"hope you didn't forget your towel" said aunty Uju to me, I was already jostling my traveling box, " Aunty everything is in.... can I go now" I said in a rusty voice feeling tired already, "not before we pray" aunty Uju retorted, she was always known for her incessant prayers especially during odd hours of the night, the prayer took longer as I was already in a hurry not because I was late really but so I could be early enough to book a seat close to my friend Ihuoma, Ihuoma and I go way back as our friendship started in high school, now we where both traveling to Ibadan where we'll begin our higher institution studies at the University of Ibadan, Ihuoma got into Management and I got into Engineering.
Cold breeze caresse my face as the bike carrying me pulled into the bus station, traveling in a luxurious bus as my friends call it was the best experience ever, so I quickly paid the fairs to the bikerider, whisk my travelling box and started for the counter to book a the fair to Ibadan, I was grateful my aunty didn't decide to follow me to the bus station as she would have started arguing about the fairs and how costly they've become. "I want seat 13 and 14 " I told the agent, "that will be 21,500 naira" said the agent, so I paid for the fair and waited for Ihuoma who arrived at 6:30 am just when the call for Ibadan boarding was announced over the PA, "I will take the one close to the window ooo" Ihuoma started "so I can see the places we'll pass" she then gave me her own part of the fair and we both boarded.
Our first stop was at Asaba where the driver warned us not to spend more than 5 minutes peeing threatening that he'll leave us, I bought fearless energy drink and Ihuoma bought groundnuts and bananas, The old lady that sat beside me bought rice and started heaving them into her mouth as soon as we got back into the bus, we sat in threes in the bus and one person sat next to the driver at the front seat. Each time the bus took a sharp bend the lady sitting close to me would wisper "the blood of Jesus" , I was just stuck between these two ladies, Ihuoma on my right always talking and the lady praying in short bursts. As we got to Benin something happened, a trailer in front of us lost control and ran into an incoming van, then in a flash our bus which couldn't break to a stop ran into the rampage and everything went blank for me, Ihuoma had being talking about the famous second Niger bridge when the collision happened, the smell of smoke woke me up, the bus was covered in a thick cloud of smoke, the lady beside me had her head hung low and blood dripped from it, so I tried to remove my seat belt which was stuck at first but with a second pull I succeeded, I then called Ihuoma who's head stuck out of the window, she didn't answer, panic gripped me as I shock her, then road side mechanics started cutting into the bus from the back to rescue us, I was just yelling Ihuoma's name as they pulled me out of the wreckage, I couldn't feel his feet as I lay on my back beside the road awaiting the ambulance, then they pulled Ihuoma out of the bus her head was torn on the left side and a lump of blood stained her collars, she was lifeless or so I thought, I kept watching for sign of breathing but never saw any till I fell asleep. I woke up in the hospital my mum who I knew had being crying was beside me, I asked her of Ihuoma she told me she'd pulled through that she was in the ICU after they did a surgery on her, my legs where covered in this white bandage and I tried to wiggle my toes, I spent 2 weeks in the hospital, I'm grateful that I'm walking today, and that I've now completed my Education.