THE LINK TO LIGHT

6:00am.

Wednesday, 23rd April.

Ifesinachi Uzondu jerked up in excitement from her bed. Finally, the D-day had arrived. The day she'd been waiting for. The day she would be writing her final WAEC paper.

"Isn't God great?" she mumbled to herself. Soon after, she lifted up her hands to the heavens to do what her parents taught her to always do first thing in the morning.

"What a mighty God I serve. What a mighty God I serve. Heaven and earth adore Him, even angels bow before Him. What a mighty God I serve."

The lyrics poured out like a river from the very depths of her soul. She expressed herself like never before.

After singing and praying for thirty minutes, she undressed, wrapped her almost threadbare towel about her bare skin, and entered the bathroom. She could not attend the general family devotion which they constantly had by 5:00am every morning in their living room. Her parents understood why she could not attend. Ifes had done overnight reading and praying. She had finally slept by 4:00am.

Ifes and her family lived in a three-bedroom flat that wasn't elite-class standard. It had a single bathroom and toilet which they all shared, and the compound was as good as a Nigerian face-me-I-face-you house's.

She opened the door and stepped out, making sure she clicked shut behind her. She whirled around and made for the bathroom, but paused when she saw her mother.

"Good morning, Ma!" She bowed slightly as a sign of respect.

Her mother smiled. "Good morning. How was your night?"

"My night was-" Before she could complete that statement, her sister Udochi interrupted her with her greetings.

"Good morning, Ifes." Udochi walked past her mother and her sister to the kitchen to wash the dishes she and her brothers had had their breakfast in.

"I know you are prepared for your last paper, my dear?" Ifes' mother, Mrs Oluebube, asked after Ifes replied to her sister's greetings.

Ifes smiled confidently. "Yes, Mum!"

"I trust you my dear." Oluebube patted her daughter's back gently. "Now, go and take your bath. Your food will be waiting."

Ifes had her bath immediately and came out with her body still dripping wet. She rushed back into the room she shared with her sister. Her sister was already dressed in her school uniform and ready to go to school with her brothers.

"Okay, sis, I am off to school with Uchenna and Obinna. See you!" Udochi waved at her sister, grabbed her backpack and bolted out of the room.

"Goodbye, see you, too!" Ifes waved back at her sister despite knowing Udochi couldn't see her.

In no time, she was done dressing, she took out her mathematical set and the other exam materials she would need, and quietly stepped out of the room.

She went straight to the food her mother had kept for breakfast on the centre table in their living room.

A tea mug sat beside a covered ceramic plate. They both had the same fading design of Jasmine flowers etched on their outer surface and edges, like a pair of overused twin sets. She opened the plate and sighed when she, saw four thin slices of bread. She needed no soothsayer to tell her before she knew the cup contained tea.

She rotated her head back and forth looking for a little stool. She sat down on the wooden one closest to her, munched on the bread and slurped the watery tea. Soon after she was done, she thanked her mum.

She stood, scooped her plate up to wash them in the kitchen. Her intent was cut short when her mum told her not to worry, saying she would wash them herself. Ifes tried protesting but her mother insisted. Ifes finally gave in. When she was about to step out the door, her mother held one of Ifes hands between her soft, motherly ones. "I am proud of you," she said.

"Thank you, Mum," Ifes said and held her mother tight in a hug. Her mother smelt like their kitchen, a mixture of spicy and soapy scents.

It was difficult for Ifes but she broke the hug anyways. She wanted to be in school before the general assembly which was starting in twenty-eight minutes' time.

She walked through the alley, intermittently greeting the neighbours she came in contact with. She hadn't gotten the chance to greet her dad that morning because he had long left for work before she woke up. He was a commercial driver, plying the bumpy Awka to Onitsha roads, in his bus, everyday.

Dike street was like any other typical Nigerian street, littered with junk and debris here and there, ragged by the numerous potholes and dotted by the jam packed buildings, housing angry families. Ifes scrunched up her nose to block off the horrible stink of garbage. She let out a sigh when she finally passed the eyesore.

She navigated the streets to get to the main road. As she hastened her pace, her heart, ringing with thanksgiving, echoed, "Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus!"

She kept walking until she got to the Eke Awka market roundabout, which was where she was supposed to get either a bus or a motorcycle, popularly known as Keke or Okada in these parts, that would convey her to her school, Heritage Comprehensive High School.

The roundabout was crowded, as usual, with loud and rough hawkers who boldly shoved their wares in the face of the prospective buyers. Bus drivers and their conductors-Agberos were loading their empty buses to the brim, so much that passengers were squeezed like sardine in a can. Students moved around the market roundabout, either waiting for a conveyor to carry them to school, or walking down to the school themselves. Civil workers, labourers, and the self-employed were also seen at the roundabout. Some had entered the empty buses while some, who weren't very fortunate to get a vehicle in this early morning rush, trekked to their working place.

Ifes crossed over to the other side of the road opposite the roundabout. Not too long after, she heard and saw two drivers fighting and cursing, straining their voices in a frantic bid to be heard. The reasons were not far-fetched. It was obvious they were quarreling over a passenger.

The first time Ifes saw something like that, it startled her. With time she got used to it. Neither her nor the crowd at the market roundabout will bat an eyelash at such a thing any longer.

"Thunder fire you!"

"I say na you thunder go fire first!" The driver who was first insulted retorted.

"God punish your father, Onye Ara (mad man)!" The second driver hissed and spat on the floor.

"God go punish you o, and all una great great Grandpapa together!"

Their voices slowly faded away as she walked forward, away from the hullabaloo. Out of curiosity, she turned her head back in time to see the Agbero boys instigating the two drivers to keep fighting. Out of the five Agbero boys, three of their faces were familiar. She had reached out to them in one of her evangelism outreach. She remembered they didn't give their lives to Christ that day, rather they ended up making advances to her. She had walked away from them disappointed, and a bit embarrassed.

