“Oga Oh,” “my broda” and “Ting! Second Floor!” are all I’m hearing right now as I enter my key on this lonely door.

The time is 7.05 p.m. The creaking of the elevator is crazy here. Hysterical Laughs and sarcastic coughs are so ubiquitous around here. I’m getting into my new house, B205.

Wait, let me sort this transport guy. My house looks a mess! Damn! All my items are in one corner. Where are my Airforce shoes? Oh, I put them in the microwave. Really Melvin! Microwave, shoes! Do I even have lights in this house? Let me check. Kwani what time is it? Oops! My phone is 8%. How do I get power in this house? Mum talked of tokens. Sasa how does she go about it.

Oh yeah, let me call Noureen. “Hey Noureen, sasa? aki I don’t have power in my house, and my neighbors do, what might be the problem?……… “Hi…which room number…do you have your meter number?… yes…that is it, yes that one,888880…tokens… you have, ok, you have the message? yeah… press ENTER…” This is how I’ll be getting power in my house? Wow, anyway, one problem down.

So, what next? Supper or cleaning? Meeeen! So, what do I eat…Aki, someone take me back to my mum’s place. That lady knows how to have everything running smoothly without a single struggle. I went out for a bulb, energy saving yeah, before I started planning my house.

‘’I’ll put my seat here, study table here, my portrait there. Yes, my shoe rack will be here. No, there is better.

That is how my first day in Tsavo Apartment felt like. I wasn’t sure if that was what I signed up for. Everything seemed to be in mute unless I did it. I was confused, stressed, tired, and almost ignorant of how things run when one stays alone.

Independence, something I had longed to have, was now scaring me.

I learned that curtains cost 1 million and that dust pans and brooms don’t come with the house. You could literally smell new items in that house. New curtains, new utensils, new carpet, new paint, and even new perfumes from neighbors. Everything felt so raw, even the air.

I sat down in my two-seater while I tried reaching my friends and catch them with that bombastic phrase, ‘Naishi Coral Bells’, boasting how I managed to move to my own house. Mwanaume ni Keja, isn’t it?

I tried making random calls before being hit with “Sorry, you do not have sufficient airtime…press 1 to redeem bonga…” kwani I don’t have airtime? Bills were coming in from all corners. Come on man, I just paid 25k to Joansie and paid a whole 500 shillings to this Kenya Power for a simple thing like lighting my house, imagine, just a bedsitter.

I was already getting broke and had not done shopping in that house. Thank God I had scooped some sugar and ‘stolen’ one packet of mum’s flour. I had saved about 60k for moving purposes, but now it proved inadequate.

I eventually managed to assemble that one thing, the bed, and put all my clothes on it.

You can imagine that night when I wanted to sleep, I was like, “SI MNISONGEE WADAU NIDOZ”, that’s me to my unfolded clothes! That is how living alone life started. How I’ll maneuver throughout the year, I don’t know. New YEAR NEW GOALS, NEW RESOLUTIONS!