Even after four years, I still come here. The reason is obvious though. It was here that I met her; it was on a cool evening, and I'd just had a row with my brother who was hell bent on making our father pay for abandoning us when we were young. I was so mad at him that I went to the beach and was angrily stomping away when I crashed into her. She was sitting on the sand, looking at waves as they rose and fell. I'd apologised profusely, and in the end, we became friends. Three months later, we started dating.

That was when everything turned grey, and for the next seven months, I ran from pillar to post trying to save her. But I couldn't. She died on the same day my father died; both of them died as a result of two different reasons. My father died in a car accident; he was drunk and had ran into an oncoming vehicle. The cars had exploded before anyone could get to them.

As for Chekwube, my girlfriend, she died of something else, something very sinister and deadly—leukaemia. I had serious financial problems then, and I went around begging for money, but no one agreed to help me with the twelve million naira needed for her treatment in India. I went to TV stations, radio stations, used the social media and various blogs, but no help came. In the end I had to watch the cold hands of death slowly take her from me.

As I sat on the warm sand of the Lagos beach, I tried hard to stop crying as I continued the only thing that had brought me peace and solace for the past four years—painting.

Don't be wowed, it's not that kind of painting. I just use A4 paper and some crayons to paint the scenery and sometimes I add my own imagination to it.

After two hours of painting, I stood up, and went to the water. I had never been a good swimmer, but I felt a strong pull to dive into the water and allow the coldness to seep into my bones and help me be calm.

And that's what I did. I pulled off my clothes, and waddled into the water, sighing as the cold water touched my skin. I did some weak breast strokes, and finally decided to just float on the water.

Suddenly, I felt the water rising, and I tried to get back to the shore. But as I started off, something with the force of a sledgehammer landed on my head, completely disorienting me. I struggled to regain my bearings, but it was too late. I opened my mouth to take in more air and ended up gulping huge amounts of water. I was drowning, I knew it, but I couldn't help it. I tried fighting it, but the more I fought, the more I my strength waned. Until I finally gave up and allowed the darkness to take me.

Read more ➡️
https://www.thezenpens.com/2019/10/14/crashing-waves/