When I was 24, I left school, got on a bus and travelled to Port Harcourt to visit a girl I had been talking to on Facebook.

We had been talking for about five months and had developed what was basically an online relationship.

One day, she told me to come to Port Harcourt and see her.

In my usual adventurous nature, I didn’t think too much about it. I boarded a bus.

About two hours later, we were approaching the city centre and I called her for the address.

She said when I got down, I should give the phone to a cab driver and she would direct him to where I was going.

Fair enough.

I got down and called her.

No answer.

I called again.

Nothing.

I called about 30 times, one after another.

At some point, she picked up and handed the phone to some young children. They were laughing at me.

Then I heard her in the background saying:

“This boy really come o”

Then the calls stopped going through.

I sat in that park for five hours.

I had breakfast there. I had lunch there. I was basically stranded in the middle of Port Harcourt, wondering what the hell I had travelled all this way for.

By then, I had probably called her more than 70 times.

Eventually, I started talking to a guy in the park and explained the situation.

He asked me, “Are you stranded?

To be continued...