"In a fit of exasperation, Duke slammed his bedroom door shut, only to have it taunt him with an unyielding resolve, leaving him trapped in his own frustration"
Duke took a deep sigh as he experienced his first night in his newly rented two-bedroom flat located on the outskirts of DLU city. The area was sparsely populated with houses and graced with bushes, he chose it because he wanted to be far from the disturbing noise of the city.
He woke up that Sunday morning, reached out to his phone, and met 6:45 a.m. as time.
"So fast!" He shockingly muttered, pulled off his pyjamas, and rushed into the bathroom to have his bath. The church he fellowship starts at 7:00 a.m., and he was just left with 15 minutes to do his thing.
In the bathroom, he picked up his tooth brush and couldn't get the sachet of toothpaste. He searched thoroughly in the bathroom, but it wasn't there. He came out of the bathroom, searched everywhere in his bedroom, and still couldn't find the toothpaste.
"Where is this thing? He angrily voiced out, wishing for the toothpaste to reply him.
"Maybe I didn't pick it up from the parlour, maybe..." He thought about it and ran off to the parlour. As soon as he came out of the room heading to the parlour, he saw a rat, and he left on his journey to get the toothpaste and began to chase the rat. The rat ran into the second room, where he packed some of his loads that were yet to be arranged. He followed the rat, and as soon as he ran into the room, he jammed the door to prevent the rat from escaping.
He stood still on the spot and began to scan the room with his eye to identify the movement of the rat, but nothing came out, so he began to scatter everywhere in search of the rat. He turned the room upside down and unzipped the bags on the floor, but he still could not find the rat.
"Is this rat a spirit?" He wondered, and immediately, his senses came back to him; he was preparing for church before he jumped on the rat quest, so he decided to leave it for another. He walked to the door, pulled it open, but it refused.
"Ohhhh God!" He screamed and hit his left leg on the door out of frustration; he just remembered that the landlord told him that the room doors work on 'jam-and-lock'.
He flickered the door's hand trying to open it, but it refused to open. He used his leg to hit the door, hoping for the door to get loosened and open, but no way.
He looked at himself—just his body on his short pant, no top, not even his phone was with him. It dawned on him that he was doomed. Time for church has fast paced, and he's not even bathed, not to mention getting dressed.
He pitifully shifted back and sat on one of the bags on the floor. He placed his hands on the jaw with his eyes fixed on the door, thinking of any possible solution to bail himself out of the room,otherwise, he's going to remain there until a miracle happens. The worst situation is that the flat is alone; there is no neighbour.
He was still there when he heard a bang and shout at the gate, which was some distance away from the room.
"Oga, It's the gas man. Are you inside?" The voice repeatedly said.
It was his gasman who came to drop off the gas cylinder.
"Helloooooo!"
"Please don't go away, I'm inside!!"
Duke shouted from the room, but his voice didn't let out of the room, not to mention reaching outside and extending the gate.
The gasman waited for a reply for a few minutes and didn't get one, he concluded that Duke was not yet back from church, so he left.
Duke knew that the gasman had left when he stopped hearing these calls.
"Why would this man have a jam-and-lock door in his house?" He lamented, hitting the bags on the floor with his short legs, then suddenly he noticed something that looked like a scuttle attic on the ceiling.
He tried jumping up to touch it with his hands, but his height was heavily mocked by the ceiling.
He pushed and gathered the bags on the floor, which added some inches to his height. He climbed, used his hand to push the space on the ceiling that look like a scuttle attic, and yes, there's an opening.
He quickly climbed the wardrobe and made his way into the ceiling. The first thing that welcomed him were rats. He went so angry and wanted to chase the rats, but he recalled that his chance of catching the rat was 0.1% because it was dark and the ceiling seemed like the empire of the rats.
He ignored them just as the rats ignored him. He crawled to the kitchen area and met another scuttle attic. He was so excited that he went further and jumped down from there through the cabinets on the wall.
He sighed, shook his head, and moved to his room.
When he checked the time, he saw 11:06 a.m. on his phone. He just jumped on the bed and began to imagine the battle he had just won.