My Instagram Love

Episode 2

She wished she could dance. She wished she could still run around the streets like she used to do as a naive child. She wished she could still take those long walks with her former friends and walk her pets down the roads of the popular Banana Island Estate where she was born and bred. Unfortunately, those wishes might never come to pass. All she could do was to pray, wish and dream for a better future which — in all fairness — didn’t seem to be showing much light at the end of the tunnel.

Hopes, wishes, dreams and reality are different things entirely. In Lola’s opinion, these four things never work hand in hand. She would rather accept fate for what it is than live a life of fruitless hopes and truthful lies.

Migraine. Terrible migraine.

Imagine a sledgehammer pounding a piece of antique furniture nonstop, or a sharp axe cutting through several logs of bamboo woods — so was the severe headache causing me pain in my head this blessed Saturday morning. In a more clearer view, try to picture a mechanic wielding a jigsaw and using it to cut curves in a hard metallic object. It was like carrying the weight of the world on one’s head. The headache was unbearable.

To worsen matters, my monthly visitor decided to show up ‘somehow’ earlier than the actual date I had predicted it’d come. My bedsheet had been stained by the time I opened my eyes. Judging by the awkward way I was feeling, and the extremely weird migraine pounding inside my head, I knew this wasn’t going to be a good day for sure.

I unplugged my phone from the charger in the socket and took a quick glance at the clear bright screen. No messages. No missed calls. Not even a simple voicemail. Not like I was expecting one from anyone anyway.

Loneliness was my middle name.

I was on the verge of stretching my hands to pick up my crutches beside the bed when someone knocked, and opened the door very gently. I sighed.

“Mother.”
“You’re finally awake.” My mother forced a smile and walked up to me, scrutinizing my whole body like a CIA personnel would do during an investigation. “You’re bleeding. My goodness.”

“Relax, mother. It’s just my period. It came way too early today.”

My mother heaved a sigh of relief. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, ma.” I affirmed, nodding my head. “I’m really sure. It’s nothing to worry about. I’m not bleeding. It’s just this severe headache I’m having, as usual, and it’s killing me big time.”

“When exactly did you sleep, Lola?” Instead of offering a word of consolation, my mother chose the overdramatic side of her motherly nature as she always does.

I knew what would come next even if I lie to her, so I just had to say the truth either way. With wide open eyes and a heavy heart, I answered. “3:15 AM, ma.”

“My sweet goodness!” screamed mother, her eyes widening and both hands hanging on her head in a very dramatic manner. “3:15 AM, Lola! What were you doing till that hour?”
“Making research, mother.”

“For?”
“For my Political Science class next week Monday. It’s actually an assignment, mother. A 10,000 words assignment which we are all meant to research about, make our own summary and then mail it to the school’s website.” I lied.

“I understand you, Lola, but that doesn’t mean that you have to stay up that late at night. You know how delicate your body is. If you continue this way, you’d be doing more harm than good to your health. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yes, mother. But you also have to understand that schooling online isn’t an easy task either. If I still had my legs, I’d be living in campus with other people, attending night classes and doing much more than this! You also know that, don’t you?”

My mother’s facial expression changed drastically, from a shocked one to a very sad look. She sat down on the bed beside me, and placed her left hand on my right hand, avoiding to make eye contact with me. I knew she was feeling bad because of the awful reference I had used during my speech. But it was the truth. I preferred to bask in the pure truth than to lie down on a bed of lies. If I still had my legs, maybe–

Maybe–
Maybe I was overreacting. Maybe I should just apologize. I sighed and opened my mouth to speak but then we both heard a knock at the living room’s door downstairs. My mother got up immediately, still wearing a sad look on her aging but beautiful face. “I’ll be back. Hold on.”

When she left my room, I received a message on my smartphone. With a little bit of hesitation, I picked it up, clicked on the power button and took a very good look at the message which reads thus:
‘Dear customer, your monthly subscription has been exhausted, bla bla bla.’
“Monthly subscription that I haven’t even used up to two weeks?” I muttered to nobody in particular, shaking my head and staring at the good for nothing message with disdain. “Criminals!”

How much worse can today turn out to be? On a very regular day, I loved Saturdays more than any other day of the week, but this particular Saturday was so unworthy of my like, much less my love.

I was still battling with my thoughts like a blue-arsed fly when I heard another knock on my door, and then somebody else walked into the room, smiling like a high-class model.

“Jessica?” I smiled when I saw her. She didn’t hesitate to drop her handbag on the table, removed her high heels and walked towards me with her barefoot.

“Lola, my big baby.” Jessica, my best friend since high school, hugged me very tightly when she had gotten to my position. I hugged her too, barely believing my eyes. “Jessica! Is this you?”

“It’s me, my dear. It’s your buddy in full flesh!” She laughed and broke the hug politely. “You’ve gotten way fatter than I can even remember, Lola. What’ve you been eating, young lady?”

I laughed and opened my mouth to speak, but that was when Jessica’s eyes diverted towards the bedsheet, and she noticed it too. She cut in sharply. “What’s that? Is that blood?”

I nodded affirmatively. “Yeah, it’s blood. Relax. It’s just my monthly flow.”
“Eww.” Jessica frowned her face in disgust, looking away from it. “Stand up, Lola. Let’s get you cleaned up before anything else.”

