When the bus came to a halt at her stop after several hours of the journey, Femi reached out for her old leather box that was by her seat and made her way out of the vehicle, leaving a few passengers in it. As the bus drove away, she stood still, closed her eyes and inhaled the fresh warm breeze. she had missed School, the famous University of Cape Town. After what felt like internity , Femi immediately continued her journey to School which was not that far from the bus stop. Walking down the streets of her School, Femi returned the greetings of some familiar faces.
Stepping inside the School, Femi smelled the most amazing scent she could have ever imagined. The first instinct of Femi was to follow the scent, but on a second thought, She wanted to wave-off the urge to follow the scent. Pondering on what exactly to do, Femi decided to follow her instinct. ‘Thank God that today I came early to School.’ Femi muttered to herself as She began walking towards the direction which the aroma was coming from. Heading towards the other side of the School, Femi saw Elijah, the boyfriend of her very best friend. She continued forward with caution because she didn’t want to bump into Elijah and make him angry.
Elijah was saying goodbye to his girlfriend of three years, Roseline, She was gorgeous and a very good friend to Femi, If one didn’t know, he or she will think they’re from the same offspring. A pair of vibrant green eyes and a blonde hair were prominent and distinct features one could use to describe Roseline.
Everyone in School excluding Femi thought that Roseline and Elijah were mates, but no one knew for sure because neither one of them would confirm or deny it. Whenever anyone asked they would just respond how much they loved each other. Not long after Femi got closer to them, the smell became so strong that Femi felt that She would choke on it. So She stopped to look around to see where it was coming from.
Standing on a spot, gazing around and sweating profusely as the rays of sun kept pondering over the head of Femi, as She kept searching immensely so as to find out where the amazing scent is coming from. “Femi, Femi!” Roseline called out with a crooked voice. Twisting her head to the direction of the voice, a large force like that of a hippopotamus was about colliding on Femi, as Elijah backed-up, walking backwards and his head was faced front, without even realizing that Femi was about three inches behind him. Femi closed her eyes waiting for the impact of the cold tile when suddenly, a warm strong hand caught her. Letting out a gasp as sparks erupted against her skin as Roseline helped Femi to steady her feet. Femi hesitantly opened her eyes, her breath got stuch in her throat as her gaze was met by a pair of beautiful brown eyes.
“We need to talk.” Elijah said motioning for Femi to follow him. As Femi nodded and silently followed him while keeping her head down. Not long after, Elijah and Femi where alreay outside. Elijah quickly carried Femi away from any questioning eyes and ears before turning towards to Femi once again.
“How are you doing, Femi?” Elijah asked after a few moments. ‘Am fine,” Femi answered with her head still focused on her feet. Letting out a sigh, Elijah asked, “Femi please, could you look at me?” As Femi began to raise her head, looking at Elijah, trying to gaze what Elijah want to say. Almost as if Elijah was trying to predict how Femi would react to what he was about to say.
After some moment of hesitation, Elijah finally decided to speak up. “I’m sorry Femi, am really in love with you, and I just have this feeling that we’re meant for each other, infact, that was the major reason why I had to break-up with Roseline after three years of relationship, but-” Femi didn’t let him finish. “We can’t date!” Femi cried out. “Of course, we can “ Elijah replied. “But what happened to Roseline? Isn’t She supposed to be your fiance!”
“Look Femi, the only reason why I called you out here is to prophecy my love to you.” Elijah said as he was attempting to place what he thought would be a comforting hand on Femi’s shoulder. Femi took a step back as she let out a little laugh of disappointment. “You don’t want me. Don’t worry, I get it.” Elijah said as tears began to scroll down from his eyes. “Can you just do me a favour?’ Elijah asked as a single tear rolled down to his cheek.
“Sure…….. what is it?” Femi asked taking a step back. “Don’t reject me until tomorrow, please?” Elijah said as he walked away from Femi.
After the encounter with Elijah, Femi didn’t feel like staying up at School. So She went back to her small apartment which was directly behind her School. Femi imediately laid down on her bed, trying to catch some sleep, while trying to reflect on the whole incidence that happened between herself and Elijah, as She began to roll on her bed feeling so restless.
Seconds passed into minutes and gradually to hours, yet Femi couldn’t sleep. Finally its 5:39 in the morning, still, Femi couldn’t sleep. “Its not a bright start to my day,” Femi muttered to herself as She quickly got up to prepare for School.
Shortly after Femi arrived at School, She headed straight to the Office to sign in. Pretty soon after Femi left the Office, a group of guys and girls surrounded Femi, like they wanted to murder her. “What do you think we’re doing here?” One of the girls sneered at Femi. “Excuse me? May I know what you’re talking about?” Femi asked totally confused. Another girl walked up to Femi and suddenly, Femi felt a hard stinging sensation across her cheek. “Don’t play dumb!” “But I don’t know what you guys are talking abo-” Femi didn’t get to finish due to the punched one of the guys gave her on the stomach.
It wasn’t soon after that they all closed around Femi, punching and kicking at any part of her they had in view. As quickely as Femi could, She curled up into the tiniest ball She could. Trying to protect her head was the only thing on her mind. After getting a hard kick on her stomach, Femi started to taste the metallic flavour of blood.
“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?” Someone yelled, as they all turned around, anxious to know who was that. This time around, it was the Vice Chancellor together with his escorts. Immediately, the group of guys and girls made gesture to run leaving Femi behind as the Security men chased after them. Not long, they where all got and taken to the Vice Chancellor’s Office, for the Vice Chancellor to resolve the case.
Opara Udochukwu Kingsley, a 100 level medical student of Alex Ekwueme Federal University of Ndufu Alike Ikwo (AE-FUNAI) Ebonyi state wrote in from oparaudochukwu277@gmail.com
