Behind the Veil

Synopsis: Behind the veil is a memoir written about Ogunfalu Comfort about her life, struggles with depression, low self-esteem, and how she came out of the dark room with the veil still on, she ran the race of getting admitted into university…

Chapter One (Excerpt)

I graduated from Federal Government Girls college, Sagamu, in August 2013 as a satisfied average student. There is no parent who wants an average performer. I was satisfied on a note that I didn't come home with a pass or fail on the other dread my parents reaction to my performance.

My parent didn’t see any good, in coming home without an award or achievement.

They had expected better and when I didn’t surprise them with an awesome certificate, their manner became resentful and bitter towards me.

I wrote JAMB the year after because my parents were financially constrained to get me the JAMB form. I stayed at home, reading and preparing hard for the examination. It was all self-preparation towards the examination date.
No tutors, no friends and the processing was challenging as I have not done something of such before and I had no one to put me through.

I wrote the examination on the appointed day for the batch I belonged to and all that was left after was to await the result. The long awaited result came two days after. My heart was in my mouth as I checked through the screen of the computer at the Cyber cafe where I had gone to check, skipping through the irrelevant information to discover my scores out of the junks of words on the screen.
Disappointment awash me when my eyes finally catch on my scores. It was not encouraging at all, to stare at the total score of 183 in my first jamb. I have not only disappointed myself but my parents won’t be happy about the result.
I sat for a while at the cafe, students like myself stream in to check and print their results. Some left happy and satisfied while some were just like me, head hanging low, furrows of deep worries and unshed tears masked on their face.
My shoulder slumped forward as I stare aimlessly at the cracked well-trodden floor of the cafe. Few minutes later, I asked the computer operator to print two copies of the result.
The whirling sound of the huge printing machine did nothing to wipe the morose look on my face or sooth my crying heart. I paid him and left the Cyber cafe with a broken heart.

It is a dream of every students that wants luxury; that have watched the struggles of their parents and had promised to make it in life; to achieve excellence in their academic pursuit to come out with an excellent performance and I am one of those students that has high hopes towards a bright future.