“But–”
“No buts, young lady. Stand up right now.” Jessica insisted, dragging my hands.
“Okay, okay, fine. Take it easy!” I shrugged and rolled my eyes as she assisted me to get up from the bed and placed me on the wheelchair very gently.

“Now, that’s more like it.” Jessica gave me her trademark smile and added. “Come on, let’s go. There’s no time. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do, buddy.”

43 minutes.

It’s been 43 minutes since I had my bath, changed into new and fresh clothes, changed the stained bedsheet to a clean one, had my breakfast, took some drugs and sat on the bed in my room with Jessica, watching a movie on my mother’s laptop together. She had sent it from her smartphone to my mother’s laptop and begged me to watch it with her, even though I wasn’t actually interested at first. Along the lines of watching the long movie, I got intrigued by the storyline and the action scenes, so I paid adequate attention to the movie.

But then it clicked. I had another idea, again.
“Hold on, Jessica.” I muttered, dragging the laptop from her thighs. “I want to check something.”

“What?” She asked, confused. “What do you want to do?”

“I want to see if there’s any data bundle left on my mother’s flash drive.” I explained, clicking the keyboard as fast as a moving race car.

“What for?”

I sighed for the umpteenth time. Maybe I should just explain to her in order to ease her curiosity for a while.

“Jessica, there’s this cute guy I met on Instagram yesterday.” I started very calmly, struggling to suppress my smile. “He goes by the handle, Prince Charming.”

Jessica’s frown was replaced by a cute smile the moment she heard me say those words. The look of joy she was wearing on her face was indescribable. I had barely even started anything, and here she was, blushing already. At this point, she was less concerned about the movie on the laptop. All she wanted was to hear more and more of my explanation.

“Go ahead, Cinderella.” She urged me on, still smiling. “Tell me more.”

She asked for it, so I did. I told her everything without excluding anything at all. I showed her all his pictures I had saved on my phone, and she was more than impressed with my choice and taste for a real man. When I was done narrating the whole story, I had assumed she’d reprimand me for not being honest with Prince Charming about my sad condition, but she didn’t. Instead, she gave me a thumbs up and commended me for playing smart. I was glad and satisfied with her reaction concerning the entire issue.

“But what if he finds out later, though?”
“Lola, there’s no way on Earth he can find out unless you tell him.”

“What makes you think so, Jessie?”
“Because as you always say, fantasy and reality are two different things entirely. There’s like a zero percent chance out of a hundred that he’d get to know about it. Calm down. He surely can’t disappear from wherever he is to your own house or something. Or can he?”

I shook my head in response. “No, he can’t.”

“Good.”
“But why don’t I just tell him?” I suggested, anticipating Jessica’s response. As expected, she frowned and looked at me in a rather furious manner, and with her mouth agape.

“Don’t be stupid, Lola.”

At this point, I just gave up and stopped asking my persistent questions. Maybe she had a solid point after all. He’d run away like the others when he gets to know about my disability, so I guessed it’d be best if I kept it to myself.

As if I had immense good luck shining on me, the sudden pop-up on the laptop gave me a new form of assurance. I had finally seen what I was actually after, and it made me smile and giggle. The odds were truly in my favor.

“Why’re you smiling?”
“Because there’s more than enough data bundle left on the flash drive. What else would make me smile this way if not that?”
“I don’t really understand you. There’s enough data bundle left on the flash drive. So what? Who cares?”

“I care, because it’s my only alternative of logging online today. My subscription has been exhausted. If not for that, I would’ve used my phone instead. I just want to log into Instagram for at least an hour.”

Jessica’s frown grew worse. “You do realize we were in the middle of a thrilling movie just now, don’t you?”

“I do, and I’ll make sure I make it up to you. I promise.”

“Only on one condition though.” She said, brows furrowing.
“Anything at all. Go on.”

Jessica’s frown subsided and turned to a sheepish smile. She was grinning a big, cartoonish grin. “I want to hear your so-called Prince Charming’s voice.”
“What?” I exclaimed, bright-eyed. “That won’t be possible.”

“Lola, I dare you.” She pointed a finger at my nose, wriggling both eyebrows in a funny but annoying manner.

“No.”
“I double dare you!”
“Still no.”

“I triple dare you!”
I laughed and shook my head. “Jessica, for the umpteenth time, no! I won’t do it.”
She frowned again. “Well, in that case, give me back my laptop.”

“Excuse me?” I raised a brow and widened my eyes in playful shock. “Your laptop?”
“Yes, my laptop. I know that it’s your mother’s property for sure, but as long as I was the one who begged for it and collected it from her hands when I came, it literally belongs to me until I decide to leave here.” She explained, shrugging. “So make a choice real quick. I don’t have time to waste anymore.”

I sighed and raised my hands up in defeat. “Alright. Fine. I agree.”

Jessica’s frown faded off and was soon replaced by her trademark grin again. “You’ll do it, right?”

“Yes, against my wish.” I laughed and rolled my eyes, blushing. “I’ll do it. I’ll call him.”

“And one more thing.” Jessica added, wriggling her brows again in the same annoying manner.

“What is it this time, young woman?”
“Make sure it’s on loudspeaker when you call him. Okay?”

“Okay.”
“Do we have a deal, Lola?”
“Deal!” I agreed amid laughter. “We have a very solid deal! Stubborn goat.”