One man rush hour. The ink well creativenonfiction prompt

I will always remember the day that this incident occurred since it is ingrained in my memory. One hell of a job that can cause someone to age prematurely is one that involves living in Ikorodu and working in Ikeja. I used to work for the Ikeja-based Aiico Pension Limited in 2019. I have to work hard just to get to Ikeja every day because I live in Ikorodu. If I leave home really early, it takes me 3 hours to get to work.

My home is far from the bus stop. Before I can get to the bus stop, I have to take a bike to the park, then I would board a bus that would take me to the Ikorodu bus stop, where I would meet other staff. We have a staff bus that will take us to work from the Ikorodu bus stop, but you must be at the bus stop at 5:20 a.m.

On this faithful day, I got home at 10:30 p.m. due to the heavy travel in Lagos City. I was so tired that I ate and went straight to bed. Getting on the bed, I decided to check some of my texts on my chatting app, and without knowing it, I replied to most texts until 12 a.m. I was shocked when I saw the time and rushed back to sleep. It felt like I slept for 15 minutes, but my mom was banging on my door, requesting if I was going to work or not. Sure enough, I was. I told her I was going, and she asked me to check my time; when I did, it was already 4:50 a.m.

I jumped up from the bed with shock on my face and ran into the bathroom. Missing the bus means you would have to go through public transport and spend more money for the day, which I don’t want to do. I took my bath, dressed up, and ran out of the house. When I checked my time, it was just 4:55 a.m. Yes, I can still make it on time. I was at the junction of my street, waiting for any bike that would take me to the pack. It was like my waiting was making me anxious, so I started walking towards the pack. Luck was on my side, and a bike man arrived. I humped on and asked the bike man to ride the bike as fast as he could. We got to the pack in no time, and the biggest obstacle was getting to the bus stop where the staff bus would pick us up.

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I convinced myself that my chances of arriving at the bus stop in time would be minimal if I boarded a bus since it would keep stopping on the side of the road to pick up people. I requested the help of another biker to get me to the Ikorodu bus stop. It took roughly 20 minutes to ride a bike to the bus stop, and it was already 5:03 a.m. I prayed there would be some sort of delay with the business bus so I could arrive on time.

The bike man said he would like to carry another person with me, but then I asked him to go on, I said I would pay for two passengers even if I was the only one on the bike. We went on, and what surprised me was that different bikes were just passing us and leaving us behind. Then I asked him

Hello sir, Why aren’t you speeding up like the rest?

He said he was trying to conserve his fuel because he doesn’t have much of it in his tank. I checked the time, and it was 5:10 a.m.; we weren’t even half way yet. I started begging him as I explained myself and the predicament that had befallen me. He asked me not to talk again. He stopped at a gas station to get more fuel, and this time I was getting angry and frustrated. How can you do this to me after I explain to you that I have to be at the bus stop on time? I was almost crying.

We were coming near to the bus station around 5:15am. The desire to move quicker made me want to grab his hand and speed up the bike. We were left in the dust by many bikers that past us. At 5:25am, I had already given up in my heart, but as I arrived at the bus stop, I noticed that the staff bus was getting ready to go since some employees had just arrived. I leapt off the bike man's bike as soon as he stopped it and sprinted after the bus. I was pounding the bus' side while yelling, "Please stop, stop." The bus came to a stop, and I got on. I didn't realize I hadn't given the bike man his pay until I arrived at work. I felt bad about it anyways but thankfully i got to work on time.