I get out of the comfy bed and yawn wearily while stretching my painful limbs that feel as if they have been pounded on. I'm very tired despite the fact that I'm just from a long sleep. The room looks smashing and clean-cut that you cannot pick a speck of dust inside it. Moreover it smell like an odoriferous air of an orchard.
Basking in the grandeur , I scan the capacious room consisting of a built-in wardrobe, chest of drawers, a full-length mirror mounted on the tesselated wall and a bedside table that has a nightstand on top. We moved in the house yesterday's night.
I can't believe it's so awesome being in a new house.
Outside, early birds serenade grandiosely welcoming a new day . They flutter merrily over the balcony of my bedroom dominating the bustling street. I head to the balcony, standing spellbound and hands resting on the balustrade, I have a commanding view of West Minster Street. Down I can see the street lamps illuminating the vicinity.
"Chris. Come and have your breakfast." Catherine's voice booms from behind me. With a tsk , I move my flabby feet and into my room . I hitch up the Venetian blinds to allow in the cool morning zephyr before proceeding to spruce up my bed.
Ooh ! Too bad , today's not weekend
I mutter under my breath as I dodder out of the room. I have to get ready for school before seven.
"Chris !!" Catherine calls again in a peeved voice , I can sense it sounded baritone much like her features. She's been fending for me for many years now , after the tragic death of Andrew - my so-called father. I heard that he was suffering from histocytic leukaemia.
"Yes ! I'm coming in a minute , going to shower." I stagger with my beblubbered eyes semi-closed because of the blinding light that emanates from the bulb affixed on the ceiling. I reach the bathroom and yank it open. Wooahh ! This house is indeed splendid . I muse as I step on the cold porcelain-tiled floor.
Relishing in the warm water that splatters on me , I scrub myself with a flannel and in a flash I am out wrapping myself with a bath towel.
Luckily, the shower clears away the fog in my head and the fatigue that plagued me, and once again I regain vitality. But still my limbs ache.
Yesterday was truly hectic but we managed to move in West Minster Street and found this cozy house that Miss Garie bought for us out of her own volition.
As for the fate of that ruffian who had barged in our home , I don't give a hoot about how he ended up with the run-amok mob. We had left as soon as the lorry driver came by . I quite recall that I had left him being maimed unconscious by a rampaging throng that had converged in the house. This was after we had informed them that he was likely an Espionage Mercenary. That saved us unnecessary trouble anyway but I can't help but pity him.
I walk out of the shower room and into my bedroom . I change in my school outfit : A navy blue trouser laurelled with a white shirt.
I get into my school shoes and stroll downstairs with my rucksack on my back .
"Mum this house is incredible." I utter enthusiastically as I move my eyes across the kitchen room which is neatly arranged. The walls which looked like they have been beplastered not long ago still reeked of fresh stucco.
" Hey ! Your breakfast's on the table over there . Eat quickly coz you'll be late." Catherine says with a deadpan face . She continues washing the dishes on the sink without talking anymore.
My eyes oscillates between the delicious meal on the table and the magnificent sitting room. With a sigh , I sashay towards the table and hoe in my meal ; a plate of chorizo interlarded with tomato sauce, a loaf of bread and a cup of cappuccino coffee. This is the best meal I think I've ever had. By the time I finish eating my breakfast, the sun is already disseminating a yellow hue that strays into the house in glorious streaks bringing with it the flurry of early-morning activity. "Now I think it's seven. Time to go."
I say to no one in particular as I reluctantly stand up from the snug seat that creaks annoyingly. Catherine is still washing the dishes and I know she will be having a feverish time trying to arrange the house. Nevertheless , I have to go to school and I can't help her. Though I wish it could be a weekend.
"See ya." I bid Catherine farewell while suppressing a burp that threatened to escape my mouth. I walk out of the magnificent house and look at it admiringly from the outside . Ooh it's a duplex ! I speculate.
I have to admit that it's the coolest apartment I've ever seen in Oyugis. Surely Miss Garie has good tastes but I can't fathom how much money she spent on it.
I easily retrace the route to Oyugis Primary . Even though we moved from Athousand Street, I am still familiar with the one and only route to my school.
West Minster Street is much more imposing than Athousand Street which is always flocked with beggars and plebeians. Truly, this is a turning point in my life away from the marred past.
