest periods for my friends and me—we were barely surviving on our own. We told them that we had no money. They got angry and said we had to drop something. “Give us something and go free.”

After about five minutes, we decided to leave that place. Just when we took our first steps, one of them stood up angrily and grabbed my friend from behind. He was wearing a headset, so he took it and said we had to pay something before he would return it. These guys were much bigger, and we couldn’t do anything about it. If we reported to the authorities and they got arrested, it would backfire—we knew that much. So we gave up and danced to their tunes.

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Thanks for reading.

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