Na nude I send, I no kill pesin.
By Precious Wuraola Ogunnyi
I’d always known that men are scum, and women are scum too. But men are the reason the word “scum” existed.
I had just gotten back from class that afternoon. It was a very hectic day. It was the say the whole department did their commentary presentation at the school’s radio station. And I was one of the students that did theirs in the late afternoon. But I had been waiting for it to be my turn since 8 am. I could have left, but the presentation was worth 40 percent of my grades.
By the time I got back to my hostel, I was exhausted, extremely hungry, and sleepy.
After opening my door, my roommate was fast asleep on her bed, I was so jealous and I wish I was her. I proceeded to my side of the bed and took off my dusty baby shoes. I took off the shirt I was wearing and yanked off my bra. I reached under my student bed for a pure water sachet. It was hot but I didn’t have a choice. I gulped the sachet of water, put on my fan, and fell on my bed.
With my bare skin almost in sync with the ceiling fan’s temperature, my stacked breasts out in the open and laps as nude as they’ll ever be, I was already succumbing to my exhaustion, and my eyes were already drifting into a soft sweet sleep. At once, my phone began to ring. I lazily reached for it inside the tote bag I had lazily tossed on the plastic chair beside my bed. I grabbed the phone and checked the caller, it was my friend, Temmy. I pressed the power button and the ringtone went off. I pressed the power button again and the screen of the phone came back to life.
My eyes squinted from the brightness, and after a while, I unlocked the phone and tried to turn on my Do Not Disturb. But another call came in, it was from Timi, my then-boyfriend.
By that time, the sleep in me had already drifted away. I swiped green and pressed the phone to my ear. “Wura, what the Fuck, tell me it’s not you”, he barked from his side of the phone. “ I don’t know what you are talking about, what are you talking about” I said, confused. “Someone dropped your nude on the anonymous group,” he replied, more coldly this time. My eyes yanked open, and I panicked. It can’t be true, it can’t be my nude. I didn’t even send any nude.
I sat up, frantically. I opened my Snapchat. There were tons of unread messages. I ignored all of them and opened my friend Temmy’s chat. She’d send me the link to the anonymous group. It was on Telegram. I didn’t have the app. I ran to my app store to download it. Halfway through, my data finished. I hissed. A tear dropped on the screen of my phone and it occurred to me that I had begun to cry.
I wiped the tears off my face and then I finished downloading the app. I clicked on the link Temmy sent me and I was taken to the exact chart where my supposed nude had been posted. I froze. It was me, truly. It was a mirror selfie I had taken on my snap. I wasn’t exactly nude but my boobs were out.
I thought back to the day I had taken the picture. I was in a gym outfit and I was feeling myself. I stood in front of my roommate’s 14by6 IKEA mirror, pulled up the gym top, and clicked. I admired it for a second, and then I deleted it.
I swear I deleted the picture. I didn’t even send it to anyone.
I began to weep on my bed while staring at the nude picture every other second. And then a few of my friends tried to call me but I ignored all their calls. Abruptly, I let out a very loud and angry scream. The noise woke my roommate who had been fast asleep. She gave me a bombastic side eye, which was later replaced with concern when she realized that I was crying.
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I didn’t say anything, I just tossed my phone at her for her to see her picture herself. “Omygod Wura,” she said and walked up to me. She sat at the tip of my bed and pulled me in for a very warm embrace. Then I began to sobbed on her Minniemouse sleep-gown.
After a while, my roommate and I started thinking of how the picture could have gotten out. My roommate suggested I beg the anonymous handler to delete the picture. But it already had six thousand views. I was certain that at least a hundred people would have taken a screenshot of it – my classmates included.
I started to read people’s comments on the pictures. Some said it was hot, while others castigated me for sending the nude. I wanted to reply to them that I didn’t even send the nude in the first place, but I was too embarrassed to write anything.
By the time it was five in the evening, two of my friends who stayed in my hostel had already come to visit me, and they were talking about what they’d have done if it was their nude. I didn’t pay attention to them. Instead, I was on iMessage, trying to text Timmi, my boyfriend.
He was really mad at me. He said the picture was sent to him by his cousin in Canada.
I was really surprised at how quickly news travels.
That evening, Timi broke up with me. He said he couldn’t be with a “slut”
I cried again. And cried. I answered a few calls and did some explaining. Not long after Timmi broke up with me. I received some hateful messages from my brother in Osun state. He said it was his friends that showed him the picture. He called me a disgrace to the family, and he hung up.
By 6:20 pm in the evening, my friends had already gone back to their rooms. My roommate had gone out as well. I was alone and in pain. My stomach had begun to tumble. I was hungry. I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t.
Then, it occurred to me, that my life would never remain the same again. There is my nude picture on random people’s phones. Some could even be looking at it at the moment. And there is absolutely nothing I could do about it. Some people would laugh behind my back, and some would use it to spite me to my face. Even if I remained in the room, wallowed in embarrassment, and died of hunger, my part of the story would never matter. And whatever reason or excuses I have wouldn’t change anything.
So, I jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom to rinse my face. I walked back to the room and put on my black miniskirt. I paired it up with a white shirt. I did my edges, applied lipgloss on my lips, and sprayed some perfume. Then I left for the cafeteria.
At the cafeteria, a few people stared at me, some even pointed. I was nervous. But I kept my head up. I bought my food inside a takeaway pack, and I walked back to my room to eat. Later that night, I thought to myself, “I sha did not kill anybody “.
:. This is fiction by the way.
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Xo,
Wura ❤️
