THE FAILED GENIUS

“Something had to give at this point,” Aaron thought in frustration. He held his head in his hands as it threatened to fall to the ground. His face turned in sadness as his stomach growled loudly.

He would kill before he took garri and water for the third day in a row. Something had to give and it had to give soon.

His beat-down phone rang loudly on the tabletop amidst the scattered papers and half glass of water. He made no attempt to pick up the phone. It didn’t matter who the caller was, it was someone whose call he couldn’t take. The phone rang again and he cursed out loudly, “Damn it!”

He looked at his computer screen where the codes seemed to dance around in his eyes as the analysis he had initiated, ran. Four years… four years later and the damn program still didn’t work. What was he thinking believing he could create software that could improve the brain function of people with Alzheimer’s? What a stupid idea… His stomach growled again and he got up reluctantly from the plastic chair. He was in more debt than he cared to think of.

He looked around the scattered one-room apartment that had become his home and office. The kerosene stove stood shamefully at the side of the room amongst the empty stainless pots and pans. His eyes turned away in disgust from the plastic bucket that housed the three cups of garri he had bought with his last naira. He looked at the naked student-sized mattress with stains from years of use, almost suffocated by his suitcase and clothing bags. What had happened to his once-promising life?

The knock on his door startled him. No one knew he was here. Hell! He had lived as a recluse for the last seven months. The knock came again. “Who is that?” he asked uneasily. The silence that followed seemed to linger for a long time. Was it the police? Did his creditors find him? Maybe he shouldn’t have answered. He was beginning to panic. “Aaron,” came a sweet female voice.

“Joy?” He called out. “Yes. Open up”. He quickly threw on the sleeveless shirt hanging on the back of the plastic chair. He opened the door and Joy walked in. A petite caramel beauty with a gap tooth. She still looked as radiant as he remembered.

Joy looked around at the tiny crowded room in disarray. He felt ashamed as he remembered when he was seen as a genius and she was in awe of him. That was over two years ago. Now, he’s a failure. More so, a failure in a mountain of debt. His stomach growled again. She reached out her hand to comfort him just as he heard the sound of a ping. His eyes darted swiftly toward his laptop. Could it be? His heart was beating too hard for him to hear Joy ask if he was alright.

He walked towards the open laptop almost in a daze. “Completed” was blinking on a green background on the screen. He had not gotten this far before. All that was left was to run a simulation. His brain knew that, but his hands felt too limp to initiate it. He watched as Joy programmed the system to run the simulation. In fifteen seconds, he would know if his years had been wasted.

…7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….. Joy reached out and held his trembling hand. She knew how much this meant to him. She could see how much it had taken from him. He had lost so much weight in the last year. The laptop pinged again. “Simulation successful”. He could see it but fear dared him not to believe it. He looked at Joy and saw the happiness in her eyes. He took the first real breath he had taken in a long time. It was safe to believe it. Finally…. After all this time, it works…