Still sleeping soundly on her bed, Angela's brother shook her, waking her.
"Get away from me," she mumbled.
"Wake up and take your bath. Mum said you're taking the first bus," he said laughing.
It was early in the morning on the 4th of November 2017. Everywhere was still dark and Angela looked at the table clock beside her bed, the time was 5:00am. She let out a slight groan and sat up on the bed. Going down on her knees, she said a short prayer before staggering into the bathroom.
As the cold water from the shower hit her, she let her thoughts wander. She was going to miss her family.
Being away from Timothy, her elder brother and Divine, the youngest of them all was something she didn't really want to do. However, getting admitted into the prestigious Jack Moore University was something she has always dreamed of.
The Joy of Mr. Anthony knew no bounds when he heard that Angela had been admitted to study Medicine and Surgery. With Timothy in his 3rd year studying Radiography in Alexander College of Science and Divine in his sophomore year in high school aspiring to study Petrochemical Engineering, he couldn't be more proud.
After taking her bath, Angela dressed up in blue denim jeans and a sleeveless blouse. She styled her hair and applied light makeup. Settling into her new black canvas, she strode down the stairs into the sitting room to find everyone except her dad seated for breakfast at the dining table.
They were having pancakes, scrambled eggs and tea for breakfast. Their mother, Mrs. Confidence, has always been one to get up early and make breakfast.
Looking around the table and thinking of her dad upstairs, Angela couldn't be more grateful to God for her family. Being the only girl child, everyone dotes on her although sometimes her mum can be very strict.
Breaking through her thoughts, her mum's voice came piercing through the silent room,
"Angela, could you please hurry up? I'll be late for work."
She worked as a nurse in the biggest hospital in the town.
Angela hurriedly finished her food, packed some for the road and rushed upstairs to bring down her bags.
"Mum, tell Tims and Dee to come help me with the bags," she shouted from her room.
After arranging the bags in the trunk of the car, they drove off to the bus station. Divine insisted on coming with them but their mum refused.
Angela prayed for the ride to the bus station to come to an end because mum couldn't stop giving her words of advice and encouragement until she alighted.
After getting a ticket and a seat, Angela went to bid her mum goodbye.
"Be a good girl and take care of yourself my baby," her mum said while stashing some naira notes into her hands. "Add this to what your dad gave you yesterday."
"Thank you mum."
*****
The journey was generally smooth but uneventful. At JMU junction, Angela alighted from the bus and boarded a taxi to take her to her lodge.
During the previous week, she and Timothy had come to get her registered into the school. They also paid for her accommodation at Royal Lodge which was not far from the school.
Although Angela had wanted a roommate, her parents didn't let her have one. They wanted her to live alone because they wanted her to avoid any disturbance to her studies.
Room B3 was spacious, that was why Angela had settled for it. The room also had a kitchen, a balcony, a toilet and bathroom—a self-contained room.
As exhausted as she was, all Angela wanted was to run a cold bath, then lie naked on the big bed in the middle of the room and probably sleep off. However, these were far from what she needed to do at the moment. She needed to clean and arrange the room, then get settled in. Right then, she wished she took up Timothy on his offer to hire a cleaning agency to do the job last week. She made a decision to use the agency in the future.
Just about that time, her phone started ringing. She looked at the screen and sighed.
"Hello mum."
"Hello Angel, hope the journey was safe?"
"Yes mum, I'm in my room right now trying to get settled in."
"Alright, thank God! Do take care of yourself, I'll call you later."
"Okay mum, bye."
Putting the phone down beside her, Angela drifted into thoughts.
Gaining admission to study medicine has been her childhood dream. She was a smart kid— smarter than her peers. Watching how her mum loved the nursing profession and how she excelled in it might have birthed Angela's desire to be a doctor. Her father, Mr. Anthony was rarely present because of his numerous business trips. Being the CEO of Tonyson Enterprise, he is always going from one meeting to the other. Her mum had even told her that her father was not in town when she was born. He had gone to London on a business trip and was only back for a week during her 3rd month.
One could correctly say that Mr. Anthony was an absent dad. However, he made up for this shortcoming by becoming a dad that never said no to any of his children's requests. You could say that Angela had it all but did she really? Why was she so relieved to leave their home at last?
Having graduated high school at a young age of 15, Angela kept applying to colleges but kept on getting rejected by the ones she actually wanted to go to. She'd spent 3 years at home although she worked as a front desk secretary in a hotel just around the corner of their house. Angela had always told her friends that the job was the only thing keeping her sane— she would have slipped into depression. She never got into details so no one really knew what was happening or why she'd always make that statement.
Getting into JMU came with so much excitement for her. At age 18, she was ready for whatever college life had in store for her.
Coming back to reality, Angela faced the work ahead of her and after rounds of sweeping, cobwebbing, dusting, mopping and arranging, she was finally done.
"Phew! Now I can take my bath and then rest," she said.
She also called her siblings to let them know that she was all settled in. Angela was surely going to miss her brothers.
At about 9:30pm, she was lying on the bed— naked. Browsing through her phone, she drifted into a much needed sleep.