MISSING - Episode One

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THE TALE OF EUNICE’S ONE year stay in Benin City started on an early Friday morning in March. One moment she was in the comfort of her father’s house in Ibadan; the next on a bus to a strange state for the mandatory National Youth Service Corps scheme. Her eyes stung from dust which had blown into her eyes during the trip, and her body was stiff and sore, the consequence of the many bumps and potholes they’d hit.

She let out a sigh as the bus slowed to a stop, and opened her eyes to look out the window. They had arrived. It was late afternoon and the sun glare mercilessly pinched her skin and her aching eyes. She rubbed her eyes, nudged the man who’d dozed off in the seat beside her and waited till he opened his eyes.

‘We’ve arrived sir.’

The man nodded, registering her words, and proceeded to get up so Eunice could access the aisle. She stood, removed the pair of sunglasses that hung on her blouse, wore them, then made her way out of the bus. The sight that greeted her stopped her cold.

A throng of people, young and old alike, tussled for yellow and wine buses that parked haphazardly by the road side. While men-easily identifiable as bus conductors, darted about the road screaming for passengers and hurling people into the buses. She immediately felt out of place in her uniform - the army green pair of trousers which accentuated her long legs, a snug fitting white blouse, and orange boots that itched her feet.

Eunice stood unmoving for a few minutes, distracted by the scene until she felt a push from behind and an angry voice asking her to move away from the door. She looked at the scowling woman, apologized profusely, and moved quickly to the back of the bus to carry her luggage.

She spotted her suitcase among the offloaded luggage and tried to lift it. It hardly moved an inch.

‘Thanks mom for insisting that I carry the blender, hair dryer, straightener, curler, sanitizer, disinfectant for an entire household, fruit shake, shoe rack, all the shoes, those head ties and every other convenience you thought was extremely important. Now I have to drag this load all over.’

She struggled with it for a few minutes, and was eventually able to drag it away from the bus. She wiped droplets of sweat from her forehead, picked her phone from her pocket and dialed her cousin's number.

Overall, she’d been excited about the prospect of the one year she had to spend under National Youth Service Corps Scheme, but now she was too tired to remember all the reasons why. Her cousin, Tola picked up on the second ring.

‘I’ve arrived. I’m at the park.’ Eunice heard her high-pitched scream at the other end of the phone and couldn’t help but smile.

‘Come and pick me jare and stop wasting time.

She waited for the response and ended the call. She looked around again and felt her excitement gradually return. As an only child, she had been under her parents all her life. She still remembered how elated she had felt when she was to choose a tertiary institution. She’d thought it finally meant a chance at independence, but her parents had insisted on an institution of their choice.

She knew they meant well, but she was tired of the shielded life, and NYSC was the perfect opportunity to explore that independence she’d been seeking. She planned to enjoy it to the fullest.

‘Oh well,’ she said to herself, ‘let the life begin.’

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