THE NIGHT OF 14TH FEBRUARY

It was already midnight and Deji wasn't home yet.  He said he had to stay back and do some work with his boss, "why will this woman want to work extra time today of all days", he had lamented when we spoke earlier but i told him to relax, work and then come home to me because there was a surprise..
Four hours passed... I stared at the dinning table that held the cake, wine and some decorations.  I also made Gbegiri and Tuwo for dinner, the were Deji's favourite. I remembered my sweat, the times i'd almost sustained one kitchen injury or the other and tears gathered.  I wasn't much of kitchen person, i cooked once in a while but i wanted to make today memorable as our first valentine as man and wife, instead of the classy restaurant i earlier planned, i decided to do something different...  Make my own restaurant with candle light's at home, it looked perfect but it was going to waste.

1:00am....  I became restless, because i had tried to reach Deji severally but he didn't answer, i was angry.  I have heard stories about husband's who cheat, "could my Deji be cheating"? I tried hard to shove that thought from my head but i couldn't, i was in a rage.  I began to destroy everything i had decorated, i took the remaining part of the cake into the freezer and went into the bedroom.  I looked at myself in the mirror, i was beautiful, i didn't lack any endowments, why would my husband cheat within six months of being married ..  The thought drove me crazy, i unzipped the red gown i had purchased the previous day which was also part of the surprise, i don't wear short dresses and Deji always wanted me to so i bought this dress as a surprise, now its ruined.
Our marriage had been quite rocky, its only six months but there were loopholes everywhere, we didn't date for long, we met at a friend's party and was married within three months perhaps that was why we disagreed a lot but we were cool today, why would he consider cheating on me.  I was a stay at home wife because i haven't gotten any job yet, Deji was cool with this at first but soon he began to act like i had forced him into the marriage to make myself a liability, he indirectly threw insults at me during arguments but we never slept a day quarrelling, we'd always make up before the next day and now he is cheating, everything impossible in normal eyes was running through my head, "but we had settled this our differences of disagreements for over two months now so why this".  More tears flowed, i stood naked facing the mirror looking for any possible excuse my body was lacking but didn't get any answers because i wasn't thinking straight at the time.
I stared at myself some more in the mirror before heading for the bathroom.

1:30am.... In the bathroom,water splashing all over me from the shower ...  I didn't know whether to cry or not, then i heard my ringtone but i ignored it, if Deji was at the gate he'd have to wait a little longer as punishment for making me waste my time waiting for him..  I stayed a little longer in the bathroom before i got out, i wrapped the towel round my body and sat on the edge of the bed to check my phone, i had five missed calls from Deji, he also sent an sms, i open it waiting to see what his excuse would be.

"They want to kill me,run open the gate".......  I was in shock as i read the text one more time, i didn't understand what was happening or what to do.  I called him severally but no answer then i called my sister, she and her husband came over after 30minutes only to meet my Deji stone dead in his car with bullets pierced into his chest just by our gate.

The only thing i could remember was seeing my husband's lifeless body and screaming..  I had passed out and just woke up with a bad headache on a hospital bed, i made to stand and to enquire about my Deji but the nurse asked me to be still as moving now isn't good for my condition, she muttered something and the only thing i heard was, your pregnancy.
I was shocked, i couldn't believe the day i found out i was pregnant was the same day my husband died..
This would have been the best valentine present, i blamed myself everyday for Deji's death, for not picking his calls and for denying my child his father because of my stupid conclusions.

Its Eleven months already and my husband's killers are working freely while i and my new son suffer.
I looked at my son, smiling and whispering to his ears "we would surely revenge daddy's death" and the priest said, "name this child"...?
And i named him Deji.....
Ifunanya Ononiwu (c) 2017

JOSEPH-INA, THE DREAMER

We came down from the car while the security man made for the trunk of the car to get my luggage's after he shut the gate.  I had just returned from a conference which held in Paris, i had also used that opportunity to attend a friend's book launch and vacationed at once because i needed to cool my brain for a little while.  I really had a good time and promised i would return for another visit when my friend's saw me off to the airport, "Of course, Paris is a very beautiful place, who wouldn't want to go there a million times" i said.. 