I swagger on the roadside pavements as School Buses , lorries and cars whizzed past. Unluckily , our school doesn't have a bus after the headteacher had been incarcerated for embezzling funds. I just wish for a lift because my feet are on the verge of caving in. However I push on trying hard to drive away the exhaustion.
As I scurry on the sidewalk, I see a commotion on the other side . I raise my arm to look at my wristwatch. Thirty minutes to go . I heave a sigh of relief and cross the road to join the rumpus.
I squeeze my way through the throng to have a good view of the limelight while hordes of people continue to converge at the scene. Shockingly, I see a pool of blood and craning my neck that I feel like it is going to lop off , I catch sight of a familiar face. His body sprawled on the tarmacked road. "What!!" I screech inadvertently and for a fleeting moment I steal the spotlight but I don't care.
Is this Rodgers ...dead...No no this can't be him . I can't believe it .
What happened?
What happened to him?
My teeth clatters in downright shock. My heart thumps aberrantly making me feel like I am being throttled.
I don't know how I found myself outside the gates of Oyugis Primary but my face was pale like a sheet of paper and my body shivered ceaselessly in torpidity . It was as if the spirit of my life had been sucked dry.
"So where did you find him lying?" Mr Dick ask furrowing his forehead. He seemed to be deep in thought. A slight breeze flurries in his office brushing past my pallid countenance.
"West Minster Highway ." I say succinctly with trembling hands trying to suppress the shock on my face. Sweat perforates my shirt even though it is a cool morning .He looks at me for a brief moment and then says abruptly. "Can you take me there?"
"But... Umm!...Are you not informing...." I stutter motioning towards the Staff Quarters but he interrupts me.
"Don't worry , I'm going to tell them." He asserts as he springs out of his swivel chair and walks out of his office. I follow meekly behind him head drooled like a bereft hag.
I had blurted out everything to him I saw at West Minster Highway as soon as I arrived at the school. Nonetheless what bothers me so much is how did he die. It doesn't make any sense to me even though I'm racking my brains out.
Or could that be his doppelganger? I recall vividly that I saw him yesterday alive and kicking and yet in the span of a night he was reduced to such a state . I can't believe it. I can't ... I can't...I can't...I can't..
My head is in a turmoil. Questions crisscross my mind but I don't have answers to them not until I personally meet his mother and confirm if it's true. Maybe that can be one of my sporadic illusions.
I don't believe he is dead. It can't be.
We reach the staffroom and I quickly relegate the depressing thoughts to the back of my mind. Raising my eyes , I look across the array of teachers but I don't see that one most familiar face I've ever known in this school;Mr Garie. I feel a little disappointed. If she were present I would have rushed and told her the bad news instead of Mr Dick.
"Attention!" Mr Dick projects his voice to get into the spotlight before leaning towards me and grunting.
"Go and tell Simon to ring the bell for an emergency assembly."
"Un." I nod and scamper out of the room.
I reach the seventh-grade class only to find Mr Flakey having a LifeSkills lesson with them. I convey my message to Simon after being given permission by Mr Flakey to enter their class. Afterwards I race to my class. Fortunately, there isn't any teacher in the class.
"Class, silence I have news, Rodger's dead. I found him on West Minster Highway...." Before I even finish talking I break down in sobs. I can't withstand the agony of saying he is dead . It pierces my soul and tears it into shreds leaving me in emptiness. Coming to terms with the death of my best and endearing friend is the only thing I would never want to happen to me. But sadly I'm a victim.
Complete silence and then loud rumbles and laughter sweep over the whole class.
What's wrong? Didn't I say Rodger's dead? Why should you guys be laughing as if you've heard the most hilarious joke in the world?
Is Rodgers being dead a joke?
I've never known that my classmates are schadenfreudes.
I am terribly puzzled . Rubbing my sullen eyes , I raise my head to find out what is amiss. My gaze collides with a mixture of amused, shocked and grave faces.
"Your pranks aren't hilarious even a notch . Now get to your desk. We're busy." Faith Bross utters derisively and buries her head in the book she is reading at the moment.
"I'm not joking."I say with a darkened complexion and edgy tone.
"Does somebody's death sound like a joke to you?"
