TITLE:THE SECOND CHANCE
THE SECOND CHANCE
Many people do not have the opportunity to rewrite their wrongs. They keep on paying for their mistakes, some even die in the process but thank God I was able to correct my mistakes.
My name is Patrick Franca, I am the first child of my parents, my father's name is Tunde and my mother's name is Kemi. Both of them are from Ondo state but we live in Lagos. I have three siblings, Yetunde who is my immediate younger sister, Flourish who is after her then Daniel our last born. I got admitted into the University of Nigeria Nsukka and I was so happy. I purposely applied for UNN so that I could be far away from my parents. I have been anticipating this for a long time. I want to feel the world, I want to be free to do the things I like. My parents are very devoted christians and they are very strict. They brought us up with an iron fist. They did not allow us to make friends ourselves rather they chose the people that would be our friends and they must be from Christian homes like us and also be devoted Christians.
I waited patiently for the day of resumption but it seemed like the days were crawling. Finally, It was just the remaining two days to the resumption day. I was elated, school was resuming on Monday but I was to go on Sunday so that I could arrange my stuff properly. On the night of my departure, my parents called me to the living room to talk to me.
My mother started by saying, “My daughter you are going out to another world entirely, university is not like secondary school, you will make decisions for yourself. Ensure that you make the right decision, and know the kind of friends you will keep. We brought you up to have godly and focused friends continue in that trend, for there is an adage that says “Show me your friend and I will tell you who you are” Also, be contented with what you have, and stay focused all the time.” After talking for a while mother concluded her long sermon and I was so thankful for that. I was already tired, all I wanted was to sleep so that I could be strong and refreshed for my journey the next day.
“I don't have much to say, because your mother has said it all, but to add to what your mother has said, I will advise you to be prayerful” my father concluded. I thanked them for their advice and promised not to let them down. I went inside the bedroom and as soon as I lay on the bed I drifted off to sleep.
Morning came soon, I had breakfast with my family and we prayed, and then I bid my siblings goodbye. Mum drove me to the bus stop where I would get a bus going to Enugu. Dad couldn't come with us because he had an urgent appointment at his workplace.
I got to school and settled in, I did my registration and started lectures in earnest. Within the first few months of my stay in the school, my parent's advice kept ringing in my ears and I heeded it but after some time I forgot about the advice my parents gave me on choosing godly friends. I made friends with two girls named Linda and Favour. They were wayward girls who liked living wild life. They also sleep with different men for money, which they use to buy cars, expensive phones, and dresses. They called themselves high-class girls. Soon I emulated their lifestyle. I wanted to feel among and be called "the happening babe" as they are referred to on the campus, and also have all the expensive things they flaunt around. We don't even attend lectures we either give the lecturers money or sleep with them and they give us our marks. I was very careful to keep my wayward lifestyle away from my parents. Whenever I go home for holidays I will pretend to be a good girl so that my parents will not find out about my waywardness.
Me and my friends continued with our waywardness not minding what people say or think about us until something happened that changed my life forever. That event will forever remain evergreen in my memory. It happened that Chief Bamidele, Linda's sugar daddy invited her for a party and told her to come with her friends so that we could entertain his friends. We were so happy because it meant more money for us, Chief Bamidele is a politician so I was very happy because he would introduce me to one of his rich friends.
The day for the party came and we all dressed in revealing clothes awaiting Chief Bamidele. Soon he sent a driver to come and pick us and we were all on our way to the party. We reached the venue for the party, but surprisingly there was no one there, before we knew what was happening we all became unconscious.
We later woke up and found ourselves in a dark room in the middle of four men, we were bound both hands and feet. It was then it dawned on us that we had fallen prey to the hands of ritualists. We were sadated immediately we came into the so-called party venue and that was why we all fell unconscious at the same time. I couldn't make out the faces of the men in the room because it was very dark except for a dim red light in a corner of the room which made us know that they were four of them. We were crying and pleading for mercy but our pleas fell on deaf ears.
My two friends were slaughtered right in my very eyes and I was there shaking like a leaf. When it was my turn, the person who seemed to be the leader told them to leave me, and that I would be used later for the other sacrifice. I was locked up in a very dark room for two days without food or water. On the third day, the leader of the ritualist came to where I was kept, opened the door, and said to me “Get out” I quickly ran out of the dark room and also ran out of the building which was in a deserted area. I walked for more than an hour before I could find the main road. When I finally reached the main road, I tried to flag down a cab but nobody stopped because of how unkempt I looked. I looked like a person who just run out of a psychiatric hospital. After a long time, a taxi finally stopped for me and I entered. I explained my ordeals to the taxi driver, he had pity on me and drove me to the nearest police station and my parents were contacted immediately.
My parents flew from Lagos to Nsukka the next day and took me home. When we got home I explained everything I went through to my family members and they were so grateful to God for keeping me alive. My mother reminded me of the advice she gave me before I went to school, she said to me,
“If you had listened to the advice I gave you, you could have been saved from this trauma, all the same, we thank God for saving you".
I later discovered that I was saved because my mother was always praying for me and even on that day which would have marked the end of my existence on planet Earth, she was still praying for me. I couldn't go back University of Nigeria Nsukka again because of that awful event, I rewrote UTME and gained admission into the University Of Lagos where I studied Law.
I graduated from the University of Lagos with First Class honors and was called to bar.
Today I am one of the renowned lawyers in the country and I fight against kidnapping and ritual killings. Each time I remember that terrible event, I always thank God for saving my life and giving me another chance to correct my mistakes. I could have been among my friends that died but I was saved by the grace of God and was given a second chance.
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