I Want Sweet Revenge
Growing up, I always found myself in conflicts with older individuals. I was often regarded as disrespectful because I knew from a young age not to take shit from people and defend myself. Despite my small size, I am relentless in my verbal delivery of disapproval. Nigeria unfortunately has a culture that promotes showing blind and unwavering respect to those who are older than you simply because they’re older, regardless of how incompetent they might be. That doesn’t sit well with me. Growing up I had a crush on a girl that was older than me. Despite showing me attention at first, she decided to go for someone older than her, understandable. What didn’t sit right with me was the events that came after the matter.
This girl was friends with my sister, and we lived in the same area so she would often come home with my sister and me after school. The older guy she liked also lived in the same area but never had any reason to come over as he was never invited. One day after school, he came to my house, bringing his younger brother who was my friend. I guess he brought him as a way to make his unwanted presence less noticeable. The whole time, I knew he was there to see my crush. This guy told me to go play with his brother like I was some little kid. Initially, I wasn’t going anywhere but my friend insisted, and I eventually budged. After being away from the house, I returned to find my room door locked and I heard voices inside my room. I was livid. He and my crush were alone in my room with the door locked. I was being disrespected in my own house. They had locked themselves inside my room and were hooking up, in my fucking room! After spending 5 minutes banging on my own door for these fucking ahsawos (whores) to get out, he eventually opened the door and told me to “relax”. I lost respect for both of them that day, I lost respect for myself too. I even felt a way towards my older sister who did nothing to address the situation or her friend’s behavior.
Back then I let the situation go despite my anger. Because physically, there was nothing I could do. He was bigger than me at the time, so I wasn’t going to fight him. I also knew that any verbal confrontation would turn physical, so I swallowed my anger… but I never forgot. Years later, the girl apologized to me in tears; I initially told her I forgave her because I thought it was the “kind thing to do”. Still haven’t received an apology from the dude, but in a way that makes me happy because it’s all the justification I need. I’m not angry at the situation anymore but nobody gets to disrespect me and go on with their lives, I will give them consequences. Especially when no remorse was shown. I owe it to my younger self to right this wrong. I will not let this go. Their karma will come, and I will deliver it to them on a silver platter.
John