SWIFT (2)

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He can't remember how, when, or why they started fighting. But they sure did. A lot! They hardly saw each other outside of school anymore as she had made friends and was always hanging out with them or going to parties. He wanted to spend more time with her, but she wanted to go out more. He decided to go out with her to the parties. And though she told him not to, he went with her anyway. He had to prove to her that he was not the 'mama's boy' she had called him during one of their fights. He did not know what to expect, but he was ready to do anything to keep her to himself.

He had never been to grown-up's parties so he never expected what he saw. There were no cakes and soft drinks, no parental presence or chaperones. The locations of the parties were premium, the drinks were alcoholic, the boys were young and rich, and the girls were pretty and scantily dressed. They went to all the parties she wanted. The parties were wild. The next one wilder than the last. He grew to like them. He adjusted to the kind of people Ameerah hung out with and the friends she made. She introduced him to the rich boys too. He adjusted to the taste of alcohol, then cigarettes, then marijuana, then harder drugs. He also had to change his car and wardrobe to adjust to the standards of the clique he now rolled with. He and Ameerah became closer through it all. Their bond was stronger. But his allowance was hardly enough to take care their expenses.

He began telling lies to his parents to get money. When that was not enough, he began stealing from them. But the money was never enough. There were more parties to attend, new outfits needed for those parties, and they had to get their own alcoholic beverages which must not be the cheap stuff. He had to speak to Joey, one of the boys in his clique, whose money never seemed to run out, on how he got money. After much pleading by both Tega and Ameerah, Joey introduced Tega to the 'Realz', a group of rich boys who traveled to other countries for business when actually, they were trafficking drugs.
Tega joined them, and by his third year in school, Tega had made about Twenty Million Naira from drug trafficking. He was a 'big boy' in school. He threw the coolest and wildest parties in Lagos and drove the latest cars. He only wore designer outfits and ate at the choicest restaurants. He got an apartment on the Island from which he went to school when he felt like. He continued his relationship with Ameerah but began seeing other rich girls on the side.

Even in his final year in the University, he kept working with the Realz. His mother, who had noticed his wayward ways, had tried all she could to make him better. All to no avail. His father, a famous politician, even threatened to disown him if he did not change, but he told his father to do what pleased him. Ameerah, though she loved the money and expensive gifts, hated his constant traveling and spoke to him to stop traveling as he had made enough for them to live on and do business with if they wanted. He did not listen to her either. He was caught up in the fast life and he loved it. 
On one of his 'business trips', officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency(NDLEA) caught him at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja on his way to a foreign country with 60 kilograms of Cocaine. He was arrested and he subsequently stood trial for drug trafficking and other related offenses. He was found guilty and was sentenced to sixteen years in prison. His father never went to Court before his sentencing and never visited him in prison. His mother visited him twice. Ameerah, upon graduation from the University, got a job and got married. Five years into his term, he was found dead in his cell.  He had slit his wrists and bled to death.


- The Lady 

"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)”

Ephesians 2:4-5