"I think you're mistaken Chris ." Mark says as he glared at me doubtfully. " How can Rodgers be dead and yet I saw him yesterday . He was very alive buddy. And to confirm , is his home in Borepark Street?"
"Yes." Some of my classmates nod their head in their agreement and look at me as if I were a scammer.
"Then how the hell did he get to West Minster Street?..... We don't like your pranks boy." Mark remarks in a gibelike cadence.
I keep quiet and I cannot find the right words to explain to them but the bell rings to my rescue.
We scour out of the class heading to the Assembly point while I periodically suffer sickening gazes imbued with contempt.
Antony approaches me with disbelief marked on his pimpled face.
"Is it true?" He asks staring into my eyes for any hint of mischief.
"You'll see for yourself ." I reply hoarsely waving him away. Too tired to mince words . Besides I am in an emotional breakdown.
The Assembly point is now crammed and low voices can be heard as some students conversed animatedly.
I stand on a spot beside Antony and keep dead silent while occasionally blinking my eyes as the rays of the rising sun pester me.
One by one the teaching staff blaze out and lastly Mr Dick emerges. He is the standing-in Headteacher. I scope over the line of teachers but I still don't see her. I guess she's perhaps absent from school.
"Good morning." Mr Dick's raspy voice rings as he stands regally in front of us. He is clad in a sleek and exquisite suit that must have caused him a ransom. With a kingly stance , he surveys the parade.
"Good morning teacher." We thunder in unison.
"Today is not a usual assembly day but we have an emergency. " He pauses and a brief strangled cough escapes his lips. Rearranging his facial features, he goes on.
"The emergency is that an eighth-grade student of the school has been spotted dead in West Minster Highway." He says bitterly with a casehardened face.
A wave of shock sweeps across the parade of students and a short-lived tumult ensues.
Some of my classmates - including Mark- shoots surreptitious glances at me that explains one thing ;. They are clearly appalled.
"Quiet." Mr Dick's muggard voice sound over the din. A calm ambience overtakes the hurly-burly.
"So..... that means we're going to close the school prematurely. We are very sorry for that....." Mr Dick's voice trails off leaving the throng going asthmatic from shock.
"So it's true." Antony chirks beside me . He turns his red-rimmed eyes to me and I can notice untold anguish in them. "How ?...How...?"
I look away to evade his disconsolate eyes as a trail of tear flows down my face . I want to yawl and cry to quell the overwhelming sadness that throttled my heart but I restrain myself.
"I donno Antony." A raucous voice escapes my lips. Antony slumps his shoulders and starts to sob. I smother him in my hand as if reassuring him.
"Let's go and see him." I shake my head dejectedly .
Together we enter the staffroom after taking our rucksacks from the class . We find Mr Dick and some teachers who accompany us to West Minster Highway. The school is deserted.
Trudging on , we arrive at West Minster Highway which is now brimming with people from all walks of life. Some are rushing to the scene while others gawk at the sidelines. We jump over the railings and cross the busy dual-lane highway to the scene.
"They have already set a blockade." Antony growls in exasperation as he rests his arm on a bollard. Mr Dick and the other teachers are trying to look over the throng but they are apparently having a headache trying to see through.
I raise my sweaty hands to look at my wristwatch. It is ten o'clock.
Tiny specks of dust dance in the shaft of the dappled morning sun which miraged the shimmering road.
"How long will the ambulance take ? Perhaps he is not dead but in a comatose state." Antony says with panic emblazoned on his face.
I sigh avoiding his question. If he would have seen his mutilated body he would have not spoken such asinine words. I believe he was killed by the Jakachinja but I cannot find concrete evidence. Maybe he was rammed into by a car , a bus. Whatever.
Whiuu.Whiuu..Whiuuuuu
A blatant sound of the ambulance's siren causes cars and buses on the road to pull over. I ram into reality away from my drab and pestering thoughts.
The ambulance screeches with a police wagon in tow and pulls up beside the scene.
A few figures adorned in green uniforms rush out with a stretcher. They pass through the blockade and put the body into the stretcher before bounding into the ambulance in haste.
We gape as the ambulance splutters away. I wish he isn't dead. I say inaudibly as I hike up my socks and wipe the dust off my school shoes.
