for Daisy Arabella only (personal narrative correction)
please correct it as needed it’s the same as the one I posted before (personal narrative). let me know if u have any quasrion. ‘How I got hardened’Things do not always turn as per expectations. Sometimes the results may be worse or better than you ever thought they would be. This I learnt in my admission to high school. My heart always bubbled joyfully anytime thought about how my high school life would be. I have heard from my friends about the good experiences they had in their high school years. My memory has it as if it happened yesterday when I saw the gate of the school I was to join. The questions and frisking at the gate were a waste of time to me, all I wanted is to settle for school and work for my ‘A’ grade. What a beautiful school it was with well-decorated buildings and clean pavements. At least I felt peace in my heart the moment my parents were asked to go back and assured of my safety, and that they would be alerted in case anything unexpected happens. Optimism had already taken its roots in me and so I knew it is okay stay until the end of the term as nothing wrong would happen.This was a dream come true, the view from the gate entrance to the administration block had my heart beating. My parents, and my father especially, showed a lot of contentment leaving me in that school and that made me know I was in the right place. He always wanted the best for me and that I knew it well. It was immediately after their departure that the teacher sent for some boys to help me carry my belongings to the dormitory and ensure I had settled. ‘I knew it’, this I said silently. They boys who came behaved kindly and politely. Their welcome was warm that I felt at home. It was long since I got such a kind of treatment from boys especially of my age and some older each fighting to carry something. What surprised me is how they came in haste and in big numbers as if they knew I needed their help. That did not, however, bother me so long as they gave me the help I needed.The shock I got after arriving in the dormitory was unbelievable to me. Surprisingly, I thought it was jokes at first and almost joined them until one boy who looked strong slapped a young boy who was holding my bed sheet. Little did I know that the external picture outside the school was completely different from the internal picture of how the school was. In less than 10 minutes there was no trace of anybody around me. I was all left alone with my big box empty and my blanket only with my mattress exchanged with an old used one. The only words I could recall were different voices telling me thank you and that I should enjoy my life there. ‘NO! This is a nightmare or worst dream I ever had’, I thought in myself. Everything was gone and the only thing I was left with on top is my uniform which I wore. I could not recall anyone’s face except the strong guy who held my neck tightly and warned me not to report or else something wrong would happen to me. I was left confused not knowing what to do. Tears made their way down my cheeks like a small baby who has been left by the mother hungry. I wished that the earth would swallow me. Do the teachers know what goes on here? Is my case the first one or one among many? Is this a school or a prison? Questions flowed in mind without answers. My head was almost bursting out of anger and deep thoughts. The worst thing was that I knew no one. I felt hated and rejected and wondered how my parents could bring me in such a place. That must have been a calculated move as I thought. It was beyond my imagination. As small as I was, no one came to my rescue. This was just the first day. Light shone in my heart when I saw Gerald, my old friend. I knew God watches the cries of the afflicted the moment I saw him. He did not have to get the whole story from me since that was the culture though he never liked it. It also happened to him. ‘Do not report to anyone’ he warned me. I wondered whether he was part of them or what until I realized it would only result in more harm. We went for supper and at least I felt secured with Gerald since none talked to me. After supper, he looked at me straight into my eyes and told to be a man for survival and left me. Bullying was the order of every day. As the saying goes ‘if you can’t defeat them, join them’, I had to adapt. Besides what happened in the first day, the big bullies would ask me to bring them hot tea with bread and I had to do to avoid further trouble. I had to wash the clothes of some boys in case I washed mine in their presence. By the second week, I had begun to adapt and devised my escape techniques from the bullies. Later I identified my partners in crime who suffered the same way I did. I began to develop a sense of belonging in the school after I realized that all I needed was to be a man to survive. This was after the experience hardened me. Neither my parents nor friends and brothers were there to defend me. I had to stand like a man and defend myself, unlike the small boy I was when I got admitted. Later, I learned my dad took me to the school just to be a man who I could not be so long I remained home. I learnt that challenges harden a person to be strong enough to face storms of life. I completed my studies in the very same school as a man.