1 Chapter 1

Today is my 7th year in Lagos, it was my dream to come to Lagos, but now, part of me want to escape, another part of me want to remain in Lagos, i am totally confused. I came from a poor home, somewhere in the eastern part of Nigeria.

My parents are both farmers and traders, we are comfortable in our own little way. I have this beautiful cousin named Ngozi, she lives in Lagos, most times she spend Christmas in our house, she is a banker…so she said. Ngozi is so beautiful that she attract the attention of my area guys but i still wonder why she is still single, she will be 30 years by August, she is fair, with gap teeth and dimple, tall, great physique.. she is simply cute.

2014 December, my cousin came back for Christmas as usual in my parents house. She told my parents of her intention to take me to Lagos, according to her, Lagos is so beautiful and I wouldhave to learn and live city life, grow my future and career, honestly, I was very excited. I have always dreamt of coming to Lagos, the thought of seeing the bridges, river Niger, all those cute guys I see on television, airplane, gosh. I would see them live and be cute like my cousin. Immediately, i rushed inside the room, packed my bag, ironed my clothes, honestly, i did not sleep that night. I was checking time and imagining how my stay would be in Lagos, how to start making friends, how I would meet my crush and probably ask him out.

I was awake till 3.30am, I quickly took my bath because my cousin said we would follow God is Good motors, according to her, they are very reliable, but that one was not my business, atleast by that time tomorrow, I would be in Lagos. I quickly prepared even before my cousin woke up from sleep. By 5.30 am, we were already on our way to the park, dad saw us off after morning prayer, my cousin booked the ticket, by 6.30 am, we were enroute to Lagos. I had just nokia torch, so throughout the journey, my eyes were locked to the bus window, I only slept for 1 hour. We got to river Niger by 2.30pm, trust me, I thought it was salt, I asked my cousin if Nigeria store salt there for export, my cousin laughed at me, and told me it was water, water looking so much like salt. We finally got to God is Good terminal at Ajah, Lagos by 6.00 pm, we came down, Everywhere was looking like oversea, beautiful cars, big television on the road. My cousin pressed something on his phone and a car arrived, but we had just one problem….my home training. I have heard lot of bad things happening in Lagos, kidnapping, stealing, ritualist, and my mother warned me never to enter a stranger’s car nor talk to a stranger, so I refused to enter the car. My cousin suffered that day, she begged and assured me that the man was good, that in fact, she knew the man from Adam, I accepted because the man spoke my native language. We parked our luggage inside the car and drove off.