Our Very First Holiday Away From Home | Creative Nonfiction #75

My younger brother and I went to spend the long vacation holidays at my aunt's in a notorious part of the city of Lagos. We were very glad when she came to pick us to Mushin. All we wanted was to have the sub-urban and to taste what life feels like in interior Lagos. All our lives, we had only been opportune to see how the city of Lagos looks like on the television screen. To us, Lagos as like the city of Paris and it would be an honour to visit there.

Your mom and dad have agreed that both of you should come along with me to Lagos.

My aunt announced to us in what sounded like a breaking news. My heart skipped for joy because my parents would never agree that we spend a night out of their presence. This past sixteen years have been with them, every other night.

Soon I started unpacking my clothes from my travelling back and rearraging them for the journey. My younger brother did the same.

Don't forget to take you sponge case and toothbrush along.

I joyfully told Chika, my younger brother.

That night, I could not sleep. All that kept coming to my consciousness was the picture of the skyscrapers and beautiful houses that we have seen on television about Lagos. I envisioned the good life that awaits me in Lagos.

Soon, it was morning and my eyes were beginning to ache me, sleep was messing with me but the enthusiasm of traveling to Lagos could not make me close my eyes.

That morning, I refused to take breakfast, I guess that was caused by anxiety. My younger brother, a classical example of a foodie, ate as much as he could. My mom sat next to me, caressing my head and saying all sort of encouraging words:

Nna, be of good behavior when you get over there. Make sure you listen to your aunt and go only where she asks you to and do only what she instructs you to.

I nodded my head and tears began to gather in my ears. My mom also had the same feeling when I looked into her eyes.

After a short word of prayer, we carried our bags into the car trunk and sat at the back seat as much aunt drove away. We bid my mom goodbye and my little sister began to cry. Tears drop from my years but before I knew it again, I was light up as the car drove out of town.

We arrived at Mushin after two hours, thankfully, there was no traffic since it was weekend. The hustling and bustling life in Lagos was not witnessed.

My aunt live in a three bedroom well furnished bungalow. The fittings of the house was modern. It was cozy and well furnished. The television screen was five times larger than our box-style television set.

Pixabay

We started to enjoy every bit of our holiday as my aunt treated us to a luxury life. We ate breakfast in time and launch was frequent. Sometimes we eat out at night in nearby restaurant whenever she is tired to cook. This made our holiday more interesting as we ate some of the food made by professional chefs.

One evening, as we prepare to visit our usual restaurant, my younger brother left the tap in our bathroom running until we returned from the outing. The whole rug in our room was wet. To secure my brother, we decided to keep a secret from my aunt in fear of what discipline she might admitted on my brother.

See what you have caused now. Just pray that this rug doesn't ooze, you will see the red eyes of aunt Amaka.

Chika had no remorse for what he did. He just climbed the bed and went to sleep and thankfully, our aunt also did not check up on us that night. The following morning, she was went to work. By the time I and my brother woke from sleep, the rug had started to ooze out a very bad odour. We decided to dry in outside the house. The sun did well but it rug was not perfectly dried.

We arranged it back into the room but when our aunt returns from work, she perceive the odour and asked what happened, I explained everything to her since I had no other option than to tell the truth.

Two days before we returned home from the well spent holiday, my brother again, from his nonchallant attiude, did the worst.

Chika was lazy at ironing his cloth and I wasn't in the mood to iron that day. So, he took up that responsibility for the very first time. While he as yet to complete ironing his clothes, there was power outage. He left the iron with switching it off on the ironing board. About an hour later, there was power supply while we were outside with the children on my aunt's neighbour. The iron had gotten very hot and started burning the clothes. It was a terrible incident.

The smell of smoke arouse my attention. By the time I entered the house, smoke had covered everywhere. I screamed at the top of my voice. My aunt's neighbour came to my rescue by switching of the central control unit. My fear brother was not moved. I wondered what kind of heart he was born with, perhaps it was his age.

He is a full grown man now and has changed a great deal though. That incident still rings a bell anytime I looks back. My aunt asked us never to mention it to our parents else they won't allow us to come on holidays again..