April Fool is always done on the 1st day of April when people are pranked. While this is a good thing, at least to make it fun, it's not something that should be done at a high level, especially when some don't fancy being pranked with something that has to do with life and death. I love such an idea, but it should be done and kept simple instead of hurting another person.
Some people don't mind going the extra length to make it look more real, and this is something that doesn't sit well with the victims. It's more reason it should be done minimally, and besides, before such is done, they need to understand who they need to prank perhaps if they like it or not. But for me, I like such a thing if it's not an expensive one.
If I can't remember the numerous "April Fool" pranks I have gotten in the past, this particular one can never be erased from my head because it was an expensive joke that almost got me going crazy for a few minutes, until my friend decided to set me free from the worrisome state I was in right from when I disengaged from what I was doing at an instant. I kept staring into her eyes to confirm if she was being real or not, and I must give it to her for being too serious about it and how she had planned it well with others.
She knew how much I loved my precious baby and how I couldn't even let go for a second unless I needed to rest or perhaps do other things. I'm talking about my phone. My phone goes with me anywhere I go and I cannot drop it for a second, not to talk of hours, because of my constant pressing and being on it doing different things.
I was still in school then, and for no reason, the light in our neighbourhood kept acting up when other streets would have light. That scenario can be annoying, but what do we have to do? Many times, we had called our landlady to come check what was going on, but she refused to answer us. Most times, we would be the ones contributing money among ourselves to get an electrician to fix it. Some days, the unexpected would happen late in the night and to call for an electrician would be an impossible task, and while others were enjoying the light overnight, we were in darkness fighting the heat at midnight.
On this particular day, which was the first day of April, we had no light, and this time around, everyone was affected; not like we were the only ones not having light, but other streets didn't have to, making it 1:1, which was fine at that moment.
Everyone decided that we would enter the school to go charge since they put on the generator for the students living in the hostel from 7pm to 10pm. The plan was to go charge and return back by ten minutes to 10 because the area was always dangerous once it was after 10 pm. Where we lived wasn't far from the school, so we would trek for about 5 minutes or more than if we were walking slowly due to the latest gist on the ground.
But for one reason, I didn't follow them. I had so much to do, and I pleaded with my friends and neighbours to help charge my phone. I gave them my extension socket and my phone to charge. This was something I found hard to do; leaving my phone in someone's care for hours. I'd rather stay with my phone than give it to someone, but on this day, it was different.
I had no choice but to take the risk, and besides, I trusted them to handle my phone like it was theirs. I was in safe hands, even though my mind kept imagining weird things, like, "What if they stole my phone? What if they got ambushed on the road and they took everything from them?"
I couldn't stop myself from those imaginations until I decided to take it off my mind completely, occupying it with something else which was me sitting outside and talking to the guys, and that made it easier for me to while away time doing something else.
At 10:30pm, they got back home, but the look on their faces was not saying happiness at all. They all went gloomy, and with the look of things, I knew something was wrong especially since they returned late.
"What's wrong? You guys are late" I asked curiously.
My friend said, "They stole Sister Bola's phone and yours."
They knew their acts wouldn't make sense if they'd said it was only my phone they stole
What? That was the first word that came out of my mouth. Then I looked at Sister Bola, then at my friend, thinking they were playing, but they looked serious.
Immediately, my face changed. I started thinking about a lot of things. I was worried. Like, how do I get a new phone? What about the information on my phone?
I bowed my head for some seconds, and I couldn't reply to anyone. Seriously, they acted so well, and I applaud them for such an act. After about 10 minutes, my friend shouted, "April fool!" followed by laughter from everyone.
I raised my head at the sound of "April Fool" and immediately cleaned my eyes, which were already wet with tears. But why would they do that? What if something had happened to me within the space of that 10 minutes? I couldn't laugh but only had this faint smile.
"That was an expensive joke," I stuttered while letting them know if they needed to play a prank on me, they shouldn't use my phone but something else that wouldn’t get me worried that much. It was obvious to them that my phone was my life. We all laughed it off and went to sleep.
This post is a response to the prompt question by the Hive reachout community which can be found here. I invite at @nkemakonam89, @merit.ahama and @beckyroyal to join, too.
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