I was successful too just like most of my friend's,  i had several short stories and books to my name, something that was a leisure turned out so well even though i still consider it a leisure, i couldn't leave it.  I had other business's too because the Igbo blood in me wouldn't rest and i was almost rounding up final plans to start up my school.  I had worked for a few years before i started running my own business empire full time, i had little business's before the job came, who would have thought i finally did it this big and there was no regrets so far, i was where i wanted to be with a very supportive family.  My son's voice halted my thoughts, he hugged me as if i had been gone longer than one week.  We are quite close while my daughter was close to their father, i was about to ask after her before i saw her running to get her own hug, my children were one of the best things that happened to me, they brought unexplainable joy to my heart each time i looked at them. 

That evening after dinner, my children decided to entertain me to some old school jams their father thought  them while i was away, i know how my husband and our kids were with music and i was up for a good laugh.  They started with dance steps, they did the Shoki and Dab then they began to chant to different songs, i and their father sang along. My daughter then said she had two songs she had learnt and wanted to surprise me to it, she sang Hello by Adele and Cheap thrills by Sia, i laughed and sang along then i told them Cheap thrills was my ring tone and alarm tone at a time, that was in 2016 and the early parts of 2017.. 

We were all laughing hard at one of my jokes about Cheap thrills when i felt a cold hand on me....  I woke up to see my sister tapping me to wake up, my alarm ringing at its highest, and it is 7:30am,how come i didn't wake up since one hour ago when my alarm first went off, i had been dreaming and i was late for work again on a Monday morning because i knew it would only take a miracle to beat traffic and be seated at the office before 8am.  I remembered i have been getting queries for the past two weeks for one reason or the other, i feared for my job and wished my dream would actually be reality... 

Ifunanya Ononiwu (c) 2017

DRUG ABUSE: MISCONCEPTIONS

Written by Tomiwa Cybermag Nicolas

Most of the time our perception of the term 'drug abuse' is absolutely wrong. From a young age, our minds have been wrongfully programmed to believe drug abusers are the ones who do 'hard' drugs like cocaine, heroin, marijuana etc.

If we are to define the word 'abuse' in simple terms, it means misuse, inappropriate or wrongful usage of a material or object. What if I told you most of us are drug abusers, will you dispute it? You don't have to,because it's a fact.Now let's consider acetaminophen(paracetamol),a simple pain reliever.Suppose your doctor prescribes paracetamol for your headache and tells you to take just two pills three times daily but your aproko body is telling you to take three pills and you did. Do you know you're a drug abuser?
Most people doing 'hard' drugs today didn't just wake up one morning and started sniffing substance, some started from the abuse of aspirin and some mild antibiotics.
Once the mild drug doesn't give them the expected comfort they move on to stronger drugs. The world health organisation even rated antibiotics as the most abused drug. A constant abuse of any drug has a short or long term effect on our body system. Every drug has a limit of usage. Paracetamol as mild as it seem,an individual shouldn't take more than twelve pills of it within twenty four hours. It might not have an immediate effect but it'll definitely tell on your liver on the long run.
A personal experience with tramadol changed my mindset about the drug forever.One of my friends had told me tramadol improves your performance when doing the do. Instead of doing my own research i foolishly believed him. That's how bae told me to come sleep over that particular week after exams. Thirty minutes before leaving for her place, i took three pills of 100mg tramadol, diluted it in La casera and downed everything. In my mind i was ready to demolish the walls of jericho. Getting to bae's place, i met her wriggling in discomfort, stomach pains. Error Error,mission abolished, we had to sleep "peacefully" that night. I was dizzy for the whole of the next day and i couldn't stand for two minutes without feeling weak.  When my colleagues saw how I was weak and unstable,they asked what i took and i said "it's tramadol ooooo, 100mg".I was to later realize tramadol is a very fatal drug if abused.
That drug you see as a mild one can do you great harm if abused. It's not only those that sniff cocaine or smoke marijuana that are drug abusers, sometimes we unconsciously abuse it too.
If you take any drug without the prescription of a physician, you're a drug abuser.
If you take an ovedose of a prescribed drug, you're a drug abuser.
If you take a drug for an ailment it's not meant for, you're a drug abuser.
If you take a drug to overcome depression when it's not prescribed, you're a drug abuser.
If you take a drug that's not meant for your age, you're a drug abuser.
Stop abusing that drug as from today. You'll be doing your liver a great favor and you'll be saving a life..