"O na aga? (Are you going?)" A Keke pulled in, front of Ifes; its driver shone his kola-coloured teeth at her, prompting her to enter.

Ifes glanced inside the Keke to see that the back seat had already been occupied by three students who were also going to her school, then finally joined the driver in the front seat.

"Good morning senior," the three students at the back greeted almost simultaneously as the Keke driver scooted off.

As she tilted her head around to reply to their pleasantries, she saw smiles plastered on their smooth faces. The way the youngest among them shone his teeth also made her smile and forget her worries.

Ifes found herself conversing with the students happily. "Are you siblings?" Ifes asked the trio.

"Yes, we are," the one Ifes presumed to be the eldest replied, pointing at herself and the other two. "My name is Prisca. My sister's name is Joy, and he is Joseph. I am your brothers' classmate. Joy is in JSS3."

"And I am in JSS1, so I am your sister's classmate," Joseph chimed in.

Ifes grinned. From the way they spoke, it was obvious they knew her very well. Who wouldn't know her in the school, since she was the only art student that broke the school record by becoming the school's Senior Prefect? Up until this time, that position was always given to science students.

"Mmm! Senior Ifes, your brothers are so intelligent!" Prisca giggled.

"Really?" Ifes asked amusedly, beaming with a smile that spoke, 'I know and I'm so proud of my brothers.'

The driver pulled over in front of the school gate. The students paid the driver and alighted from the Keke.

"Goodbye, senior!" Prisca and her siblings waved at Ifes as they bolted to the assembly ground as it was almost assembly time.

"See you later!" Ifes waved back, and this time, they saw her.

Ifes stood and watched till the students were out of sight. She raised up her left hand and glanced at her wrist watch. Four more minutes to go. She decided to do one or two things in the class before the students started filing out of their classrooms to the assembly ground.

"Look who we have here! Our bookworm is around," one of the SS3 students, Chibuike, said when he sighted Ifes walking into the classroom. Some of the other students glanced briefly at the door.

"Ike! I don't have time for your jokes this morning," Ifes said as she removed her backpack and slung it over the arm of her seat.

"Enhen na! Abi I lie?" Ike said as he looked around, trying to get confirmation from his fellow classmates.

"No pidgin English inside the classroom," one of the students who was called Amaka said.

"Abeg leave me jor! Am I still a student of the school?" Ike asked, in a questioning pose.

"Yes, you are. Till you graduate," another student said.

"That's a lie oo! As far as I'm concerned, we are writing our last paper today," another student spoke in support of what Ike said.

The class divided into two as the students bantered among themselves, creating a mini-courtroom atmosphere.

One of the students who was called Azubuike hit his hand repeatedly on the locker to stop the bantering and draw attention to himself.

"Na wetin sef? Why the noise? You all better get ready and go to the assembly ground."

"Zubi!" Ifes called out to him. "Don't mind them jare. Please let's go."

Ifes and Zubi walked to the class door but halted abruptly and did a complete 360° turn.

"The principal is coming!" They told their other classmates simultaneously and quickly walked down to the assembly ground. The other students followed suit to avoid the wrath of the principal whose name was Mr John.

Mr John Amadi was a man in his early fifties. He was strict and never failed to mete out disciplinary action on any student who went against the school rules. The students, and even the teachers, feared him. He always worked with his wire-rimmed spectacles on and a long whip in his left hand.

Ifes and other prefects were called up to the platform by the school principal to officially hand over their prefect positions to, their successors who had been acting in their capacity ever since they started their exams a month back. She and the other prefects got a clapping ovation as they stepped up to the platform. She delivered a short speech and officially handed over to the next school Senior Prefect girl. The new Head Girl assumed full duties after the assembly.

The brigade band played a harmonious beat-tune as the students marched into their various classes. Obinna and Uchenna, who were also brigade members, bolted towards Ifes with their own band drums still strapped to their shoulder and waist respectively.

"Hi!" They both winked at her. Almost spontaneously, like they had been programmed, they started mimicking the way she gave her speech, gesticulating and copying her intonation almost to precision. Ifes doubled up in hysterical laughter. Her brothers, being the clowns they were, always found the slightest opportunity to taunt her. Nevertheless, it was evident that they both loved their sister so much. No one in the entire school would miss her absence as much as her brothers would.

"It is almost 8:00am," Ifes said, pointing to the drums they carried.

"All the best on your exams, sis. We'll see you during recess." The duo ran off, their drums thumping on their skin.

At exactly 9:00am, the school bell rang, indicating that it was time for the SS3 students to go into the exam hall for their final WAEC paper. The students walked in according to their allocated seat numbers. There was the usual stop-and-search by the invigilators before the students were finally allowed to go into the exam hall. As the students entered the hall, some were obviously tense – fear was boldly written on some of their faces, while some of the categories of the students walked freely like they were about to enter a live concert, not an exam hall.

The students were done with their exams in three hours. They shot out of the exam hall like cannon balls, squealing at the top of their voices. Ifesinachi and all the SS3 students practically ran around the school, breaking their pens and all the exam materials they used.

"Goodbye to secondary school forever!"

"Goodbye to WAEC!"

The SS3 students kept screaming and chanting these words as they continued running around, distracting other students who are learning in their various classes.

Normally, the school didn't allow other students to act out such disruptive behaviour; this was one of those exceptions. It had been like a tradition in Nigerian secondary schools, so the principal and the teachers knew better than disrupting whatever activities these overexcited students were carrying out. Because of too much noise from the jubilant SS3 students, the school was forced to go on a short break.