₦airaland Forum

Chapter 8

They had yellow pap and akara for breakfast the next morning, which was ready by the time David woke up at 8:30 am. He was surprised she had woken up so early to cook after going to bed real late the night before. He was equally shocked that she knew how to make pap and akara, he would have pegged them a cereal breakfast kind of family.

After breakfast, they all went outside to wait for David’s mom. She had insisted on coming over, even though she knew she wouldn’t be able to gain entrance into the house. Through the little space between the gate and the wall, she was able to see and talk to her daughter for a few minutes before going back home. They were expecting the people from NCDC around mid-day. Caroline had kept in touch with them on a personal phone number one of the men had given her.

They were all in the living room watching TV when they heard a knock at the door. Caroline got up, and David had his eyes on her as she walked to the door; he liked how the sky blue jeans and white t shirt she had on fit her body. His heart skipped a beat when he heard Ahmed say the people that came yesterday had come back. It was like being about to get the result to an AIDS test. Caroline stepped out of the house, and he could hear her talking to some men. A few seconds later, they were walked into the house. The sullen look on Caroline’s face and the fact that the two NCDC men had face masks on gave him the answer to the test even before they spoke.

The men were talking now, but he couldn’t hear anything. There was a ringing in his head. He suddenly felt the strong urge to throw up. “I’m sorry…” He said as he got off the couch and rushed to the restroom. He barely made it to the toilet bowl as vomit gushed out of his mouth; he threw up pap and small chunks of undigested akara over and over. Caroline was by his side, sitting on the toilet floor as he continually threw up, till there was nothing else to throw up but water. He wondered why she wasn’t scared of getting infected, then he thought of the fact that they had kissed yesterday, and she might have thought there was no use staying away from him now. If she was going to get it, she would already have it by now.

He stood up to wash his mouth by the wash hand basin, and sat back on the cold tile floor. After a few seconds of silence, he said, “I knew it. That dream was telling me something.”
“David…” She started to say and stopped to take a deep breath. “The dream could only become a reality if you believed it.”
“What.”
“What I’m trying to say is…” She was saying and stopped when she heard voices outside the door. “I still don’t believe their result.” She said in a whisper as they got off the toilet floor and headed out to the living room.
“We are going to keep this place locked down while we take him away for treatment.” One of the men said as he got off the couch, as if signaling that it was time to go.
“Wait, what of Mr. Ayinde? Why didn’t come with you today?” Caroline asked.
“He had other things to attend to.”
“Can I see the results?”
The man laughed at Caroline before saying, “Are you questioning our competence?”
Caroline didn’t say anything back, but pulled out her phone. “I need to speak with Mr. Ayinde.” She said and started punching a number in her phone. David had been standing by Caroline’s side, but sat down on the couch closest to him. It was obvious he was exhausted.
The other man still sitting, opened a file on his lap and said, “Is your name not Anthony Johnson?”
“What? No.” David replied with a puzzled look on his face.
The man looked back down at the file. His colleague also walked over to take a squatting position by his side to examine the file. “You’re sure your name is not Anthony Ayodeji Johnson?” The man asked again.
“No. That’s not my brother’s name.” Toluwani said with a bold voice.
The men kept going through the file, looking confused. Caroline had been on the phone all the while, and then she said, “Okay, hold on” and walked over to hand the phone to the man with the file.
“Okay sir. Sorry for the mistake. We picked up the wrong file.” The man said and handed the phone back to Caroline. “I’m sorry. We’re sorry.” He said, facing David with a forced smile on his face. “My boss has confirmed your test results came out negative. We picked up a wrong file.” He said and David let out a sigh of relief.
“Sorry. We will be leaving now.” The other man said and they started making their way out of the living room. Caroline escorted them out, while Toluwani ran over to where David was seated and held him in a tight embrace with a big smile on her face. Kehlani stood opposite them, smiling with missing teeth.

..........

After the men left, David wanted to call his mom right away, but Caroline suggested they surprise her instead. At noon the four of them headed out. It was cloudy outside and a little windy, but it didn’t look like rain was going to fall anytime soon. Toluwani and Kehlani led the way on the sidewalk, while David and Caroline walked behind them chit chatting.
When they ran out of things to say, he turned to look at her for a second, looked away, and then looked at her again. “What?” She asked.
“Your eyes.”
“Oh, I have contact lenses on.”
“Oh, that makes sense. I was going to ask what happened to your glasses.” He said and she smiled. “I know you had glasses on when I first saw you, unless I was dreaming.”
“No, you definitely weren’t dreaming.” She said with a little laugh.
“I can’t believe all that happened in 24 hours.” David said.
“I know right; It feels like it was 24 days.” She said.
They walked in silence for a few minutes till Caroline stopped and said, “Alright, we are at the midpoint. I think we can stop here.” Kehlani said bye to her friend and walked over to her sister’s side.
“You’ve been to our house before?” David asked her.
“Yes, a couple times. Kehlani gets dropped off from school at your place sometimes.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that.”
“So…Umm…If this was a movie, this would be like the last scene right?” She said with a smile.
He laughed lightly before saying, “You know I don’t have to leave today.” He looked at her as she bowed her head to avoid making eye contact with him. “Do you want me to stay?”
“Umm…Yeah, kind of.”
“Okay. I’ll find an excuse to tell my dad.” He said and she smiled at him. “I think I owe you a date. We kind of skipped that when I ended up on your couch.”
“A date would be great.” She said between laughs.
“Okay then. I’ll call you later in the day.”
“Okay.”
They were about to turn around and head in opposite directions when Toluwani said, “You forgot something.” Caroline and David looked at her confused. “You forgot to kiss.” She said and they couldn’t help but laugh. When they got quiet, and neither of them moved, David put his arm around Caroline’s waist and pulled her in for a kiss. “Eww!” Kehlani and Toluwani echoed as they covered their faces with their hands.

