TheBizarreWrite:
E.p 9
I woke up to the brush of something against my skin, like a few crawling insects had latched onto my skin and started some kind of race. I pushed my body out of the bed and stood up quickly. My bearings were still jammed, so I walked straight and bumped my head against the wall, the thud unnecessarily hard on my forehead.
'Ow!' I looked around me and rubbed the spot.
There was no light; the room was still dark, and the curtains closed. I heard that familiar chirping of crickets outside, and felt the cool air circulating around the room, one I felt almost every morning.
I still had no idea what had been crawling on my skin, so I turned to face my bed. I could as make out a form on my bed, dark and hunched.
What is that? I thought, and my heart began to beat faster. Why was my heart always the first thing to race when I felt even the slightest fear? Does that make me a coward?
Relax, Dickson, It could just be a pile of clothes. I wanted to believe that, after all I'd received so many scares as a kid growing up, when I'd open my eyes at night to some figure hanging at one end of my room, which would always turn out to be a shirt or some trouser hanging in the wardrobe. I wouldn't know, of course, until my screams attracted my mother, who'd burst into my room and switch on the lights, startled and praying.
This time was different: My mother wasn't here, and for the life of me I still couldn't find my phone, or torchlight. Oh wait, I didn't have a torchlight, not anymore. My reading lamp had fallen and busted, and I hadn't bothered to fix it yet.
'Don't focus on the bed,' I repeatedly told myself and kept my eyes peeled as I walked around the room. The walls seemed so much farther now, possibly because of the darkness. I soon kicked the chair by my desk and I winced out in pain. I heard a sound behind me now and my heart skipped a beat. Jesus!
I quickly pushed the chair aside, not concerned about the noise it made when it fell and hit the wall, and scrambled for my phone which had to be on the desk. I was right.
Finally!
My fingers shook as I pressed the power button. Shit, switched off. I must have been imagining it, but I heard a low, soft groan coming from my bed, and a rattling noise.
A spirit, a voice in my head kept saying. I shook it off. The phone soon came on and the dull light lit up my face, to some extent. I quickly turned around and directed the rays towards my bed, and then I closed my eyes and sighed out of relief. I was never going to get used to this.
----
She rolled on the bed, and blinked her eyes at a sleepy pace when I directed the flashlight to her face. It took a few seconds for her to fully open her eyes and stare back at me.
My relief was gone, now replaced by confusion. I'd slept alone last night, I was sure of that, so how was she on my bed right now? It felt like I'd done this before.
'Good morning,' she said in her low, sleepy voice, and yawned. I quickly looked at my phone. 6:03 a.m.
'Priscilla, how did you-' I stopped halfway when I realized I still had the flashlight beaming straight at her face.
'Sorry,' I said, still standing. I mean, for all I knew this could be some hallucination or a super-real dream. I've had those before.
'Why did you not lock your door before sleeping?' She asked.
'What? I locked my-' the wheels in my head started to turn, and I tried to recall. Yes, I'd been outside with Jide, Sammy, and Chidi. Yes, I'd taken a drag from their smoke and...and I wasn't sure what happened after that. It all seemed unclear, and my head felt cloudy and clogged.
Priscilla sat there watching me, and must have gotten tired of doing that because she finally said, 'I came in here to charge my phone last night, and you were sleeping on the floor.'
Yes, I remember now. I'd stumbled into the compound feeling all light-headed and dazed, and I'd thanked God my room was so close to the gate.
I also remember struggling with the keys as I managed to finally get the door open. What I couldn't remember was if I locked the door after that, a mystery I knew I would soon have the answer to.
My gaze returned to her, and she continued.
'You were playing one song on your phone. I mean, the song kept playing over and over,' she stopped and looked up at me as if to ask why I would do such a stupid thing like putting a song on repeat. I knew that look. I didn't say anything, just stared back at her and waited for her to finish laying out the pieces.
'Do you know somebody could have entered here and robbed you? You just left the door wide open.'
'Oh, that's...wow! Really?' I still couldn't believe it. Did that really happen, or was she just making it up.
She must have read my expression, for she nodded and said, 'I'm serious.'
My legs felt weak now, and it seemed like I'd been standing on my feet forever. I flashed the light in the direction of the chair, which still lay face-down from when I'd tossed it off.
I started walking towards the chair and she watched me, saying nothing until I turned it and dragged it over to the desk and sat on it. Well, my ass had almost met the chair when she asked, 'do I make you uncomfortable?'
