DO MAD PEOPLE RUN AWAY OR SNEAK OUT

I tiptoed through the house, my steps cautious and deliberate, avoiding any creaks from the floor board that might give me away. The kitchen was my first obstacle, it led directly to my parents' bedroom door, previously the guest room. They are truly the weirdest; they had to move to the guest room downstairs all because I had a record of constantly sneaking out of the house. I consider sneaking out as my thing.

Reminiscing on my first time sneaking out brought a smirk to my face. I was just six years old. I was scared and trembled with fear but I had the voice with me, serving as some kind of protection.

What fueled my attempt to flea from home to never return was my simple and innocent request for extra plantain after mum made dinner. I remember our kitchen being dimly lit ; Mum was wearing her favorite floral gown (which I later burnt a few years later, including most of their documents and valuables—I was almost killed in that fire). For a whole day after the beating I received, the voice was almost nonexistent; I was locked up for a night. I cried all through but came out the next day and trashed my brother's room out of jealousy. Let's just say, I did that without any prompt from the voice.

Back to me sneaking out; Mum was making us dinner in that gown, and it was my favorite—fried plantain and eggs. I requested more plantains, and Mum denied my request insisting that what I got was okay for me. It truly was, but I didn't like how I didn't get my way; the voice did not either. So, I started breaking each plate my hand could reach from the plate rack and screaming at the top of my voice. Mum quickly grabbed me, spanking me hard with the cooking spoon as I screamed out loud, uttering all kinds of profanities. From a pretty young age, curse words came naturally to me; I knew A LOT. Mum took me upstairs to my bedroom and locked me in. I banged the door violently with my little hands, feet, and body until I pretty much got tired and fell asleep by the door. I woke up on my own, in the early hours of the morning, I think around 2 am. I opened the door in my already changed pajamas and in my hand was my teddy. I walked downstairs sleepily; I didn't want to, but when I got to the entrance of the house, the voice told me to do it: "They don't like you anyways; no one will miss you at the end of the day. So, go! Let's find a better family where we can have FUNNN!"

I walked to the door; they didn't lock it with keys; they only used the automatic lock that came with the door, which was easy to operate. I opened the door and walked out, leaving our entrance door open. I kept walking until I got to our estate gate. All the security guards were fast asleep, but the gates were locked, so I couldn't leave. The voice told me to hide; that if I didn't, they would find me and beat me again, so I did. I hid behind the security post; no one was going to come to that side unless they were completely jobless or they wanted to urinate, and it was too far for anybody to go that far back. Since they were all men, none of them would attempt that. I fell asleep there again. When I opened my eyes, I heard screams; my dad had driven out of the estate to look for me with some of our neighbors in the estate, while my mum was outside wailing. After a few hours when I noticed the noise had reduced, I carefully walked out of there and walked back into the house, and into my bedroom where I went to lay and sleep. It was until almost evening that my mum and dad walked back into the house; my mum was crying, and my dad was making all kinds of calls. I was starving and really wanted to stand up, but the voice told me to stay like it had been telling me that I'll get so many rewards for this. But if I stand up, I'll lose them all. I don't remember when my mum came into the room, but I opened my eyes to her screaming to my dad and some neighbors downstairs that I'm in the room, her hugging me tightly with tears in her eyes. The voice told me not to talk for days, so I didn't. Everyone was curious about what happened and when I finally talked again, my mum didn't ask what happened to me, and I'm glad because at that age I dont think I put together any concrete alibi for my actual whereabouts if asked. Since then, I've snuck out over 50 times. I'm trying to beat a record at this point

Back to the present, I initially just wanted to sneak out to go smoke with some of my guys, but I needed money to sponsor it and to pay for something for myself. I tiptoed into my parents' room and moved to my dad's office; they were connected. I opened his drawer and stole 2 bundles of 1000 naira notes. As I tiptoed out of the room, then out of the house, and the locks have changed over the years, so I learned to pick locks. Now, I'm an expert.