It first felt like I was sweating out of my lungs, the room was so hurt that the steam residue could be seen on the walls dripping down. I couldn't leave and my only safe space was under my blanket where it looked like there was a bit of fresh air. I wanted to shout in anger, but I knew I had to take it easy because it wasn't her fault. She is just a girl trying so hard to survive and the only thing I can do is to render my support by keeping quiet even though I was soaked in my own sweat. At one point the bed felt so uncomfortable because it was also soaked in my own sweat. But I need to get as much sleep as I can possibly get because it's going to be a busy day. Rambling in my mind of all the possible ways to get out of this hell I was in, but truth was there was no way out, I just had to leave through it all.
I couldn't bear it anymore and decided to stand up hoping to sit outside in the early hours of the morning with the intention of closing my eyes while I battled the mosquitos outside. I got up dripping with sweat as though I just left the shower but the site I met made me feel like running out of my own house. My entire room was in a mess, my kitchen was even messier (if there's a word like that) and my entire house was upside down with nothing that could escape, especially not the hot air. I saw my sister in the kitchen sweating profusely as though she was inside a mining room working on some kind of metal. She looked at me with a sorry but happy expression, she knew the torment she was putting me through, but knew there was no other way. She has been looking to work for over 6 months, and when I had some money, I decided to give her the capital to start making small chops and baking cakes to sell.
It was her first time attempting to bake and fry some small chops, and the whole house was like it was on fire. It was worse because it was in the summer where we experience hot air in the morning and night so there was no point going outside. I wanted to sleep so badly but the heat was extreme. To worsen the whole issue was that we hadn't had electricity for days because our street transformer was faulty and even if there was electricity, what are the chances the fan wouldn't end up blowing only hot air. Thinking about this, it occurred to me that all the windows in the house were locked because we were trying to keep the mosquitos out, but now thinking about it, mosquitos were becoming a much better option than hell on earth or should I say hell in my house.
I proceeded to open all the windows which made the atmosphere a little less tense and at the same time opened the sitting room door. But still my room was just beside the kitchen which is in-between the sitting room and my room. This made the impact of opening the entire windows a lot lesser from the room. And staying in the sitting room I could feel a bit of fresh air coming in with hot steam emitting from my back. I took the manual fan I had with me and even used the shirt hanging next to my bed to create some breeze effect, but it looked like they were nothing. Waiting it out seemed like forever, but when my eyes met the clock, I was happy to see that it was 5:52 AM. I immediately went to take my bath which gave me the first cool sensation I had felt in a long time and coming out of the bathroom, I saw my phone displaying a notification.
Coming out of the bathroom the first thing I went for was my phone and holding it in my hand was a message from the HR of my company stating that we would be observing the state's public holiday that day. Reading this immediately brought smiles to my face as I opted to wear some light casuals while my sister who knew nothing of what was happening was still busy sweating profusely in the kitchen. I told her I wasn't going to work that day so I was going to my friend's place which was a street not so far from mine, and in her words she said; “So you want to live me to this heat alone ehhh” Although I felt bad for her, but replied by saying; You were the one who wanted to work right. Immediately I went out at about past 6 walking for about five minutes before entering a street full of lights. I knocked on his door and thank goodness he was already awake and immediately I felt the fresh breeze from the fan. I just told him my hell predicament and jumped into his bed like a safe haven. For the first time I felt safe from the hot air in my house that nearly choked me.
THIS IS MY ENTRY INTO THE INKWELL CREATIVE NONFICTION [PROMPT](Creative nonfiction prompt 118 https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/creative-nonfiction-prompt-118) #118
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