'Uh...' I blinked several times and just left my mouth hanging.
Uh, yes, you do. I could have said that, right? I could have said, you make me slightly uncomfortable because you're always around.
But it would have hurt her, and yet wasn't this why I'd been trying to give her a lot of space in the past few days?
Wasn't that why, whenever I was about to have lunch and heard her cheerfully greeting neighbors as she drew closer to my room, I'd quickly cover the food and jump on my bed, pretending to sleep?
She must have gotten the idea, so maybe this question was a good thing. Play this right, Dickson; you're about to be a free man once again.
Sure, she'll get hurt but she can get over it.
In all those time I still hadn't given her any response, so she stood up and took two steps off the bed.
Her face was plain, her eyes hurt. I knew it, and I couldn't look at her.
'Let me be going,' she said, and I felt goosebumps on my body. A part of me was swinging its arms and saying 'yes! yes!', but another part was just about to do something stupid.
'Hey,' I said and blocked her path. She kept her face low and didn't look at me. 'Where are you going?'
'I have my own room,' she responded and the first thing I thought was, oh really?
'I didn't say you make me uncomfortable,' I muttered and she looked up at me. That gaze of hope.
'But sometimes you act like I'm disturbing you.'
That's because you mostly are, I thought.
'No. You're not disturbing me,' I lied. 'I just like being alone sometimes.'
She lowered her head again and pushed against my arm. 'Let me leave you alone then.'
I sighed. 'I didn't say you should do that.'
She said nothing for a while, so I added, 'I don't want you to get hurt.'
Now she wrapped her arms around me and hugged me. 'I won't get hurt, don't worry. We're just having fun.'
'Yeah?'
No, seriously, are we just having fun?
She nodded and looked up, her face so close to mine. I wanted her to let go of me, and staring into those hopeful eyes made me feel that way even more intensely. She soon stood on her toes and kissed me short on my lips, giggled, and said 'good morning' again. She was gone soon after that, and all I could do was stand there, staring into space until the sound of my phone jolted me back to reality.
'God, I'm so stupid.'
----
The following week turned out to be the most significant for me, not because it rained constantly, or the lecture-free week, or even my sudden affinity with weed--which I smoke three more times. It wasn't any of that. It was something else, I knew I was in trouble when it happened.
I'd been outside reading a book when the gate opened and two girls walked into the compound. This happened for various reasons: sometimes, people came in search of vacancies, and other times it would just be the various girlfriends and side chicks of the sharpshooters in the compound.
Today was different, though. I never really paid any serious attention to these comings and goings, not until my eyes fell on the slim girl walking with the other girl. I say the 'other girl' because I really didn't see her, not as much as I saw the slim one.
Her complexion was light and soft, and her face round. She had large, dark eyes which reminded me of those animes I watched occasionally, and they sparkled. Her lips were puckered, as if naturally ready for a kiss.
I sat upright when she passed. She looked in my direction and our eyes met. I felt something in the line of fear and astonishment, and complete wonderment, of course.
My fingers felt numb and I couldn't feel the book again, my eyes fixed on her eyes, drawn into a world where it was just the two of us, with birds tweeting all around us, and soft winds blowing brown leaves over us.
You know, that bullshit one usually sees in the movies, except this was real.
Our gaze remained locked for what seemed like a long time, until she looked away and continued with the other girl.
I wasn't sure what it was, but I felt an excitement deep inside me, pumping through my body. Our eyes met again just as she walked out of the compound, and this time I smiled at her.
She smiled back and looked away. That was a first.
My chair shifted and bent as I fell off it and ran inside, and started pacing around. I'd never maintained eye contact with a girl and then smiled at her before. And she smiled back! I didn't ever feel bold enough to do that, and yet I'd just done it.
What do I do now? I wondered and then, for the first time, prayed there was a vacancy in the compound. I heard the gate open, and rushed to peer through my window. Maybe she was back. But no, it was someone else.
----
My prayers were answered though.
Two days later, they moved into the compound. I missed the whole thing, but when I came back from where I'd gone to cut my hair, the first thing I saw was Chidi talking to the slim, fair girl. I looked at her, hoping she would turn and catch my gaze again. She didn't.
That was the beginning of a whole different kind of pain for me. But how was I to know? Interesting.. Ride on bro. 1 Like |
Literature › Re: GOOD GUY AT 23 by adamsygee: 11:55pm On Apr 07, 2020
