During childhood days, Chinedu would sit by the Lagos beach and see airplanes vanish in the atmosphere. All of them moved people somewhere he had never been such as London, New York, Dubai. He fantasized those locations as shining cities where everybody is doing well, the streets were paved with chances rather than potholes. When his mother sees him staring at the sky, she would laugh and say "You have your eyes on a far away shore, Nedu you must remember that you are still standing here in Nigeria and that place is too far to daydream of" but to Chinedu, her words only drew him closer to his dreams.
However, life has always been unfair to Chinedu. Even when he became twenty five years old, his little electronic store barely make ends meet, his profits were being devoured by fuel shortages or poor roads on a monthly basis but his friends were japaing out of the country one by one either through deserts to Libya or by rubber boats to Europe or by acquiring student visas, they were sha travelling by any available means. One day, one of his childhood friends Emeka, called him from Italy “My guy, I dey here now. See ehn life better for here oo, you fit come through sea nah, you need to come and see life in another level".
On that night, Chinedu was lying awake listening to the sea with many thoughts in his mind on how the sea could take him to a better life. However, luck had something in stock for him, the chance for him to japa came when he least expected.
One day, a man called Bello entered his shop that evening and was speaking to Chinedu about a boat that was going to sail in two weeks, he told Chinedu "It will cost you a great deal but once you enter Spain your life don change, from there na only up you go dey go”. So Chinedu sold his shop, borrowed money from some of his friends but betrayed his mom. He lied to his mum that he has a business to do in Abuja so he has to travel but she looked up at him with a long and careful glance as though she knew the truth in her heart and she said "Chinedu be careful, there are some journeys that never end well but leaves you in sorrow at the end of the day" but he just nodded and left avoiding her gaze.
The journey through the sea was so long and full of difficulties especially at night when the wind is great and the weather is ice cold, there was even a night when their boat almost capsized if not for God. Some people died on the way due to the cold but fortunately for Chinedu, he was able to survive the journey.
When they finally reached Spain, Chinedu stood on the sea shore trembling. This was the land he had dreamed about for years, the land his friend had spoken of with pride but as he saw the corpse of those who didn’t make it, the sweetness of arrival tasted bitter, he whispered to himself “So this is the distant shore 🥲”
Days and months passed by but the only job Chinedu was able to get were menial jobs like washing dishes, cleaning roads and taking care of elderly people. He sends money home when he can but it was never up to the amount of money that his people anticipate. One night, he was lying on his thin mattress in the overcrowded shelter he could afford in Spain, he remembered all his mother's warnings about him travelling but here he is suffering, however he was grateful to be alive as there is still hope for him.
One day, he was walking through the Spanish beach, he picked up a seashell and rubbed it against his ear. The voice within made him think of his home in Lagos and the laughter of his mother. He found out that the sea was not just a way but also a bridge to which he had lost so much but he had acquired a story also, of which he is the sole author. The shore that was always beautiful to him at a time was now where he would shed tears of regret and thoughts of "Had I known, I would have listened to my mother" 🥲.
Thank you for staying with me this far, I hope you had a good read, see you next time 🤗
Noted: All pictures are generated on Meta AI