Falling deeper into the pit of destruction. I

Tayo was a level two student who was studying physics and electronics at the federal university in his state. Just like every other other hardworking student, he had dreams and aspirations to graduate with a very positive result that would boost his chances in the labour market.

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Tayo's parents were one of the country's thousands of middle- class citizens that were fast falling below the poverty line due to the widespread inflation that had been maintaining a firm grip on the country's economy for a long time.

Even though things were quite rough, his parents were determined to educate atleast two of their children up to the university level. Hopefully after they had graduated and secured nice jobs, they would be able to take over the responsibility of their younger siblings. This is a very common African mentality, which i believe to a large extent, contributes to the reason why couples give birth to more children then they can comfortably cater for.

" One of our children would definitely become successful in the future and take the family out of poverty....",

The above belief is very popular among the less educated folks.

Tayo was the second child out of six children. The first child was a girl. Tayo's elder sister was already married. She married shortly after she completed her high school education. Since she was not very bright in academics, she never agreed to further her education. She had made it clear to their father that he shouldn't waste his hard earned money training her in the university since she was never good in the class.

Tayo was always very conscious of the huge expectations from him and he became more determined to work hard at his studies so as to be able to support his family in the nearest future.

Tayo's performance in his first year at the University was quite satisfactory, atleast he was able to be among the top ten in a class of almost a hundred. Tayo was very pleased with his performance and thought that if he could maintain such a pace he would definitely be among the top five when he enters his finals.

How was he suppose to know that his life would be cut short before that time.....

One day , Tayo had just returned to his room on campus after a three hour long lectur. He met the three of his room mates discussing in excited tones. He asked his friends what was the fuss about. Kenny who was the one nearest to him immediately told him that a level three student has just won the sum of $14000 at a gamblers shop with just $2.

Kenny also revealed that this particular student was not even an habitual gambler. This was his first and only participation and he got such a big reward. Tayo also learnt that the said student haven't been seen around the school ever since, maybe he had abandoned school to go do something else with his newly found Fortune. All his friends had reported that his lines had been switched off ever since.

After a detailed description by an excited kenny, Ayo was able recognize who this newest millionaire in town was. The boy whose name was femi was someone that Tayo was very familiar with. He was a computer science student whose department was just few meters from his own department. As a matter of fact, they had been acquaintances since from level one as they took some general courses together at that time

Tayo kept clapping his hands on his thighs from time to time out of sheer amazement of how a nineteen year old boy could turn into a millionaire overnight.

Before he had heard this unbelievable news, he had planned to study hard for a very vital test that was coming up in three days time, but he couldn't just gather his thoughts together. He kept starring at the bulky course material as if it were written in an alien language. The more he tried to comprehend the text, the more he became irritated and sweaty. After twenty minutes of futile efforts in trying to focus, he angrily tossed the lecture notes into an unwashed pot that was exposed at a corner of the room.

He couldn't sleep for most parts of the night neither did he ate anything. He lay on the bed staring at the ceiling for a long time. He found it difficult to control his thoughts and he assumed a sitting position on his bed for a long time.

With his heads in his hands, coupled with an automatic jerking of his trunk forwards and backwards in the darkroom, his Brain kept forming series of mental images of femi who was now suddenly worth six million naira .

He kept thinking of all the days when he used to see femi as any other ordinary student on campus. Infact the first day he set his eyes on femi, he instantly knew that his parents were poorer. His backpack seemed as if he had been using it since he was in junior high school as they looked very old. The color of his jeans trousers had almost vanished which made the jeans to always appear dirty even though they had recently been washed .

"Now, ordinary femi is now a millionaire and could even become a multimillionaire soon!" Tayo exclaimed. He thought about all what femi would do with all that money. Things had already started turning around for him.

Tayo also couldn't help but put himself in femi's shoes. He would definitely the happiest young man in the world with all that money cooling in his bank account. He also thought about what he could do with all that money. He immediately thought about buying a better house for his parents, then invest most parts of it in a business venture.

Unlike femi who had abandoned school when he suddenly came into the money, Tayo knew that he would definitely continue to pursue a degree in the university, but won't be as eager to graduate with a first class honor as he was before.

Ofcourse, it wouldn't be very important to him anymore since he would have already set up a thriving business before he graduated. There would be absolutely no need to job hunt again after school.

Tayo was still in thinking about all the beautiful things he would do for himself and family with such money. He was still thinking when he fell asleep.......

To be continued..........

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Thank you very much for staying with me ♥️ ♥️♥️