Drawing up , I glance at the absent-minded Antony .
"I'm going home. I'll be visiting him tomorrow God-willing." I say as I lift my foot.
" See ya." Antony says as he prepares to cross the road to the other side to go home.
"Hope it turns out that he's alive." I murmur. I'm not sure if he heard me but I see him shaking his head before crossing the road.
Meanwhile , Mr Dick and his crew had long disappeared leaving behind in their wake a jostling street. A semblance of normalcy looms over the streets as if nothing bad ever happened.
I watch the thinning out figure of Antony before he disappears from the purview of my eye. I take a turn and begin lumbering home.
Frozen on the stoep of our duplex , I pant stragglingly as the sun beat down on my back. In a hunchback posture, I unlace my school shoes before stumbling inside leaving them bouncing on the steps .It is unnervingly quiet. Sinking into the couch , I breath heavily. Still there isn't any movement in the house and it feels ominous.
"Mum ! Mum!! Mummy."I call raising my voice .
I get no reply. Gudong ! My heart starts beating wildly in my chest.
I get up from the couch and ransack the spacious house leaving doors stridulating in my wake. After looking everywhere and couldn't think of any room in this house which I haven't stepped into , I start to panic. Where could she be?
"Ohh! you're home ." A voice suffused with light-heartedness jolts me.
"I nearly panicked." I say smiling at Catherine and at the same time secretly heaving a sigh of relief. Nowadays I have become very apprehensive . I always imagine that the Jakachinja is behind my back .
"Oh? I'm still around. I went to buy some veggies in the market." Catherine says amusedly as she enters the house with a polythene bag hanging from her right hand. She sits on the couch.
A breeze trails in the sitting room as the sound of buzzing vehicles drifts in.
"Bad news ." I broach the poignant subject.
"What happened in school ?" Catherine asks as she gun me down with a cross-examining glare.
I sigh before replying tersely.
"Rodgers dead." I don't know if she still remembers him because they made an acquaintance not a long time ago.
"Your friend? Anna's son ?....." She shrieks and it seemed like words jammed in her mouth. She stands up from the couch with a bedazed face.
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah mom , I'm serious besides I'm planning to go to the hospital tomorrow to check if there's any breath on him. I still can't believe he's dead." I aver with a grave face.
A momentary silence follows as Catherine stares speculatively at me with knitted eyebrows.
"No I won't permit that." She says with a tone of finality, her complexion recovering a little from the shock.
"But why? "I say frowning.
"I just won't permit you to go there for some reasons." Catherine maintains her stand.
"Mum but he's my friend...my best friend."I say in a miffed-timbre like voice while staring at her.
"I know he's your best friend and Anna's my friend but I won't permit my son to go to that godforsaken hospital again." Catherine asserts plainly . I now know why she refuses but I've to push on.
"I'll be careful. Just accede to my humble request for once mummy." I whine.
"Don't you dare." With a direful face gazing at me , she howls indignantly before a knock ends our diatribe.
Pasting on a brainwashing innocent smile as a cover-up for her indignation , she tittups to the door.
"Good afternoon Mrs Lorenzo."
Catherine's voice sounds as a middle-aged woman with a fondling smile plastered on her makeup-riddled face enters the sitting room. Looks like I have another bete noire apart from that Math's teacher. I soliloquize as cringe inwardly but I don't show it on my languid outward face veneering distaste.
"Good afternoon Catherine."
She struts in and slumps on the couch. I proceed to have a handshake with her in a polite manner before Catherine gestures to me to go to the kitchen and have my lunch. It is a gesture that begged me to excuse them.
I take the polythene bag from her hands which is filled with veggies before going to the direction Catherine frequented in the house leaving them yapping away.
I am still having a hard time navigating in this roomy house.
I open the kitchen door before putting the veggies in the cabinet. I scan the room for my lunch . I see it on the drainboard . It is a plate of grilled chicken marinade and rice.
Ever since Catherine secured a job in Royal Tailors Limited under the auspices of miss Garie , we ate delectable meals , and this is what I love. Eating.
After wolfing down the meal , I head upstairs to my bedroom.
Jumping onto the bed, I toss my rucksack away before I absent-mindedly stare into space. The radio blared Charlie Puth's We don't talk anymore lulling me into sleep.