THE END

lol! Sorry for the delay guys, power supply was poor today.

The last chapter coming right up.

Thanks guys. You guys just made me smile I really appreciate the compliments.

The next/last chapter is dropping tomorrow night.

Chapter 7

David woke up to the noise of flies buzzing over his head. He kept his eyes closed for a few seconds to gather his thoughts and figure out why it felt like he was laying on a dirt road. He heard mumbling a few feet away from him, and when he opened his eyes, he saw the crescent moon up in the dark blue sky. He turned on his side to see two men in black jumpsuit. One was digging what seemed to be a grave, and the other had an AK-47 rifle hanging loosely on his shoulder, with the barrel pointing at the ground.

David coughed a few times and was surprised they didn’t look his way. He gently got on his feet, dusted dirt off his jeans and looked around the place. He could have sworn he had seen the structure of a building to his left when he was lying down earlier, but now it seemed like he was back in the north, with large expanse of Sahel Savannah vegetation; desert vegetation with no building in sight. He noticed he was barefoot, and when he looked down, he saw cockroaches crawling up his legs. He started jumping around till they were off his legs and he stumped them out. This caught the attention of the strange men.

“Hey Tony! He is awake, let’s get him,” The one with the gun staid and started getting his gun ready to shoot at David. The other one jumped out of the pit and picked up his gun from the ground. David ran in the opposite direction, heartbeat racing, praying a bullet doesn’t hit him any minute. He thought he saw a tent with lights in the near distant, but it disappeared a few seconds later. He guessed it was a mirage and he really was in the desert.

RAT-A-TAT-A-TAT-A-TATAT!!! The sound of rapid gunfire from assault rifles filled the air. David started running in a zigzag manner, praying to God as he did so. He picked up speed, and never once looked back to see his assailants. The whole place was dark, but the lights from the gunfire behind him kept his trail blazed. The gunfire reduced and he assumed one of them had run out of bullets. He hastened his pace even more, keeping to his zigzag manner. The gunfire stopped all together, and he ran a few more steps before stopping out of breath and looking back. He realized he had actually climbed up a hill without even knowing it.

He saw them looking up at him, with their guns by their side, and wondered why they were no longer chasing him. When he turned back around, he was face to face with a scarecrow looking man. David screamed out in shock.

He kept screaming till he gained consciousness, and realized he was dreaming all along.

When he stopped screaming, it took his heart beat a full minute to come back to normal. And he sat up in bed, wondering how long he had been screaming, and how loud his scream was. Just then, the room door swung open. The lights came on, and Caroline was standing there, in a deep blue oversize shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. “What happened? Are you okay?” She asked in a concerned voice as she approached him on the bed. It was clear she left her room in a hurry, because she didn’t have a skirt or shorts on.

“I…I had a dream; a bad dream.” David said and laughed lightly to mask his embarrassment. “Hope my scream wasn’t too loud?”
“Well, it woke me.” She said in a low voice and sat on the tip of the bed. “You’re sweating.” She said and looked around. There was a white face towel on the bedside stool; she picked it up and started dabbing at his face to clean off the sweat. “Are you sure you’re okay?” She asked, looking him straight in the eye.
“I’m okay. It’s just the nightmare. Sorry for waking you.” He said and felt a bit uncomfortable with her stare. It was a look of concern, but it freaked David out to be so close to her on the bed. He could feel her warm breath on his neck. He almost jumped when he looked up. Toluwani and Kehlani had entered the room and were standing in front of the bed. They were in identical blue pyjamas, holding hands and staring at them. They reminded him of the twins in the classic horror movie, The Shining. Caroline saw the shocked look on his face and turned around. “Hey girls!” She said and got off the bed.

Rubbing her eyes, Kehlani asked, “Is the bogeyman in the house?” That was the first time David would really hear her speak, and it got him even more freaked out. Toluwani just stood there half awake, not saying anything.
“There is no Bogeyman anywhere K; uncle David just had a bad dream.” She said and walked over to the two girls. She turned back to say ‘I’ll be back’ in an almost inaudible voice before leading the girls out of the room. David sat there, going through his dream. With every minute he was awake, he forgot some part of the dream, till it was just a blurry part of his memory. But he remembered one thing; he was being chased. He wondered why death was chasing him in the dream, and what it meant in real life.

