Age is Just A Number-Part 1

How We Met

So, I am not paranoid but I think someone has been following me like I am being tracked or followed. I would be immediately scared if I had collected money from a loan shark or I had committed a crime, but I didn’t do any of those things, hence my paranoia.

I am a very simple respectful person, but why do I feel like I am being watched.
I noticed last month on my way from work, as I step out of the office a lady was walking behind me casually until I got to Oyingbo and stopped to pretend to buy something and she stopped as well. I looked at her and she became self-aware like she had been caught doing something bad and she gathered herself as though nothing happened and walked past me.

A few steps away, I resumed my walk behind her, at this point, she was on the phone saying something like she had been busted or it’s a burst, something like that. I crossed the road and she didn’t follow me, I let out a sigh of relief and took her not following me across the road as a sign that I was just paranoid and that I watch too many American action movies. Feeling safe again, I boarded the tricycle going to my next bus stop and didn’t bother to look over my shoulders again.

Well, I didn’t look over my shoulder for a while only two weeks later, I had noticed this guy more than five times, he casually walks behind or ahead of me every day and he is always a bus behind me, when I get to my house, he continues to walk to the bike-stop which was two blocks ahead of my apartment building and takes a bike.

That Friday, I had to find out where he was going to satisfy my curiosity, I just had to know, so I pretended I had entered my house, I dropped my bag and peeked through the window, of the ground floor. When I was satisfied with the distance, I came out and followed him, He stopped a bike as usual and took off.

I summoned a little boldness and hopped on a bike at that stop asked the bike-man to follow the bike the guy took. I pretended we were together and at least going to the same place. The bike diligently followed; the guy alighted from the bike at the junction before my house. I was shocked. He then entered a Jeep.

I am not a car person, but I remembered the name of the car because it was a jeep. Jeep was a brand and other cars called jeep are not Jeeps (the brand).

Anyways, I am digressing. So, the guy entered the Jeep and the driver drove off. I was furious, scared, and above all the determination and plan to confront the guy was looming in my mind. So, I told the bike man to take me back to where we were coming from.

Monday would be the day; I would confront the bastard who has been tailing me and making me scared for my life. Was that wise, I do not care, but I was angry, scared, and furious at the same time. So whatever decision I made, it wasn’t the wise one, but right now, I would say I am glad I made such a decision to do so.

Monday’s dawn came and I was alert and ready. I had spent the whole weekend formulating my plan, I had imagined different scenarios, and most times, I ended up talking to myself or muttering under my breath. I just hope my family didn’t think I was going crazy.

I purposefully dressed, wearing a fitted t-shirt and jeans. I picked my gym sneakers to go for easy movement. I used extra antiperspirant, I didn’t know how that was going to help, but I was on fire and ready to bust a move on someone that day.

I left for work and I was always looking over my shoulder, but I didn’t see anyone, I got to work, I couldn’t concentrate on anything, I was just waiting for the close of business to arrive. If I had the power to move time forward or make it go an hour fast, I could have sworn that I was going to use it. But as fate would have it, the day was dragging. I gave in to the time and focused on my work, it felt like five minutes and the clock struck 5 pm.

All my dissipated energy came back, I was fired up and ready to kick some ass.
I wore my cross bag filled with pepper spray and other defence tools. I was ready, but I noticed no one was following me, I began to wonder if the guy noticed me when I trailed him and decided to back off. I kept looking over my shoulder and sometimes I stopped to see who would stop as well, but nobody was tailing me and nobody stopped, except the old woman I bumped into, trying to do the stop experiment. I gave up my search and just went home, feeling defeated and somewhat crazy.

I began to think I was imagining someone tailing me or was I having anxiety. As soon as I got home, I fired up Google to understand the symptoms of anxiety. Being Nigerian and African, we don’t believe in the term anxiety, if you are having a psychological problem, that simply means you are crazy and you needed to be sent to “yaba left” which is a location for the hospital for crazy people in Lagos.

Google didn’t help, it’s like finding how to deal with being impaled by a needle and google tells you that your hand might need amputation due to the possible diseases you might have contracted.
In other words, Google made me more afraid than I was. However, YouTube helped me to know how to prepare a homemade pepper spray.
And me being very creative with my hands. I spent the whole night perfecting my pepper spray, just in case my crazy was crazy, I needed to be prepared.

Tuesday and Wednesday went by without any disturbance or paranoia and I began to relax. I felt it was over and things could go back to normal.
Alas, as soon as I got home Wednesday night, that guy was waiting beside my house. I began to panic, I searched my bag for my pepper spray, held on to it the way I was thought by YouTube for self-defence. I casually walked by, pretending not to notice the guy, until the guy called my name, Folashade!