He was still lost in thought when she walked back into the room, still just in her oversize shirt. When she made to sit the bed, he noticed she had shorts on; very short shorts. At first, she sat at the edge of the bed facing him, and then like she felt that would be an uncomfortable position, she sat on the bed with her back resting on the black leather headboard like him. Caroline had her bare legs stretched out in front of them; long, slender, smooth legs. “So, what was your dream about?” She asked, looking straight ahead and not making eye contact with him.

He was quiet for a few seconds before responding with, “I was being chased by some men with guns. They kept shooting at me.” He stopped to get her reaction, but she didn’t say anything, as if waiting on him to continue. “I managed to get away from them, but then I saw something or someone that made me scream.”
“Something or someone?”
“Yea, I couldn’t tell if it was actually a person or just a scarecrow.”
“Oh well, dreams are like that sometimes. They are just a mumbo jumbo of meaningless nothing.”
“Meaningless? You feel there is no meaning to my dream…to the dream I just had?”
“Dreams really are thoughts with strong emotions that you didn’t have time to completely process while conscious, so while you sleep, your subconscious mind plays around with those thoughts.”
“Hmm! You think so?”
“I’m a neurosurgeon, and am fascinated about the mind in general. So I do a lot of reading, even outside my scope of study.”
“Hmm. Your explanation does sound plausible. I guess my fear of what my test results would be translated to the dream.”
“That makes sense.”
The room got quiet for some seconds before she broke the silence with, “So…what happens tomorrow?”
“It depends.”
“It depends on what?” She said and turned to face him.
“It depends on the outcome of the test.”
“I really don’t think you have the virus.”
“Well, we will never know till tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
“If the result comes back positive, the NCDC guys would probably whisk me away to a treatment center.”
“And probably continue to keep this place sealed while they run tests on the rest of us.”
“Wow. That’s true. I definitely won’t want that.” He said with a distant faraway look in his eyes.
“Me neither.”
He was quiet for a few seconds before saying, “If it comes out negative, I would be free. And I can return my little sister to my worried mom.” He said with a smile.
“And?”
“And…tomorrow is Sunday, right?” He asked and she nodded. “And I will wait at home till my dad comes to drop off my other sisters, and take me to my main home.”
“You’re leaving tomorrow?” She asked in a low voice.
“Yeah.”
An awkward silence took over the room. After a while, Caroline’s hand slowly found his hand on the bed, and she held it, without looking at him. Their hands entangled and David moved to close up the space between them on the bed. He took a deep breath, and gently cupped her chin with his right hand and turned her face towards him. Her head was bowed. Slowly, she looked up at him, and then he went in for a kiss. With eyes closed, they kissed gently. And then Caroline dominated the romance, kissing him passionately, and pushing him on the bed, so she was on top of him. With a gently move, he flipped her around, so he was on top. And then, she flipped him around. They did this a couple more times, till they fell off the bed.

“Ouch!” David exclaimed as his back hit the floor, with Caroline’s weight on top him. They both burst out laughing, and Caroline got off him to lie beside him, still laughing. They lay there, staring at the ceiling laughing, till their eyes watered. They would stop, and one of them would start laughing again, and the other would join.

When they finally got silent, she turned on her side, put her head over his face and kissed him passionately for a few seconds, and then pulled back gently while staring at him. There was a smile on her face as she got on her feet. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She said and he nodded at her. She waved at him and walked backwards a few paces before turning around and walking out the room.

David lay there for a few seconds, going through all that had just happened. A smile appeared on his face as he got off the floor, and let his body free fall on bed in excitement.

kayo80:
Hey guys, I want to do a little something before dropping the next chapter. It is always good to know people are reading your story, so what i am going to do is...once I get 11 likes on this comment, I will drop the chapter...just 11 likes.

Finally...we are at 11 likes. I was starting to think we would never get there. So, now for the next task...you have to tell me why I chose the number 11.

lol! Just kidding...the chapter is coming right up.

4 more likes to go.

7 more likes to go.

9 more likes to go before I drop the next chapter. It is a bit longer than the previous chapters.

Hey guys, I want to do a little something before dropping the next chapter. It is always good to know people are reading your story, so what i am going to do is...once I get 11 likes on this comment, I will drop the chapter...just 11 likes.

Hey guys, I notice mods no longer push stories from Literature section to Front Page...I wonder why.

Hey Eva, nice to have you posting here again.

About character names, personally, how I pick names for my characters is...first of all, I have an idea what the character's temperament is and his/her purpose in the story. I let that seat in my brain for a few hours or days, and then a name I feel is perfect for that character pops in my head, and I go with it.

Frankenstein:
Kayo80, keep up the good work. This is already a very engaging story. I like how you narrate and build on the story.

Thanks. I appreciate the compliment.

Mrl1:
Mtheeeeeew stop wasting this write up . WhatsApp me or call me let me tell you something 07015--4335-02

You didn't have to include the "hiss"...make your point here.